Radiative heat transfer from potassium seeded water gas combustion plasma

Abstract

Radiative heat transfer calculations from a potassium seeded water gas combustion plasma have been made to estimate the radiative heat losses through the walls of a MHD channel. Both molecular combustion products and seed contribute significantly to the total radiation loss from a plasma. The spectral emission properties of CO 2, H 2O, CO and potassium have been taken into account. It has been shown that the contribution of CO to heat flux is very small and, thus, can be neglected. CO 2 and H 2O are the primary contributors to the radiation from the combustion products. At MHD temperatures, 55–80% of the contribution to heat flux from the combustion products comes from bands lying up to 2.7 μm in the near infrared. It has been shown that accurate knowledge of absorption cross-section data is essential to predict the radiative heat transfer from potassium. It has been estimated that 25–30% of the total radiative heat flux is from the potassium seed.