Precession-induced flows in liquid-filled containers and in the Earth's core

Experimental results obtained from liquid-filled precessing oblate spheroidal tanks have been reported (Malkus 1963, 1968; Vanyo 1991; Vanyo et al. 1995). These results have not yet been adequately compared with the solutions that have emerged from previous analytical studies of the effect of container ellipticity and viscosity on the flow inside a precessing ellipsoidal cavity (Stewartson & Roberts 1963; Roberts & Stewartson 1965; Busse 1968). It appears that the laminar precessional response of the fluid that Vanyo et al. (1995) were able to identify and characterize is indeed a realization of the laminar theoretical solution, the most general form of which was given by Busse (1968). In the main body of this work, we explicitly show the correspondence between the features observed in the laminar regime and what is expected from theory. We also scale the features mentioned above to the case of the Earth and discuss their geophysical implications.