TOROIDAL FLOWS IN RESISTIVE MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC STEADY-STATES

We consider the resistive steady states of a uniformly conducting magn etofluid inside a toroidal boundary. The problem becomes tractable in the limit of slow flow: i.e., low Reynolds number, which may be in tur n justified when the viscous Lundquist number is small. Previous calcu lations are extended to apprehend the toroidal component of the necess ary how. The emerging pattern is one of helical vortices which seem li kely to be ubiquitous in toroidal geometry, and which disappear in the ''straight-cylinder approximation.'' (C) 1998 American Institute of P hysics.