Numerical analysis of natural convection in thermoelectrically conducting fluids in a cubic cavity under a constant magnetic field. 1. Effect of perpendicular magnetic field, comparison of visualized experimental results

When electromagnetic fields are applied to thermoelectrically conducting fluids such as melted metals, the velocity, electromagnetic and temperature distributions are interrelated. Therefore the behavior of thermoelectrically conducting fluids is complicated under electromagnetic fields. In this work, we propose coupling GSMAC (generalized simplified marker and cell) finite element method with the φ-method, and discuss the natural convection of a thermoelectrically conducting fluid in a cubic cavity under a constant magnetic field. In the case of mercury (Prandtl number Pr=0.025, Grashof number Gr=3.75x107) under a magnetic field, the temperature distributions obtained using the present numerical method agree qualitatively with the visualized experimental results, obtained using a thermosensitive liquid crystal sheet. (author)