Influence of the Presence of the Lorentz Force and its Direction on the Suppression of Secondary Flow in Two Different Orifices: A Numerical Study using OpenFOAM

Abstract

The present analysis emphasized the presence of Lorentz force and its directional effect on the fluid flow and its structure in the channel with two differently shaped orifices. The flow through orifice causes the generation of the bubbles or eddies in the downstream flow. In this study, the numerical code is developed in the open source CFD tool kit OpenFOAM. The magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) principle is adopted to achieve the present objectives. Direct numerical simulation (DNS) has been carried out to predict the flow features at fixed Reynolds number of Re = 1000 and blockage ratio of 1:4 with the varying magnetic field. The magnetic field is varied in term of Hartmann number (Ha) in the direction normal to the flow of fluid. The induced Lorentz force considerably occupies the wake flow area downstream of the throat and hence suppressed down the vortices in the flow. The results obtained has the promising effect of suppressing down the vortex flow past two different orifices produced by the electromagnetic pressure gradient. The present study shows the MHD based flow can be significantly employed for the flow past orifice or any arbitrary obstacle in order to achieve the flow without wake region. The current analysis suggests the method of vortex control by producing Lorentz force using magnetic field without modification of geometry or additional use of devices into the system.

Keywords

• OpenFOAM; Magnetohydrodynamics; DNS; Vortex control; Pressure drop.