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Updated: Jul 30, 2026

Ultrasound Velocity Measurement in a Liquid Metal Electrode
Published on: August 5, 2015
Patterned turbulence in liquid metal flow: computational reconstruction of the Hartmann experiment
Dmitry Krasnov1, André Thess, Thomas Boeck
1Institute of Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics, Ilmenau University of Technology, PO Box 100565, 98684 Ilmenau, Germany.
Abstract:
We present results of a numerical analysis of Hartmann's historical experiments on flows of mercury in pipes and ducts under the influence of magnetic fields. The computed critical parameters for the laminar-turbulent transition as well as the friction coefficients are in excellent agreement with Hartmann's data. The simulations provide a first detailed view of the flow structures that are experimentally inaccessible. Novel flow regimes with localized turbulent spots near the sidewalls parallel to the magnetic field and otherwise laminar flow are discovered. We finally suggest how these predictions can be tested in a transparent fluid using optical flow measurement.
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