IMPACT OF LIQUID DENSITY AND VISCOSITY ON THE PERFORMANCE OF A THERMOACOUSTIC ENGINE WITH GAS-LIQUID COUPLING OSCILLATION

Gas-liquid coupling oscillation is a novel way to reduce resonant frequency and to elevate pressure amplitude of a thermoacoustic engine, which could be attributed to the increased acoustic inertance by introducing a liquid column into the resonant tube. The performance of a thermoacoustic engine with gas-liquid coupling oscillation could be largely affected by the density and viscosity of liquid, since the acoustic inertance of liquid column is proportional to the liquid density, and the viscous dissipation of liquid column is one of main acoustic power losses in such a system. This paper focuses on the impact of the density and viscosity of liquid on the engine's performance, i.e., the resonant frequency, pressure amplitude, and hot end temperature of the stack, by numerical simulation. Ambient temperature ionic liquid [EMIM][BF4] and water are respectively chosen as the liquid column in the experiments to validate the simulation.