Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T03:49:40.363Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mean zonal flows generated by librations of a rotating spherical cavity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 March 2010

F. H. BUSSE
F. H. BUSSE*
Affiliation:
Institute of Physics, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth 95440, Germany
*
†Email address for correspondence: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Longitudinal librations represent oscillations about the axis of a rotating axisymmetric fluid-filled cavity. An analytical theory is developed for the case of a spherical cavity in the limit when the libration frequency is small in comparison with the rotation rate, but large in comparison with the inverse of the spin-up time. It is shown that longitudinal librations create a steady zonal flow through the nonlinear advection in the Ekman layers. The theory can be applied to laboratory experiments as well as to solid planets and satellites with a liquid core.

Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 650 , 10 May 2010 , pp. 505 - 512
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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

REFERENCES

Aldridge, K. D. 1967 An experimental study of axisymmetric inertial oscillations of a rotating liquid sphere. PhD thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Aldridge, K. D. & Toomre, A. 1969 Axisymmetric inertial oscillations of a fluid in a rotating spherical container. J. Fluid Mech. 37, 307–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenspan, H. P. 1968 The Theory of Rotating Fluids. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Greenspan, H. P. & Weinbaum, S. 1965 On nonlinear spin-up of a rotating Fluid. J. Math. Phys. 44, 66–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noir, J., Hemmerlin, F., Wicht, J., Baca, S. M. & Aurnou, J. M. 2009 An experimental and numerical study of librationally driven flow in planetary cores and subsurface oceans. Phys. Earth Planet. Inter. 173, 141–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewartson, K. & Roberts, P. H. 1963 On the motion of a liquid in a spheroidal cavity of a precessing rigid body. J. Fluid Mech. 17, 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Hoolst, T., Rambaux, N. & Karatekin, Ö. 2009 The effect of gravitational and pressure torques on Titan's length of day variations. Icarus 200 (1), 256–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wahr, J. M. 1988 The earth's rotation. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 16, 321–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar