Thermally Induced Flow in a Rotating Annulus Filled With a Compressible Fluid

Abstract

The thermally induced flow field, in a rapidly rotating container consisting of a pair of coaxial cylinders bounded on the top and bottom by horizontal end plates, is considered. The top plate is heated and the bottom plate is cooled, both by small amounts, so that the thermal Rossby number is small, and the cylinders are supposed to be conductive. The induced velocity and temperature fields are determined by subdivision of the flow field; the equation for the central part, the inner core, is solved numerically as well as analytically.