Experiments on the stability of spiral flow at low axial Reynolds numbers

The hydrodynamic stability of viscous flow between rotating cylinders with superposed axial flow has been studied experimentally. The experiments were confined to the case where the outer cylinder is at rest and the gap between cylinders is small. Particular attention has been given to small rates of axial flow. The results compare satisfactorily with Chandrasekhar’s perturbation theory valid under these conditions.