This project involves the construction and study of something called a
"Taylor Couette Apparatus". Below is a video showing this apparatus
in action:
This apparatus creates a "Taylor-Couette Flow", which is simply a flow
in a thin annulus between two cylinders. Typically, the inner
cylinder rotates and the outter cylinder is stationary. Fluid near
the inner cylinder tends to move outward due to the centrifugal forces
caused by the rotation. As the inner fluid moves outward, the outer
fluid moves inward. The result is a roll cell type of flow pattern.
As the speed of the cylinder increases, different roll cell patterns
occur. The type of patterns that form is of significant interest
among fluid dynamics researchers. Just one area of specific interest
concerns the difference in the pattern formed at a given cylinder
rotational speed as the cylinder increases in speed, versus a
decreasing cylinder speed -- a hysteresis phenomenon.
Taylor-Couette Undergraduate Research Project