Taguchi parametric analysis of the effects of electrode and magnetic actuator characteristics on Lorentz forces and heat transfer of a weak low-profile magneto-hydrodynamic blanket propulsion system

Abstract

Parametric studies are conducted on different aspects of a planar MHD propulsion system called propulsive MHD blanket. Effects of nine different parameters on the electro-magnetic thrust, efficiency, and heat transfer of the blanket are investigated. To efficiently conduct the parametric analysis, the Taguchi test design method is used and 16 cases are defined. The Ansys-CFX commercial code is utilized as numerical solver and the obtained results are validated using the Hartman problem which indicated a negligible error of 0.16%. Electromagnetism, energy, mass, and momentum equations are considered for the fluid domain and heat transfer and electromagnetism equations are solved for the solid domain. On one hand, magnet shapes and type are found to be the highest effective parameters, followed by the electrodes voltage, length, and width. On the other hand, a prediction of the best combination of parameters for obtaining the highest electro-magnetic thrust are statistically accomplished which has produced an electro-magnetic thrust of 18.02 N per square meter for the MHD blanket which is twice the maximum electro-magnetic thrust obtained in the 16 initial test cases. It is demonstrated in the present paper that the unique applications of propulsive MHD blanket can compensate the very low efficiencies of MHD systems. It has also been shown that efficiency can be improved by enhancing the water conductivity, which is intended as a future study.