Heat transfer in liquid metal at an upward flow in a pipe in transverse magnetic field

The results of a study of the hydrodynamics and heat transfer in an upward mercury flow in a vertical pipe under the effect of a transverse magnetic field are presented. The problem simulates a liquid-metal flow in the poloidal channels of a blanket cooling system in a TOKAMAK fusion reactor. The experimental data on temperature fields and heat transfer obtained from probe measurements in a mercury magnetohydrodynamic test facility at JIHT RAS are given. These data were compared with the results of numerical modeling to determine the validity envelope for the computational model and to verify whether the experimental conditions were properly specified. Without a magnetic field, heat transfer is complicated by mixed turbulent convection; some regimes have a decrease in heat transfer of up to $30$–$40\%$ in comparison with the forced-convection heat transfer. The effect of a transverse magnetic field drastically affects the regularities of heat transfer due to flow laminarization and the change in the velocity profile caused by the electromagnetic interaction. At the same time, in the studied region of flow conditions, mixed convection in uniformly heated pipes does not have a strong effect on the heat transfer in a magnetic field and does not induce fluctuating, return, or separated flows.