Magnetohydrodynamic flow in a container due to the discharge of an electric current from a finite size electrode

Abstract

In this paper we consider the Stokes flow field generated in a hemispheroidal container by the axisymmetric discharge of an electric current. The current is discharged from a circular electrode which is at the centre of the equatorial plane of the spheroid. The electrode is assumed to be at a constant potential. The equatorial radius of the spheroid is a and that of the electrode is k , the annulus k ≼ r ≼ a being a free surface. For a given container depth it is shown that as k increases the intensity of the flow field decreases and when the depth of the container is comparable to k the intensity of the flow field is only a small fraction of that associated with the point electrode case. As one might expect, the vorticity has a singularity at the rim of the electrode. When the width of the annulus forming the free surface is small, relative to the radius of the electrode, an eddy is formed about the rim of the electrode. As the annulus increases the eddy decreases in size until it eventually disappears.