Study of surface and bulk instabilities in MHD duct flow with imitation of insulator coating imperfections

MHD phenomena in a duct flow were studied experimentally by using copper electrodes inserted into the wall of a perfectly insulated duct. The electrodes were connected using a copper wire to imitate different insulator coating imperfection conditions. The experimental results show instabilities of electric potential at the wall (surface instabilities) as well as instabilities in the pressure and velocity (bulk instabilities). The instabilities are strongly dependent on the scale of the copper wire. Three different cases were studied (at the same flow regimes, but with different electrode connections), where the potential at the duct wall is smaller, equal to or higher than the product of duct diameter 2a0 and transverse magnetic field B0 and average velocity V0. MHD pressure drop ΔP also exhibits significant changes.