The onset of resonance processes in the Couette–Taylor problem close to the point of codimension-2 bifurcation

The bifurcations on passing around the point of intersection of two neutral curves (points of codimension-2 bifurcation) are considered in the Couette–Taylor problem of the fluid motion between rotating cylinders. The secondary modes in a small neighbourhood of a point of codimension-2 bifurcation are studied using a system of non-linear amplitude equations in a central manifold. The steady-state solutions of the amplitude systems, to which secondary periodic modes of the travelling-wave type, non-linear mixtures of travelling waves and unsteady two-, three- and four-frequency quasiperiodic solutions of the system of Navier–Stokes equations correspond, are analysed. A numerical analysis of the conditions for the existence and stability of irrotationally symmetric steady-state fluid flows between unidirectionally rotating cylinders is carried out.