Liquid metal free surface dynamics in rotating permanent magnet stirrer

Abstract

We study liquid metal stirring by rotating permanent magnets in a laboratory-scale rectangular glass container. The main goal is numerical model validation using experimental free surface shape data. We find reasonable agreement between the experiments and coupled liquid metal magnetohydrodynamics simulations. Since the surface tension forces are not dominant here, free surface is deformed mainly by the dynamic pressure of the bulk flow. Therefore, we can conclude that not only the free surface profile is similar to experiments, but the bulk flow must be also very similar.