Analytical Investigation of Critical MHD (Magnetohydrodynamics) Phenomena: Quarterly Technical Progress Report for the Period 1 August 1983-31 October 1983

摘要

Recent effort has focused on analysis of AEDC/HPDE Run MI007-016. Beyond the fact that it achieved one of the highest interaction and performance levels of any fossil-fueled MHD experiment to date, HPDE Run MI007-016 is important because it clearly exhibited phenomena which will play a crucial and even limiting role in scaling MHD generators to commercial performance levels. These phenomena fall into the general class of magnetoaerothermal effects previously described by STD Research Corporation. In order to understand the exact balance of mechanisms which caused the magnetoaerothermal instability in Run MI-007-016 and which later caused it to ''heal'' STD Research Corporation has carried out quasi-three-dimensional and three-dimensional simulations of the precise conditions of three time periods at the beginning, middle and end of the run. At high levels of MHD interaction, magnetoaerothermal effects promote nonuniformity in the electrical and thermal stresses on the walls. Therefore, in planning duration tests under ''commercial conditions'', the local conditions on the perimeter must be matched, rather than ''average'' or ''core'' conditions. The role of magnetoaerothermal effects in determining ultimate performance at the very high MHD interaction levels indicated by simplified system analyses remains to be investigated experimentally. 7 refs., 11 figs.