Coupled Fluid and Electrodynamic Analysis on MHD Channel with Nonuniform Magnetic Field

A coupled fluid and electrodynamic computational method is developed to treat nonuniform magnetic field in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) channel flow analysis. Numerical examples to investigate high current density (∼10 A/cm2) applications including comparisons between uniform and shaped magnetic-field configurations are furnished. The calculated result, using a constant load factor, reveals the possibility of the development of a large cathode-anode asymmetry in the shaped magnetic-field case in the channel downstream.