On the equatorial Ekman layer
From MaRDI portal
Abstract: The steady incompressible viscous flow in the wide gap between spheres rotating about a common axis at slightly different rates (small Ekman number E) has a long and celebrated history. The problem is relevant to the dynamics of geophysical and planetary core flows, for which, in the case of electrically conducting fluids, the possible operation of a dynamo is of considerable interest. A comprehensive asymptotic study, in the limit E<<1, was undertaken by Stewartson (J. Fluid Mech. 1966, vol. 26, pp. 131-144). The mainstream flow, exterior to the E^{1/2} Ekman layers on the inner/outer boundaries and the shear layer on the inner sphere tangent cylinder C, is geostrophic. Stewartson identified a complicated nested layer structure on C, which comprises relatively thick quasi-geostrophic E^{2/7} (inside C) and E^{1/4} (outside C) layers. They embed a thinner E^{1/3} ageostrophic shear layer (on C), which merges with the inner sphere Ekman layer to form the E^{2/5} Equatorial Ekman layer of axial length E^{1/5}. Under appropriate scaling, this --layer problem may be formulated, correct to leading order, independent of E. Accordingly, the Ekman boundary layer and ageostrophic shear layer become features of the far-field (as identified by the large value of the scaled axial co-ordinate z) solution. We present a numerical solution, which uses a non-local integral boundary condition at finite to account for the far-field behaviour. Adopting z^{-1} as a small parameter we extend Stewartson's similarity solution for the ageostrophic shear layer to higher orders. This far-field solution agrees well with that obtained from our numerical model.
Recommendations
- Magnetohydrodynamic Ekman and Stewartson layers in a rotating spherical shell
- On the inviscid flow in the earth's liquid core
- Steady flow in a rapidly rotating sphere with weak precession
- Stress-driven spin-down of a viscous fluid within a spherical shell
- Thick E ¼ Stewartson layers in a rapidly rotating gas
Cites work
- A super-rotating shear layer in magnetohydrodynamic spherical Couette flow
- An equatorial boundary layer
- Asymptotic behavior of geophysical fluids in highly rotating balls
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3670030 (Why is no real title available?)
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 486467 (Why is no real title available?)
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3290160 (Why is no real title available?)
- Inertial waves in a spherical shell induced by librations of the inner sphere: experimental and numerical results
- Instabilities of the Stewartson layer Part 1. The dependence on the sign of Ro
- Instabilities of the Stewartson layer. II: Supercritical mode transitions
- Introduction to modeling convection in planets and stars. Magnetic field, density stratification, rotation
- Mathematical Aspects of Natural Dynamos
- NIST handbook of mathematical functions
- Non-axisymmetric flows in a differential-disk rotating system
- On almost rigid rotations
- On almost rigid rotations. Part 2
- On the flow properties of a fluid between concentric spheres
- On the internal shear layers spawned by the critical regions in oscillatory Ekman boundary layers
- On the Stability of a Maclaurin Spheroid of Small Viscosity.
- Pathological oscillations of a rotating fluid
- Singularities of Hartmann layers
- Successive elimination of shear layers by a hierarchy of constraints in inviscid spherical-shell flows
- The almost-rigid rotation of viscous fluid between concentric spheres
- The connection between Ekman and Stewartson layers for a rotating disk
- The magneto-hydrodynamics of a rotating fluid and the earth’s dynamo problem
- The onset of thermal convection in rotating spherical shells
- The structure of free vertical shear layers in a rotating fluid and the motion produced by a slowly rising body
Cited in
(12)- Mathematical study of the equatorial Ekman boundary layer
- Damping effects in boundary layers for rotating fluids with small viscosity
- Numerical study of the motions within a slowly precessing sphere at low Ekman number
- Nonlinear Eckman friction and asymmetry of cyclonic and anticyclonic coherent structures in geophysical flows
- The influence of the horizontal component of Earth's angular velocity on the instability of the Ekman layer
- Internal shear layers from librating objects
- On the inviscid flow in the earth's liquid core
- Stress-driven spin-down of a viscous fluid within a spherical shell
- Stewartson-layer instability in a wide-gap spherical Couette experiment: Rossby number dependence
- Spin-down in a rapidly rotating cylinder container with mixed rigid and stress-free boundary conditions
- Transition to turbulence in the wide-gap spherical Couette system
- The effects of Stokes's formula for an ellipsoidal layering of the earth's atmosphere
This page was built for publication: On the equatorial Ekman layer
Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q4976846)
