ABSTRACT

The separative effect of a binary mixture of incompressible viscous thermally and electrically conducting fluids due to a temperature gradient and pressure gradient in presence of weak radial magnetic field, created by the rotation of a heated circular cylinder when there is a uniform suction of the mixture at the surface of the cylinder is examined. The equations governing the motion, temperature and concentration in cylindrical polar co-ordinates are solved analytically. It is found that the effect of magnetic field, temperature gradient and the product of Prandtl number and Eckert number are to retard the separation of the lighter and rarer component of the binary fluid mixture. But the pressure gradient and the product of Prandtl number and the suction Reynolds number favor the separation. The problem discussed here derives its application in the basic fluid dynamics separation processes to separate the rarer component of the different isotopes of heavier molecules where electromagnetic method of separation does not work.

Key words: Binary mixture, incompressible fluids, electrically conducting fluid, separative effect, radial magnetic field.