~ Journalof

magnetism
and
magnetic
ELSEVIER Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 173 (1997) L1-L4
~ H materials

Letter to the Editor

Flow of immiscible streams of magnetic and ordinary fluids

in a plane infinite diffuser
A.N. Tyatyushkin*
Institute of Mechanics, Moscow University, Michurinskiy Pr. 1, Moscow, 117192, Russia

Received 22 May 1997

Abstract

Flow of immiscible streams of incompressible magnetic and ordinary fluids in a plane infinite diffuser in the presence of
an azimuthal magnetic field is considered theoretically. Analysis of the solution of the problem shows that, if the flow rate
of the ordinary fluid is more than some critical value, the velocity profile has one local minimum or more at any flow rate
of the magnetic fluid and at any magnetic field. The analytical expression for such a critical value is obtained.

PACS: 47.60. + i; 75.50.Mm; 41.20.-q

Keywords: Magnetic fluid; Plane infinite diffuser; Azimuthal magnetic field; Critical flow rate

1. Introduction field of an appropriate configuration is formed by

The properties of magnetic fluid allow it to be
used for decreasing resistance against motion of
ordinary nonmagnetic fluid of high viscosity in
channels. For this purpose, the walls of the channel
are covered with a magnetic fluid of low-viscosity
immiscible with the ordinary fluid. To hold the
magnetic fluid adjacent to the walls, the magnetic
*Tel.: +7 095 9395974; fax: +7 095 9390165; e-mail:
tan@inmech.msu.su.
a system of magnets positioned near the walls from
outside. See Ref. [1] for more details and references.
If the cross-sectional area of the channel in-
creases in the direction of motion of the fluid (e.g.,
in the case of flow in a diffuser), backward streams
can arise in the flow. As well as viscous friction,
such backward streams decrease the efficiency of
the channel.
In connection with such application of magnetic
fluid, the problem of flow of immiscible streams of
incompressible magnetic and ordinary fluids in
a plane infinite diffuser is considered in the present
paper.

0304-8853/97/$17.00 © 1997 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

PII S0304-88 53(97)001 93-5
L2 A.N. Tyatyushkin / Journal o f Magnetism and Magnetic Materials' 173 (1997) L I L4

2. Setting of the problem 3. Equations and boundary conditions

Let the angle of the diffuser equal 2~ (see Fig. 1).
The space outside the diffuser is filled with an ideal
paramagnetic, i.e. material with infinite magnetic
permeability, so that the magnetic intensity H
everywhere out of the diffuser vanishes while the
magnetic induction B does not equal zero. For that
case, the magnetic potential $ defined by the for-
mula H = V~b is constant on the walls of the dif-
fuser, and the only parameter of an applied
magnetic field is the difference of values of ~b on the
walls T. There is a flow of three streams in the
diffuser: two streams of a magnetic fluid adjacent to
the wails of the diffuser and a stream of an ordinary
fluid situated between them. The viscosities and
densities of the magnetic and ordinary fluids are,
respectively, qm, Pro, rh, Pf. The magnetic permeabil-
ity of the magnetic fluid is #. The flow rates of the
ordinary and magnetic fluids per unit transverse
length are, respectively, Qf and Qm. Let us consider
below only symmetrical flows. Thereafter, each
stream of the magnetic fluid occupies an angle
7 whose value is determined by the flow rate in it
0,,/2.
The flow is supposed to be planar and steady.
Then, as it follows from dimensional analysis, the
flow is self-similar, since it is impossible to compose
a combination of the parameters of the problem
with length dimension,
The flow is determined by the continuity and
m o m e n t u m equations for the steady flow of an
incompressible fluid
V . v = 0, (1)
pv. Vv=-V/~+r/Av (2)
where p = p~ and rl = r/,, in the streams of mag-
netic fluid, p = Of and ~ = qr in the stream of ordi-
nary fluid, v is the velocity, /~ is the apparent
pressure bound with the ordinary equilibrium pres-
sure p by the relationship
fi = p + HZ/4rr -- p H Z / 8 x . (3)
The magnetic field is determined by the Laplace
equation for the magnetic potential
A~ = O. (4}
On the walls and interfaces between the streams,
the no-slip conditions are valid, and the magnetic
field meets the continuity conditions for the normal
component of the magnetic induction and tangen-
tial components of the magnetic intensity. In order
to close the system of equations, the conditions for
the total stress tensor to be continuous on the
interfaces should be added.
4. Solution

Solution of the system of Eqs. (1}-(4) in the cylin-

drical coordinate system r, ~p, z leads to the follow-
: / / ~ / ing expressions for the magnetic field, velocity and
, :////magnetic
pressure:

H = 0 ::/ / ~ fluid B = ½pTr-l[p0¢ - (/l - 1)7] lifo, (5)

H = ½ ~ r - 1[/~ _ (/~ _ 1)~] - li~o,
:/
~ _ fluid " - ~ . G < q ~ < - . ~ + 7 , : ~ - ? ~ (p ~< ~, (6)
',// 7~.............. H = ½pTr-~[p~ - (p - 1)7]-'i~,

- ~ + 7 ~< ~P ~< ~ - 7, (7)

V = 6Vm r lUm(q))ir, ~ -- ~' ~ (p ~ ~, (8)

v = 6Vmr-lUm(--q~)ir, -- ~ ~ qO <~ -- ~ + 7, (9)

Fig. 1. Setting of the problem. V =- 6vfr-auf((p)ir, -- ~ + 7 ~< (0 ~< ~ -- 7', (10)
 A.N. Tyatyushkin / Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 173 0997) LI-L4 L3

= 6V~pmr-2[-2Um(O) -- C m l 1 -[-- Po, Rm = Qm/vrn with the functions Uf(O) and Um(~p)

~--y~O~, (11)
uffcp) d~o = e f / 1 2 , urn(O) d o = R~/12.
-y
= 6V2mPmr-2E2Um(--O) -- C m l ] -}- Po, ~19)
-~<O~ < -~+7, (12) Eqs.(14) and (15) and the relationships in
Eqs. (16)-(19) allow one, either to determine uf(o),
= 6v~pfr-2[2uf(~o) -- C f l ] + Po,
Um(q~), 7j and Rm for given ~, y and Rf or, regarding
--~+7~<0~<c~--7, (13) ~, ~, Rf and Rm as known, to find uffo ), Um(~0)and 7.

where vf = qf//pf and v~ = ?]m/Pm are the kinematic

viscosities of the ordinary and magnetic fluids, re- 5. R e s u l t s o f a n a l y s i s
spectively, P0 is some constant value of pressure
which does not affect the flow, i, and i~ are the unit Let the given quantities be ~, ? and Rf. Then,
basis vectors corresponding to coordinates r and O, analysis of the formulae in Eqs. (14) and (15) and
respectively, and Eqs. (16)-(19), similar to the analysis in Ref. [3]
4- conducted for a single fluid flowing through a dif-
Urn(O) = -- ~((D -~" q)mO; 4 C m l + 3, am3) -- ½, (14) fuser, shows that there exists some critical value
ur(o) = - + 0fo; 4 c . + Ofa) - ½. (15) Rfmaxsuch that, if Rf > Rf . . . . either there are back-
ward streams in the flow, or the number of maxima
Here, ~ is the elliptic function of Weierstrass (see, in the velocity profile of the flow is more than one.
e.g., Ref. [2]), each of Om0 and Ofo may be complex The value of Rfmax is determined implicitly by the
with imaginary part equal to the imaginary half- following formulae:
period of the function of Weierstrass. For symmet-
7 = (1 -- 2k2m)X/ZK(km), (20)
rical flows under consideration, Ofo equals either
the real or the imaginary half-period of the function Rm = 12(1 - 2k2m) - 1/2[E(k m - ½K(km)] - 67, (21)
of Weierstrass. The unknown parameters 7, Om0,
Cml, 9m3, Cfl and Of3 are determined by relation-
/Am7 ~--- 1 -- 2kZm' ur.e = ~ - l U m 7,
ships which follow from the boundary conditions.
It follows from the boundary conditions on the Cm I ---~ Umr(1 + Um~.), (22)
walls of the diffuser that
gin3 = --~(Urny -~ ½)(2urn, + ½),
Urn(7) = O. (16)
0m0 = i(1 + 2 U m ~ e ) - 1 / 2 K ( ~ / : - t - Umy' ~
The conditions on the interfaces between magnetic + 2UmJ + a -- 2, (23)
and ordinary fluids yield
if
Um(0~ -- 7) = ~Uf(~ -- 7), U~n(~ -- 7) = 0~2Uf( ~ -- 7),
x 2 - 4(~ - 7)2
C m l = 0 ~ 2 C f l ~- ~, (17) ufr ~< 12(~ - - 7) 2 ' (24)

where -- 7 = (1 + 3Uf~,)- 1/2(1 -- 2k2f)l/ZK(kf), (25)

= vr/v,,, 0 = Pf/pn, Rfmax = 12(1 + 3Uf7)1/2(1 -- 2kf2) - 1/2[E(kf)

p(/~- 1)~ 2 - ½K(kr)] - 6(1 + uf~)(~ - 7), (26)

= 192XV2mPm[p~__ (/2 __ 1)7] 2. (18) kf
uf0 = 1 " 2kf2 (1 + 3uf~) + Urn,
Two more relationships are represented by the ties
of the dimensionless flow rates Re = Qf/vf and C f l = (Ufo + ufr)(1 + Uro ) -t- uf27, (27)
L4 A.N. Tyatyushkin / Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 173 H997) L I ~ 4
,qf3 = 4(Ufo "~ ½)(Uf? -~- 1)(Ufo + Uf? ql- 2),
+ ufo +
q)ro = i(i + 2Ufo q- Uf?)- ~k~h] 1 + 2Ufo + Uf},]
and, if
~2 _ 4(c~ - 7) 2
Uf}, > 12(~-- 7)2 '
Rfmax = 12(~ - ?)uf;,,
uf(~o) = uf~,, Cfl = uf~(2 + 3Ury).
Here, K and E are the complete elliptic integrals of
the first and second kind, respectively (see, e.g., Ref.
[2]). The formulae in Eqs. (22) and (27) or Eq. (32)
together with Eq. (17) allow one to determine the
value of ~ that is necessary to maintain ? equal to
the given value.
F o r the limit velocity profiles, ~vr/~q~ = 0 at
~o = + ~ and q~ = + c~ -T 7 (see Fig. 2 where profile
1 corresponds to the case in Eq. (24) and profiles
2-4, to the case in Eq. (30)), i.e., there is no friction
between the streams of magnetic fluid and the walls
and between the stream of ordinary fluid and
streams of magnetic fluid. Besides, for the case
Eq. (30), ~ v , / ~ p = 0 for - ~ + ? ~< cp ~< c~ - 7, i.e.,
viscous friction does not affect the flow within the
stream of ordinary fluid. Hence, that case is more
preferable if it is necessary to decrease resistance
against motion of the ordinary fluid. As is evident
from Eqs. (31), (32), (22) and (17), for that case
Rfmax
= 12(~ - 3') 204 - 1 + x/(20( - 1)2 + 4(1 - 30)(
2(1 - 30)4
(33)
It is assumed in the analysis that ( may take both
positive and negative values. However, for the
problem under consideration, ( is positive, other-
wise either # < 1 (see Eq. (18)) or the ordinary fluid
is adjacent to the walls. That condition imposes
restrictions on the values of ~ and 0 at which the
limit velocity profiles exist. In particular, it follows
(28) Vr
(29)
3
2 \
(30)
(31)
-c~ -or + "72
(32)
Fig. 2. Limit velocity profiles.
from Eq. (33) that limit velocity profiles corre-
sponding to the case in Eq. (30) exist at any value of
if 0 < ½ and 0¢ 1> ½. Hence, one can eliminate
effect of viscous friction on motion of an ordinary
fluid of high viscosity (4 >> 1) using a magnetic fluid
whose density supersedes the density of the ordi-
nary fluid by a factor of more than three. It follows
from Eq. (33) that Rf,,~ increases up to infinity
with (. Thus, the flow rate of the ordinary fluid can
be infinitely increased by conserving the necessary
shape of velocity profile by increasing ~; in so
doing Qm should be accordingly increased.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank Dr. L.T. Chernyi for
suggesting to solve this problem. This work was
partially supported by R B R F grant no. 94-01-
00396.
References
[1] A.S. Kordelyuk, M.S. Krakov, J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 122
(1993) 231.
[2] M. Abramowitz, I.A. Stegun (Eds.), Handbook of Math-
ematical Functions, National Bureau of Standards, 1964.
[3] L.D. Landau, E.M. Lifshitz, Fluid Mechanics, 2rid ed.,
Pergamon, Oxford, 1987.