Abstract: Seebeck effect produced by metal fluid under the influence of stable magnetic field and temperature gradient can effectively enhance its heat transfer efficiency. The flow phenomena of liquid lithium and stainless steel in partially conducting pipes are simulated by using the consistent conservative numerical scheme developed for magnetohydrodynamics and the partitioned iterative algorithm for multi-domain coupled physical problems. The magnetic field direction is along the span of the pipe. The flow phenomena of liquid metal in the partially conductive tube under the action of thermoelectric effect at Reynolds number (Re=745.6) are studied. It is found that the Lorentz force produced by thermoelectric effect and magnetic field forms the reverse flow vortex structure at the four corners of the square tube. The reverse flow vortex increases the velocity in the central region and promotes the convective heat transfer of the liquid metal in the vortex structure at the four corners of the square tube. The reverse flow vortex increases the velocity in the central region and promotes the convective heat transfer of the liquid metal in the central region. With the increase of magnetic field intensity, the flow changes from unsteady flow to steady flow, the flow in the central region is dominated by the magnetic damping effect, the scale of thermoelectric effect gradually shrinks to the vicinity of the boundary, and the relationship between velocity and temperature changes from two-way coupling under weak magnetic field to one-way coupling under strong magnetic field.

Key words: Magnetohydrodynamics, Thermoelectric effect, Heat convection, Duct flow