An Investigation on the Energy Transfer in a Tube Arc Heater. Part II

摘要

Information was developed for designing tube-arc heaters that operate in the inlet flow regime. A simplified analysis is presented for estimating the performance of a tube arc under prescribed inlet conditions and power input level. It is assumed that the mass flux distribution in the flow is essentially constant along the tube, but it is taken into account that the radial shift of the streamlines is due to energy transfer. The gas flowing through the tube arc is assumed to have the same thermodynamic and transport properties as helium. The computer program is described for an IBM 7090 digital computer, for solving (numerically) the governing equations so that the enthalpy profiles, the velocity profiles, and the electric field can be determined for given input conditions of ampere level, tube geometry, and mass flux distribution. The results are presented in the form of design charts for constant area tube-arcs operating over different ranges of the aforementioned variables. (Author)