Turbulent shear instability of accretion disks

Journal Article · Mon Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1980 · Sov. Astron. (Engl. Transl.); (United States)

OSTI ID:6565915

Iroshnikov, R S

The question of whether disks with a Keplerian rotation law can be turbulized is investigated. A regime or turbulent Couette flow between rotating coaxial cylinders is described in terms of the semiempirical Rott model of well-developed anisotropic turbulence. In this model the turbulence is characterized by two different relaxation time scales: the time required to isotropize the turbulent pulsations, and the damping time. For an inviscid fluid (large Reynolds number), turbulent flow can develop only for sufficiently large shear deformations Vertical BarpartialW(r)/rVertical Bar (W is the angular rotational velocity), not for all deformations. An estimate for the parameters of the turbulized Keplerian disk suggests a criterion for testing whether the shear turbulization mechanism can operate: if disks exist which have become turbulized through unstable stratification of the medium and which are characterized by a decidedly subsonic turbulization regime, then the mechanism of shear instability through turbulization cannot operate.

• Research Organization: Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow
• OSTI ID: 6565915
• Journal Information: Sov. Astron. (Engl. Transl.); (United States), Journal Name: Sov. Astron. (Engl. Transl.); (United States) Vol. 24:5; ISSN SAAJA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640102* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Stars & Quasi-Stellar
Radio & X-Ray Sources
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BINARY STARS
COUETTE FLOW
FLUID FLOW
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
SHEAR PROPERTIES
STAR ACCRETION
STAR EVOLUTION
STARS
TURBULENCE
VISCOUS FLOW