2007/07/18 by M. Le Bars, Michaël Le Bars, Patrice Le Gal +1 · 62 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Aerodynamics and Acoustics in Jet Flows #Aerodynamics and Fluid Dynamics Research #Classical mechanics #Couette flow #Flow (mathematics) #Fluid Dynamics and Turbulent Flows #Instability #Materials science #Mechanics #Physics #Taylor–Couette flow #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.99.064502
published in Physical Review Letters 99(6), 064502 (American Physical Society) · 4 pages, 4 figures. PRL in press 2007
arxiv created 2007/07/18 · openalex publication_date 2007/08/08 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
This study is devoted to the experimental analysis of the stratorotational instability (SRI). This instability affects the classical cylindrical Couette flow when the fluid is stably stratified in the axial direction. In agreement with recent theoretical and numerical analyses, we describe for the first time in detail the destabilization of the stratified flow below the Rayleigh line (i.e., the stability threshold without stratification). We confirm that the unstable modes of the SRI are nonaxisymmetric, oscillatory, and take place as soon as the azimuthal linear velocity decreases along the radial direction. This new instability is relevant for accretion disks.