Analysis of the flow pattern modifications in a bubbly Couette-Taylor flow

A. Mehel (1) , Céline Gabillet (1) , Henda Djeridi (2, 3)

1 IRENAV - Institut de Recherche de l'Ecole Navale
2 LPO - Laboratoire de physique des océans
3 LEGI - Laboratoire des Écoulements Géophysiques et Industriels [Grenoble]

The aim of this Brief Communication is to discuss the bubble effect on the Couette-Taylor flow patterns in the transition from laminar to turbulent flow, especially in the weakly turbulent regime. It is shown that bubble location and local void fractions both in the vortices cores and in the near wall regions directly influence the axial wavelength. Bubbles trapped in the vortices tend to increase the vorticity and reduce the axial diffusivity. Bubbles near the wall contribute to “shear induced” turbulence depending on the void fraction gradient near the wall and the bubble size.

Mots clés: Couette flows; Vortex dynamics; Bubble dynamics; Turbulent flows; Rotating flows

Domaines: Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]

A. Mehel, Céline Gabillet, Henda Djeridi. Analysis of the flow pattern modifications in a bubbly Couette-Taylor flow. Physics of Fluids, 2007, 19, pp.118101-1: 118101-4. ⟨10.1063/1.2786584⟩. ⟨hal-01208342⟩