Numerical Simulation of 3-D Supersonic Viscous Flow in an Experimental MHD Channel

The 3-D supersonic viscous h in an experimental MHD channel has been numerically simulated. The experimental MHD channel is currently in operation at NASA Ames Research Center. The channel contains a nozzle section, a center section, and an accelerator section where magnetic and electric fields can be imposed on the flow. In recent tests, velocity increases of up to 40% have been achieved in the accelerator section. The flow in the channel is numerically computed using a new 3-D parabokd NavierStokes (F"S) algorithm that has been developed to efficiently compute MHD flows in the low magnetic Reynolds number regime. The MHD effects are modeled by introducing source terms into the PNS equations which can then be solved in a very e5uent manner. To account for upstream (elliptic) effects, the flowfield can be computed using multiple streamwise sweeps with an iterated PNS algorithm. The new algorithm has been used to compute two test case^ that match the experimental conditions. In both GWS, magnetic and electric fields are applied to the flow. The computed results are in good agreement with the available experimental data.