Analysis of performance characteristics of pulsed MHD generator with gas–liquid two-phase flow.

A preliminary analysis of two-phase flow in the pulsed MHD generator Pamir-3U is carried out. The two-fluid model for dusty gas flow is applied to treat the two-phase working body which consists of combustion gas and liquid particles 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 15 μm. The lags become small when the diameter is small because the decrease of the diameter increases the momentum transfer and the heat transfer between the two phases. When the large Lorentz force develops a shock wave, the interaction between the two phases relaxes the shock wave. The increase of the particle diameter decreases the channel current and the power output because the increased diameter decreases the energy conversion from the liquid phase. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 127(2): 15–23, 1999 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]