DISCHARGE STRUCTURE AND STABILITY OF A LINEAR NON-EQUILIBRIUM MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC GENERATOR.
Abstract
An experimental investigation was performed in a shock tube to determine the structure and stability of the discharge pattern in a non-equilibrium, linear, segmented electrode, magnetohydrodynamic generator. The noble gases were used as the generator working fluid. Optical observations showed that the discharge concentrated in transverse streamers which were convected in the downstream direction at the gas velocity. The average axial streamer spacing was approximately equal to the axial electrode segmentation pitch. Convective effects produced high conductivity gas layers on the electrode walls in the entrance region of the channel. The general agreement which had been obtained between the measured generator electrical characteristics and the uniform plasma, finitely segmented electrode generator theory is attributed to the absence of axial, high conductivity, gas layers downstream of the channel entrance region. Although streamer formation is predicted by the theory of ionization instabilities in magnetoplasmas, other characteristics of the discharge were in disagreement with the predictions of this theory. Two major differences were the absence, in the present experiments, of plasma turbulence at large Hall parameters and the independence of the electron density fluctuation amplitude on the ratio of the electron temperature divided by the gas temperature. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1967
- Accession Number
- AD0819461
Entities
People
- Bert Zauderer
Organizations
- General Electric