Practical Simulations of Two-Phase MHD Flows with Wall Effects

72766-This project will develop a unique computational environment as a design tool for incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows with free surfaces. In particular, the MHD limitations on design, as function of flow speed, will be determined. Several numerical and physical issues related to solid wall treatment in MHD flows were resolved in Phase I. The code was shown to be able to be run on parallel computers using the electric potential formulation with 3-D magnetic fields. The code was convergent at very high Hartmann number cases (e.g., 10,000). Free surface flow capability was enhanced by enforcing strict mass conservation and demonstrating the code capability for canonical problems. Two fusion related test cases, pertaining to the DiMES and NSTX experiments, were used to show code applicability. In Phase II, the code will be used to treat liquid metal flows in closed channels with solid walls of general magnetic properties. An induced magnetic field model will be added, and ferromagnetic features will be provided for solid wall treatment. Fast Poisson solvers for pressure and potential will be added for solution speedup. Fusion-relevant test cases (e.g., test modules in the ITER environment) will be used for demonstration. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by awardee: The code has already shown potential for use in studying free surface and closed channel concepts in nuclear fusion. Beyond its importance for fusion reactor design, other potential applications include MHD enhanced steel and aluminum processing in the metallurgical community, and conjugate heat transfer in the aerospace industry.