Shercliff layers in strongly magnetic cylindrical Taylor-Couette flow

Abstract

We numerically compute axisymmetric Taylor-Couette flow in the presence of axially periodic magnetic fields, with Hartmann numbers up to $H{a}^2=10^7$. The geometry of the field singles out special field lines on which Shercliff layers form. These are simple shear layers for insulating boundaries, versus super-rotating or counter-rotating layers for conducting boundaries. Some field configurations have previously studied spherical analogs, but fundamentally new configurations also exist, having no spherical analogs. Finally, we explore the influence of azimuthal fields $B_{\varphi }\sim r^{-1}{\hat{\mathbf{e}}}_{\varphi }$ on these layers, and show that the flow is suppressed for conducting boundaries but enhanced for insulating boundaries.

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