Plasma Behavior in Non-equilibrium Disk MHD Generator with Spatially Non-Uniform Seed Fraction

Abstract

The influence of azimuthal non-uniformity of seed fraction on the plasma structure and performance in a non-equilibrium disk MHD generator is investigated with γ-θ two dimensional numerical simulation. It is found that locally high seed fraction causes mainly the non-uniformity in gas-dynamical properties, whereas locally low seed fraction develops the non-uniform plasma. Both locally high and low seed fractions reduce the generator performance considerably. These results suggest that the spatially uniform seed fraction should be required for high power generation.