Studying Magnetohydrodynamic Effects in Liquid Metal Flow Under Transverse Magnetic Field Using COMSOL Multiphysics®

S. Sahu[1], R. Bhattacharyay[1], E. Rajendrakumar[1]
[1]Institute for Plasma Research, Bhat, Gandhinagar, India
Published in 2013

Liquid metals are foreseen as a multipurpose coolant in fusion blanket systems. However, the strongly magnetic environment of the fusion reactor hinders the regular flow of the liquid metal. It interacts with transverse magnetic field and produces a Lorentz force opposing the flow, modifying the regular flow profile in the circular pipe or rectangular ducts. Complex geometry and lack of sophisticated diagnostics at high temperature and the magnetic field environment make it impractical to measure all the process parameters accurately, so numerical tools are used for predicting process design parameters. Recently, COMSOL Multiphysics® was used for simulating the magnetohydrodynamic flow of Pb-Li in a pipe under various Hartmann numbers.