Immersed boundary method for the MHD flows of liquid metals (Q1000949)

The immersed boundary (IB) method has not yet been extended for MHD simulations. Thus, one can consider the present study as a first attempt to apply the IB methodology to the computation of both the hydrodynamic and MHD fields. A consistent numerical methodology is presented that is appropriate for efficient 3D MHD simulations in geometrically complicated domains using Cartesian flow solvers. For that purpose, a projection scheme for electric current density is presented, based on an electric potential correction algorithm. The proposed methodology has been first extensively tested on Hartmann layers in fully-developed and developing channel and duct flows at Hartmann numbers 500--2000. In order to demonstrate the potential of the method, the authors calculate the three-dimensional MHD flow around a circular cylinder at Reynolds number 200. The effects of grid resolution and variable arrangement on the accuracy and consistency are examined. When compared with existing numerical or analytic solutions, excellent agreement is found for all cases considered. The proposed projection and forcing schemes for current densities are found to be capable of satisfying the charge conservation law in the presence of immersed non-conducting boundaries. Finally, it is shown how the proposed methodology can extend the applicability of existing flow solvers that use the IB concept with staggered variable arrangement.