A numerical simulation of finite-length Taylor-Couette flow
The processes leading to laminar-turbulent transition in finite-channel-length Taylor-Couette flow are investigated analytically, solving the unsteady incompressible Navier-Stokes equations by spectral-collocation methods. A time-split algorithm, implementable in both axisymmetric and fully three-dimensional time-accurate versions, and an algorithm based on the staggered-mesh discretization of Bernardi and Maday (1986) are described in detail, and results obtained by applying the axisymmetric version of the first algorithm and a steady-state version of the second are presented graphically and compared with published experimental data. The feasibility of full three-dimensional simulations of the progression through chaotic states to turbulence under the constraints of Taylor-Couette flow is demonstrated.