Open AccessThe von Kármán Sodium experiment: Turbulent dynamical dynamos
Author(s) -
Romain Monchaux,
Michaël Berhanu,
Sébastien Aumaître,
Arnaud Chiffaudel,
F. Daviaud,
B. Dubrulle,
Florent Ravelet,
S. Fauve,
Nicolas Mordant,
François Pétrélis,
Mickaël Bourgoin,
Philippe Odier,
Jean-François Pinton,
Nicolas Plihon,
Romain Volk
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
physics of fluids
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.188
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 1089-7666
pISSN - 1070-6631
DOI - 10.1063/1.3085724
Subject(s) - dynamo , physics , turbulence , dynamo theory , rotational symmetry , rotation (mathematics) , flow (mathematics) , mechanics , classical mechanics , magnetic field , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics
International audienceThe von Karman Sodium (VKS) experiment studies dynamo action in the flow generated inside a cylinder filled with liquid sodium by the rotation of coaxial impellers (the von Karman geometry). We first report observations related to the self-generation of a stationary dynamo when the flow forcing is R-pi-symmetric, i.e., when the impellers rotate in opposite directions at equal angular velocities. The bifurcation is found to be supercritical with a neutral mode whose geometry is predominantly axisymmetric. We then report the different dynamical dynamo regimes observed when the flow forcing is not symmetric, including magnetic field reversals. We finally show that these dynamics display characteristic features of low dimensional dynamical systems despite the high degree of turbulence in the flow
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