Magnetic field control of a supersonic nitrogen flow

Abstract

Magnetohydrodynamic impact on a cold supersonic nitrogen flow with external magnetic field was realized in an experimental complex based on the Big Shock Tube at the Ioffe Physicotechnical Institute. A pulsed supersonic flow with a Mach number of M=4 and steady phase duration of about 1.5 ms was created by expansion of the shock-heated nitrogen flow from a supersonic nozzle. The gas was ionized by pulsed discharge between two electrodes mounted on the nozzle wall so that an electric current of up to ∼500 A passed in the direction perpendicular to the gas flow at the dielectric wall. External magnetic field ∼0.3 T was perpendicular to the gas flow and the current direction. It is established that the magnetic field significantly modifies the shock wave structure in the flow.