Extension of a multi-region free-surface MHD solver beyond the inductionless approximation
Abstract
Free-surface liquid metal flows are a leading candidate for the plasma-facing components of future fusion reactors, but existing transient, three-dimensional, free-surface MHD solvers rely on the inductionless approximation, in which the induced magnetic field is neglected. This paper extends the open-source solver FreeMHD [B. Wynne et al., Phys. Plasmas 32, 013907 (2025)] beyond that approximation, resolving the induced field self-consistently with a vector-potential formulation that enforces ∇·B=0 by construction while preserving the original multi-region, two-phase framework. It is verified against the analytical Shercliff and Hunt duct flows, against flows driven by a time-varying applied field, and against the deformation of a free liquid metal jet crossing a non-uniform field, and validated against free-surface height measurements from the LMX-U experiment. The experiment validates the overall free-surface solution rather than finite-Rm effects, which the transient-field cases verify. To our knowledge this is the first open-source, fully three-dimensional free-surface liquid metal solver to resolve the evolution of the induced magnetic field, providing a basis for modeling the finite magnetic Reynolds number conditions expected in large-scale, transient fusion events.
Versions
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BibTeX
@misc{jung2026extension,
title = {{Extension of a multi-region free-surface MHD solver beyond the inductionless approximation}},
author = {Min Ki Jung and Brian Wynne and Francisco Saenz and Yufan Xu and Jabir Al-Salami and Yong-Su Na and Egemen Kolemen},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2606.18745},
eprint = {2606.18745},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.18745},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Extension of a multi-region free-surface MHD solver beyond the inductionless approximation
AU - Min Ki Jung
AU - Brian Wynne
AU - Francisco Saenz
AU - Yufan Xu
AU - Jabir Al-Salami
AU - Yong-Su Na
AU - Egemen Kolemen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2606.18745
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.18745
AB - Free-surface liquid metal flows are a leading candidate for the plasma-facing components of future fusion reactors, but existing transient, three-dimensional, free-surface MHD solvers rely on the inductionless approximation, in which the induced magnetic field is neglected. This paper extends the open-source solver FreeMHD [B. Wynne et al., Phys. Plasmas 32, 013907 (2025)] beyond that approximation, resolving the induced field self-consistently with a vector-potential formulation that enforces ∇·B=0 by construction while preserving the original multi-region, two-phase framework. It is verified against the analytical Shercliff and Hunt duct flows, against flows driven by a time-varying applied field, and against the deformation of a free liquid metal jet crossing a non-uniform field, and validated against free-surface height measurements from the LMX-U experiment. The experiment validates the overall free-surface solution rather than finite-R_m effects, which the transient-field cases verify. To our knowledge this is the first open-source, fully three-dimensional free-surface liquid metal solver to resolve the evolution of the induced magnetic field, providing a basis for modeling the finite magnetic Reynolds number conditions expected in large-scale, transient fusion events.
ER -