Magnetohydrodynamic flow of a viscous fluid past a sphere

Abstract

The flow of a viscous incompressible electrically conducting fluid past a sphere is studied; the uniform ambient flow field is colinear with the ambient uniform magnetic field. The force exerted on the sphere is computed for various conductivities and Reynolds numbers; of particular interest is the distinction in behaviour between the flow with ambient particle speed greater than ambient Alfvén speed and that with particle speed less than Alfvén speed.