Studies of Rossby waves and hydrodynamic turbulence in a Taylor-Couette device

We present the design of a new experiment at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory with the mission of studying angular momentum transport in rotating incompressible fluids at Re $>10^6$. This hydrodynamic experiment supports and complements a similar device, the Princeton MRI experiment, which uses a liquid metal to study MHD effects [1]. The inner and outer cylinders may be separately driven; differentially rotating rings on the top and bottom boundaries between the cylinders allow the Ekman circulation to be greatly diminished while maintaining shear in the azimuthal flow close to the Rayleigh criterion. The top, fluid-facing boundary of the device can be outfitted with various surfaces or operated with a free surface to modify the Rossby wave characteristics. A set of ultrasonic transducers is used to measure the $v_r$ and $v_\phi$ profiles at three distinct heights. A two component LDV system provides measurements of the local $v_r$ and $v_\phi$ which will further constrain measurements of the turbulent angular momentum transport reported previously [2].\\[4pt] [1] E. Schartman {\it et al.}, RSI {\bf 80}, 024501 (2009).\\[0pt] [2] H. Ji {\it et al.}, Nature {\bf 444}, 343 (2006).