Computational study of flow and magnetic field interactions in Riga dynamo

Experimental set-ups for magnetohydrodynamic dynamo involve usually complex configurations of fluid flow and magnetic field, designed to achieve the critical magnetic Reynolds number sufficient for magnetic self-excitation, but with minimum energy input and at scales manageable in a laboratory. Computer simulations that could be used to optimize the design and to complement the experiments have, however, been limited to much simplified geometries and flow conditions, which inevitably limit their applicability. In this paper, we report on progress in the coupled finite difference (Maxwell solver)/finite volume (Navier-Stokes solver) computer simulations of the full-scale real Riga dynamo experiment