Rotation Effects on Wall-Bounded Flows : Some Laboratory Experiments

Alfredsson, P.H. and Lingwood, R.J. (2014) Rotation Effects on Wall-Bounded Flows : Some Laboratory Experiments. In: Modeling Atmospheric and Oceanic Flows : Insights from Laboratory Experiments and Numerical Simulations. American Geophysical Union, pp. 83-100. ISBN 9781118855935

Abstract

This chapter focuses on three different categories: (1) system rotation vector parallel to mean-flow vorticity; (2) flows set up by the rotation of one or more boundaries; and (3) system rotation aligned with the mean-flow direction. The flows in the different categories above differ with respect to their geometry but, more importantly, in how rotation affects them. The chapter focuses on three different flows that are relatively amenable to laboratory investigation, one from each category described above: One is plane Couette flow undergoing system rotation about an axis normal to the mean flow, another is the von Kármán boundary layer flow, and the third is axially rotating pipe flow. It defines important nondimensional parameters that govern them and discuss some of their interesting flow features in various parameter ranges. Various experimental realizations of the three different flow systems are described and considerations and limitations regarding the laboratory systems are discussed.