Fundamental experiment and numerical simulation of pre-ionized inert gas plasma MHD electrical power generation

Abstract

The experiments of pre-ionized inert gas plasma MHD electrical power generation are conducted, and the performance and plasma behavior in the experimental generator are examined through time-dependent r-_ two-dimensional numerical simulation. In the experiment, an enthalpy extraction ratio of 4.01% has been obtained with a disk-shaped MHD generator with radio-frequency pre-ionization. In the numerical simulation, at an assumed inlet electron temperature around 5600 K (inlet ionization degree 0:10 × 10⁻⁴)_6600 K (1:36 × 10⁻⁴), the plasma structure is similar to the non-uniform structure observed in the experiment. An enthalpy extraction ratio around 2_5% matches well with that in the experiment. At a suitable inlet electron temperature of 7000 K (3:15 × 10⁻⁴)_8000 K (1:79 × 10⁻³), although non-uniform plasma structure still occurs, a high enthalpy extraction ratio over 10% is expected.