By averaging the Navier-Stokes equation along the rotation axis, we developed an enhanced Quasi-Geostrophic (QG) model that is able to handle barotropic rotating fluid flows in an axisymmetric container with finite slopes. This QG-model is used to study the instabilities of a shear layer known as the Stewartson layer. We show that the slope is the key parameter of the instabilities, which are Rossby-waves. In addition to the bulk viscous term, a realistic Ekman friction derived from Greenspan's formula is implemented in our QG-model. This allows us to obtain highly turbulent flows with realistic dissipation at all scales, for a rapidly rotating fluid. We observe some interesting properties of the QG-turbulence generated by a highly unstable...