Paper 6: Hydrodynamic Stability of the Flow between Eccentric Rotating Cylinders: Visual Observations and Torque Measurements

Abstract

The effect of varying the eccentricity on the appearance of Taylor vortices in journal bearing oil films, and the subsequent transition to turbulent flow, has been studied by means of visual observations and torque measurements. The vortices have been made visible using a suspension of aluminium paint pigment in the fluid, and also by dye injection, in an apparatus having a perspex outer cylinder. When the cylinders are eccentric, transition from laminar to turbulent flow is observed to proceed in four stages, an additional instability being present when compared with the concentric cylinder case. Only the second of these transitions causes a distinct change in the slope of the torque–speed characteristic.