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A non‐linear dynamical system approach to finite amplitude Taylor‐Vortex flow of shear‐thinning fluids
Author(s) -
Li Zhenyu,
Khayat Roger E.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
international journal for numerical methods in fluids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1097-0363
pISSN - 0271-2091
DOI - 10.1002/fld.703
Subject(s) - shear thinning , taylor number , taylor dispersion , taylor–couette flow , mechanics , couette flow , newtonian fluid , physics , vortex , generalized newtonian fluid , bifurcation , herschel–bulkley fluid , classical mechanics , mathematics , shear rate , flow (mathematics) , viscosity , thermodynamics , nonlinear system , quantum mechanics , diffusion
The effect of shear thinning on the stability of the Taylor–Couette flow is explored for a Carreau–Bird fluid in the narrow‐gap limit. The Galerkin projection method is used to derive a low‐order dynamical system from the conservation of mass and momentum equations. In comparison with the Newtonian system, the present equations include additional non‐linear coupling in the velocity components through the viscosity. It is found that the critical Taylor number, corresponding to the loss of stability of the circular Couette flow, becomes lower as the shear‐thinning effect increases. That is, shear thinning tends to precipitate the onset of Taylor vortex flow, which coincides with the onset of a supercritical bifurcation. Comparison with existing measurements of the effect of shear thinning on the critical Taylor and wave numbers show good agreement. The Taylor vortex cellular structure loses its stability in turn, as the Taylor number reaches a critical value. At this point, an inverse Hopf bifurcation emerges. In contrast to Newtonian flow, the bifurcation diagrams exhibit a turning point that sharpens with shear‐thinning effect. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.