Flow pattern formation in a liquid metal column by pulsed excitation of a rotating magnetic field

We present an experimental study concerning measurements of the flow inside a liquid metal column exposed to a pulsed rotating magnetic field. A novel ultrasound Doppler system was used to measure two-dimensional velocity fields of the secondary flow in the radial-meridional plane. It employs an array of 25 transducer elements allowing a fast electronic traversing with concurrently high spatial and temporal resolution. The measurements revealed transient flow regimes showing distinct inertial oscillations and coherent vortex structures.