Taylor-Couette flow of hard-sphere suspensions: overview of current understanding

Although inertial particle-laden flows occur in a wide range of industrial and natural processes, there is both a lack of fundamental understanding of these flows and continuum-level governing equations needed to predict transport and particle distribution. Towards this effort, the Taylor-Couette flow (TCF) system has been used recently to study the flow behaviour of particle-laden fluids under inertia. This article provides an overview of experimental, theoretical and computational work related to the TCF of neutrally buoyant non-Brownian suspensions, with an emphasis on the effect of finite-sized particles on the series of flow transitions and flow structures. Particles, depending on their size and concentration, cause several significant deviations from Newtonian fluid behaviour, including shifting the Reynolds number corresponding to transitions in flow structure and changing the possible structures present in the flow. Furthermore, particles may also migrate depending on the flow structure, leading to hysteretic effects that further complicate the flow behaviour. The current state of theoretical and computational modelling efforts to describe the experimental observations is discussed, and suggestions for potential future directions to improve the fundamental understanding of inertial particle-laden flows are provided. This article is part of the theme issue 'Taylor-Couette and related flows on the centennial of Taylor's seminal Philosophical Transactions paper (part 1)'.