Abstract
A numerical tool is developed to help design magnetohydrodynamics power-generation panels to be used onboard a reentry vehicle. The tool consists of two parts: a magnetohydrodynamics flow solver and a Poisson solver. The magnetohydrodynamics flow solver deals with the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations extended to incorporate magnetohydrodynamics effects and chemical reactions. The Poisson equation for the electric potential is discretized with a 19-point stencil in three-dimensional space. The Poisson solver is tested with three cases, and all the results reproduce the analytical solutions and those from the literature. Then it is used to compute the electric field, current-density distributions, and total power generation around a reentry vehicle with onboard electrodes. We compare the results with the previous two-dimensional simulation results. Several three-dimensional plots of the current stream traces are presented, and from the plots the current is categorized into five types. The net current through each electrode surface and the corresponding power extraction are computed. At the present stage, the magnetohydrodynamics Poisson solver is uncoupled from the flow solver.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1327-1336 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | AIAA journal |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2009 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Unsteady Aerodynamics and Hypersonics Research Program under contract FA9550-04-C-0121. A portion of this work was also sponsored by the AFOSR under grant FA9550-04-1-0341. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the author and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of the AFOSR or the U.S. Government.