MHD Taylor-Couette flow with insulating walls at periodic condition and low magnetic Reynolds number

X. Y. Leng¹ - Yu. B. Kolesnikov² - D. Krasnov² - B. W. Li³

¹ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Special Artificial Microstructure Materials and Technology and School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
² Institute of Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics, Ilmenau University of Technology, Ilmenau, Germany
³ Institute of Thermal Engineering, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China

Abstract
This work studies turbulent behavior in Taylor-Couette flow of an electrically conducting fluid between two co-axial and infinitely long insulating cylinders in the presence of an axial magnetic field at a low magnetic Reynolds number. The inner cylinder rotates and the outer one is kept stationary. Direct numerical simulation was conducted to study the problem with Reynolds numbers of 4000 and 8000 with different Hartmann numbers. The results show a continuous suppression of turbulence in the flow under the applied magnetic field. The mean flow profile is not directly affected by the magnetic field, but its transformation depends on the decrease of turbulent fluctuations and wall normal momentum transport. With increasing Hartmann number, the observed decrease of Taylor vortex flow is accompanied by the elongated axial wavelengths, confirming the theoretical prediction of linear stability theory. A comparison of the considered case of insulating cylinders with a previous study with conducting cylinders also indicates a difference between these two cases and highlights a significant impact of the electric boundary conditions on turbulence. Figs 5, Refs 15.