Direct numerical simulation of turbulent channel flow under a uniform magnetic field for large-scale structures at high Reynolds number

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A direct numerical simulation (DNS) of turbulent channel flow with high Reynolds number has been carried out to show the effects of the magnetic field. In this study, the Reynolds number for channel flow based on bulk velocity Ub, viscosity ν, and channel width 2δ was set to be constant; Reb=2δUb∕ν=45818. A uniform magnetic field was applied in the direction of the wall normal. The value of the Hartmann number, Ha were 32.5 and 65, where Ha=2δB0σ∕ρν. The turbulent quantities such as the mean flow, turbulent stress, and turbulent statistics were obtained by DNS. Although the influence of the magnetohydrodynamic dissipation terms in the turbulent kinetic energy budget was small, large-scale turbulent structures, e.g., vertical structures, low-speed streaks, ejection, and sweep, were found to decrease at the central region of the channel. Consequently, the difference between production and dissipation in the turbulent kinetic energy decreased with increasing Hartmann number at the central region and large-scale structures at this region were reduced.