Magnetohydrodynamic flow near the edge of a rotating disk

Abstract

The flow of a viscous incompressible electrically conducting fluid due to the rotation of an insulated disk of finite radius is considered. The motion is steady; the disk having uniform angular speed about its axis, parallel to which a magnetic field is applied. In the hydrodynamic case, the flow near the edge of the disk is known to develop into a double-deck structure at the limit of an infinite Reynolds number Re. That the same structure is applicable to the magnetohydrodynamic problem, when the magnetic interaction number β is fixed or diminishing, is a simple extension. More interestingly, it is shown here that the double-deck structure is also applicable when β is growing indefinitely, provided that β3 << Re and the flow variables are properly scaled. PACS No.: 45.65.+a