Gas dynamics of the pulsed electric arc in the transversal magnetic field

The arc discharge in magnetic field is one of the promising methods to intensify the kinematic transport in various systems. In this work, a detailed study of the flow arising in ambient air during the movement of a pulsed arc in external magnetic field was done. The study was performed using PIV and shadow flow visualization in parallel with the numerical modeling in a 2D MHD approach. The flow evolution during the electric current pulse was analyzed based on the vorticity generation equation. The flow relaxation after the current termination is considered, indicating a significant reduction of the gas velocity after the current termination due to rarefaction waves propagation. The typical flow structure remaining after the MHD interaction is a toroidal vortex with velocity magnitude up to 0.4 of the maximum arc movement velocity during the pulse.