Nonlinear theory for thermoacoustic waves in a narrow channel and pore subject to a temperature gradient

Abstract

A nonlinear theory for thermoacoustic waves in a gas-filled, narrow channel and pore subject to an axial temperature gradient is developed based on the fluid dynamical equations for an ideal gas. Under the narrow-tube approximation, three small parameters are introduced as asymptotic parameters, one being the ratio of a span length to a typical thickness of the thermoviscous diffusion layer, another the ratio of the typical propagation speed of thermoacoustic waves to an adiabatic sound speed and the final parameter is the ratio of the typical magnitude of a pressure disturbance to uniform pressure in a quiescent state. No thermal interaction between the gas and the solid wall is taken into account on assuming that the wall has a large heat capacity. Using the three small parameters, the fluid dynamical equations are approximated asymptotically to be reduced to a single nonlinear diffusion wave (advection) equation for an excess pressure. All field variables are determined consistently in terms of the excess pressure so as to satisfy the boundary conditions on the wall. Supposing a time-periodic solution to the equation derived, the mean value of the excess pressure over one period is examined. It is shown that while the mean vanishes in the linear theory, it decreases monotonically due to nonlinearity. It is also shown that mean values of the shear stress and the heat flux at the wall, as well as those of the vector fields of the mass and energy fluxes representing, respectively, acoustic and thermoacoustic streaming, are expressed in terms of the mean values of the products of the spatial and/or temporal pressure gradients, which are reduced to the spatial derivatives of the mean pressure.