Downloads & Free Reading Options - Results

This research has been primarily concerned with the excitation and detection of inertial waves in a fluid contained in a rotating cylindrical cavity during spin-up of the fluid from rest. Application of this work is to the study of fluid filled projectiles and their stability in free flight. It is well known that a projectile containing fluid will be subject to instability if its nutational frequency is near one of the eigenfrequencies of the contained fluid. Our work has centered on finding these time dependent eigenfrequencies for a fluid which completely fills a cylindrical cavity. Also of interest in the application of our work is the rate at which these waves decay once they are excited during the spin-up period. Included in our experimental work was a study of decay rates for several inertial waves during spin-up from rest. (Author)