Numerical and experimental study of the traveling magnetic field effect on the horizontal solidification in a rectangular cavity part 1: Liquid metal flow under the TMF impact

Traveling magnetic field is one of effective tools for controlling phase change processes in metals. A better understanding of electromagnetic impact in such applications can help to improve and simplify technological processes. In this paper, numerical and experimental study of the electromagnetic force generated by traveling magnetic field and its ability to control liquid gallium flow and, consequently, affect the characteristics of solidification and melting processes are evaluated. Three-dimensional numerical model for calculating the magnetic field distribution and electromagnetic force acting on liquid gallium in a laboratory-size rectangular cavity was analyzed. Specific values of the TMF impact were chosen for the cases of interest in order to use such impact in our further work with horizontal gallium solidification process. The traveling magnetic field inductor was designed and built for making appropriate measurements and validating calculations. The analysis was focused on the electromagnetic force and the obtained velocity field. The experimental setup included an ultrasonic Doppler velocimeter for noninvasive measurements of the velocities of liquid metal flow. The comparison of computations with the experiments has shown a good agreement.