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A Hartmann layer is the thin viscous-magnetic boundary layer next to a wall crossed by the applied magnetic field. For channel half-width $L$ and large Hartmann number $H$, its thickness is $\delta \sim L/H=\sqrt{{\mu }_0\rho \nu \eta }/|B_0|$. It restores the no-slip boundary condition and the specified magnetic wall condition outside the nearly uniform Hartmann flow core.

The Hartmann number measures the strength of magnetic coupling relative to viscous and resistive effects in a channel:Here $L$ is the channel half-width, $\nu$ the kinematic viscosity, $\eta$ the magnetic diffusivity and ${\sigma }_c$ the electrical conductivity. In Hartmann flow, large $H$ produces thin magnetic-viscous wall layers and a flatter, slower core for fixed pressure gradient.

The hyperbolic-sine infinite product gives, by taking its logarithmic derivative,The identity holds away from the poles, with locally convergent sums. For real $z>0$, it makes $(z\coth z-1)/z^2$ positive and strictly decreasing. It is useful for Hartmann flow flux monotonicity and small-argument expansions of hyperbolic functions.

Use the fully developed flow branch of Hartmann flow. Translation invariance along the walls makes the velocity and induced magnetic field functions of $z$ alone. Incompressible flow and zero normal velocity at the walls give $u_z^{\prime }=0$ and hence $u_z=0$. The zero divergence of the magnetic field makes $B_z$ constant, equal to the imposed $B_0$. There is no forcing in $y$; the homogeneous $y$-components obey the same coupled viscous-resistive equations as the $x$-components, with zero boundary data. Multiplying them by $u_y$ and $b_y/({\mu }_0\rho )$, integrating by parts and adding givesThus $u_y=b_y=0$, establishing the asserted forms on this fully developed flow branch. This is a symmetry reduction of the steady channel model, rather than a claim that every possible flow in a channel is translation invariant.

The current density and Lorentz force density areThe advective acceleration vanishes because $\mathbf{u}\cdot \nabla =u(z){\partial }_x$ acts on fields independent of $x$. The $x$-component of the magnetohydrodynamic momentum equation therefore givesThe $z$-component must also balance: it requires ${\partial }_z(p+b^2/(2{\mu }_0))=0$. Hence a compatible pressure is $p(x,z)=p_{\ast }-\rho Gx-b(z{)}^2/(2{\mu }_0)$; the specified streamwise pressure gradient does not require the ordinary pressure to be uniform in $z$. This accounts for the magnetic pressure of the induced field.

The resistive induction equation with constant magnetic diffusivity gives ${\partial }_t\mathbf{B}=\nabla \times (\mathbf{u}\times \mathbf{B})+\eta {\nabla }^2\mathbf{B}$. Since $\mathbf{u}\times \mathbf{B}=(0,-B_{0}u,0)$, its curl has $x$-component $B_0{u}^{\prime }$. Steadiness consequently givesFinally the no-slip boundary condition gives $u(\pm L)=0$, and the normal magnetic field boundary condition gives $b(\pm L)=0$. The coupled equations and all wall conditions follow directly from momentum balance and magnetic induction.