Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1983

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Nuclear Engineering

Major Professor

B. R. Upadhyaya

Committee Members

P. F. Pasqua, Hall Roland, Rafael Perez, Charles Moore

Abstract

Fluctuations present in MHD generators may cause significant degradation in the generated power. The fluctuations may result from three sources. First, the mass flow rates of the components' input to the combustor vary. Second, the combustor initiates its own variations which are functions of the combustor geometry and injection techniques. Third, the generator action, i.e., flow of plasma in a magnetic field, introduces variations in the plasma variables.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the fluctuations of MHD output signals, which may either arise from the combustor fluctuations propagating into a conducting channel, or are inherent in the generator dynamics. The analysis of fluctuations is based on the analytical and empirical models. Both models assume that stochastic processes take place within the MHD plasma, and both models yield results in the form of autocorrelation, crosscorrelation, and power spectral density functions of the system variables.

The study showed that fluctuations, whose frequencies exceed 200 Hz, in the plasma density, velocity, pressure, current and voltage variables are acoustic in nature, and are caused by longitudinal standing waves present in the generator. The analysis proved that Hall generators develop fluctuations mainly in the range 700 Hz to 2000 Hz, whereas Faraday and DCW generators are favorable for the low frequency fluctuations. Parametric study of the plasma disclosed that stronger magnetic fields and larger Hall parameters increase the frequency range of fluctuations. Changes in plasma specific heat ratio or in inlet steady-state parameters may increase or decrease the intensities of some odd harmonics of the standing waves. The fluctuations that originate in the combustion chamber also affect the plasma variables. A white noise character of these fluctuations guarantees a fairly uniform distribution of energy in the fluctuations of the plasma variables in the frequency range up to 200 Hz.

Future research in the field of fluctuations should concentrate on the influence of the viscous effect, heat conduction in plasma, and wall friction on the generator performance. These effects were not included in the modeling. Extension to two-dimensional dynamics will also be useful in studying flow characteristics in diverging channels.

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