Stability of electrically conducting liquid flow driven by a rotating magnetic dipole in a ring channel

The stability of electrically conducting liquid flow in a cylindrical ring channel is studied numerically. The flow is driven by a rotating magnetic dipole placed at the ring's center. Depending on ring's width, two distinct flow regimes are observed. In a narrow ring, the flow itself and its instability resemble the related rotating magnetic field driven flow in a cylinder. This changes in a wide ring when an intense radial jet develops on the midplane. Within this jet, the driving magnetic force is overwhelmed by inertial and viscous forces similar to how it occurs in the boundary layer flow. The instability develops as an azimuthally periodic wave-like deformation of this jet. Non-uniform driving force and the viscous boundary layer at the inner side wall are supposed as the main ingredients of the jet formation.