Yield stress of a magnetic fluid in a magnetic field

The yield stress ₀ of a magnetic fluid in a plane channel and the shape of the chains restraining the motion of the fluid are determined. The equilibrium problem for a magnetic fluid in a plane channel in the presence of an external magnetic field perpendicular to the plane of the channel and a pressure difference between the channel ends is solved within the framework of the structured fluid model. It is shown that equilibrium is possible only when the pressure difference does not exceed a certain limit p _cr at which the shear stress on the channel wall has a maximum. In weak fields p _cr and the corresponding ₀ depend quadratically on the field and in strong fields tend to saturation. The phenomenological parameters of the model are estimated for the case in which the microstructure is a system of chains of magnetic particles. The results obtained are found to be in qualitative agreement with the experimentally observed dependence of p _cr and ₀ on the field and the magnetic phase concentration.Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No.3, pp. 4–10, May–June, 1992.The authors are grateful to V. V. Gogosov for useful discussions and his interest in the work.