Kinematic Alpha Tensors and dynamo mechanisms in a von Karman swirling flow

Abstract

We provide experimental and numerical evidence of in-blades vortices in the von Karman swirling flow. We estimate the associated kinematic α-effect tensor and show that it is compatible with recent models of the von Karman Sodium (VKS) dynamo. We further show that depending on the relative frequency of the two impellers, the dominant dynamo mechanism may switch from α^2 to α − Ω dynamo. We discuss some implications of these results for VKS experiments.