Study of Incompressible MHD Flow in a Circular Pipe with Transverse Magnetic Field using a Spectral/Finite Element Solver

Abstract

This work is concerned with the numerical study of an unsteady and incompressible flow of an electrically conducting liquid metal inside a pipe of circular cross-section at low Reynolds number. In particular, the aim of this work is to understand better the influence of an external transverse magnetic field on the flow field and the transition between a fully turbulent regime to a fully laminar regime at moderate Reynolds number as the Hartmann increases. For that purpose, direct numerical simulations have been carried out and provide mean velocity profiles, turbulence intensity profiles, physical and numerical dissipation profiles and skin friction data. The obtained results show the damping of turbulence due to the action of the magnetic field and the development of anisotropy in the flow.