Spherical Couette flow in a dipolar magnetic field
Geophysics
2009-11-13 v1 Fluid Dynamics
Abstract
We consider numerically the flow of an electrically conducting fluid in a differentially rotating spherical shell, in a dipolar magnetic field. For infinitesimal differential rotation the flow consists of a super-rotating region, concentrated on the particular field line C just touching the outer sphere, in agreement with previous results. Finite differential rotation suppresses this super-rotation, and pushes it inward, toward the equator of the inner sphere. For sufficiently strong differential rotation the outer boundary layer becomes unstable, yielding time-dependent solutions. Adding an overall rotation suppresses these instabilities again. The results are in qualitative agreement with the DTS liquid sodium experiment.
Cite
@article{arxiv.physics/0702228,
title = {Spherical Couette flow in a dipolar magnetic field},
author = {Rainer Hollerbach and Elisabeth Canet and Alexandre Fournier},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0702228},
year = {2009}
}