Generation of Supersonic Swirling Flow Using Asymmetric Nozzles.

Abstract

For performance improvement of a disk-shaped MHD generator, it is desirable to give the working inert gas not only radial velocity but also azimuthal velocity at the exit of a supersonic nozzle. Swirl vanes have been installed in the nozzle section, which can induce nonuniform azimuthal velocity distribution. In order to reduce the nonuniform velocity, a new swirl vane using asymmetric nozzles is designed, and its effect is confirmed by wind-tunnel experiment and two-dimensional numerical simulation. Then, the optimized design of the swirl vane is proposed based on a combination of those results.