Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2006
This is a continuation of our previous work (1965) on the Sears–Resler–Stewartson controversy, in the context of axially symmetric flow. A new approach is presented using boundary-layer arguments, which remove much of the old complexity.
For resistive bodies of shape R(x) we uncover a similarity with plane airfoils of shape F(x) = R2(x). As before, Stewartson's slug flows develop fore and aft. For bodies of very high conductivity the Sears–Resler (steady-state) solution turns out to be one possibility. It pertains to bodies (of much higher conductivity than the liquid) into which the initial magnetic field has not diffused.