Theoretical and experimental studies in support of the geophysical fluid flow experiment

Details Theoretical and experimental studies in support of the geophysical fluid flow experiment Theoretical and experimental studies in support of the geophysical fluid flow experiment

Oct 1985

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1985aprr.nasa.....h&link_type=abstract

In NASA. Marshall Space Flight Center NASA/MSFC FY-85 Atmospheric Processes Research Review 3 p (SEE N87-13043 04-47)

Physics

Geophysics

Coriolis Effect, Dielectrics, Fluid Filled Shells, Fluid Flow, Geophysics, Rotating Fluids, Rotating Spheres, Spaceborne Experiments, Electric Potential, Rotation, Space Shuttles, Stresses

Scientific paper

Meteorologists and astrophysicists interested in large scale planetary and solar circulations have come to recognize the importance of rotation and stratification in determining the character of these flows. In particular, the effect of latitude-dependent Coriolis force on nonlinear convection is thought to play a crucial role in such phenomena as differential rotation on the Sun, cloud band orientation on Jupiter, and the generation of magnetic fields in thermally driven dynamos. The continuous low-gravity environment of the orbiting space shuttle offers a unique opportunity to make laboratory studies of such large-scale thermally driven flows under the constraint imposed by rotation and sphericity. This is possible because polarization forces in a dielectric liquid, which are linearly dependent on fluid temperature, give rise to an effectively radial buoyancy force when a radial electrostatic field is imposed. The Geophysical Fluid Flow Cell (GFFC) is an implementation of this ideal in which fluid is contained between two rotating hemispheres that are differentially heated and stressed with a large a-c voltage. The experiment, to be flown on Spacelab III (currently set for launch April 29, 1985), will explore non-linear mode selection and high Rayleigh number turbulence in a rotating convecting spherical shell of liquid. Experiments will be carried out in a low driving parameter range where some limited numerical experimentation is currently feasible, as well as in a parameter range significantly beyond numerical computation for many years.

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