The behaviour of gas bubbles in a turbulent liquid metal MHD flow, Part II: The influence of an external magnetic field on the slip ratio in a liquid metal bubbly flow

The influence of an steady, homogeneous magnetic field on the slip ratio in a liquid metal bubbly flow is investigated. An one-dimensional model has been developed describing the motion of an ensemble of bubbles in a MHD flow. Calculations are presented for magnetic fields aligned transverse and parallel to the mean flow direction. While in the longitudinal case the slip decreases monotonously with growing field strength, it passes a minimum and increases again for large fields if B is directed transverse to the flow. In order to prove the theoretical predictions experiments are performed in a sodium-argon flow exposed to a transverse field and a mercury-nitrogen flow with a longitudinal magnetic field.