Molecular dynamics simulation of Taylor-Couette vortex formation

The formation of toroidal Taylor vortices in a fluid contained within the annular region bounded by two concentric cylinders, the inner one of which rotates, has been observed using molecular dynamics simulation. The quantitative nature of the vortices has been examined over a range of supercritical Taylor numbers. The Fourier amplitudes of the fundamental radial velocity mode and its low-order harmonics have been analyzed; despite the microscopic system size their functional dependence on the Taylor number is in excellent agreement with theory and experiment.