The instability of the supercritical Taylor-Couette flows has been extensively investigated in many previous studies but only few studies focusing on shear turbulence characteristics in wide gap and large size Taylor-Couette flow (TCF) reactors have been conducted. In the present study, particle image velocimetry (PIV) technology was adopted to investigate such shear turbulence characteristics based on the measurement of the instantaneous axial and radial velocities in the meridional plane of the annulus between the rotating inner and the non-rotating outer cylinder in a large size TCF reactor. The experimental results have indicated that as the Reynolds number exceeds the critical value, the vorticity strength of the induced Taylor vortices remarkably increases, consequently causing an enhanced outward impinging jet flow. It was also found that the secondary vortices in addition to major Taylor vortices when ReT reaches a critical value significantly alter the flow and turbulent characteristics in the reactor.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract