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Flow in an electrically conducting drop due to an oscillating magnetic field

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2025

V. Kumaran*
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India
*
Corresponding author: V. Kumaran, kumaran@iisc.ac.in

Abstract

A drop of an electrically conducting non-magnetic fluid of radius $R$, electrical conductivity $\kappa$, density $\rho _i$ and viscosity $\eta _i$ is suspended in a non-conducting medium of density $\rho _o$, viscosity $\eta _o$ and subject to an oscillating magnetic field of magnitude $H_0$ and angular frequency $\omega$. Oscillating eddy currents are induced in the drop due to Faraday’s law. The Lorentz force density, the cross product of the current density and the magnetic field, is the superposition of a steady component and an oscillating component with frequency $2 \omega$. The characteristic velocity due to the Lorentz force density is $(\mu _0 H_0^2 R/\eta _i)$ times a function of the dimensionless parameter $\beta = \sqrt {\mu _0 \kappa \omega R^2}$, the square root of the ratio of the frequency and the current relaxation rate. Here, $\mu _0$ is the magnetic permeability. The characteristic velocities for the steady and oscillatory components increase proportional to $\beta ^{4}$ for $\beta \ll 1$, and decrease proportional to $\beta ^{-1}$ for $\beta \gg 1$. The steady flow field consists of two axisymmetric eddies in the two hemispheres with flow outwards along the magnetic field axis and inwards along the equator. The flow in the drop induces a biaxial extensional flow in the surrounding medium, with compression along the magnetic axis and extension along the equatorial plane. The oscillating component of the velocity depends on $\beta$ and the Reynolds number ${Re}_\omega$ based on the frequency of oscillations. For ${Re}_\omega \gg 1$, the amplitude of the oscillatory velocity decreases proportional to ${Re}_\omega ^{-1}$ for $\beta \ll 1$, and proportional to ${Re}_\omega ^{-1/2}$ for $\beta \gg 1$.

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Type
JFM Papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press
Figure 0

Figure 1. The configuration and coordinate system for analysing the flow in and around a conducting drop of radius $R$ subjected to an oscillating magnetic field $\boldsymbol{H}^\dagger$. The magnetic field is applied along the $z$ (axial) direction.

Figure 1

Table 1. The symbols for the dimensional and scaled quantities and the scale factors. Here, $R$ is the drop radius, $H_0$ is the amplitude of the applied magnetic field, $\kappa$ is the electrical conductivity, $\mu _0$ is the permittivity of free space and $\eta _i$ is the viscosity of the fluid in the drop.

Figure 2

Figure 2. The velocity vectors (arrows) for the flow outside the drop due to an oscillating magnetic field. The applied magnetic field is along the $z$ axis, and $x$ is along any direction in the equatorial plane. The solid quarter-circle is the boundary of the drop. The flow is in the azimuthal direction ($\bar {v}_r = 0$) on the blue dashed line.

Figure 3

Figure 3. The velocity vectors (arrows) and the streamlines (dotted lines) for the flow in a drop due to an oscillating magnetic field for different values of the viscosity ratio $\eta _r$. The applied magnetic field is along the $z$ axis, and $x$ is along any direction in the equatorial plane. The solid quarter-circle is the boundary of the drop. The flow is radial ($\bar {v}_\theta = 0$) along the dashed red quarter circle. The flow is in the azimuthal direction ($\bar {v}_r = 0$) on the blue dashed line.

Figure 4

Figure 4. The velocity measures $\bar {V}_r = \bar {v}_r/(3 \cos {(\theta )}^2-1)$ ((2.16), red line) and $\bar {V}_{\theta } = \bar {v}_\theta /(\cos {(\theta )} \sin {(\theta )})$ ((2.16), blue line) for $\eta _r \rightarrow 0$ (a,d,g), $\eta _r=1$ (b,e,h) and $\eta _r \rightarrow \infty$ (c,f,i), and for $\beta = 1$ (a–c), $\beta = 3$ (d–f) and $\beta = 10$ (g–i). The dashed black lines in (a)–(c) are obtained from the $\beta \ll 1$ asymptotic solution (3.15), and the dashed black lines in the (g)–(i) are obtained from the $\beta \gg 1$ asymptotic solution (3.22).

Figure 5

Figure 5. The measure (a) $(1 + \eta _r) \bar {V}_\theta$ of the tangential velocity and (b) $\mbox{} - ((1 + \eta _r) /\eta _r) \bar {\Sigma }_{\theta r}$ of the tangential stress at the surface $r=1$ as a function of $\beta$ for viscosity ratio $\eta _r \rightarrow 0$ ($\circ$), $\eta _r = 1.0$ ($\triangle$), $\eta _r \rightarrow \infty$ ($\nabla$). The definitions of $\bar {V}_\theta$ and $\bar {\Sigma }_{\theta r}$ are given in (2.16) and (2.23), respectively. The dotted red line on the left is the $\beta \ll 1$ asymptotic result (3.16). The dotted red line on the right is the $\beta \gg 1$ asymptotic result (3.23).

Figure 6

Figure 6. (a) The shape of the conducting drop for the spherical drop (solid line), $\bar {h}_0=-0.05$ (dashed line) and $\bar {h}_0=-0.1$ (dotted line), and (b) the parameter $-{Ca}^{-1} \bar {h}_0$ in (2.46) as a function of $\beta$ for $\eta _r \rightarrow 0$ ($\circ$), $\eta _r = 1$ ($\triangle$) and $\eta _r \rightarrow \infty$ ($\nabla$). The dotted red lines on the left in (b) show (3.17) in the limit $\beta \ll 1$, and the dotted red line on the right is $- {Ca}^{-1} \bar {h}_0 = {1}/{32}$ (3.24).

Figure 7

Figure 7. The non-dimensional heat generation rate per unit time $\bar {Q}$ due to Joule heating as a function of $\beta$. The dotted red line on the left is the asymptotic expression (3.31) for $\beta \ll 1$, and the dotted red line on the right is the asymptotic expression (3.32) for $\beta \gg 1$.

Figure 8

Figure 8. The velocity scaled velocity measures $(\tilde {V}_r/\tilde {V}_\theta |_{r=1})$ (a) and $(\tilde {V}_\theta /\tilde {V}_\theta |_{r=1})$ (b) as a function of the distance from the surface, $r-1$ for ${Re}_\omega = 1$ ($\circ$), ${Re}_\omega = 30$ ($\triangle$), ${Re}_\omega = 1000$ ($\nabla$). The red lines are real parts, and the blue lines are the imaginary parts. The black line is the result (2.37)–(2.38) for ${Re}_\omega = 0$.

Figure 9

Figure 9. Vector plots of the real part (a–c) and imaginary part (d–f) of the velocity vectors and (g–i) the velocity measures $\tilde {V}_r = \tilde {v}_r/(3 \cos {(\theta )}^2-1)$ ((2.16), $\circ$) and $\tilde {V}_{\theta } = \tilde {v}_\theta /(\sin {(\theta )} \cos {(\theta )})$ ((2.16), $\triangle$) in the limit $\beta \ll 1$, all scaled by $\beta ^4$, for $\eta _r = 1$ and for three different values of ${Re}_\omega$. In (g)–(i), the real parts are the red lines and the imaginary parts are the blue lines.

Figure 10

Figure 10. The measure (a) $((1 + \eta _r) |\tilde {V}_\theta | / \beta ^4) |_{r=1}$ and (b) $(\textrm{Re}(\tilde {V}_\theta )/|\tilde {V}_\theta |)|_{r=1}$ (red) and $(\mbox{Im}(\tilde {V}_\theta )/|\tilde {V}_\theta |)|_{r=1}$ (blue) as a function of ${Re}_\omega$ for viscosity ratio $\eta _r \rightarrow 0$ ($\circ$), $\eta _r = 1.0$ ($\triangle$), $\eta _r \rightarrow \infty$ ($\nabla$). The definition of $\tilde {V}_\theta$ is given in (2.16). The dotted red line on the left in (a) is the ${Re}_\omega \ll 1$ asymptotic result (4.6). The dotted red line on the right in (a) is the ${Re}_\omega \gg 1$ asymptotic result (4.7).

Figure 11

Figure 11. The measure (a) $\mbox{} - ((1 + \eta _r) | \tilde {\Sigma }_{\theta r} |_{r=1}/\eta _r \beta ^4)$ and (b) $(\textrm{Re}(\tilde {\Sigma }_{\theta r})/|\tilde {\Sigma }_{\theta r}|) |_{r=1}$ (red) and $ (\mbox{Im}(\tilde {\Sigma }_{\theta r})/|\tilde {\Sigma }_{\theta r}|) |_{r=1}$ (blue) as a function of ${Re}_\omega$ in the limit $\beta \ll 1$ for viscosity ratio $\eta _r \rightarrow 0$ ($\circ$), $\eta _r = 1.0$ ($\triangle$), $\eta _r \rightarrow \infty$ ($\nabla$). The definition of $\tilde {\Sigma }_{\theta r}$ is given in (2.23). The dotted red line on the left in (a) is the ${Re}_\omega \ll 1$ asymptotic result (4.6). The dotted red line on the right in (a) is the ${Re}_\omega \gg 1$ asymptotic result (4.7).

Figure 12

Figure 12. Vector plots of the real part (a–c) and imaginary part (d–f) of the velocity vectors and the velocity measures $\beta \tilde {V}_r = \beta \tilde {v}_r/(3 \cos {(\theta )}^2-1)$ ((2.16), red line) and $\beta \tilde {V}_{\theta } = \beta \tilde {v}_\theta /(\sin {(\theta )} \cos {(\theta )})$ ((2.16), $\triangle$) in the limit $\beta \gg 1$, for $\eta _r = 1$ and for three different values of ${Re}_\omega$. The real parts are shown by the red lines, and the imaginary parts are shown by the blue lines.

Figure 13

Figure 13. The measure (a) $((1 + \eta _r) \beta | \tilde {V}_\theta |_{r=1})$ and (b) $\textrm{Re}(\tilde {V}_\theta )/|\tilde {V}_\theta | |_{r=1}$ (red) and $\mbox{Im}(\tilde {V}_\theta )/|\tilde {V}_\theta |$ (blue) as a function of $\beta$ for viscosity ratio $\eta _r \rightarrow 0$ ($\circ$), $\eta _r = 1.0$ ($\triangle$), $\eta _r \rightarrow \infty$ ($\nabla$). The definition of $\tilde {V}_\theta$ is given in (2.16). The dotted red line on the left in (a) is the ${Re}_\omega \ll 1$ asymptotic result (4.13). The dotted red line on the right in (a) is the ${Re}_\omega \gg 1$ asymptotic result (4.14).

Figure 14

Figure 14. The measure (a) $((1 + \eta _r) |\tilde {\Sigma }_{\theta r}| \beta /\eta _r) |_{r=1}$ and (b) $(\tilde {\Sigma }_{\theta r})/|\tilde {\Sigma }_{\theta r}| |_{r=1}$ and $\mbox{Im}(\tilde {\Sigma }_{\theta r})/|\tilde {\Sigma }_{\theta r}|$ as a function of ${Re}_\omega$ in the limit $\beta \ll 1$ for viscosity ratio $\eta _r = 0$ ($\circ$), $\eta _r = 1.0$ ($\triangle$), $\eta _r \rightarrow \infty$ ($\nabla$). The definition of $\tilde {\Sigma }_{\theta r}$ is given in (2.23). The dotted red line on the left in (a) is the ${Re}_\omega \ll 1$ asymptotic result (4.13). The dotted red line on the right is the ${Re}_\omega \gg 1$ asymptotic result (4.14).

Figure 15

Table 2. The parameter $\beta$, the characteristic strain rate $(\bar {V}_\theta ^\dagger |_{r=1}/R)$ for different combinations of the drop radius $R$, cyclical frequency $(\omega /2 \pi )$ and magnetic flux density $B_0$. The dimensionless groups are ${Re} = (\rho \bar {V}_\theta ^\dagger |_{r=1} R/\eta _i)$, the Reynolds number ${Re}_\omega = (\rho \omega R^2 / \eta _i)$ based on the frequency of oscillations and the capillary number based on the tangential velocity measure $\bar {V}_\theta |_{r=1} {Ca} = (\eta _i \bar {V}_{\theta }^\dagger |_{r=1}/\gamma )$. For all cases, the electrical conductivity is $\kappa = 10^7 \mbox{S/m}$, the viscosity of the drop is $\eta _i = 10^{-3}\, \text{kg}\,\text{ms}^{-1}$, the surface tension is $\gamma = 0.1 \,\text{kg}\,\text{s}^{-2}$, the ratio of viscosities is $\eta _r = 1$, the density is $10^3 \,\mbox{kg/m}^3$ and the magnetic permeability is $\mu _0 = 4 \pi \times 10^{-7}\, \mbox{kg m}^2 \mbox{s}^{-2} \mbox{A}^{-2}$. For the calculation of $\Delta T$, the thermal conductivity of the ambient fluid is assumed to be $0.6\, \text{W}\,\text{mK}^{-1}$.

Figure 16

Figure 15. Vector plots of the real and imaginary parts of $\,\tilde {\boldsymbol {\!H}}$ and $\kern1.5pt \tilde {\boldsymbol {\kern-1.5pt E}}$ for $\beta = 1$ (a–d), $\beta = 3$ (e–h) and $\beta = 10$ (i–l) within the spherical drop with boundary shown by the circle. The magnetic field, shown in the $x{-}z$ (meridional) plane, is axisymmetric about the $z$ axis. The electric field is shown in the $x{-}y$ (equatorial) plane. At each location, the length of the arrow is proportional to the magnitude of the field. Arrows are not shown at locations where the magnitude of the field is less than 2 % of the maximum magnitude over the domain.

Figure 17

Figure 16. The variation of (a) the ratio $\bar {F}(r)/\bar {F}(r)|_{r=1}$ with $r$ for $\beta = 1$ ($\circ$), $\beta = 3$ ($\triangle$), $\beta = 10$ ($\nabla$), $\beta = 30$ ($\diamond$), and (b) the variation of the forcing at the surface $\bar {F}(r)|_{r=1}$ with $\beta$. In (a), the red line is $\bar {F}(r)/ \bar {F}(r)|_{r=1} = r^3$ obtained from (B13), and the blue lines are $\bar {F}(r)/ \bar {F}(r)|_{r=1} = (\exp {({-} \beta \sqrt {2} (1-r))}/r^2)$ obtained from (B14). In (b), the dashed line on the left is $ \bar {F}(r)|_{r=1} = (\beta ^4/20)$ obtained from (B13), and the dashed line on the right is $ \bar {F}(r)|_{r=1} = (9 \beta /4 \sqrt {2})$ obtained from (B14).

Figure 18

Figure 17. The variation of (a) the ratio $\mbox{Re}(\tilde {F}(r))/ |\tilde {F}(r)||_{r=1}$ and (b) the ratio $\mbox{Im}(\tilde {F}(r))/ |\tilde {F}(r)||_{r=1}$ with $r$ for $\beta = 1$ ($\circ$), $\beta = 3$ ($\triangle$), $\beta = 10$ ($\nabla$), $\beta = 30$ ($\diamond$), and (b) the variation of the forcing at the surface $ \bar {F}(r)|_{r=1}$ with $\beta$. The red lines are obtained from the $\beta \ll 1$ asymptotic result, (B25), for $\beta = 1$, and the blue lines obtained from the $\beta \gg 1$ asymptotic result, (B26), for $\beta = 10$ and $\beta = 30$.

Figure 19

Figure 18. The variation of (a) $ |\tilde {F}(r)||_{r=1}$ and (b) the ratios $ (\mbox{Re}(\tilde {F})/ |\tilde {F}(r)|) |_{r=1}$ (red) and $( (\mbox{Im}(\tilde {F})/|\tilde {F}|)|_{r=1}$ (blue) with $\beta$. In (a), the dashed line on the left is obtained from the $\beta \ll 1$ asymptotic result, (B25), and the dashed line on the right is the $\beta \gg 1$ asymptotic result, (B26).