THE RESEARCH OF THE STABILITY OF THE MOVEMENT OF A LIQUID METAL PISTON FLOW IN A MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC GENERATOR

We formulate the problem of stability of the piston flow motion under the action of a running magnetic field in an MHD generator of an electrodeless type. The piston flow consists of the liquid metal pistons (the volumes of liquid metal) that are separated from each other by volumes of gas. The scheme of the MHD generator consists of two piston flows separated from each other by a thin insulating wall. The flows are shifted relative to each other by half the wave length of the external running magnetic field created by the currents flowing through the stator windings. The direct currents flow through the pistons. These currents are directed in opposite directions in neighboring pistons. In the presence of disturbances the movement of the pistons is unstable. Using the second Lyapunov method we deduced sufficient criteria for the stability of the steady motion of a liquid-metal piston flow about the small perturbations of the distance between the pistons. The formulas for estimating the Cauchy integral of the equation of the perturbed piston motion from above are derived too.

Authors: K. I. Kim, K. K. Kim

Direction: Electrical Engineering

Keywords: MHD generator, liquid metal, piston flow, stability, second Lyapunov method

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