Numerical investigation of nonlinear heat transfer effects in a thermoacoustic device

Abstract

A thermoacoustic device, which is operated using thermoacoustic phenomena, has attracted a great deal of attention as an application of renewable heat energy. For a practical application of such device, the correct estimation of thermoacoustic properties is quite important. In the present study, a numerical simulation for thermoacoustic device is performed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and the thermodynamic properties are investigated. The results include the temperature flow field and heat flux on the wall. The actual thermoacoustic phenomena are accompanied with nonlinear effects. In order to estimate those effects, the numerical linear analysis is also carried out. Through the comparison of the results of CFD and linear analysis, the linear and nonlinear characteristics of heat transfer in the thermoacoustic device are discussed.