Magnetohydrodynamic wakes

Abstract

The most notable feature of the magnetohydrodynamic flow at large distances from a three-dimensional body is the formation of two wakes, within which vorticity and electric current are confined. In this paper results are obtained for the effective diffusivity and the relation between current and vorticity in each wake, for the balance between the strengths of the disturbances in the wakes and in the irrotational current-free flow outside, and for the lift and drag forces acting on the body. The final answers take the form of remarkably simple extensions of the corresponding formulae for non-conducting flow. In spite of the extra wake and the presence of a magnetic as well as a velocity field, the flow perturbation at large distances still has only three degrees of freedom.