par Viré, Axelle 
;Knaepen, Bernard ;Thess, André
Référence Physics of fluids, 22, 12, 125101
Publication Publié, 2010-12
;Knaepen, Bernard ;Thess, AndréRéférence Physics of fluids, 22, 12, 125101
Publication Publié, 2010-12
Article révisé par les pairs
| Résumé : | Lorentz force velocimetry (LFV) is a contactless technique for the measurement of liquid metal flowrates. It consists of measuring the force acting upon a magnetic system and arising from the interaction between an external magnetic field and the flow of an electrically conducting fluid. In this study, a new design is proposed so as to make the measurement independent of the fluid's electrical conductivity. It is made of one or two coils placed around a circular pipe. The forces produced on each coil are recorded in time as the liquid metal flows through the pipe. It is highlighted that the auto- or cross-correlation of these forces can be used to determine the flowrate. The reliability of the flowmeter is first investigated with a synthetic velocity profile associated with a single vortex ring, which is convected at a constant speed. This configuration is similar to the movement of a solid rod and enables a simple analysis of the flowmeter. Then, the flowmeter is applied to a realistic three-dimensional turbulent flow. In both cases, the influence of the coil radii, coil separation, and sign of the coil-carrying currents is systematically assessed. The study is entirely numerical and uses a second-order finite volume method. Two sets of simulations are performed. First, the equations of motion are solved without accounting for the effect of the magnetic field on the flow (kinematic simulations). Second, the Lorentz force is explicitly added to the momentum balance (dynamic simulations), and the influence of the external magnetic field on the flow is then quantified. © 2010 American Institute of Physics. |
