Simulation of operation modes of a centrifugal conductive magnetohydrodynamic pump

Abstract

A mathematical model of a centrifugal conductive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) pump that calculates the distributions of velocity, current density, and pressure along the channel is developed. The viscous forces in the original system of MHD equations are taken into account on the basis of the known square law of the drag for a turbulent flow in a pipe, generalized for the case of plane flows in a channel. Dependences of the drag coefficient on the main governing parameters (metal flow rate, current intensity, and intensity of magnetic induction), which provide the agreement of the calculated and experimental data on the pressure at the pump outlet for different operation modes, are obtained. It is shown that these dependences have a universal character and the proposed model can be used to design pumps of this type and to manage their operation in production industry.