Transition measurements near a multiple bifurcation point in a Taylor-Couette flow

The transition to a wavy vortex state from the Taylor vortex state has been studied under a quasistatic ramping condition. Six different values of the radius ratio, ranging between 0.7204 to 0.7399, were used. For 0.7248, the flow always evolves into an m=2 state, while for 0.7260, the flow evolves into an m=3 state. (From an earlier study, it is known that the latter transition typei.e., to an m=3 stateextends to values of at least as great as 0.7767.) Therefore, the neutral stability curves for the m=2 and m=3 states must intersect somewhere within the narrow range 0.7248 <<0.7260. The flow states near the intersection should exhibit behavior characteristics of a multiple bifurcation of codimension 2. No unusual transition behavior has yet been observed. Our results compare favorably with recent stability calculations by C. A. Jones.