Fast Heating Induced Thermoacoustic Waves in Supercritical Fluids: Experimental and Numerical Studies

Abstract

Thermoacoustic waves in near-critical supercritical carbon dioxide are investigated experimentally on acoustic time scales using a fast electrical heating system along with high speed pressure measurements. Supercritical carbon dioxide (near the critical or the pseudocritical states) in an enclosure is subjected to fast boundary heating with a thin nickel foil and an R-C circuit. The combination of very high thermal compressibilities and vanishingly small thermal diffusivities of the near-critical fluid affect the thermal energy propagation, leading to the formation of acoustic waves as carriers of thermal energy (the so called piston effect). The experimental results show that under the same temperature perturbation at the boundary, the strength of the acoustic field is enhanced as the initial state of the supercritical fluid approaches criticality. The heating rate, at which the boundary temperature is raised, is a key factor in the generation of these acoustic waves. The effect of different rates of boundary heating on the acoustic wave formation mechanism near the critical point is studied. The thermoacoustic wave generation and propagation in near-critical supercritical fluid is also investigated numerically and compared with the experimental measurements. The numerical predictions show a good agreement with the experimental data.