Electromagnetohydrodynamic flow through a microparallel channel with corrugated walls

Abstract

In this paper a perturbation method is introduced to study the electromagnetohydrodynamic (EMHD) flow in a microparallel channel with slightly corrugated walls. The corrugations of the two walls are periodic sinusoidal waves of small amplitude either in phase or half-period out of phase, and the perturbation solutions of velocity and volume flow rate are obtained. Using numerical computation the effects of the corrugations on the flow are graphically analysed. The results show that the influence of corrugation on the flow decreases with Hartmann number. The phase difference of wall corrugations becomes unimportant when the wavenumber is greater than 3 or when the Hartmann number is greater than 4. With the increase in wavenumber, the decreasing effects of corrugations on the flow increase. When the wavenumber is smaller than the threshold wavenumber (it is a function of Hartmann number) and the wall corrugations are half-period out of phase, the corrugations can enhance the mean velocity of EMHD flow. However, the mean velocity is always decreased when the corrugations are in phase.