Low Rm magnetohydrodynamics as a means of measuring the surface shear viscosity of a liquid metal: A first attempt on Galinstan.

This paper introduces an experimental apparatus which generates the end-driven annular flow of a liquid metal pervaded by a uniform magnetic field. Unlike past viscometers involving an annular channel with particular values of the depth-to-width ratio, the present experiment enables us to drive the viscous shear at the surface of an annular liquid metal bath put in rotation. The magnetic interaction parameter N and the Boussinesq number related to the surface shear viscosity can be monitored from the magnitude of the applied magnetic field; the latter being set large enough for avoiding artefacts related to centrifugation and surface dilatation.