The excitation mechanism of a shear stress induced rotary wave

The free surface flow in a vertical, cylindrical, rotating container will be considered when axis-symmetric angular and radial shear stress distributions are applied on the free surface. It is well known that in the inviscid case a rotary wave which can be described by a flow potential exists. We want to determine the stability limit of the axis-symmetric base state with respect to the rotary wave for small Ekman and Froude numbers. Under the above assumption, the critical flow conditions can be determined analytically. The results can be verified experimentally using a vertical, cylindrical container partially filled with water where the top lid rotates with a given angular velocity. Thus, the induced air flow will exert shear stresses in the angular and radial direction onto the water surface. Above a certain threshold, rotary waves can be observed. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)