The critical aspects of three-dimensional magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD) flow fields in complex geometries (including conducting walls and multiple fluids in conduits,) are beyond popular engineering intuition and convenient analysis, thus requiring high fidelity numerical tools.
HIMAG (HyPerComp Incompressible MHD solver for Arbitrary Geometry) developed by HyPerComp, Inc., in collaboration with the Fusion Engineering group at the University of California at Los Angeles was to model the flow of liquid metals in nuclear fusion reactor design. These flows are characterized by very high magnetic field strength, complex geometry and fluid-solid coupling via electric current and heat. HIMAG is used to model the flow of liquid metals and other flows occurring in fusion reactors where strong interactions with the magnetic field produce numerous effects that are unique to this brand of flows.