Precession-driven fluid flows and their ability to drive a dynamo


Precession-driven fluid flows and their ability to drive a dynamo

Giesecke, A.; Anders, S.; Wilbert, M.; Grauer, R.; Gundrum, T.; Pizzi, F.; Kumar, V.; Ratajczak, M.; Stefani, F.

It is well known that a magnetohydrodynamic dynamo, i.e. the
generation of a magnetic field from a flow of an electrically
conductive fluid, takes or took place in the interior of the Sun or
stars as well as in planets and smaller celestial bodies like the
ancient moon or the asteroid Vesta. The ubiquity and diversity of
astrophysical dynamo action and its great importance for formation and
evolution of the objects generating them has motivated related studies
in the laboratory. Currently, a new dynamo experiment is under
construction at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf within the
project DRESDYN (DREsden Sodium facility for DYNamo and
thermohydraulic studies). In that experiment a flow of liquid sodium
will be driven by precession of a cylindrical container. Previous
experiments by Gans (1971) and more recent numerical models
indicate that dynamo action can be expected in the vicinity of the
transition from a laminar flow state to vigorous turbulence if the
system is sufficiently large.

In our contribution we describe the progress in construction of the
experiment and present new results from simulations and accompanying
water experiments in which the precession-driven flow was recorded
with Ultrasonic Doppler Velocimetry (UDV) and Particle Image
Velocimetry (PIV). The analysis of the data by means of the
decomposition into different classes of inertial modes provides an
impression of flow features, which are supposed to be beneficial for
the dynamo, like axisymmetric large scale flow modes, shear layers due
to the modification of the rotational base flow, or the appearance of
intermittent mid-scale vortices. Our focus will be on the influence of
the precession angle on the fluid flow and the dynamo, as well as
on investigating the possibility of increasing the internal flow
amplitude by means of baffles mounted at the end caps of the
container. The main aim is to provide general global characteristics
that are also relevant for a more natural spherical/spheroidal
geometry.

Keywords: Dynamo; DRESDYN

  • Lecture (Conference)
    AGU Fall Meeting, 12.-16.12.2022, Chicago, USA

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Publ.-Id: 35506