Dynamics of a confined dusty fluid in a sheared ion flow

Dynamics of an isothermally driven dust fluid is analyzed which is confined in an azimuthally symmetric cylindrical setup by an effective potential and is in equilibrium with an unconfined sheared flow of a streaming plasma. Cases are analyzed where the confining potential constitutes a barrier for the driven fluid, limiting its spatial extension and boundary velocity. The boundary effects entering the formulation are characterized by applying the appropriate boundary conditions and a range of solutions exhibiting single and multiple vortex are obtained. The equilibrium solutions considered in the cylindrical setup feature a transition from single to multiple vortex state of the driven flow. Effects of (i) the variation in dust viscosity, (ii) coupling between the driving and the driven fluid, and (iii) a friction determining the equilibrium dynamics of the driven system are characterized. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.