Numerical Simulation of the Flow Past a Pair of Magnetic Obstacles - Selected Topics of Computational and Experimental Fluid Mechanics - page 397

Numerical Simulation of the Flow Past
a Pair of Magnetic Obstacles

J. Román, A. Beltrán and S. Cuevas

Abstract We present a quasi-two-dimensional numerical simulation of the flow of
a thin layer of electrolyte past a pair of localized Lorentz forces, named magnetic
obstacles , placed side by side. Opposing Lorentz forces are produced by the interac-
tion of the magnetic field created by a pair of small permanent magnets and a D.C.
current applied tranversally to the main flow. By varying the separation between the
magnets and the intensity of the applied current, different flow regimes are analyzed.
The attention is focused on the interference of the wakes created by the magnetic
obstacles.

1 Introduction

T he flow past solid obstacles is certainly one of the most widely studied problems
in fluid dynamics and constitutes in itself a classic subject of research (Zdravkovich
1997 ). Its importance stems from countless applications where determining the
behavior of flows past bluff bodies is of practical interest. From the point of view of
dynamical system, the understanding of the spatio-temporal behavior of the wakes
formed in flows past solid obstacles presents interesting challenges. When more than
one obstacle is present, investigating the interference of wakes becomes a relevant
issue(Galetal. 1996 ). In fact, the behavior of coupled wakes created by a pair
of cylinders placed side by side in a uniform flow has been studied experimentally
and theoretically by several authors and different flow regimes have been identi-
fied according to the separation between the cylinders (Zdravkovich 1985 ;LeGal
et al. 1990 ; Peschard and Gal 1996 ; Sumner et al. 1999 ). But, wakes are not only