Hydromagnetic Heat Transfer

Abstract

CONSIDER the convective transfer of heat between an electrically conducting viscous fluid (of density ρ, shear viscosity μ, thermal conductivity ϰ, specific heat at constant pressure Cp, and finite electrical conductivity σ) and a boundary surface at a different temperature and with characteristic length L, possibly associated with a complex geometry, in the presence of a steady externally applied magnetic field of magnitude B. A full mathematical analysis of general validity for this situation is still not available and it is useful to consider elementary dimensional arguments in this connexion. It will be seen that such arguments provide the possibility of determining the gross electrical conductivity of a continuous fluid in terms of a chosen standard fluid.