Numerical simulation

Numerical simulations of MHD flows are performed in complex, electrically coupled geometries to simulate turbulent flows, heat transfer and other coupled multiphysics phenomena. Results provide a detailed description of flow-internal details and help to interpret experimental data. Conversely, with this information, simulations can indicate suitable arrangements and needed number of sensors for experimental test sections.

Accurate numerical simulation of flows at blanket-relevant high values of the magnetic field is a computationally challenging task compared with hydrodynamic flows at the same velocity or heating rate. The major difficulty arises from the numerical stiffness of the mathematical problem, which manifests itself as thin boundary and internal shear layers and the wide range of typical time and length scales..

The numerical simulations at KIT are performed by using an in-house code based on the finite volume open source code OpenFOAM. A segregated solver has been developed to describe the magneto-convective flow. The code has been validated against a large number of analytical and asymptotic solutions, as well as experimental data.