The structure of spatio-temporal defects in a spiral pattern in the Couette-Taylor flow

A.B. Ezersky (1) , Nizar Abcha (2) , I. Mutabazi (2)

1 M2C - Morphodynamique Continentale et Côtière
2 LOMC - Laboratoire Ondes et Milieux Complexes

Disorder in spiral pattern arising in the counter-rotating Couette-Taylor flow has been investigated. It was revealed that in a certain range of flow control parameters, defects may be generated on the background of spirals periodically in time. Spatio-temporal structure of a single defect has been investigated in detail. A simple theoretical model based on asymptotic solution of the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation was proposed to explain characteristics of a defect. We found that, for a given super-criticality, defects appear at a definite value of the spiral wave phase.

Mots clés: Spatio-temporal patterns Defect Couette-Taylor flow Ginzburg-Landau equation

Domaines: Interfaces continentales, environnement; Milieux et Changements globaux

A.B. Ezersky, Nizar Abcha, I. Mutabazi. The structure of spatio-temporal defects in a spiral pattern in the Couette-Taylor flow. Physics Letters A, 2010, 374, pp.3297-3303. ⟨10.1016/j.physleta.2010.06.019⟩. ⟨hal-00665623⟩