The contents of this book has been the subject of a lecture course,
which the first author has held regularly for engineering students at
the Technical University of Karlsruhe beginning in 1987. The book serves
two purposes. It introduces students in their fourth year study of basic
engineering and grad- uate students to the fundamentals of
magnetohydrodynamics. Furthermore, it may be used by engineers and
physicists in research establishments and industry as a practical tool
to become familiar with the particular phenom- ena of
magneto-thermohydraulics that they may encounter in technical liquid
metal flows under the influence of magnetic fields. The contents and
structure of the book are motivated by the research and development work
for a self-cooled liquid metal blanket of future nuclear fu- sion
reactors. The research requirements for such a challenging project natu-
rally lead to the frontiers of magnetohydrodynamic research. This is
reflected in the book by references to several publications and reports
performed at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe and other research
establishments. However, we are convinced that the advancement of
magnetohydrodynamic knowledge gained within the framework of the Fusion
Reactor Project may be utilized in other fields of engineering sciences.
