Transient magnetohydrodynamic liquid-metal flows in a rectangular channel with a moving conducting wall

The magnetohydrodynamic equations for temporal transients have been formulated and solved for a liquid metal flowing in a rectangular channel with a moving conducting wall and a stationary conducting wall, in the presence of a magnetic field applied normal to the conducting walls. The remaining walls are insulators. It is shown that the transient comprises two exponentially decaying parts: a fast part, believed to be associated with the propagation of Alfven waves, and a slow part, which is the result of viscous and electrical diffusion. Curves of the transients are presented at several stations in the channel