Lagrangian Transport in Steady Swirling Flow Between Exactly Counter-Rotating Disks
Abstract
The flow generated in a closed cylinder by two counter-rotating endwalls is known to exhibit rich Eulerian dynamics due to 3D instabilities of Kelvin-Helmholtz type at the shear layer between the rotating disks (Nore et al., 2003, JFM, v477). We study numerically the Lagrangian properties of this class of flows for a range of governing parameters (aspect ratio and Reynolds number) for which steady, three-dimensional flowfields are realized. We show that the shear layer instabilities give rise to very complex Lagrangian dynamics and that for a certain range of parameters nearly ergodic mixing is achieved. We further present evidence of anomalous transport due to irregular trapping of tracers in various regions within the container. We quantify in detail the transport statistics over a broad range of parameters and discuss the potential implications of our findings in experimental investigations of this class of flows.
- Publication:
-
APS Division of Fluid Dynamics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- November 2003
- Bibcode:
- 2003APS..DFD.FP005L