Magnetohydrodynamic Viscous Flow Separation in a Channel With Constrictions

An analysis is made of the flow of an electrically conducting fluid in a channel with constrictions in the presence of a uniform transverse magnetic field. A solution technique for governing magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations in primitive variable formulation is developed. A coordinate stretching is used to map the long irregular geometry into a finite computational domain. The governing equations are discretized using finite difference approximations and the well-known staggered grid of Harlow and Welch is used. Pressure Poisson equation and pressure-velocity correction formulas are derived and solved numerically. It is found that the flow separates downstream of the constriction. With increase in the magnetic field, the flow separation zone diminishes in size and for large magnetic field, the separation zone disappears completely. Wall shear stress increases with increase in the magnetic field strength. It is also found that for symmetrically situated constrictions on the channel walls, the critical Reynolds number for the flow bifurcation (i.e., flow asymmetry) increases with increase in the magnetic field.