Magnetohydroynamic Free Convection from a Disk Rotating in a Vertical Plane

Abstract

The non-axisymmetric motion (produced by a buoyancy induced cross flow) of a fluid in contact with a rotating disk and in the presence of a magnetic field normal to the disk is studied. Using modern quasi- Newton techniques, B-splines, and a Galerkin approximation to the fluid motion equations, numerical solutions are obtained for a wide range of magnetic field strengths and Prandtl numbers (ratio of kinematic viscosity to thermal conductivity). Results are presented both in tabular and graphical form in terms of two non-dimensional parameters. There is excellent agreement with previous work.