Controlling Transcritical Thermoacoustic Interactions for Space Propulsion and Novel Energy Systems

火箭科学可以为我们提供一些现代能源问题的新解决方案。液体火箭发动机的燃烧不稳定性是空间推进中最重要和最具挑战性的问题之一。这些不稳定性是由于燃烧的非稳定热释放与燃烧室中的声学模式耦合而发生的；这种相互作用的复杂性因低温推进剂的高度非线性、跨临界热力学基态而变得更加复杂。需要确定自激热声耦合，因为声学模式中的能量积累是发动机灾难性故障的最重要原因。然而，火箭推进界的这一非常严重的挑战实际上可能被证明是我们一些能源问题的新解决方案，特别是在工业环境中。通过仔细地控制熵-声耦合，通过这种非线性相互作用产生的能量可以在热声热机中被收集以产生有用的机械动力，从而允许工业废热的有效再利用。

Rocket science can provide us with novel solutions to some of our modern–day energy concerns. Combustion instabilities in liquid rocket engines are one of the most important and challenging problems in space propulsion. These instabilities occur as the unsteady heat release of combustion couples with the acoustic modes in the combustion chamber; the complexity of this interaction is compounded by the highly non-linear, transcritical thermodynamic base state of the cryogenic propellants. The self-excited thermoacoustic coupling needs to be identified, as energetic build-up in the acoustic mode is the most important cause of catastrophic engine failure. However, this very serious challenge in the rocket propulsion community may actually prove to be a novel solution to some of our energy concerns, particularly in industrial settings. By carefully controlling the entropic-acoustic coupling, the energy created through this non-linear interaction may be harvested in a thermoacoustic heat engine to produce useful mechanical power, thus, permitting the efficient re-use of industrial waste heat.