Induction in a von Karman flow driven by ferromagnetic impellers

We study magnetohydrodynamics in a von K\'arm\'an flow driven by the rotation of impellers made of material with varying electrical conductivity and magnetic permeability. Gallium is the working fluid and magnetic Reynolds numbers of order unity are achieved. We find that specific induction effects arise when the impeller's electric and magnetic characteristics differ from that of the fluid. Implications in regards to the VKS dynamo are discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure

Direct observation of the turbulent emf and transport of magnetic field in a liquid sodium experiment

International audienceFor the first time, we have directly measured the transport of a vector magnetic field by isotropic turbulence in a high Reynolds number liquid metal flow. In analogy with direct measurements of the turbulent Reynolds stress (turbulent viscosity) that governs momentum transport, we have measured the turbulent electromotive force (emf) by simultaneously measuring three components of velocity and magnetic fields, and computed the correlations that lead to mean-field current generation. Furthermore, we show that this turbulent emf tends to oppose and cancel out the local current, acting to increase the effective resistivity of the medium, i.e., it acts as an enhanced magnetic diffusivity. This has important implications for turbulent transport in astrophysical objects, particularly in dynamos and accretion disks

Emissive cathode immersed in a plasma: plasma–cathode interactions, operation and stability

International audienceAbstract Thermionic emission from a polycrystalline tungsten emissive cathode immersed in a magnetized plasma column is investigated experimentally and numerically. Electrical and optical measurements of the cathode temperature show a highly inhomogeneous cathode temperature profile due to plasma–cathode interactions. The spatially and temporally resolved cathode temperature profile provides an in-depth understanding of the thermionic electron current, in excellent agreement with experimental data. The plasma-cathode coupling leads to a sharp and heterogeneous rise in temperature along the cathode, which can eventually lead to unstable cathode operation, with divergent current growth. A detailed thermal modeling accurately reproduces the experimental measurements, and allows to quantify precisely the relative importance of heating and cooling mechanisms in the operation of the cathode immersed in the plasma. Numerical resolution of the resulting integro-differential equation highlights the essential role of heterogeneous ohmic heating and the importance of ion bombardment heating in the emergence of unstable regimes. Detailed thermal modelling enables operating regimes to be predicted in excellent agreement with experimental results

Experimental validation of fluid inertia models for a cylinder settling in a quiescent flow

International audienceThe precise description of the motion of anisotropic particles in a flow rests on the understanding of the force and torque acting on them. Here, we study experimentally small, very elongated particles settling in a fluid at small Reynolds number. In our experiments, we can, to a very good approximation, relate the rate of rotation of cylindrical tungsten rods, of aspect ratios β = 8 and β = 16, settling in pure glycerol, to the torque they are experiencing. This allows us to compare the measured torque with expressions obtained either in the slender-rod limit or in the case of spheroids. Both theories predict a simple angle dependence for the torque, which is found to capture very well the experimental results. The slender-rod theory overestimates the results for the two aspect ratios considered, while the expression obtained for a spheroid provides a better approximation for β = 16. Comparing our results with those of previous experiments provides further insight on the conditions of validity of the slender-rod theory. The translational dynamics is shown to be in qualitative agreement with the slender-rod and spheroid models, the former one being found to represent better the experimental data

Experimental validation of fluid inertia models for a cylinder settling in a quiescent flow

The precise description of the motion of anisotropic particles in a flow rests on the understanding of the force and torque acting on them. Here, we study experimentally small, very elongated particles settling in a fluid at small Reynolds number. In our experiments, we can, to a very good approximation, relate the rate of rotation of cylindrical tungsten rods, of aspect ratios β=8 and β=16, settling in pure glycerol, to the torque they are experiencing. This allows us to compare the measured torque with expressions obtained either in the slender-rod limit or in the case of spheroids. Both theories predict a simple angle dependence for the torque, which is found to capture very well the experimental results. The slender-rod theory overestimates the results for the two aspect ratios considered, while the expression obtained for a spheroid provides a better approximation for β=16. Comparing our results with those of previous experiments provides further insight on the conditions of validity of the slender-rod theory. The translational dynamics is shown to be in qualitative agreement with the slender-rod and spheroid models, the former one being found to represent better the experimental data