This volume contains selected presentations of the 3rd International PAMIR Conference on Transfer Phenomena in Magnetohydrodynamic and Electroconducting Flows held at the Paul Langevin Centre in Aussois, France, in September 1997. The main scientific domain of the conference was the interaction between a magnetic field and a conducting fluid, which can be either an electrolyte (with low electrical conductivity) or a liquid metal (with high electrical conductivity). One of the perspectives of the conference was to facilitate the interaction between the MHD and chemical engineering communities. Thus, the connection between mass transfer in electrochemical systems and magnetic fields (sometimes called magnetoelectrolysis) was introduced for the first time as a topic of the conference. This offered a new class of problems to the MHD community. The presentations focused on four main topics related to interfacial heat and mass transfer phenomena, energetic applications, the dynamo effect and MEHD phenomena, and they encompassed both numerical and experimental studies. The invited lectures were devoted to different subjects, such as the dynamo effect, magnetoelectrolysis, instability problems, and metallurgical applications of MHD. The state of the art was discussed together with promising new orientations. This book should be of interest to researchers and advanced graduate students in physics and engineering sciences, working in MHD and related areas.

The "Pamir" international conference on "Transfer Phenomena in MagnetoHydroDynamic & Electroconducting Flows" is one of the manifestations associated to "Hydromag". This international organisation aims to coordinate and promote the MHD research in the world. The organiser of this conference is the Pamir group from the French laboratory LEGI (Laboratoire des Ecoulements Geophysiques et Industriels) which has close connections with INPG (lnstitut National Polythechnique de Grenoble), with the Joseph Fourier University of Grenoble and with the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique). In September 26-30, 1997 this conference was organised for the third time at the Paul Langevin centre (Aussois, France) which belongs to the CNRS. Approximately 15 countries were represented by about 120 participants. Papers included in this volume are those presented at the third Pamir conference after selection by the scientific committee and referee's procedure. The formal presentations and invited lectures were focused on four main topics related to: Interfacial heat and mass transfer phenomena, Energetic applications, Dynamo effect, and MEHD Phenomena. One of the perspectives of the conference was to promote a productive interaction between the MHD and the chemical engineering research communities. The possibility to use an external magnetic field to improve and control the mass transfer processes in electrochemical systems, sometimes called magnetoelectrolysis, was introduced as a new topic of the Pamir conference and is considered as a relatively new and promising branch of MHD research. In particular a wide field of applications in various domains is expected.