Low Mach number simulation of a loaded standing-wave thermoacoustic engine

Lin Ma , Catherine Weisman , Diana Baltean Carlès (1) , Patrick Le Quéré , Luc Bauwens (2)

1 LIMSI - Laboratoire d'Informatique pour la Mécanique et les Sciences de l'Ingénieur
2 Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering

Numerical simulations of a loaded standing-wave thermoacoustic engine are performed using a low Mach number model. This work uses a simplified model based on coupling the nonlinear flow and heat exchange in the heat exchangers and the stack with a linear acoustic model of the resonator and load. The two-dimensional unsteady numerical solution in the heat exchangers and stack region shows the amplification process until saturation is obtained. The influence of the load model on the wave saturation is studied, yielding a specific load range for saturation at levels comparable with experiments. In order to investigate the energy conversion within the standing-wave thermoacoustic engine, the acoustic power developed is calculated and the efficiency is estimated. Finally, the effect of the distance between stack and heat exchangers (with particular consideration of the case where the heat exchangers and stack are directly in contact) is also discussed.

Mots clés: thermoacoustics; standing-wave; low Mach; numerical simulation

Domaines: Acoustique [physics.class-ph]

Lin Ma, Catherine Weisman, Diana Baltean Carlès, Patrick Le Quéré, Luc Bauwens. Low Mach number simulation of a loaded standing-wave thermoacoustic engine. Acoustics 2012, Apr 2012, Nantes, France. ⟨hal-00810829⟩