Anisotropy of Flow and Heat Transfer of Gaseous MHD Flows in a Circular Tube Under the Control of Transverse Magnetic Field: A Preliminary Study

Abstract Given the potential application of the magnetic field to control the gaseous magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows in the tube, the effect of the transverse magnetic field (TMF) on the gaseous MHD flow and heat transfer characteristics in a circular tube is studied. Taking the conductive circular tube as the research object, the physical model and mathematical model are constructed by considering the influence of the non-uniformity of the TMF. The control equations are discretized and the numerical algorithm is designed under the theoretical framework of the finite volume method. On this basis, the distributions of the velocity and temperature under different magnetic induction intensities are numerically simulated, and the influence of the Hartmann number (Ha) on the flow and heat transfer characteristics is analyzed. The results show that the velocity and temperature of the flow near the Hartmann boundary layer and Robert boundary layer show anisotropy. Affected by the transition gradient of the applied TMF, a high-speed jet region appears near the Robert boundary layer. The convective heat transfer intensity of the magnetized region first decreases and then increases with the increase of the value of Ha.