Magnetohydrodynamic analysis of the interaction of magnetized plasma flow with a perfect-conducting object

Journal Article · Sat May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3418283· OSTI ID:21371138

Nishida, Hiroyuki ^[1]; Abe, Takashi ^[2]

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1. Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo 184-8588 (Japan)
2. Institute of Space and Astronautical Science/JAXA, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229-0024 (Japan)

In this study, a supersonic and super-Alfvenic magnetized plasma flow past a perfect-conducting cylinder was simulated based on single-fluid ideal magnetohydrodynamics to clarify the piling-up process of the magnetic field frozen in the plasma flow. Therefore, the magnetic field is assumed to be perpendicular to both the cylinder axis and the flow direction. Simulation results indicated that the cylinder continuously traps the magnetic field and an unsteady flow field is generated. Even though the drag force exerting on the cylinder is expected to continuously increase with the continuous increase in the trapped magnetic field and the shock layer, the intensity of magnetic flux density at the cylinder surface is saturated at a certain value and the drag force is also saturated. The saturated values are characterized by the Alfven Mach number of the mainstream. Furthermore, on this flow structure the wake flow in which magnetic reconnection plays an important role was found to have a strong influence by using the pseudomagnetic reconnection in the ideal magnetohydrodynamic flow.

• OSTI ID: 21371138
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 17, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3418283; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ALFVEN WAVES
FLUX DENSITY
MACH NUMBER
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC FLUX
MAGNETIC RECONNECTION
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
PLASMA
PLASMA SIMULATION
UNSTEADY FLOW
DIMENSIONLESS NUMBERS
FLUID FLOW
FLUID MECHANICS
HYDRODYNAMICS
HYDROMAGNETIC WAVES
MECHANICS
SIMULATION
VELOCITY