Rotating flow past a sliced cylinder

Depending upon the relative sizes of the parameters of the problem, rotating flow of a vertically confined fluid past an asymmetric object-in this case a circular cylinder with top sliced at an angle-may induce flow inside the Taylor column, driven by the viscous stresses in the column wall. The motion is along the constant-depth contours, which are not closed in such a situation. We show from theoretical considerations that so long as the angle of the slice is bigger than the one-quarter power of the Ekman number, E, such an interior motion in the column does occur. In general, the motion consists of two eddies over the obstacle. A series of case study laboratory experiments is presented in support of the analysis, to show the effect of the slice orientation and magnitude on the flow over such a bump, and to illustrate the nature of the flows which are generated when inertial effects are dominant. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.