Flow bifurcation and heat transfer in a spherical gap

This paper investigates the steady flow and heat transfer between two conce ntric spheres with the inner rotating and the outer one stationary for the gap width of sigma=0.18. A continuation method is applied to study the bifu rcation structure of the discretized governing equations. The resulting Jac obian matrix along with a test function approach is used to locate the bifu rcation points. A bifurcation diagram of the flow is constructed for Re < 1 200. Seven steady flow modes are predicted. Linear stability analysis is us ed to determine the stability of each flow mode. Temperature distribution a nd heat transfer rate of each flow mode are also computed and analyzed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.