| Abstract: | The flow of a low-pressure plasma in a MHD channel is unstable in a number of cases. The instability can be caused by a current flowing across the magnetic field. In this study we investigate an unstable, turbulent flow of a rarefied plasma near the  magnetized electrodes, representing plane magnetic dipoles. Owing to the growth of microscopic turbulence near the electrodes, the maximum density of the current that is induced in the plasma is localized and turbulent damping of the incoming flow occurs. The energy of damping goes into the turbulent heating of the plasma. Under these conditions a structure of the boundary layer is found for a stationary flow. The characteristic transverse dimension of the boundary layer is considerably less than the particle mean free path; therefore, such a boundary layer can be called collisionless.Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, No. 5, pp. 17–28, September–October, 1972. |
