Taylor–Dean instability of yield-stress fluids at large gaps

Centrifugal instability of Bingham fluids is investigated in Taylor–Dean flow when the gap size is large compared to the cylinders radii. To determine conditions for the onset of instability, an infinitesimal axisymmetric disturbance was introduced to the basic flow and its evolution in time was monitored using a normal-mode linear stability analysis. To avoid the problem with the stress discontinuity at the location of the yield surface(s), use was made of the Papanastasiou’s regularized variation of the Bingham model in order to obtain the basic flow velocity profiles. An eigenvalue problem was obtained for the exact Bingham fluid which was solved numerically using the collocation method. A plot of the neutral instability curve at different Bingham numbers suggests that the yield stress can have a stabilizing or destabilizing effect on Taylor–Dean flow depending on the sign and magnitude of the pressure gradient, and also on the sense of rotation of the two cylinders with respect to each other.

► For counter-rotating cylinders, a positive pressure gradient stabilizes the flow with the negative one having the opposite effect.
► For counter-rotating cylinders, yield stress has a stabilizing effect.
► For co-rotating cylinders, the case of no pressure gradient is the most stable case.
► For co-rotating cylinders, yield stress can destabilize the flow depending on the gap size and the magnitude of the yield stress.