Axisymmetric Natural Convection of Liquid Metal in an Annular Enclosure under the Influence of Azimuthal Magnetic Field

Abstract

Natural convection of liquid metal in an annular enclosure under the influence of azimuthal static magnetic field was numerically studied. The liquid metal in the enclosure whose cross-sectional area is square was heated from an inner vertical wall and cooled from an outer vertical wall both isothermally whereas the other two horizontal walls were assumed to be adiabatic. The static azimuthal magnetic field was imposed by a long straight electric coil that was located at the central axis of the annular enclosure. The computations were carried out for the Prandtl number 0.025, the Rayleigh number 104, 5 × 105 and 107, and the Hartmann number 0–100,000 by using an in-house code. It was found that the contour map of the electric potential was similar to that of the Stokes stream function of the velocity regardless of the Hartmann number. Likewise, the contour map of the pressure was similar to the Stokes stream function of the electric current density in the case of the high Hartmann number. The average Nusselt number was decreased in proportion to the square of the Hartmann number in the high Hartmann number regime.