Computational investigation of fluid flow and heat transfer of conical Taylor–Couette flow with radial‐temperature difference

Abstract This study numerically investigated fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of conical Taylor–Couette flow with a radial temperature difference. The computational conditions were limited to a moderate Reynolds number ( Re ) regime. The Rayleigh number Ra , which characterizes the buoyancy‐driven flow, was varied using two types of fluids: water for the higher Ra (= 61,437.7) and 40 wt.% glycerol aqueous solution for the lower Ra (= 18,373.2). The flow pattern of the conical Taylor–Couette flow was confirmed to be significantly affected by Ra . In particular, at the higher Ra tested ( Ra = 61,437.7), large‐distorted Taylor cells were observed at the highest Re within the computational conditions of this study. Additionally, the time‐series data of the velocity fluctuation were analyzed through continuous wavelet transform analysis, and consequently, logarithmic expectation and information entropy were obtained. The results indicated that the velocity fluctuation exhibited a fractal structure. Furthermore, the area‐ and time‐averaged Nusselt numbers ( Nu t ) of the conical and cylindrical systems were compared based on the power consumption per volume. The conical system achieved comparable heat transfer performance with a substantially lower power input under higher Ra , demonstrating its superior energy efficiency.