Experimental Investigations of Couette-Taylor-Poiseuille Flows Using the Electro-Diffusional Technique

Couette-Taylor-Poiseuille flow CTPF consists on the superposition of Couette-Taylor flow to an axial flow. The CTPF flow hydrodynamics studies remain rather qualitative or numerical or are restricted to relatively low Taylor and/or axial Reynolds numbers. For more comprehensive and control of CTPF, especially for relatively high Taylor numbers and high axial Reynolds numbers, we investigated experimentally CTF with and without an axial flow, using the electro-diffusion ED method. This technique requires the use of Electro-Diffusion ED probe which allows the determination of the local mass transfer rate from the Limiting Diffusion current measurement delivered by the ED probe while it is polarized by a polarization voltage. From the local mass transfer (the Sherwood number), we determined the wall shear rate using different approaches. The results illustrate that low axial flow can generate a stabilizing effect on the CT flow. The time-evolutions of the local mass transfer and the wall shear rate are periodic. These evolutions characterize the waviness or the stretching of the vortices. However, Taylor Wavy Vortex Flow TWVF is destabilized under the effect of relatively important axial flow. The time-evolutions of wall shear rate are no longer periodic. Indeed, Taylor vortices are overlapped or completely destructed.