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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1903/7146

Title:	Numerical Simulations of Magnetorotational Turbulence in the Laboratory
Authors:	Tillotson, Wilson Andrew
Advisors:	Dorland, William
Department/Program:	Physics
Type:	Dissertation
Sponsors:	Digital Repository at the University of Maryland University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Keywords:	Physics, Fluid and Plasma (0759) Physics, Fluid and Plasma (0759) Magnetohydrodynamics; Magnetorotational Instability; Couette; Liquid Metal
Issue Date:	26-Apr-2007
Abstract:	When threaded by a weak magnetic field, a differentially rotating electrically conducting fluid may exhibit the Magnetorotational Instability (MRI), a likely mechanism for enhanced angular momentum transport in accretion disks. In this thesis, we investigate the MRI and its role in the transition to magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in laboratory liquid metal flows. In addition to presenting a basic WKB local linear analysis, we use two independently developed, global, nonlinear codes to study the problem of MRI in cylindrical geometry. We verify both codes by demonstrating their ability to simulate well-known nonlinear fluid phenomena, such as the development of Taylor vortices in unstable viscous Taylor-Couette flow. In the presence of magnetic fields, we demonstrate that both codes reproduce the correct MRI stability threshold. Our numerical simulations predict the nonlinear saturation amplitude of excited MRI modes for a range of Prandtl numbers, and results indicate that in lab...
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/1903/7146
Appears in Collections:	Physics Theses and Dissertations UM Theses and Dissertations

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