poloidal

Adjective

poloidal (comparative more poloidal, superlative most poloidal)

1. Of, pertaining to, or shaped like a poloid.
   • Two different pathways, called poloids, are obtained depending on whether A is considered as the fixed frame, or whether B is considered as the fixed frame. The two poloidal curves roll on each other, […]2013, Gary T. Yamaguchi, Dynamic Modeling of Musculoskeletal Motion, page 150
2. Between the poles of a magnet.
   • A poloidal magnetic field has closed field lines that begin and end on fictitious “poles," as in the case of a bar magnet or William Gilbert's lodestone.2023, William Lowrie, The Earth's Magnetic Field, page 47
3. Having a direction on a torus perpendicular to a line that traces around the outside of a torus, or on a sphere perpendicular to the equator, going through both poles.
   • The magnetic field can be written as the sum of a poloidal field and a toroidal field, and many of the concepts of dynamo theory revolve around the question of how to generate a toroidal field from a poloidal field and, conversely, how to generate a poloidal field from a toroidal field.1999, Michael W. McElhinny, Phillip L. McFadden, Paleomagnetism: Continents and Oceans, page 11
   • While the slope of the toroidal velocity distribution at the outer surface is generally in good agreement with the observed surface value, poloidal velocity consistently shows reduced energy at low harmonics .2012, Ren Wang, Keiiti Aki, Mechanics Problems in Geodynamics Part I, page 497