Occurrence of periodic regimes in steady supersonic MHD flows due to loss of electrical conductivity of medium (Q1077305)

A study is made of the features of supersonic magnetohydrodynamic flows due to the vanishing of the electrical conductivity of the gas as a result of its cooling. The study is based on the example of the exhausting from an expanding nozzle of gas into which a magnetic field perpendicular to the plane of the flow is initially frozen. It is demonstrated analytically on the basis of a qualitative model and by numerical experiment that besides the steady flow there is also a periodic regime in which a layer of heated gas of electric arc type periodically separates from the conducting region in the upper part of the nozzle.