CFD-assisted regenerator analysis: application to thermoacoustic system

Thermoacoustic devices have been of considerable research interest in the last few decades due to their simplicity and the environmentally friendly operation. This paper investigates the regenerator, forming the core of a thermoacoustic device, where the thermoacoustic effect takes place. A two-dimensional axissymmetrical computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model of a thermoacoustic effect in a travelling-wave case has been developed. The boundary conditions were imposed according to the measured oscillating pressure and the temperature gradient developed across the regenerator in a thermoacoustic test rig. The simulation was validated by comparing the resulting pressure with that measured experimentally at a number of locations. A friction factor correlation was derived for the CFD-assisted model and compared with the experimental data available.