Abstract: Particle image velocimetry (PIV)and numerical simulation (CFD)were applied to measure the Taylor-Couette flow and the information of the vortex flow at different rotation speeds was obtained.The measurement results by PIV were compared carefully with numerical results by CFD under the same condition,and the variation characteristics of all phase velocities along the central axis and different radial lines of the vortex flow with different Reynolds num-bers were contrastively analyzed.The results indicate that there existed several speed ranges with various characteristics:when the rotation speed was within 2~7r/min(Re= 100~350)laminar vortex flow was found according to the characteristics of phase velocity vectors;when the rota-tion speed was within 7~40r/min(Re= 350~2000)wavy vortex flow was found;it was modula-ted wavy vortex flow when the rotation speed was within 40~60r/min(Re= 2000~3000);and it was turbulent vortex flow when the rotation speed was higher than 60r/min(Re≥3000).Then,in order to deeply explore the characteristics of Taylor vortex flow and the features of the vortex motion by quantitative analysis,this research explicitly analyzed the Reynolds number ranges where the form of the vortices was found to change under a certain geometric condition according to the relationship among the characteristics of the form of vortices,their corresponding rotation speeds,and the Reynolds number.