Experimental Study of the Stability of the Bodewadt Layer

摘要

This work is concerned with the establishment and stability of the Bodewadt layer. A close approximation to the Bodewadt similarity solution can be achieved experimentally on the stator of an enclosed rotor-stator system. The mean flow achieved experimentally is compared with theoretical and numerical results. Experimentally we find a non-axisymmetric instability with low azimuthal wavenumber that has inward phase velocity of decreasing magnitude with decreasing radius and small negative wave angle. The data taken from visualizations of the instability waves within the Bodewadt layer suggest a critical Reynolds number R_d = r~ * (Ω_d~*/v~*)~(1/2) of 47-56 over a decade range of Ekman numbers.