Analysis of Performance Characteristics of Pulsed MHD Generator with Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow

Abstract

A preliminary analysis of two-phase flow in the pulsed MHD generator Pamir-3U is carried out. The two-fluidmodel for dusty gas flow is applied to treat the two-phase working body which consists of combustion gas and liquidparticles of Al₂O₃. One-dimensional time-dependent calculations show that the velocity lag and the thermal lag between the two phases are large when the particle diameter is 15μm. The lags become small when the diameteris small because the decrease of the diameter increases the momentum transfer and the heat transfèr between thetwo phases. When the large Lorentz force develops a shock wave, the interaction between the two phases relaxesthe shock wave. The increase of particle diameter decreases the channel current and the the power output becausethe increase of the diameter results in the decrease of the energy conversion from the liquid phase.