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Transient behaviour of an impulsively heated fluid
Author(s) -
Brown Matthew A.,
Churchill Stuart W.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
chemical engineering and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-4125
pISSN - 0930-7516
DOI - 10.1002/ceat.270160203
Subject(s) - mechanics , thermal conduction , work (physics) , supersonic speed , convection , transient (computer programming) , thermal , heat transfer , dispersion (optics) , amplitude , convective heat transfer , thermodynamics , chemistry , physics , materials science , optics , computer science , operating system
Approximate as well as reasonably exact numerical solutions of the equation of conservation have previously predicted that sudden heating of a solid surface adjacent to a region of gas will generate a slightly supersonic wave with small positive amplitudes in pressure, temperature and density, and thereby a small mass velocity in the direction of wave propagation. If the gas is confined by a second parallel surface, the wave is predicted to be reflected repeatedly from both surfaces and to decay slowly due to viscous and thermal dispersion. This process, which has been termed thermoacoustic convection, is presumed to result in transient heating of the confined gas and heat transfer through it at rates greatly exceeding that of pure thermal conduction. The current work constitutes the first quantitative experimental confirmation of this behaviour. Numerical solutions obtained for support and guidance of the experimental work define for the first time the conditions required for the generation of a wave of significant strength.