Pressure Surges in Magnetoviscous Flow

Abstract

An examination is made of the effect produced by an externally applied magnetic field when the flow of an electrically conducting fluid is stopped by the sudden closure of a valve. The fluid is confined in a rectangular channel, one end being connected to a constant pressure source and the other end terminated by the valve. An expression is derived for the fluid pressure in terms of the properties of the fluid and the applied magnetic field for the open circuit case. It is shown that electromagnetic forces, while exerting no net body force on the fluid in this particular case, act to increase wall shear and thereby tend to increase the damping of the pressure surges. Expressions are also derived for the induced magnetic fields.