The effect of crossflow on Taylor vortices

A number of practically relevant problems involving the impulsive motion or the rapid rotation of bodies immersed in fluid are susceptible to vortex-like instability modes. Depending upon the configuration of any particular problem the stability properties of any high-wavenumber vortices can take on one of two distinct forms. One of these is akin to the structure of Görtler vortices in boundary-layer flows whilst the other is similar to the situation for classical Taylor vortices.

Both the Görtler and Taylor problems have been extensively studied when crossflow effects are excluded from the underlying base flows. Recently, studies have been made concerning the influence of crossflow on Görtler modes and here we use a linearized stability analysis to examine crossflow properties for the Taylor mode. This work allows us to identify the most unstable vortex as the crossflow component increases and we show how, as in the Görtler case, only a very small crossflow component is required in order to completely stabilize the flow. Our investigation forms the basis for an extension to the nonlinear problem and is of potential applicability to a range of pertinent flows.