Formation of a viscous boundary layer on the free surface of an imploding rotating liquid cylinder

The effect of viscosity on the inner free surface of a rotating imploding cylindrical liquid shell compressing an ideal gas or magnetic flux load is analysed in the limit of high Reynolds number Re. The condition of vanishing tangential stress on the free surface leads to the formation of a boundary layer of thickness approximately Resup(-1/2). Within this layer the zonal velocity v is reduced by an amount Δv such that Δv/v approximately Resup(-1/2). This results in a requirement of slightly increased rotation in order to satisfy the criterion for suppression of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability on the free surface. Calculations are presented for a model implosion trajectory. (author)