Liquid-Metal MHD Open-Channel Flows

Many metallurgical applications of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) involve open-channel liquid-metal flows with magnetic fields. This paper treats the three-dimensional, variable-depth flow in a rectangular open channel having an electrically insulating bottom and perfectly conducting sides. A steady, uniform magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the channel bottom. Induced magnetic fields and surface tension effects are neglected, while the applied magnetic field is sufficiently strong that inertial effects are negligible everywhere. Viscous effects are confined to boundary layers adjacent to the bottom, sides, and free surface. Solutions are presented for the inviscid core and the boundary layers. The locations of the free surface above the core and above the boundary layers adjacent to the sides are obtained. The side-layer variables are rescaled into universal profile functions which depend on the coordinates in the channel’s cross section and on a parameter related to the local slopes of the bottom and the free surface. The solutions for the side layers in open channels are compared to the side-layer solutions for certain rectangular closed ducts in order to reveal the effects of the free surface. This comparison leads to a qualitative correspondence principle between open-channel and closed-duct side-layer solutions. The similarities and differences between corresponding open-channel and closed-duct side layers are discussed.