Pattern Competition for the Sequential Bifurcations Approach (SBA) to Turbulence in the Co-Rotating Taylor–Couette System: Quinary States

Abstract

In this study systematic numerical analyses are outlined searching for additional instabilities in the co-rotating Taylor–Couette system within the fully deterministic sequential approach of bifurcations (SBA) to turbulence. The main idea of the search strategy is the application of a forcing function, rotation, which has a direct physical interpretation, and that was realized in prior experimental work. The forcing induces disturbances that lead to bifurcations of new states. Thus, turbulence can be generated and observed in a rotating fluid without the imposing additional forcing sources. The imposition of thermoconvective forcing in the Taylor–Couette system will be discussed separately. Important findings include the discovery of the interplay of new and already known states, the transition of steady states to oscillatory ones and higher order states in the SBA via vortex merger/separation and re- allocation of symmetries for a more intensified mass transport. The results of the present work enhance the results of [1]. They will be revisited within an internal length gradient (ILG) framework accounting for weekly nonlocal effects as suggested in the concluding section of the paper.