Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T18:41:46.825Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Liquid-metal flow in a backward elbow in the plane of a strong magnetic field

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

T. J. Moon
Affiliation:
Mechanical Engineering Department, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712-1063, USA
T. Q. Hua
Affiliation:
Engineering Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA
J. S. Walker
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA

Abstract

This paper treats a liquid-metal flow through a sharp elbow connecting two constant-area, rectangular ducts with thin metal walls. There is a uniform, strong magnetic field in the plane of the ducts’ centrelines, and the velocity component normal to the magnetic field is in opposite directions upstream and downstream of the elbow. The magnetic field is sufficiently strong that inertial effects are negligible everywhere and viscous effects are confined to boundary layers and to an interior layer lying along the magnetic field lines through the inside corner of the elbow. The interior layer involves large velocities parallel to the magnetic field and carries roughly half of the flow between the upstream and downstream ducts for the case considered.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1991 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Holroyd, R. J. 1980 An experimental study of the effects of wall conductivity, non-uniform magnetic fields and variable area ducts on liquid metal flows at high Hartmann numbers. Part 2. Ducts with conducting walls. J. Fluid Mech. 96, 355.Google Scholar
Holroyd, R. J. & Walker, J. S. 1978 A theoretical study of the effects of wall conductivity, nonuniform magnetic field and variable-area ducts on liquid-metal flows at high Hartmann number. J. Fluid Mech. 84, 471.Google Scholar
Hua, T. Q. & Picologlou, B. F. 1990 MHD flow in a manifold and multiple rectangular coolant ducts of self-cooled blankets. Fusion Technol.Google Scholar
Hua, T. Q., Walker, J. S., Picologlou, B. F. & Reed, C. B. 1988 Three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic flows in rectangular ducts of liquid-metal-cooled blankets. Fusion Technol. 14, 1389.Google Scholar
Hunt, J. C. R. & Holroyd, R. J. 1977 Applications of laboratory and theoretical MHD duct flow studies in fusion reactor technology. Culham Laboratory Rep. CLM-R169.Google Scholar
Kulikovskii, A. G. 1968 Steady, slow flows of conducting fluid at large Hartmann number. Mekh. Zhid. i Gaza 2, 3.Google Scholar
Malang, S. et al. 1988 Self cooled liquid-metal blanket concept. Fusion Technol. 14, 1343.Google Scholar
Moon, T. J. & Walker, J. S. 1990 Liquid metal flow through a sharp elbow in the plane of a strong magnetic field. J. Fluid Mech. 213, 397.Google Scholar
Picologlou, B. F., Reed, C. B., Dauzvardis, P. V. & Walker, J. S. 1986 Experimental and analytical investigation of magnetohydrodynamic flow near the entrance of a strong magnetic field. Fusion Technol. 10, 860.Google Scholar
Shercliff, J. A. 1956 The flow of conducting fluids in circular pipes under transverse magnetic fields. J. Fluid Mech. 1, 644.Google Scholar
Smith, D. L. et al. 1985 Blanket comparison and selection study. Fusion Technol. 8, 1.Google Scholar
Talmage, G. & Walker, J. S. 1988 Three-dimensional laminar MHD flow in ducts with thin metal walls and strong magnetic fields. Liquid metal flows: magnetohydrodynamics and applications. Prog. Astro. Aero 111, 3.Google Scholar
Talmage, G., Walker, J. S., Brown, S. H. & Sondergaard, N. A. 1989 Liquid metal flows in current collectors for homopolar machines: fully developed solutions for the primary azimuthal velocity.. Phys. Fluids A 1, 1268.Google Scholar
Walker, J. S. 1981 Magnetohydrodynamic flows in rectangular ducts with thin conducting walls: Constant-area and variable-area ducts with strong uniform magnetic field. J. Méc. 20, 79.Google Scholar
Walker, J. S. & Ludford, G. S. S. 1975 MHD flow in circular expansions with thin conducting walls. Intl J. Engng Sci. 13, 261.Google Scholar
Walker, J. S., Ludford, G. S. S. & Hunt, J. C. R. 1971 Three-dimensional MHD duct flows with strong transverse magnetic fields. Part 2. Variable-area rectangular ducts with conducting sides. J. Fluid Mech. 46, 657.Google Scholar