Laminar-Turbulent Intermittency in Annular Couette-Poiseuille Flow: Whether a Puff Splits or Not

Direct numerical simulations were carried out with an emphasis on the intermittency and localized turbulence structure occurring within the subcritical transitional regime of a concentric annular Couette-Poiseuille flow. In the annular system, the ratio of the inner to outer cylinder radius is an important geometrical parameter affecting the large-scale nature of the intermittency. We chose a low radius ratio of 0.1 and imposed a constant pressure gradient providing practically zero shear on the inner cylinder such that the base flow was approximated to that of a circular pipe flow. Localized turbulent puffs, that is, axial uni-directional intermittencies similar to those observed in the transitional circular pipe flow, were observed in the annular Couette-Poiseuille flow. Puff splitting events were clearly observed rather far from the global critical Reynolds number, near which given puffs survived without a splitting event throughout the observation period, which was as long as 104 outer time units. The characterization as a directed-percolation universal class was also discussed.