Investigation of a bubble-driven liquid metal flow under the influence of a travelling magnetic field

This paper describes laboratory experiments for investigations of flow structures in liquid metal bubbly flows under the influence of a travelling magnetic field (TMF). The melt flow is driven by central gas injection into a cylindrical container filled with the low melting point alloy GaInSn. Velocity fields of the liquid were measured non-intrusively using the ultrasound Doppler method. Depending on the travelling direction of the magnetic field, the TMF mainly imposes either a co-current or counter flow with respect to the original bubble-driven circulation. The application of a downward TMF significantly increases the liquid velocity all over the fluid volume. An upward TMF gives rise to more complex structures of the velocity field resulting in alternately arranged up- and downstream regions. Both the upward and downward TMF promote the occurrence of non-steady motions with distinct velocity fluctuations leading to an intensification of related transport processes in the melt and providing the perspective of enhanced mixing efficiencies.