Simulation of magnetohydrodynamic effects during large-scale vortices generation in a liquid-metal coolant

Abstract

This investigation is aimed at establishing the interrelation between the generation of a large scale vortical motion and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effects in liquid metal nuclear power plant coolants. The subjects of the study are three dimensional liquid sodium flows in the presence of an external transverse magnetic field in bent and in rectilinear cylindrical channels with obstacles inside of them with different geometries that generate a large scale vortical motion. To establish the governing dimensionless criteria and their influence on the distribution of the velocity and the magnetic fields, analytical solutions of the Hart mann problem were found to a 2D approximation. A numerical 3D simulation identified the regions of the most intensive induced magnetic field for the 3D Hartmann flow under consideration. The spatial distribu tions of the fields of the velocities, the vorticity, and the magnetic induction are obtained considering the posi tion of the flow disturbance source. A correlation is found between the vortex formation effects in channels with a complex geometry and the fluctuations of the magnetic field induced in the area where the vortical structures are localized on imposition of a static magnetic field.