Abstract
Axial field breakdown in nonslagging wall, combustion-driven MHD generators was characterized by a rapid decline in axial voltage and a change in the mode of current transport from a relatively diffuse mode to a highly constricted and destructive mode. Cinephotographic records obtained for a simplified configuration demonstrated that breakdown could be initiated either in the plasma or in the interelectrode insulator. Breakdown resulted only when a threshold voltage was exceeded, with the voltage increasing with insulator gap size. For the electrode wall configuration studied, the threshold voltage for plasma-initiated breakdown was significantly higher than that for insulator-initiated breakdown. For the maximum voltages achieved in the full generator experiments, only insulator-initiated breakdowns were observed. No qualitative difference in anode and cathode wall breakdown behavior was observed. The threshold voltage for the generator configuration was lower than the value observed for the same insulator gap size in the simplified experiments; however, the qualitative features were similar.
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