High magnetic shear gain in a liquid sodium stable Couette flow experiment: a prelude to an α-Ω dynamo

The Ω phase of the liquid sodium α-Ω dynamo experiment at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in cooperation with Los Alamos National Laboratory has demonstrated a high toroidal field B(ϕ) that is ≃8×B(r), where B(r) is the radial component of an applied poloidal magnetic field. This enhan...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2011-04, Vol.106 (17), p.175003-175003, Article 175003
Main Authors: Colgate, Stirling A, Beckley, Howard, Si, Jiahe, Martinic, Joe, Westpfahl, David, Slutz, James, Westrom, Cebastian, Klein, Brianna, Schendel, Paul, Scharle, Cletus, McKinney, Travis, Ginanni, Rocky, Bentley, Ian, Mickey, Timothy, Ferrel, Regnar, Li, Hui, Pariev, Vladimir, Finn, John
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:The Ω phase of the liquid sodium α-Ω dynamo experiment at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in cooperation with Los Alamos National Laboratory has demonstrated a high toroidal field B(ϕ) that is ≃8×B(r), where B(r) is the radial component of an applied poloidal magnetic field. This enhanced toroidal field is produced by the rotational shear in stable Couette flow within liquid sodium at a magnetic Reynolds number Rm≃120. Small turbulence in stable Taylor-Couette flow is caused by Ekman flow at the end walls, which causes an estimated turbulence energy fraction of (δv/v)(2)∼10(-3).
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.175003