Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T20:59:04.673Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Nonlinear hydrodynamic and hydromagnetic spin-up driven by Ekman-Hartmann boundary layers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2006

Edward R. Benton
Affiliation:
Department of Astro-Geophysics, University of Colorado

Abstract

Finite amplitude, impulsively started spin-up and spin-down is analysed for axially symmetric flow of a viscous, incompressible, electrically conducting fluid confined between infinite, flat, parallel, insulating boundaries. A uniform axial magnetic field is present in the initial state, but is subsequently distorted by fluid motions. The method of matched asymptotic expansions reduces the problem to a first-order, ordinary, nonlinear, integro-differential equation for the transient development of the interior angular velocity on the time scale of spin- up, as driven by quasi-steady nonlinear Ekman-Hartmann boundary layers. This two-parameter equation is solved analytically in certain limits and numeric-ally in general. The solutions show that nonlinear non-magnetic spin-up and spin-down take longer than for linearized flow, spin-down occurring more rapidly in the early stages but requiring more time for completion than spin-up. A magnetic field promotes both spin-up and spin-down, but a weak field is relatively ineffective for spin-down yet very effective for spin-up. A strong magnetic field dominates nonlinear processes and gives identical spin-up and spin-down times, which coincide with that found from linear hydromagnetic theory.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1973 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benton, E. R. & Chow, J. H. S. 1972 Steady nonlinear Ekman-Hartmann boundary layers. Phys. Fluids, to appear.Google Scholar
Benton, E. R. & Loper, D. E. 1969 On the spin-up of an clectrically conducting fluid. Part 1. The unsteady hydromagnetic Ekman-Hartmann boundary-layer problem. J. Fluid ilirech. 39, 561586.Google Scholar
Bien, F. & Penner, S. S. 1970 Velocity profiles in steady and unsteady rotating flows for a finite cylindrical geometry. Phys. Fluids, 13, 16651671.Google Scholar
Dicee, R. H. 1970 Internal rotation of the sun. In Annual Review of Astronoway and Astrophysics (ed. L. Goldberg), vol. 8, pp. 297328. Annual Reviews, Inc.
Fettis, H. E. 1955 On the integration of a class of differential equations occurring in boundary layer and other hydrodynamic problems. Proc. 4th Midwestern Conference on Fluid Mechanics, Purdue, pp. 93114.Google Scholar
Gilman, P. A. 1971 Instabilities of the Ekman-Hartmann boundary layer. Phys. Fluids, 14, 712.Google Scholar
Gilman, P. A. & Benton, E. R. 1968 Influence of an axial magnetic field on the steady linear Ekman boundary layer. Phys. Fluids, 11, 23972401.Google Scholar
Greenspan, H. P. 1968 The Theory of Rotating Fluids. Cambridge University Press.
Greenspan, H. P. & Howard, L. N. 1963 On a time-dependent motion of a rotating fluid. J. Fluid Mech. 17, 385404.Google Scholar
Greenspan, H. P. & Weinbaum, S. 1965 On nonlinear spin-up of a rotating fluid. J. Math. & Phys. 44, 6685.Google Scholar
Hide, R. & Roberts, P. H. 1961 The origin of the main geomagnetic field. In Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, vol. 4, pp. 2798. Pergamon.
Incham, D. B. 1969 Magnetohydrodynamic flow in a container. Phys. Fluids, 12, 389396.Google Scholar
Rroll, J. & Veronis, G. 1970 The spin-up of a homogeneous fluid bounded below by a permeable medium. J. Fluid Mech. 40, 225239.Google Scholar
Loper, D. E. & Benton, E. R. 1970 On the spin-up of an electrically conducting fluid. Part 2. Hydromagnetic spin-up between infinite flat insulating plates. J. Fluid Mech. 43, 785799.Google Scholar
Wedemeyer, E. H. 1964 The unsteady flow within a spinning cylinder. J. Fluid Mech. 20. 383399.Google Scholar