Mean zonal flows generated by librations of a rotating spherical cavity

F.H. Busse

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    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.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)505-512
    Number of pages8
    JournalJournal of Fluid Mechanics
    Volume650
    Early online date19 Mar 2010
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 10 May 2010

    Bibliographical note

    © Cambridge University Press 2010

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