Author(s)

Motahar Reza, Satyaban Panigrahi, Anadi Sankar Gupta

.

The decay of vortices in flows of an electrically conducting fluid in the presence of a magnetic field is studied. Two flow configurations are considered: 1) flow in a double array of vortices; 2) flow behind a two-dimensional grid. It is found that in the presence of a uniform transverse magnetic field, the vortices decay much faster than those in a viscous fluid in the absence of magnetic field. It is observed that in the steady flow behind a two-dimensional grid in the presence of a uniform transverse magnetic field, a pair of bound eddies appear behind the single elements of the grid. The scale of these eddies depends on the strength of the magnetic field. It is also found that the distance from the stagnation point over which the vortices decay to zero decreases with increase in the magnetic field. At large distance, however, the streamlines become parallel as in the case of a viscous fluid.

Decay of vortices, Magnetohydrodynamics

Reza, M. , Panigrahi, S. and Gupta, A. (2011) Decay of Vortices in an Electrically Conducting Fluid in the Presence of a Magnetic Field. Engineering, 3, 1207-1212. doi: 10.4236/eng.2011.312150.