جریان مگنتو هیدرودینامیک در کانالهای با عایق های الکتریکی ناپیوسته

In liquid metal blankets the interaction of the moving breeder with the intense magnetic field that confines the fusion plasma results in significant modifications of the velocity distribution and increased pressure drop compared to hydrodynamic flows. Those changes are due to the occurrence of electromagnetic forces that slow down the core flow and which are balanced by large driving pressure heads. The resulting magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) pressure losses are proportional to the electric current density induced in the fluid and they can be reduced by electrically decoupling the wall from the liquid metal. For applications to dual coolant blankets it is foreseen to loosely insert electrically insulating liners into the ducts. In long channels the insulation could consist of a number of shorter inserts, which implies a possible local interruption of the insulation. Three dimensional numerical simulations have been performed to investigate MHD flows in electrically well-conducting channels with internal discontinuous insulating inserts. The local jump in the electric conductivity of the duct wall results in induced 3D electric currents and related electromagnetic forces yielding additional pressure losses and increased velocity in boundary layers parallel to the magnetic field.