The stability of a free rotating layer in an electrically conducting fluid in an axial field

The subject considered is a homogeneous electrically conducting incompressible medium with a current in a homogeneous external magnetic field and bounded by parallel insulating planes normal to the induction vector. When the current is fed by means of a system of coaxial electrodes located on one or both of the insulating planes, regions arise in which the medium is in rotational motion. If the lateral wall is at a sufficient distance from the electrodes, the rotating layer which forms as a result of the interaction of the axial magnetic field and the radial component of the electric current has free lateral boundaries. A study is made of the way in which the Reynolds number for the loss of stability in such a layer depends on the Hartmann number and on the geometric parameter for high values of the Hartmann number and low values of the magnetic Reynolds number.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 5, pp. 166–173, September–October, 1984.