Analysis and Finite Element Simulation of MHD Flows, with an Application to Seawater Drag R

  • 格式:pdf
  • 大小:127.54 KB
  • 文档页数:6

ANALYSISANDFINITEELEMENTSIMULATIONOFMHDFLOWS,WITHANAPPLICATIONTOSEAWATERDRAGREDUCTION1

A.J.MeirDepartmentofMathematicsAuburnUniversity,AL36849ajm@math.auburn.eduP.G.SchmidtDepartmentofMathematicsAuburnUniversity,AL36849pgs@math.auburn.edu

Abstract.Muchresearchefforthasrecentlybeendevotedtotheelectromagneticcontrolofsaltwaterflows,exploitingthemacroscopicinteractionofsaltwaterwithelectriccurrentsandmagneticfields.ThisinteractionisgovernedbytheequationsofviscousincompressibleMHD,essentially,theNavier-StokesequationscoupledtoMaxwell’sequations.AmajorproblemintheanalysisandnumericalsolutionoftheseequationsisthefactthatwhiletheNavier-Stokesequationsareposedinthefluiddomain,Maxwell’sequationsaregenerallyposedonallofspace.Consequently,electricandmagneticfieldsdonotsatisfystandardboundaryconditions,butjumporcontinuityrelationsonthesurfaceofthefluiddomain(andotherinterfaces).Frequentlytheresultingdifficultiesarecircumventedbyprescribingmoreorlessartificialboundaryconditions.InthispaperwepresentanovelformulationoftheMHDequationsthatavoidssomeinherentdifficultiesofmoretraditionalapproachesbyemployingtheelectriccurrentdensityratherthanthemagneticfieldastheprimaryelectromagneticvariable.Thisformulationleadstoinitial-boundaryvalueproblemsforasystemofintegro-differentialequationsinthefluiddomainandlendsitselfnaturallytotheuseoffinite-elementbaseddiscretizationtechniques.Asafirstapplicationwedescribeamixedfinite-elementmethodforthenumericalsolutionofaclassofstationaryMHDflowproblemsandreportonthecomputationalsimulationofasimpledragreductionexperiment.

I.INTRODUCTIONIthaslongbeenknownthattheflowofanelectricallyconductingfluid,suchasseawater,isaffectedbyLorentzforces,inducedbytheinteractionofelectriccurrentsandmagneticfieldsinthefluid.OnlyrecentlyhasitbeendemonstratedthatsuchLorentzforcescanbeusedtocontroltheflowandtoattainspecificengineeringdesigngoalssuchasflowstabilization,suppressionordelayofflowseparation,reductionofnear-wallturbulenceandskinfriction,dragreductionandthrustgeneration(see,forexample,[4,9,10]andthereferencescitedtherein).Thetheorythatdescribesthemacroscopicinteractionofanelectricallyconductingfluidwithelectriccurrentsandmagneticfieldsismagnetohydro-dynamics(orMHD).Assumingthefluidtobeviscous,incompressible,andfinitelyconducting,thegoverningequationsaretheNavier-Stokesandpre-Maxwellequations,coupledviatheLorentzforceandOhm’slaw.WhiletheNavier-Stokesequationsareposedinthefluiddomain,Maxwell’sequationsaregenerallyposedonallofspace,andtypicallybothinteriorandexteriorfieldsmustbedetermined.Onlyunderspecialcircumstances,mostnotablyinthepresenceofperfectlyconductingwalls,isitlegitimatetoconfineattentiontothebodyofconductingfluidandtoneglectitselectromagneticinteractionwiththeoutsideworld.Ingeneralthisinteractionisofcriticalimportance;infact,itconstituteswhatmostlydistinguishesMHDfromordinaryhydrodynamicsandisasourceofchallengingmathematicalandcomputationalproblems.Traditionally,theMHDequationsareformulatedasasystemofevo-lutionequationsforthefluidvelocityandthemagneticfield,alongwithanauxiliaryequationfortheelectricfieldoutsidethefluidregion.Thefactthatthemagneticfieldextendstoallofspaceandmayexhibitjumpdiscon-tinuitiesacrossinterfacesseparatingmediawithdifferentelectromagneticpropertiescausesanalyticalaswellascomputationaldifficulties,whicharefrequentlycircumventedbyprescribingmoreorlessartificialboundaryconditions.In[5–8]and[12]wedevelopedanovelapproachtoviscousincompressibleMHDthatavoidssomeintrinsicdifficultiesofthetraditionalmethodbyemployingfluidvelocityandelectriccurrentdensity(ratherthanfluidvelocityandmagneticfield)astheprimaryvariables.This“velocity-currentformulation”exploitsthefactthatwhilemagneticfieldsmayextendthroughoutspace,theunknowncurrentsinducingthosefieldsaretypicallycarriedbyconductorsoffiniteextent.Ifweconsider,forexample,asinglebodyofconductingfluidandassumeallexternalfieldsourcestobeknown,theonlyunknowncurrentflowsinthefluidregionitself.Inthiscase,thevelocity-currentformulationallowsustoperformallcomputationsonthefluiddomainwhilestillaccountingexactlyfortheeffectsoftheuniversalelectromagneticfield.Ingeneral,thevelocity-currentformulationleadstoasystemofevolutionequationsforthefluidvelocityandtheunknowncurrentdensityinthefluidsandadjacentsolidconductors,alongwithanauxiliarylineardiv-curlsystem,whichcanusuallybesolvedanalyticallyintermsofsingularintegrals.Thevelocity-currentformulationlendsitselfnaturallytotheuseoffinite-elementbaseddiscretizationtechniquesandprovidesatheoreticalframeworkforthedevelopmentofefficientcomputationaltoolsforthesimulationofawidevarietyofMHDflowproblems,includingtheelec-tromagneticcontrolofseawaterflow.Whilethemethodhasnotyetbeenappliedonanindustrialscale,ithasbeenshowntobeeffectiveintheanaly-sisandnumericalsolutionofaclassofstationaryMHDflowproblems(see[8]).Inthefollowingwedescribethegeneralapproach(SectionII),deriveamixedvariationalformulationforthestationarycase(SectionIII),discussafinite-elementmethodbasedonthisformulation(SectionIV),andre-portonthecomputationalsimulationofasimpledragreductionexperiment(SectionV).Despitetheacademicnatureofthissimulation,itillustratesthepotentialusefulnessofourapproachinsolvingavarietyofMHDflowcontrolanddesignproblems.II.THEVELOCITY-CURRENTFORMULATIONWeareconcernedwiththeflowofaviscous,incompressible,electri-callyconductingfluid,confinedtoaboundedregionofspaceandinteractingwithvariousbodyforces,electriccurrents,andelectromagneticfields.Un-dertheassumptionsoftheMHDapproximation,theflowisgovernedbytheNavier-Stokesequations,posedinthefluiddomain,andthepre-Maxwellequations,posedonallofspace;botharecoupledviatheLorentzforceandOhm’slaw.Asdiscussedintheintroduction,weseektoformulatetheproblemasasystemofevolutionequationsforthefluidvelocityuandtheelectriccurrentdensityJinthefluid;botharesolenoidalvectorfields,dependingontimeandposition.TheevolutionofthevelocityfieldisgovernedbytheNavier-Stokesequations,thatis,themomentumbalanceu∆u+(u)u+JB=Fext(1)alongwiththecontinuityequationu=0(2)reflectingtheincompressibilityofthefluid.Hereanddenotethe(con-stant)densityandviscosityofthefluid;Fextisagivenexternalbodyforce;andisthescalarpressure,anauxiliaryunknownthatplaystheroleofaLagrangemultiplierassociatedwiththedivergenceconstraint(2).Equa-tions(1)and(2)arecoupledtoMaxwell’sequationsthroughtheLorentzforce,JB,andOhm’slaw,J=(E+uB)(3)whereEandBdenotethe(unknown)electricandmagneticfields;isthe(constant)electricconductivityofthefluid.AdditionalcurrentsJextmay