Containment Problems in Electrical and Nuclear Propulsion.
Abstract
Containment is understood in the report as the process of confining a certain region of space from its adjoining regions with respect to the exchange of mass, momentum and energy. The measures of containment applicable to technological devices are established and discussed. In the field of propulsion, the development of electrothermal and electromagnetic thrustors, gas core nuclear reactor thrustors and fusion thrustors is examined here with respect to the containment problems involved therein. The major problems associated with any containment scheme are the incomplete interaction between the input mass flow and the applied fields, the occurrence of spurious losses and the setting of a variety of instabilities. In all of the thrustors under consideration, the possible use of a rotational velocity field (mechanically or electromagnetically induced) has lead to a variety of fluid dynamical and MHD simulation experiments. They are discussed in some detail in the report. The theoretical calculations which may be performed on containment are illustrated with a series of seven examples. One way of discussing the current status of containment problems is to examine the feasibility of scaling simple containment devices and such a discussion is presented from several points of view. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1971
- Accession Number
- AD0733337
Entities
People
- S. N. B. Murthy
Organizations
- Ohio State University