Turbulence strength in ultimate Taylor-Couette turbulence

Abstract

We provide experimental measurements for the effective scaling of the Taylor-Reynolds number within the bulk $\text{Re}_{λ,\text{bulk}}$, based on local flow quantities as a function of the driving strength (expressed as the Taylor number Ta), in the ultimate regime of Taylor-Couette flow. The data are obtained through flow velocity field measurements using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). We estimate the value of the local dissipation rate $ε(r)$ using the scaling of the second order velocity structure functions in the longitudinal and transverse direction within the inertial range---without invoking Taylor's hypothesis. We find an effective scaling of $ε_{\text{bulk}} /(ν^{3}d^{-4})\sim \text{Ta}^{1.40}$, (corresponding to $\text{Nu}_{ω,\text{bulk}} \sim \text{Ta}^{0.40}$ for the dimensionless local angular velocity transfer), which is nearly the same as for the global energy dissipation rate obtained from both torque measurements ($\text{Nu}_ω \sim \text{Ta}^{0.40}$) and Direct Numerical Simulations ($\text{Nu}_ω \sim \text{Ta}^{0.38}$). The resulting Kolmogorov length scale is then found to scale as $η_{\text{bulk}}/d \sim \text{Ta}^{-0.35}$ and the turbulence intensity as $I_{θ,\text{bulk}} \sim \text{Ta}^{-0.061}$. With both the local dissipation rate and the local fluctuations available we finally find that the Taylor-Reynolds number effectively scales as Re$_{λ,\text{bulk}}\sim \text{Ta}^{0.18}$ in the present parameter regime of $4.0 \times 10^8 < \text{Ta} < 9.0 \times 10^{10}$.

15 pages, 8 figures, J. Fluid Mech. (In press)