CONVECTION IN A ROTATING MAGNETIC SYSTEM AND TAYLOR CONSTRAINT .2. NUMERICAL RESULTS

Results are presented of a numerical study of marginal convection of electrically conducting fluid, permeated by a strong azimuthal magnetic field, contained in a circular cylinder rotating rapidly about its vertical axis of symmetry. To this basic state is added a geostrophic flow UG(s), constant on geostrophic cylinders radius s. Its magnitude is fixed by requiring that the Lorentz forces induced by the convecting mode satisfy Taylor's condition. The nonlinear mathematical problem describing the system was developed in an earlier paper (Skinner and Soward, 1988) and the predictions made there are confirmed here. In particular, for small values of the Roberts number q which measures the ratio of the thermal to magnetic diffusivities, two distinct regions can be recognised within the fluid with the outer region moving rapidly compared to the inner. Otherwise, conditions for the onset of instability via the Taylor state [formula omitted] do not differ significantly from those appropriate to the static (UG = 0) basic state. The possible disruption of the Taylor states by shear flow instabilities is discussed briefly. © 1991 Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.