Liquid metal flows driven by rotating and traveling magnetic fields

Alternating magnetic fields provide a comfortable means for non-intrusive flow control in conductive fluids. However, despite a long history of applications in metallurgy and crystal growth, detailed investigation of the practically important transitional and turbulent flow regimes has become possible only in the last dozen years. The present review gives an overview of this topic with focus on recent experimental and numerical studies of the flow driven by rotating and traveling magnetic fields. We discuss the three-dimensional, instantaneous flow structure as well as the resulting average transport properties for a broad range of parameters, including the superposition of both field types. In addition to the ideal case, the effect of a misalignment of the field with respect to the container axis will be considered, too.