The structure of fully nonlinear Taylor vortices

The structure of nonlinear short-wavelength Taylor vorticesin the flow between rotating concentric cylinders is considered.In the short-wavelength limit, the nonlinear vortex motion isgoverned by a mean-flow-first-harmonic interaction problem.The initial structure of the nonlinear vortex state is shownto be governed by a multilayer structure in which the vortexis constrained to lie between the inner cylinder and a positioninternal to the flow regime. This position is dependent uponthe Taylor number and it is found that there is a critical valueof the Taylor number at which the vortex first impinges on theouter boundary. The vortex field then develops a double boundarylayer structure at both the inner and outer boundary as theTaylor number is increased past this critical Taylor number.