Boundary element method solution of MHD flow in a rectangular duct

The magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow of an incompressible, viscous, electrically conducting fluid in a rectangular duct with an external magnetic field applied transverse to the flow has been investigated. The walls parallel to the applied magnetic field are conducting while the other two walls which are perpendicular to the field are insulators. The boundary element method (BEM) with constant elements has been used to cast the problem into the form of an integral equation over the boundary and to obtain a system of algebraic equations for the boundary unknown values only. The solution of this integral equation presents no problem as encountered in the solution of the singular integral equations for interior methods. Computations have been carried out for several values of the Hartmann number (1 ? M ? 10). It is found that as M increases, boundary layers are formed close to the insulated boundaries for both the velocity and the induced magnetic field and in the central part their behaviours are uniform. Selected graphs are given showing the behaviours of the velocity and the induced magnetic field.     

Transport and deposition of neutral particles in magnetohydrodynamic turbulent channel flows at low magnetic Reynolds numbers

The effect of Lorentz force on particle transport and deposition is studied by using direct numerical simulation of turbulent channel flow of electrically conducting fluids combined with discrete particle simulation of the trajectories of uncharged, spherical particles. The magnetohydrodynamic equations for fluid flows at low magnetic Reynolds numbers are adopted. The particle motion is determined by the drag, added mass, and pressure gradient forces. Results are obtained for flows with particle ensembles of various densities and diameters in the presence of streamwise, wall-normal or spanwise magnetic fields. It is found that the particle dispersion in the wall-normal and spanwise directions is decreased due to the changes of the underlying fluid turbulence by the Lorentz force, while it is increased in the streamwise direction. The particle accumulation in the near-wall region is diminished in the magnetohydrodynamic flows. In addition, the tendency of small inertia particles to concentrate preferentially in the low-speed streaks near the walls is strengthened with increasing Hartmann number. The particle transport by turbophoretic drift and turbulent diffusion is damped by the magnetic field and, consequently, particle deposition is reduced.     

Direct simulation of MHD flows in dual-coolant liquid metal fusion blanket using a consistent and conservative scheme

Direct simulation of 3-D MHD (magnetohydrodynamics) flows in liquid metal fusion blanket with flow channel insert (FCI) has been conducted. Two kinds of pressure equilibrium slot (PES) in FCI, which are used to balance the pressure difference between the inside and outside of FCI, are considered with a slot in Hartmann wall or a slot in side wall, respectively. The velocity and pressure distribution of FCI made of SiC/SiC_f are numerically studied to illustrate the 3-D MHD flow effects, which clearly show that the flows in fusion blanket with FCI are typical three-dimensional issues and the assumption of 2-D fully developed flows is not the real physical problem of the MHD flows in dual-coolant liquid metal fusion blanket. The optimum opening location of PES has been analyzed based on the 3-D pressure and velocity distributions.     

Spontaneous swirling in axisymmetric MHD flows of an ideally conducting fluid with closed streamlines

The region of instability of the Hill-Shafranov viscous MHD vortex with respect to azimuthal axisymmetric perturbations of the velocity field is determined numerically as a function of the Reynolds number and magnetization in a linear formulation. An approximate formulation of the linear stability problem for MHD flows with circular streamlines is considered. The further evolution of the perturbations in the supercritical region is studied using a nonlinear analog model (a simplified initial system of equations that takes into account some important properties of the basic equations). For this model, the secondary flows resulting from the instability are determined. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 48, No. 3, pp. 40–50, May–June, 2007.     

Linear stability analysis of flow in a periodically grooved channel

We have conducted the linear stability analysis of flow in a channel with periodically grooved parts by using the spectral element method. The channel is composed of parallel plates with rectangular grooves on one side in a streamwise direction. The flow field is assumed to be two‐dimensional and fully developed. At a relatively small Reynolds number, the flow is in a steady‐state, whereas a self‐sustained oscillatory flow occurs at a critical Reynolds number as a result of Hopf bifurcation due to an oscillatory instability mode. In order to evaluate the critical Reynolds number, the linear stability theory is applied to the complex laminar flow in the periodically grooved channel by constituting the generalized eigenvalue problem of matrix form using a penalty‐function method. The critical Reynolds number can be determined by the sign of a linear growth rate of the eigenvalues. It is found that the bifurcation occurs due to the oscillatory instability mode which has a period two times as long as the channel period. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Magnetohydrodynamic peristaltic flow of a hyperbolic tangent fluid in a vertical asymmetric channel with heat transfer

In the present paper we discuss the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) peristaltic flow of a hyperbolic tangent fluid model in a vertical asymmetric channel under a zero Reynolds number and long wavelength approximation. Exact solution of the temperature equation in the absence of dissipation term has been computed and the analytical ex- pression for stream function and axial pressure gradient are established. The flow is analyzed in a wave frame of reference moving with the velocity of wave. The expression for pressure rise has been computed numerically. The physical features of pertinent parameters are analyzed by plotting graphs and discussed in detail.     

On the stability of a thermally stratified conducting fluid under the action of aligned magnetic field

The stability of a thermally stable stratified viscous electrically conducting shear flow is investigated in the presence of an impressed uniform aligned magnetic field. Only two-dimensional disturbances are studied in this paper because Squire's theorem does not apply in general, owing to the presence of the aligned magnetic field. The analysis is partly analytical and partly numerical. The asymptotic solutions for non-viscous fluid are first obtained analytically and they are then improved by introducing viscous and thermal diffusion terms (but only for =1) to get a uniformly valid solution. The neutral stability curves are numerically computed for a range of values of Richardson and Stuart numbers, which show that the flow is completely stabilized when a Stuart number exceeds a certain value for a given R _i>0. It is shown that the combined effects of magnetic field and stratification is to make the system stable to two-dimensional disturbances at lower Stuart number than the one given by Stuart (1954) in the absence of thermal stratification.     

Lie group analysis of viscoelastic MHD aligned flow and heat transfer

Exact solutions for an incompressible, viscoelastic, electrically conducting MHD aligned fluid are obtained for velocity components and temperature profiles. Lie Group method is applied to obtain the solution and the symmetries used are of translational type.The English text was polished by Keren Wang and Yunming Chen.     

The stability of nonisothermal plasma flow in a flat MHD channel

Papers [1, 2] were devoted to questions of the stability of the laminar flow of a conducting fluid in a transverse magnetic field with Hartmann flow. It was assumed in these papers, however, that the transport coefficients are quantities independent of the flow characteristics; in particular, the temperature and the effect of energy dissipation were not taken into account. When these factors are allowed for it turns out that even for relatively small subsonic velocities, when the medium may be regarded as incompressible, the temperature distribution exerts a considerable influence on the dynamic flow characteristics. Papers [3,4] deal with this type of flow in an MHD channel which will be called nonisothermal in what follows. It has been shown that under specific conditions the velocity profiles are grossly deformed, and non-monotonic profiles with inflection points may even appear.However, the influence of nonisothermal flow on stability is not confined to an alteration of the stability criteria as a result of the change in the velocity profile. When energy dissipation and the fact that the transport coefficients are not constant are taken into account new dissipative instability branches appear, as, for example, the overheat instability [5, 8], This article considers the problem of the hydrodynamic stability of a nonisothermal plasma flow in constant crossed electric and magnetic fields in a flat channel with dielectric walls. The system of equations derived in this paper for the perturbations does, of course, take into account all the instability mechanisms mentioned above, but is difficult to solve. The general system of equations may be investigated in two limiting cases corresponding to the overheat and hydrodynamic instabilities.The author is most grateful to V. Kalitenko for writing the computer programs and to S. Filippov for advice and discussions.     

Linear stability of channel entrance flow

The spatial stability of two dimensional, steady channel flow is investigated in the downstream entry zone for both exponentially and algebraically growing disturbances. A model based on previous work is presented for the base flow which represents a small deformation of plane Poiseuille flow. The base flow evolution towards the fully developed state comes from the experimental and theoretical study of M. Asai and J.M. Floryan [M. Asai, J.M. Floryan, Certain aspects of channel entrance flow, Phys. Fluids 16 (2004) 1160–1163]. This flow is found to be more stable than the parabolic Poiseuille flow. The most destabilizing base flow defect is then calculated using a variational method. The compromise between the destabilizing effect of the defect, which diffuses downstream, and the instability growth is found to be insufficient to provoke transition in the downstream laminar flow.     

Gas-Dynamic Processes in Two-Phase Flows in MHD Generators

A plane problem of a two-phase monodisperse flow of combustion products of plasma-forming composite solid propellants in the duct of a Faraday's MHD generator with continuous electrodes, including an accelerating nozzle, MHD channel, and diffuser, is considered. An algorithm based on the pseudo-transient method is developed to solve the system of equations describing the two-phase flow. Gas-dynamic processes in the channels of the Pamir-1 setup are numerically studied. It is shown that shock-free deceleration of a supersonic flow to velocities close to the equilibrium velocity of sound in a two-phase mixture and significantly lower than the velocity of sound in the gas is possible in two-phase flows.     

Energy analysis of the stability of MHD flows

The analog of Orr's problem is formulated for MHD flows. Arbitrary three-dimensional disturbances satisfying the continuity equations are considered. It is established that direct interaction of the disturbances of the magnetic field and the velocity field cannot increase the energy estimate of the critical Reynolds number. Numerical calculations for Hartmann flow and modified Couette flows are made for the particular case of small magnetic Reynolds numbers, The minimum value of R is attained for disturbances with a wave vector perpendicular to the velocity vector of the main flow.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 3–9, July–August, 1971.The authors thank M. A. Gol'dshtik for his interest in their work.     

Magnetohydrodynamic flow in an infinite channel

The magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow of an incompressible, viscous, electrically conducting fluid in an infinite channel, under an applied magnetic field has been investigated. The MHD flow between two parallel walls is of considerable practical importance because of the utility of induction flowmeters. The walls of the channel are taken perpendicular to the magnetic field and one of them is insulated, the other is partly insulated, partly conducting. An analytical solution has been developed for the velocity field and magnetic field by reducing the problem to the solution of a Fredholm integral equation of the second kind, which has been solved numerically. Solutions have been obtained for Hartmann numbers M up to 200. All the infinite integrals obtained are transformed to finite integrals which contain modified Bessel functions of the second kind. So, the difficulties associated with the computation of infinite integrals with oscillating integrands which arise for large M have been avoided. It is found that, as M increases, boundary layers are formed near the nonconducting boundaries and in the interface region for both velocity and magnetic fields, and a stagnant region in front of the conducting boundary is developed for the velocity field. Selected graphs are given showing these behaviours.     

Approximate solutions to MHD Falkner-Skan flow over permeable wall

The magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) Falkner-Skan boundary layer flow over a permeable wall in the presence of a transverse magnetic field is examined. The approximate solutions and skin friction coefficients of the MHD boundary layer flow are obtained by using a method that couples the differential transform method (DTM) with the Padé approximation called DTM-Padé. The approximate solutions are expressed in the form of a power series that can be easily computed with an iterative procedure. The approximate solutions are tabulated, plotted for the values of different parameters and compared with the numerical ones obtained by employing the shooting technique. It is found that the approximate solution agrees very well with the numerical solution, showing the reliability and validity of the present work. Moreover, the effects of various physical parameters on the boundary layer flow are presented graphically and discussed.     

Series solutions of unsteady MHD flows above a rotating disk

The series solutions of unsteady flows of a viscous incompressible electrically conducting fluid caused by an impulsively rotating infinite disk are given by means of an analytic technique, namely the homotopy analysis method. Using a set of new similarity transformations, we transfer the Navier–Stokes equations into a pair of nonlinear partial differential equations. The convergent series solutions are obtained, which are uniformly valid for all dimensionless time 0 ≤ τ < ∞ in the whole spatial region 0 ≤ η < ∞. To the best of our knowledge, such kind of series solutions have never been reported. The effect of magnetic number on the velocity is investigated.     

MHD boundary-layer flow of an upper-convected Maxwell fluid in a porous channel

Two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) boundary layer flow of an upper-convected Maxwell fluid is investigated in a channel. The walls of the channel are taken as porous. Using the similarity transformations and boundary layer approximations, the nonlinear partial differential equations are reduced to an ordinary differential equation. The developed nonlinear equation is solved analytically using the homotopy analysis method. An expression for the analytic solution is derived in the form of a series. The convergence of the obtained series is shown. The effects of the Reynolds number Re, Deborah number De and Hartman number M are shown through graphs and discussed for both the suction and injection cases.     

Absorbing boundary technique for open channel flows

An absorbing boundary condition is formulated and applied to the one‐dimensional open channel flow equations in conjunction with an explicit MacCormack scheme. The physical flow domain has been truncated by introducing an artificial pseudo‐boundary. By using an appropriate boundary condition on a truncated domain, it is shown that, for flow containing shocks, the solution can be accelerated to its stationary profile with no loss of accuracy. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Buoyant MHD flows in a vertical channel: the levitation regime

Buoyant magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows with Joulean and viscous heating effects are considered in a vertical parallel plate channel. The applied magnetic field is uniform and perpendicular to the plates which are subject to adiabatic and isothermal boundary conditions, respectively. The main issue of the paper is the levitation regime, i.e., the fully developed flow regime for large values of the Hartmann number M, when the hydrodynamic pressure gradient evaluated at the temperature of the adiabatic wall is vanishing. The problem is solved analytically by Taylor series method and the solution is validated numerically. It is found that the fluid velocity points everywhere and for all values of M downward. For small M’s, the velocity field extends nearly symmetrically (with respect to the mid-plane) over the whole section of the channel between the adiabatic and the isothermal walls. For large values of M, by contrast, the fluid levitates over a broad transversal range of the channel, while the motion becomes concentrated in a narrow boundary layer in the neighborhood of the isothermal wall. Accordingly, the fluid temperature is nearly uniform in the levitation range and decreases rapidly within the boundary layer in front of the isothermal wall. It also turns out that not only the volumetric heat generation by the Joule effect, but also that by viscous friction increases rapidly with increasing values of M, the latter effect being even larger than the former one for all M.     

Shock stability in magnetogasdynamic channel flows

The question of shock stability in a perfect-gas channel flow was examined in [1] in the onedimensional approximation under various assumptions: the disturbances are not reflected from the channel exit section, weak shock, etc. The results were found to coincide for two specific forms of the boundary conditions at the channel exit, from which it was concluded that the shock was not sensitive to the exit boundary condition. In [2] the question of shock stability was studied numerically in relation to a conducting-gas flow in a flat channel of constant cross section in the presence of a magnetic field (zero electric field intensity). It was established that the shock stability is significantly affected by the form of the conductivity law. A condition for the limiting regime between the stable and unstable regions was also given for flow with a shock wave. It was assumed that the pressure in the channel exit section is given. In this paper the effect of the exit boundary condition on shock stability in gasdynamic and magnetogasdynamic flows is demonstrated for small magnetic Reynolds numbers. Stability criteria are obtained for shocks near the channel exit for a specific exit condition. The influence of electromagnetic effects (conductivity law, electric load factor) on shock stability is investigated.Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 16–23, January–February, 1970.The author is grateful to A. G. Kulikovskii for discussing his work.