UNS: Strained Turbulence and Mixing in Flows of a conducting fluid in a magnetic field

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

1510749(Yeung) The goal of this proposal is to investigate effects of magnetic forces in turbulent flows that occur in manufacturing processes where liquid metals are involved.High fidelity simulations will be utilized, since experiments in these physical systems with liquid metals are not feasible. The proposed research is expected to have a longer term impact on manufacturing, a research area of National interest, for example in the production of aluminum that involves electrical currents that melt the ore), as well as magnetic fields. The objectives of the proposed research are to pursue fundamental advances in the study of turbulent flow of an electrically conducting fluid in a uniform magnetic field, in the low-magnetic-Reynolds number regime. Numerical simulations of high fidelity (i.e., direct numerical simulations, DNS) of turbulent flows will be utilized to study the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) phenomena that are important in this physical situation and the effects of the Lorentz force of electromagnetic induction on flow development and on mixing. The nature of MHD turbulence is not sufficiently understood - very little experimental data are available. Simulations of passive scalar fields are proposed to provide insights on time scales of mixing and relaxation from different initial conditions. The proposed DNS would provide results to model the Reynolds stress tensor accounting for the Joule dissipation effect and to close the turbulence equations for lower-order modeling. In addition, a training activity is proposed to recent initiatives in a summer internship program specifically targeted towards undergraduate students with disabilities, to be selected from a national pool of applicants through working closely with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Selected high school teachers from the Atlanta area participating in a summer program will be encouraged to incorporate elements of the science into high-school physics curricula.