Stability of ferrofluid flow between concentric rotating cylinders with an axial magnetic field

A linear stability analysis for the ferrofluid flow between two concentric rotating cylinders in the presence of an axial magnetic field is implemented in this study. Both of the wide-gap and small-gap cases are considered and the governing equations with respect to three-dimensional disturbances including axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric modes are derived and solved by a direct numerical procedure. A parametric study covering wide ranges of phi, the volume fraction of colloidal particles; xi, the strength of axial magnetic field; mu, the ratio of angular velocity of the outer cylinder to that of the inner cylinder; and epsilon, the ratio of radius of the inner cylinder to that of the outer cylinder, is conducted. Results show that the stability characteristics depend heavily on these factors. It is found that the increases of phi and xi, and decrease of epsilon tend to stabilize the basic flow for an assigned value of mu. The variations of the onset mode with these parameters are discussed in detail. An example for the practical application of present results is given to help the understanding of stability behaviour of this flow. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.