MHD phenomena related to electromagnetic flow coupling

C. Mistrangelo - L. Bühler

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Postfach 3640, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany

Abstract
In liquid metal blankets for fusion reactors, leakage currents which cross electrically conducting walls and pass from one fluid domain into the adjacent one, have to be taken into account since they influence flow partitioning and pressure drop in parallel ducts. The so-called multi-channel effects depend on the path of leakage currents that is determined by the orientation of common walls with respect to the imposed magnetic field, their electrical conductivity, and by the direction of the flow in neighboring ducts. The present work aims at providing an overview of main phenomena that occur in multiple channel assemblies, where flows are coupled by an exchange of electric currents. Figs 11, Refs 7.