Boundary layer development in an MHD duct

This study presents a method of calculation for two-dimensional, steady-state, laminar flow in the entrance region of an MHD duct. The electrically conducting fluid in the free stream is compressible whereas the medium in the boundary layer itself is taken to be incompressible. Thus, the density is variable in the axial direction of the duct only, and the momentum and energy equations for the boundary layer are uncoupled. These equations are solved using an extended Von Kármán-Pohlhausen method as described by U. P. Hwang for a compressible MHD flow with zero electric field. In this study, however, the electric field is essentially not zero and the MHD duct can work as a generator. The equations of the insulator boundary layer are solved in the assumption that the displacement thickness of the electrode boundary layer equals that of the insulator boundary layer, so the total influence of the varying effective crossection on the free stream is taken into account. In this way a quick method of calculating the MHD flow in the entrance region of a duct is obtained.