Ultrasound Doppler flow measurements in a liquid column under the influence of a strong axial current

M. Starace - N. Weber - M. Seilmayer - C. Kasprzyk - T. Weier - F. Stefani - S. Eckert

Institute of Fluid Dynamics, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden--Rossendorf, Bautzner Landstraße 400, 01328 Dresden, Germany

Abstract
Magnetohydrodynamic instabilities can constitute a serious hazard to the functionality of liquid metal batteries. Here we consider the Tayler instability, which appears when the electric current, passing through a conducting fluid, reaches a critical value. The experiment discussed in this article involves a column of a eutectic GaInSn alloy, along whose axis an electric current passes. Ultrasound transducers encased in a copper electrode bounding the top of the column were used to obtain the vertical component of fluid flow, once a noise suppression system had been devised. The data thus retrieved will be discussed here. Figs 5, Refs 13.