Abstract
This paper concerns the stability of the flow of a fluid contained between a rotating inner cylinder and a stationary outer cylinder. Visual observations as well as torque measurements are used to examine the influence of eccentricity on the further modes of instability which occur when the Taylor number of the flow is increased above its critical value. Successive transitions to wavy vortex modes of higher azimuthal wave numbers are found to be associated with sudden reductions in the slope of the torque–Taylor-number curve and in the coefficient of friction, particularly at low eccentricity ratios. This effect, which occurs throughout the ‘spectrum of transitions' to turbulence, is of considerable importance to the operation of high-speed journal bearings in modern power-generating plant.
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