No Arabic abstract
The magnetorotational instability (MRI) is considered to be one of the most powerful sources of turbulence in hydrodynamically stable quasi-Keplerian flows, such as those governing accretion disk flows. Although the linear stability of these flows with applied external magnetic field has been studied for decades, the influence of the instability on the outward angular momentum transport, necessary for the accretion of the disk, is still not well known. In this work we model Keplerian rotation with Taylor-Couette flow and imposed azimuthal magnetic field using both linear and nonlinear approaches. We present scalings of instability with Hartmann and Reynolds numbers via linear analysis and direct numerical simulations (DNS) for the two magnetic Prandtl numbers of $1.4 cdot 10^{-6}$ and $1$. Inside of the instability domains modes with different axial wavenumbers dominate, resulting in sub-domains of instabilities, which appear different for each $Pm$. The DNS show the emergence of 1- and 2-frequency spatio-temporally oscillating structures for $Pm=1$ close the onset of instability, as well as significant enhancement of angular momentum transport for $Pm=1$ as compared to $Pm=1.4 cdot 10^{-6}$.
Numerical simulations of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) with zero initial net flux in a non-stratified isothermal cubic domain are used to demonstrate the importance of magnetic boundary conditions.In fully periodic systems the level of turbulence generated by the MRI strongly decreases as the magnetic Prandtl number (Pm), which is the ratio of kinematic viscosity and magnetic diffusion, is decreased. No MRI or dynamo action below Pm=1 is found, agreeing with earlier investigations. Using vertical field conditions, which allow the generation of a net toroidal flux and magnetic helicity fluxes out of the system, the MRI is found to be excited in the range 0.1 < Pm < 10, and that the saturation level is independent of Pm. In the vertical field runs strong mean-field dynamo develops and helps to sustain the MRI.
This paper is a detailed report on a programme of simulations used to settle a long-standing issue in the dynamo theory and demonstrate that the fluctuation dynamo exists in the limit of large magnetic Reynolds number Rm>>1 and small magnetic Prandtl number Pm<<1. The dependence of the critical Rm_c vs. the hydrodynamic Reynolds number Re is obtained for 1<Re<6700. In the limit Pm<<1, Rm_c is ~3 times larger than for Pm>1. The stability curve Rm_c(Re) (and, it is argued, the nature of the dynamo) is substantially different from the case of the simulations and liquid-metal experiments with a mean flow. It is not as yet possible to determine numerically whether the growth rate is ~Rm^{1/2} in the limit Re>>Rm>>1, as should be the case if the dynamo is driven by the inertial-range motions. The magnetic-energy spectrum in the low-Pm regime is qualitatively different from the Pm>1 case and appears to develop a negative spectral slope, although current resolutions are insufficient to determine its asymptotic form. At 1<Rm<Rm_c, the magnetic fluctuations induced via the tangling by turbulence of a weak mean field are investigated and the possibility of a k^{-1} spectrum above the resistive scale is examined. At low Rm<1, the induced fluctuations are well described by the quasistatic approximation; the k^{-11/3} spectrum is confirmed for the first time in direct numerical simulations.
We compute numerically the threshold for dynamo action in Taylor-Green swirling flows. Kinematic calculations, for which the flow field is fixed to its time averaged profile, are compared to dynamical runs for which both the Navier-Stokes and the induction equations are jointly solved. The kinematic instability is found to have two branches, for all explored Reynolds numbers. The dynamical dynamo threshold follows these branches: at low Reynolds number it lies within the low branch while at high kinetic Reynolds number it is close to the high branch.
We consider the induction of magnetic field in flows of electrically conducting fluid at low magnetic Prandtl number and large kinetic Reynolds number. Using the separation between the magnetic and kinetic diffusive lengthscales, we propose a new numerical approach. The coupled magnetic and fluid equations are solved using a mixed scheme, where the magnetic field fluctuations are fully resolved and the velocity fluctuations at small scale are modelled using a Large Eddy Simulation (LES) scheme. We study the response of a forced Taylor-Green flow to an externally applied field: tology of the mean induction and time fluctuations at fixed locations. The results are in remarkable agreement with existing experimental data; a global $1/f$ behavior at long times is also evidenced.
We study the convective and absolute forms of azimuthal magnetorotational instability (AMRI) in a Taylor-Couette (TC) flow with an imposed azimuthal magnetic field. We show that the domain of the convective AMRI is wider than that of the absolute AMRI. Actually, it is the absolute instability which is the most relevant and important for magnetic TC flow experiments. The absolute AMRI, unlike the convective one, stays in the device, displaying a sustained growth that can be experimentally detected. We also study the global AMRI in a TC flow of finite height using DNS and find that its emerging butterfly-type structure -- a spatio-temporal variation in the form of upward and downward traveling waves -- is in a very good agreement with the linear stability analysis, which indicates the presence of two dominant absolute AMRI modes in the flow giving rise to this global butterfly pattern.