Proceedings of National Conference on Advances in Manufacturing, Systems & Processes - NAIMSAP2013

131

The Numerical Simulation of Fluid Flow in MHD

Generator
K.V. Sandeep, M. Sandhya and Aju Mathew
Abstract--- Simulation of Magneto hydrodynamic flow is
done in this project. The MHD generators are used used as a
topping cycle in thermal power plants for increasing the
overall efficiency of the plant. The MHD generators are
working at higher temperatures and thus the Carnot efficiency
of the generator will be also high. Many authors are studied
the flow through the MHD generators using Experimental
methods and Numerical simulation methods. Numerical
simulation is used as an effective tool for the investigation of
MHD flows. FLUENT 6.3 software is used as the CFD solver
for the flow. In the MHD is available in the FLUENT 6.3
version and it loaded in the solver during the simulation.
Large scale MHD generator experimental and simulated
results are used as a reference journal for the validation
purpose. With the solver setting used in the validation we can
simulate the changes in different flow parameters like
pressure, temperature, etc. In this paper pressure is taken as
the variable and different generator electric potential and
current density and Hall current density are studied.
Keywords--- Electric Potential, Hall Current

I.

INTRODUCTION

HE Magneto hydrodynamic generator transforms thermal

energy and kinetic energy directly into electricity. MHD
generators are different from traditional electric generators in
that they operate at high temperatures without moving parts.
MHD was developed because the hot exhaust gas of an MHD
generator is capable of heating the boilers of a steam power
plant. MHD was developed as a topping cycle to increase the
efficiency of electric generation. An MHD generator, like a
conventional generator, relies on moving a conductor through
a magnetic field to generate electric current. The MHD
generator uses hot conductive plasma as the moving
conductor.A numerical simulation of flow in a Magneto
hydrodynamic flow in a generator is done in this thesis
II.

LITERATURE REVIEW

O. Zikanov& A. Thess et al. [1] method of direct

numerical simulation (DNS) is applied to investigate the most
general properties of turbulent flows of liquid metals in the
presence of a constant magnetic field. Various aspects of the
flow transformation into an anisotropic state are thoroughly
K.V. Sandeep, M.Tech, Government Engg. College, Thrissur. E-mail:
mail2sandeepkv@gmail.com
M. Sandhya, Asst. Professor, M.Tech, Government Engineering College,
Thrissur.
Aju Mathew, Asst Professor, M.Tech, KMEA Engineering College.

examined. The evolution is found to depend strongly on the

magnetic interaction parameter (Stuart number). In the case of
small Stuart number, the flow remains three-dimensional,
turbulent, and approximately isotropic. At large Stuart number
(strong magnetic field) the turbulence is suppressed rapidly
and the flow become two-dimensional and laminar.Read
already published work in the same field. LikSim R. Bhargava
et al. [2] numerical solution is developed for the viscous,
incompressible, magneto hydrodynamic flow in a rotating
channel comprising two infinite parallel plates and containing
a Darcian porous medium under constant pressure gradient.
The system is subjected to a strong, inclined magnetic field
orientated to rotational axis A numerical solution based on
Network Simulation Methodology (NSM) has been presented.
Makoto Yuhara, TakayasuFujinoet al. [3] studied Threedimensional computation of magneto hydrodynamics in a
weakly ionized plasma with strong MHD interaction. A largescale MHD generator with an MHD channel of 4.5 m, having
demonstrated the maximum electric power output of 510MW,
is studied numerically with three-dimensional analysis .The
fluctuations of gas dynamic quantities along the x-direction,
resulting in a slight decrease of the Faraday current density. A
large boundary-layer separation is induced by the strong MHD
interaction under the condition of a low channel voltage.
Bailing, Feng et al. [4] presents a preliminary experimental
investigation on magneto hydrodynamic (MHD) power
generation using seeded supersonic argon flow as working
fluid. Helium and argon are used as driver and driven gas
respectively in a shock tunnel. Under the conditions of nozzle
inlet total pressure being 0.32 MPa, total temperature 6 504 K,
magnetic field density about 0.5 T and nozzle outlet velocity 1
959 m/s, induction voltage and short-circuit current of the
segmentation MHD power generation channel are
measured.Y. Inui, T. Ishida et al. [5] conduct detailed rz two
dimensional time dependent numerical simulations of a closed
cycle disk MHD generator for various load conditions. The
objective of this study is to compare the results of the newly
performed detailed rz two dimensional time dependent
numerical simulations with those of the already performed
quasi-one dimensional time dependent numerical simulations.
III.

FINDINGS & OBJECTIVE

A numerical simulation of flow in a Magneto

hydrodynamic flow in a generator is done in this thesis. The
factors affecting the flow of fluid are studied. Makoto Yuhara,
Takayasu Fujino studied a Russian MHD power plant and this
paper is referred for the validation. The geometry of the MHD
Generator is simple with Faraday Configuration. The
validation is done by comparing the contours of the static
pressure, Mach no. and electric potential. The journal paper

ISBN 978-93-82338-77-2 2013 Bonfring

Proceedings of National Conference on Advances in Manufacturing, Systems & Processes - NAIMSAP2013

132

involve the how the Gas dynamic quantity effect the generator
performance and this paper studied the effect of the
combustion pressure or Stagnation pressure effect the
generator performance. The variation of Hall current ( jy) with
stagnation pressure is observed and the variation of Faraday
current and Electric potential (V/m) is also calculated
Where (Tesla) and (V/m) are the magnetic and electric
fields, respectively, and and are the induction fields for the
magnetic and electric fields, respectively. q (C/ ) is the
electric charge density, and (A/ ) is the electric current
density vector.

A. Governing Equations

Continuity equation

Momentum equation

Energy equation

Maxwells equation (

Ideal gas equation of state

B.

The induction fields and

are defined as:

Geometry
Where
and
are the magnetic permeability and the
electric permittivity, respectively. For sufficiently conducting
media such as liquid metals, the electric charge density q and
are customarily neglected. In
the displacement current
studying the interaction between flow field and
electromagnetic field, it is critical to know the current density
due to induction. Generally, two approaches may be used to
evaluate the current density. One is through the solution of a
magnetic induction equation; the other is through solving an
electric potential equation

Fig. 1: Geometry
C. Boundry Conditions &Types
Table 1: Zones and Boundary Types
Zones

Boundary Types

Inlet

Pressure inlet

Outlet

Pressure outlet

Electrodes

Conducting Walls

Side walls

Insulating Walls

IV.

D. Magnetic Induction Method

In the first approach, the magnetic induction equation is
derived from Ohms law and Maxwells equation. The
equation provides the coupling between the flow field and the
magnetic field. In general, Ohms law that defines the current
density is given by:

Where is the electrical

conductivity of the media. For
fluid velocity field in a magnetic field
Ohms law takes the form:

IMPLEMENTATION OF MHD FLOW IN FLUENT

The coupling between the fluid flow field and the magnetic
field can be understood on the basis of two fundamental
effects: the induction of electric current due to the movement
of conducting material in a magnetic field, and the effect of
Lorentz force as the result of electric current and magnetic
field interaction. In general, the induced electric current and
the Lorentz force tend to oppose the mechanisms that create
them. Electric induction can also occur in the presence of a
time-varying magnetic field. The effect is the stirring of fluid
movement by the Lorentz force. Electromagnetic fields are
described by Maxwells equations:

From Ohms law and Maxwells equation, the induction

equation can be derived as:

From the solved magnetic field , the current density

be calculated using Amperes relation as:

can

Generally, the magnetic field u in a MHD problem can be

decomposed into the externally imposed field
and the

ISBN 978-93-82338-77-2 2013 Bonfring

Proceedings of National Conference on Advances in Manufacturing, Systems & Processes - NAIMSAP2013

induced field due to fluid motion. Only the induced field

must be solved.
E. Electric Potential Method
The second approach for the current density is to solve the
electric potential equation and calculate the current density
using Ohms law. In general, the electric field ur can be
expressed as:

Where
and
are the scalar potential and the vector
potential, respectively. For a static field and assuming
(Ohms law) can be written as:
=

V.

133

RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS

The validation is done by comparing the contours of static

pressure Mach no and the Electric potential. After the
validation we can know what the fluent set up for the MHD
flow through a nozzle. The stagnation pressure is varied in
different simulation and variations ofMHD flow parameters
are observed. The main parameters of an electrical device are
Electric potential and the Current density. In this paper the
variation of Electric potential and the Current density is
simulated and the variation is discussed by comparing the Hall
current density, Mach number and the temperature variation.
The graph given below is representing the variation of
parameters in a line close to the cathode

For sufficiently conducting media, the principle of

conservation of electric charge gives:

The electric potential equation is therefore given by:

With the knowledge of the induced electric current, the

MHD coupling is achieved by introducing additional source
terms to the fluid momentum equation and energy equation.
For the fluid momentum equation, the additional source term
is the Lorentz force given by:

From the figure we can see that at lower stagnation

pressures (10 bar) the Mach no has a greater values when
compared to higher stagnation pressures (16 bar). Because at
lower stagnation pressures, oblique shock wave is less
stronger when compared to the shocks in the higher pressures.
The less strong oblique shock wave causes the flow to
accelerate throughout the nozzle length.

which has units of N/

in the SI system. For the energy
equation, the additional source term is the Joule heating rate
given by:

Which has units of W/

For charged particles in an
electromagnetic field, the Lorentz force acting on the particle
is given by
=
Where q is the particle charge density (Coulomb /
is the particle velocity. The force has units of N/

) and

The MHD model is implemented using user-defined

functions (UDF) as an ANSYS FLUENT add-on module,
which is loaded into ANSYS FLUENT at run-time. The model
is accessed through a number of UDF schemes. The magnetic
induction equation and the electric potential equations are
solved through user-defined scalar transport equations. For the
magnetic induction equation a set of 2 or 3 scalar equations
are solved, each representing a Cartesian component of the
induced magnetic field vector in a 2D or 3D case. For the
electric potential equation a single scalar equation is solved.

ISBN 978-93-82338-77-2 2013 Bonfring

Proceedings of National Conference on Advances in Manufacturing, Systems & Processes - NAIMSAP2013

The higher pressure provide more temperature in the fluid

temperature is an important parameter in the MHD
flow.Higher temperature provides a higher electrical
conductivity and current density is greatetly affected by the
conductivity. In the following discussion the variation of
current density with temperature is given
The hall current is loss in the case of a Faraday type
generator. From the figure we can see that the Hall current is
higher at higher pressures But the sign or the direction of the
hall current is different at different location of the electrode.
At the staring of the electrode the hall current density have a
negative value and a zero value in the electrode and a positive
value at the end of electrode.

134

Mach no. The Electric potential has a large value in the

electrode, because the electrode collects electrons and higher
electron density causes a higher electric potential. Towards the
end of the electrode the electric potential is increasing,
because the flow is accelerating towards the end of the
electrodes and the uB term is increased with increase in
mach no or the velocity of the flowing fluid.
VI.

CONCLUSION

A three dimensional simulation of the flow in a Magneto

hydrodynamic flow inside a MHD generator is done in this
thesis. The validation is done with a reference journal paper
and the contours are compared. The simulation showing a
close value of static pressure, Mach no, and Electric potential
at the entrance and exit of the nozzle. But inside the nozzle the
simulated result show a slight variation in distribution of the
above parameters. This may be due to lack of mesh in the
region. The mesh size has great effect on calculation time.
The variation of flow parameters like pressure, static
temperature, Mach no is discussed in the paper. The
temperature has a effect on the electrical conductivity of the
fluid and with the light of this factor we can explain the
current density variation. The current density also affected by
the hall current density
The result shows that the pressure has a great effect on the
generator Electric potential and Current density. At higher
pressures the Current density and the Electric potential have a
higher value. But at higher pressures the loss in the generator
i.e. Hall current is also higher so in designing the generator the
pressure have a great dependence on the pressure and
temperatures due to material constriction. So the optimum
pressure should be selected for the MHD generator.
REFERENCES
[1]

The variation of the current density and the electric

potential is shown in the above figures. At higher pressure the
Current density and the Electric potential shows a higher value
because of the higher temperatures the electrical conductivity
of the gas flowing will be higher and the higher current
density will be getting as output. But the variation or the
decrease of the current density towards the end of electrode is
mainly due to the hall current .At the end of electrode the hall
current has a positive value, this will decrease the current
density of the generator.

[2]
[3]

[4]

[5]

S.M. Aithal Characteristics of optimum power extraction in a MHD

generator with subsonic and supersonic inlets (2006) 765771
Y. Inui *, H. Ito, T. Ishida Two dimensional simulation of closed cycle
disk MHDgenerator considering nozzle and diffuser (2003) 19932003
Motoo Ishikwa , Makoto Yuhara, Takayasu Fujino Three-dimensional
computation of magnetohydrodynamics in a weakly ionized plasma with
strong MHD interaction (2007) 254259
LU Haoyub, ZHU Taoa, ZHANG Bailing Preliminary Experimental
Investigation on MHD Power Generation Using Seeded Supersonic
Argon Flow as Working Fluid (2005) 701-708
V.P. Panchenko, Preliminary analysis of The SAKHALIN World largest
MHD generators, in: Proceedings of 14th International Conference
onMHD Power Generation and High Temperature Technologies, 2002,
pp. 193202.

The electric potential has lesser effect of hall current .The

main dependence is on the electrical conductivity and the

ISBN 978-93-82338-77-2 2013 Bonfring