The effect of finite-conductivity Hartmann walls on the linear stability of Hunt’s flow

Abstract

We analyse numerically the linear stability of fully developed liquid metal flow in a square duct with insulating side walls and thin, electrically conducting horizontal walls. The wall conductance ratio $c$ is in the range of 0.01 to 1 and the duct is subject to a vertical magnetic field with Hartmann numbers up to $\mathit{Ha}=10^{4}$. In a sufficiently strong magnetic field, the flow consists of two jets at the side walls and a near-stagnant core with relative velocity ${\sim}(c\mathit{Ha})^{-1}$. We find that for $\mathit{Ha}\gtrsim 300,$ the effect of wall conductivity on the stability of the flow is mainly determined by the effective Hartmann wall conductance ratio $c\mathit{Ha}.$ For $c\ll 1$, the increase of the magnetic field or that of the wall conductivity has a destabilizing effect on the flow. Maximal destabilization of the flow occurs at $\mathit{Ha}\approx 30/c$. In a stronger magnetic field with $c\mathit{Ha}\gtrsim 30$, the destabilizing effect vanishes and the asymptotic results of Priede et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 649, 2010, pp. 115–134) for ideal Hunt’s flow with perfectly conducting Hartmann walls are recovered.