Oscillating melt flow driven by a rotating magnetic field in a cylindrical column with oxidized surface

This paper considers the situation where the liquid metal flow with a free surface covered by an oxide layer is driven by a rotating magnetic field. The cylindrical configuration was investigated in an experiment accompanied by numerical simulations. The oxide layer feels the effect of the viscous force arising from the moving liquid beneath and the friction force from the side walls. A complex interaction occurs if both forces are in the same order of magnitude. Our measurements demonstrate that the occurrence of the oxide layer may lead to an unexpected oscillating behaviour of the bulk flow. Our numerical model was shown to be able to reproduce essential features of the phenomenon in a qualitative way.