Boundary element method for MHD channel flow with arbitrary wall conductivity11The results presented here were obtained in the course of research sponsored by the Engineering Research Council of Canada, No. OGP9918.

Abstract A boundary element formulation is presented to obtain the solution in terms of velocity and induced magnetic field for the steady MHD (magnetohydrodynamic) flow through a rectangular channel having arbitrarily conducting walls, with an external magnetic field applied transverse to the flow. The fluid is viscous, incompressible, and electrically conducting. The boundary element method (BEM) with constant elements has been used to cast the problem into the form of an integral equation over the boundary and to obatain a system of algebraic equations for the boundary unknown values only. Computations have been carried out for several values of Hartmann number (1 ≤ M ≤ 10) and conductivity parameter (0 ≤ λ ≤ ∞). Selected graphs are given showing the behavior of the velocity field and induced magnetic field, which are of the flattening tendency for an increase in M or decrease in λ, and are in agreement with exact solutions.