78th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics (Nov 23 — 25, 2025)

V015: Bladeless swirling of conductive liquids

Conductive liquids undergo bladeless swirling when driven by circumferential Lorentz force. We place two electrodes between a pair of identical magnetic poles, producing the predominantly radial magnetic field. This configuration generates circumferential Lorentz force that drives a swirling flow in the conductive fluid. In an aqueous NaCl electrolyte, bubbles rising during electrolysis clearly reveal this swirling motion. Using a liquid-metal slug under the same forcing conditions, we record the current-dependent surface deformation via laser-sheet projection. As the current increases, the interface of the liquid-metal slug evolves from a mildly concave morphology to a toroidal form.