A numerical study of laminar magnetohydrodynamic free jets

A finite-difference solution of the boundary layer equations describing the flow of a jet of a conducting fluid in a transverse magnetic field is presented. Both two-dimensional and axisymmetric jets are analyzed with rectangular and parabolic initial velocity profiles. Increasing the Hartmann Number the jet length becomes shorter, and the spreading increases with a resulting increase in transverse velocity and reduction of entrainment. The numerical results approach assymptotically similarity solutions at large distances from the noozle exit, with the parabolic initial giving better agreement than the rectangular.