Numerical Analysis on Liquid-Metal Magnetohydrodynamic Flow through Rectangular Channel in Inlet Region of Magnetic Field

Three-dimensional numerical calculation has been performed on liquid-metal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow through a rectangular channel in the inlet region of a magnetic field, including a region upstream the magnetic field section. The continuity equation, the momentum equation including the Lorentz force term and the induced equation have been solved by the finite difference method. Along the flow axis, the pressure decreases slightly as normal non-MHD flow, increases once, thereafter decreases sharply and finally decreases gradually as fully-developed MHD flow. The sharp decrease in the pressure in the inlet region is due to increase in the induced current in this region comparing with the fully-developed MHD flow region. The flow velocity profile also changes gradually from a typical distribution of a laminar non-MHD flow with a peak of ∿2 to a profile of a fully-developed MHD flow.