
Sunden CH010.tex 10/9/2010 15: 22 Page 394
394 Computational Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer
10.3.1 MHD flow control
Motionofelectricallyconductingfluidsacrossamagneticfieldinducestheso-called
Lorentz force, which, when properly handled, may suppress the flow instability
and restrain the flow turbulence. A magnetic field applied in the transverse (wall-
normal) direction of a fluid flow creates a ponderomotive body force and changes
themeanvelocityprofile duetotheformationoftheHartmannlayers atelectrically
insulating boundaries normal to the magnetic field.A magnetic field applied to the
flow in thestreamwise direction restrainsthevelocity fluctuationsin the transverse
plane of the fluid flow and prevents the onset of turbulence. In comparison to
a streamwise magnetic field, a magnetic field applied in the transverse direction
of the flow acts directly on the main flow and may prove to be more flexible in
controlling the flow; however, it increases the flow resistance and needs additional
energy consumption. Therefore, a reasonable control strategy may be realized by
bringing an angle between the magnetic field and the flow direction within the
rangeofthetwoabove-mentionedmagneticsupplyconditions, i.e.,0
◦
(streamwise)
and 90
◦
(transverse). In this way, both velocity fluctuations in the transverse and
streamwisedirection arerestrainedconcurrentlyandamoreeffective controleffect
may be achieved with some advantage in what concerns external energy usage.
The transition to turbulence of electrically conducting fluid flow in a two-
dimensional (2-D) channel constrained by two parallel infinite plates, which are
assumedelectricallyinsulated, asdepicted inFigure 10.6,is chosento illustratethe
underlying concept. Fluid enters the channel with a uniform velocity U
0
, initially.
ForaReynoldsnumberexceedingacriticalvalue(≈2,000),theturbulence, after
ashortentrylength,setsin. Forthesakeofrestrainingthetransitiontoturbulence,a
uniformmagneticfieldBisappliedatanangleθ tothemainfluidflowdirection.The
presentstudy, byadjustingtheangleθ,aimstoachievethebestrestrainingeffect.To
comparethe resultsobtained fordifferentvaluesofθ, a bodyforceF
B
isprescribed
in the x direction to balance the produced ponderomotive electromagnetic force
so as to maintain the maximum flow velocity (≈U
0
) approximately equal for the
casesofinterest.Therestraining effectis quantitatively evaluatedbythe timewhen
the turbulence sets in, or by measuring the magnitude of the “turbulence-related”
quantities – the mean velocity ¯u and the two velocity cor relations in the x and y
direction, i.e., u
¯
u
and v
¯
v
at a specified time.
B
θ
F
B
U
0
u (y, t )
y
Figure 10.6. MHD flow control for 2-D channel flow.