Influence of magnetic field deformation by ferromagnetic wall materials on MHD flows in pipes and ducts of fusion blankets

Abstract

For a description of liquid metal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows in fusion blankets with ferromagnetic EUROFER structural material a 3D numerical code based on finite volume technique is under development at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. The governing equations for the electrodynamics problem are solved in terms of a magnetic vector potential and scalar electric potential. First results are presented as validation of the implementation for the case of fully developed MHD flows in a ferromagnetic pipe, for which an analytical solution for the modified magnetic field with resulting implications on the flow is available in literature. Encouraged by the good comparison between the analytical solution and numerical results in the test case, the code is applied to determine MHD flows in geometries for which analytical solutions are not available.