signature=880dfd1f885df807392c149b6d6e1ac5,APS -64th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dyn...

64th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics

Volume 56, Number 18

Sunday–Tuesday, November 20–22, 2011;

Baltimore, Maryland

Session D17: Taylor Couette Instability

2:10 PM–4:20 PM,

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Room: 320

Chair: Matt Paoletti, University of Texas at Austin

Abstract ID: BAPS.2011.DFD.D17.6

Abstract: D17.00006 : Recent results from the Princeton MRI experiment

3:15 PM–3:28 PM

Authors:

Erik Spence

(Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory)

Austin Roach

Eric Edlund

(Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory)

Christophe Gissinger

(Princeton University)

Peter Sloboda

Hantao Ji

(Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory)

The magnetorotational instability (MRI) is widely expected to be

responsible for the observationally inferred accretion rates of

astrophysical disks. The Princeton MRI experiment is a

Taylor-Couette device used to generate conditions under which the

MRI should be unstable: an externally applied magnetic field, and

a radially decreasing angular velocity profile. The apparatus'

unique feature is independently-rotating endcap rings, which are

used to reduce Ekman circulation. The working fluid is GaInSn;

its velocity field is measured using an ultrasonic Doppler

velocimetry system. Though an ideal-Couette angular rotation

profile can almost be attained, through careful choice of end-cap

ring speeds, residual Ekman circulation remains. The

instability's identification is complicated by this secondary

circulation, since it moves in the same radial direction as the

flow expected from the instability. Comparison of radial flows

in MRI-stable and MRI-unstable regimes is used to search for the

instability's signature, as determined by numerical simulations.

An update on the search for the instability will be presented.

To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2011.DFD.D17.6