skip to main content


Title: Decay of turbulence in a liquid metal duct flow with transverse magnetic field
Decay of honeycomb-generated turbulence in a duct with a static transverse magnetic field is studied via direct numerical simulations. The simulations follow the revealing experimental study of Sukoriansky et al.  ( Exp. Fluids , vol. 4 (1), 1986, pp. 11–16), in particular the paradoxical observation of high-amplitude velocity fluctuations, which exist in the downstream portion of the flow when the strong transverse magnetic field is imposed in the entire duct including the honeycomb exit, but not in other configurations. It is shown that the fluctuations are caused by the large-scale quasi-two-dimensional structures forming in the flow at the initial stages of the decay and surviving the magnetic suppression. Statistical turbulence properties, such as the energy decay curves, two-point correlations and typical length scales are computed. The study demonstrates that turbulence decay in the presence of a magnetic field is a complex phenomenon critically depending on the state of the flow at the moment the field is introduced.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1803730
NSF-PAR ID:
10104144
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Fluid Mechanics
Volume:
867
ISSN:
0022-1120
Page Range / eLocation ID:
661 to 690
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Decay of honeycomb-generated turbulence in a duct with a static transverse magnetic field is studied via high-resolution direct numerical simulations. The simulations follow the experimental study [1], in particular the paradoxical observation of high-amplitude velocity fluctuations, which exist in the downstream portion of the flow when the strong transverse magnetic field is imposed in the entire duct including the honeycomb exit, but not in other configurations. It is shown that the fluctuations are caused by the large-scale quasi- two-dimensional structures forming in the flow at the initial stages of the decay and surviving the magnetic suppression. The study demonstrates that turbulence decay in the presence of a magnetic field is a complex phenomenon critically depending on the state of the flow at the moment the field is introduced. 
    more » « less
  2. Direct numerical simulations and linear stability analysis are carried out to study mixed convection in a horizontal duct with constant-rate heating applied at the bottom and an imposed transverse horizontal magnetic field. A two-dimensional approximation corresponding to the asymptotic limit of a very strong magnetic field effect is validated and applied, together with full three-dimensional analysis, to investigate the flow's behaviour in the previously unexplored range of control parameters corresponding to typical conditions of a liquid metal blanket of a nuclear fusion reactor (Hartmann numbers up to $10^4$ and Grashof numbers up to $10^{10}$ ). It is found that the instability to quasi-two-dimensional rolls parallel to the magnetic field discovered at smaller Hartmann and Grashof numbers in earlier studies also occurs in this parameter range. Transport of the rolls by the mean flow leads to magnetoconvective temperature fluctuations of exceptionally high amplitudes. It is also demonstrated that quasi-two-dimensional structure of flows at very high Hartmann numbers does not guarantee accuracy of the classical two-dimensional approximation. The accuracy deteriorates at the highest Grashof numbers considered in the study. 
    more » « less
  3. null (Ed.)
    In this work we study numerically liquid metal flow in a square duct under the influence of a transverse magnetic field applied in a spanwise direction (coplanar). The key interest of the present study is an attempt of passive control of flow regimes developed under magnetic field and thermal loads by applying specially shaped conditions, such as swirling, at the duct inlet. In this paper, we report results of numerical simulations of the interaction of swirling flow and transverse magnetic field in a square duct flow. Analysis of the obtained regimes might be important for the development of an experimental setup, in order to design corresponding inlet sections. 
    more » « less
  4. Abstract

    The effects of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) on the evolution of Alfvénic turbulence in the solar wind are studied using MHD simulations incorporating the expanding-box model. The simulations show that, near the HCS, the Alfvénicity of the turbulence decreases as manifested by lower normalized cross-helicity and larger excess of magnetic energy. The numerical results are supported by a superposed-epoch analysis using OMNI data, which shows that the normalized cross-helicity decreases inside the plasma sheet surrounding HCS, and the excess of magnetic energy is significantly enhanced at the center of HCS. Our simulation results indicate that the decrease of Alfvénicity around the HCS is due to the weakening of radial magnetic field and the effects of the transverse gradient in the background magnetic field. The magnetic energy excess in the turbulence may be a result of the loss of Alfvénic correlation between velocity and magnetic field and the faster decay of transverse kinetic energy with respect to magnetic energy in a spherically expanding solar wind.

     
    more » « less
  5. A newly developed three-dimensional electrostatic fluid model solving continuity and current closure equations aims to study phenomena that generate ionospheric turbulence. The model is spatially discretized using a pseudo-spectral method with full Fourier basis functions and evolved in time using a four-stage, fourth-order Runge Kutta method. The 3D numerical model is used here to investigate the behavior and evolution of ionospheric plasma clouds. This problem has historically been used to study the processes governing the evolution of the irregularities in the F region of the ionosphere. It has been shown that these artificial clouds can become unstable and structure rapidly (i.e., cascade to smaller scales transverse to the ambient magnetic field). The primary mechanism which causes this structuring of ionospheric clouds is the E×B, or the gradient drift instability (GDI). The persistence and scale sizes of the resulting structures cannot be fully explained by a two-dimensional model. Therefore, we suggest here that the inclusion of three-dimensional effects is key to a successful interpretation of mid-latitude irregularities, as well as a prerequisite for a credible simulation of these processes. We investigate the results of 2D and 3D nonlinear simulations of the GDI and secondary Kelvin–Helmholtz instability (KHI) in plasma clouds for three different regimes: highly collisional (≈200 km), collisional (≈300 km), and inertial (≈450 km). The inclusion of inertial effects permits the growth of the secondary KHI. For the three different regimes, the overall evolution of structuring of plasma cloud occurs on longer timescales in 3D simulations. The inclusion of three-dimensional effects, in particular, the ambipolar potential in the current closure equation, introduces an azimuthal “twist“ about the axis of the cloud (i.e., the magnetic field B). This azimuthal “twist” is observed in the purely collisional regime, and it causes the perturbations to have a non-flute-like character (k‖≠0). However, for the 3D inertial simulations, the cloud rapidly diffuses to a state in which the sheared azimuthal flow is substantially reduced; subsequently, the cloud becomes unstable and structures, by retaining the flute-like character of the perturbations (k‖=0).

     
    more » « less