Steady flows in rotating spherical cavity excited by multi-frequency oscillations of free inner core

Fluid motion in a rotating spherical cavity in the conditions of resonant oscillations of free inner core is experimentally investigated. The centrifugal force retains a solid core with density less than the fluid density near the center of the cavity. In the absence of external force field the system “solid core - liquid” performs solid body rotation. The oscillations of the core are excited by an external oscillating force field and this results in differential rotation of the core with respect to the cavity. The direction of rotation is determined by the ratio of the oscillation frequency to the cavity angular velocity. The core oscillations with the radian frequency, which exceeds the cavity angular velocity, are investigated. It is found that a steady flow in the form of a system of nested fluid columns of circular cross section, which rotate at different angular velocities, is generated in the cavity as a result of oscillations of the core and the fluid. It is shown that at simultaneous influence of several oscillating fields the resulting steady flow is determined by a linear superposition of the flows, which are excited by the oscillations of the inner core with different frequencies. At a certain ratio of the vibration frequency to the rotation one the transformation of the circular shape of the column into the elliptical one is observed.