Temporal Development of the Taylor Vortices in a Rotating Fluid. III

Abstract

Temporal development of the propagating wavy vortices appearing in Couette flow between two coaxial cylinders is investigated using a set of coupled-mode equations presented by the author in I. On the basis of numerical time solutions, it is found that, with growing angular velocity of the inner cylinder, four different types of motion appear one after another as follows: periodic motion→quasi-periodic motion with two fundamental frequencies→quasi-periodic motion with three frequencies→chaotic motion. It is investigated in some detail how these frequencies vary as the transition point to chaos is approached.