MHD Stability Analysis and Flow Controls of Liquid Metal Free Surface Film Flows as Fusion Reactor PFCs^*

Numerical and experimental investigation results on the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) film flows along flat and curved bottom surfaces are summarized in this study. A simplified modeling has been developed to study the liquid metal MHD film state, which has been validated by the existing experimental results. Numerical results on how the inlet velocity (V), the chute width (W) and the inlet film thickness (d₀) affect the MHD film flow state are obtained. MHD stability analysis results are also provided in this study. The results show that strong magnetic fields make the stable V decrease several times compared to the case with no magnetic field, especially small radial magnetic fields (B_n) will have a significant impact on the MHD film flow state. Based on the above numerical and MHD stability analysis results flow control methods are proposed for flat and curved MHD film flows. For curved film flow we firstly proposed a new multi-layers MHD film flow system with a solid metal mesh to get the stable MHD film flows along the curved bottom surface. Experiments on flat and curved MHD film flows are also carried out and some firstly observed results are achieved.