LAUSR

In this paper, a magnetohydrodynamic micropump with side-walled electrodes has been studied. Micropump was fabricated using MEMS technology and applied Lorentz force induced as a result of interaction between an applied electric field and a perpendicular magnetic field to pump the continuous steady, incompressible and fully developed laminar conducting fluid. Since the micro-pump dimensions are comparable to that of the fluid molecules, the assumption of the continuum fluid theory is no longer justified. Hence, micropolar fluid theory is considered in this study. Application of the theory of fluid dynamics and electromagnetic led to derivation of governing equations of the corresponding momentum and angular momentum. The governing equations and their associated boundary conditions were first cast into dimensionless form. The resulting partial differential equations were solved numerically using finite difference technique and the profiles of the velocity and microrotations are obtained. The results for a special case were compared with the experimental ones and they showed a good agreement with each other. Furthermore, the effects of coupling number, Hartmann number and micropolar parameter on the velocity, microrotation and flow rate are discussed.