Contrôle de la stabilité d'un écoulement thermoconvectif par un champ magnétique tournant

Abstract

We study the flow of a liquid metal driven by thermal buoyancy in a cylindrical container. It is shown that an instability of the mixing-layer type is responsible for fluctuations of velocity and temperature when a critical value of the Grashof number is reached. This instability can be suppressed when a moderate rotating magnetic field is applied. It is shown that the Ekman pumping is responsible for the stabilisation of the initial buoyancy driven flow.