Experimental study of submerged liquid metal jet in a rectangular duct in a transverse magnetic field

A liquid metal flow in the form of a submerged round jet entering a square duct in the presence of a transverse magnetic field is studied experimentally. A range of high Reynolds and Hartmann numbers is considered. Flow velocity is measured using electric potential difference probes. A detailed study of the flow in the duct's cross-section about seven jet's diameters downstream of the inlet reveals the dynamics, which is unsteady and dominated by high-amplitude fluctuations resulting from the instability of the jet. The flow structure and fluctuation properties are largely determined by the value of the Stuart number ${{N}}$. At moderate ${{N}}$, the mean velocity profile retains a central jet with three-dimensional perturbations increasingly suppressed by the magnetic field as ${{N}}$ grows. At higher values of ${{N}}$, the flow becomes quasi-two-dimensional and acquires the form of an asymmetric macrovortex, with high-amplitude velocity fluctuations reemerging.