Experimental Investigation of Heat Transfer from Partially Ionized Argon with an Applied Transverse Magnetic Field

Wall heat transfer measurements were obtained for laminar flow of partially ionized argon flowing within the conducting walls of a square channel, with and without an applied transverse magnetic field. Tests were conducted for subsonic flows and for flows which were supersonic before a magnetic field was applied. Increases in Stanton number by a factor of as much as six were observed at field strengths approaching 10 kG as compared to values at zero magnetic field. These large increases in heat transfer are believed to have been due to (1) a small amount of joule heating augmented or accompanied by (2) magnetically induced ionization. Heat transfer and flow data were used to estimate effective values of the joule heating parameter, Hall coefficient, and current density. The experimental data have been compared to theoretical predictions for several limiting cases.