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Liquid metal flow through a sharp elbow in the plane of a strong magnetic field

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

T. J. Moon  and
J. S. Walker
T. J. Moon
Affiliation:
Mechanical Engineering Department, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712-1063, USA
J. S. Walker
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
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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 centrelines of the ducts. An analytical solution with a series of eigenfunctions is possible for two sectors of the geometry, while a finite-difference relaxation solution is used for the third sector. The analytical and numerical solutions are coupled at the common boundaries by a combination of a Galerkin minimization of a residual and of integrals of the basic conservation laws over cells adjacent to each boundary. Results are presented for the three-dimensional pressure, electric potential function and fluid velocity. The pressure drop due to the three-dimensional effects near the elbow is also presented. The eigenfunction series represents a quite general solution for any three-dimensional flow in a rectangular duct with a skewed magnetic field.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 213 , April 1990 , pp. 397 - 418
Copyright
© 1990 Cambridge University Press

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