Effect of Swirling Flow on Electro-magnetic Flow Meters

In general, liquid metal fluid flow in externally applied magnetic fields produces induced currents. A study was carried out on the electro-magneto-hydraulic effect of the induced currents on the characteristics of liquid metal electro-magnetic flow meters. Both theoretical analysis and corresponding experimental measurements have been conducted to investigate swirling flow profiles which are produced by upstream arrangements of pipes and bends. The results showed that these arrangements produced two types of flow profiles ; single swirling and double swirling. Based on such flow profiles, the distortion of a potential field was evaluated and the influence on voltage output was estimated with the two-dimensional electro-magnetic analysis code FALCON-2D developed for this study. The analyis showed that the single swirling flow had a larger effect on the voltage output than the double swirling flow.