Numerical Simulation of ‘Piston Effect’ in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

Abstract

Piston effect is an interesting mechanism of heat transfer in supercritical fluids. It is the result of propagation and damping of a thermoacoustic waves in supercritical fluids. The generation and propagation of a thermoacoustic wave in supercritical carbon dioxide is investigated by solving the fully compressible form of the Navier-Stokes equations. Two infinite plates filled with supercritical carbon dioxide, where the right walls is thermally insulated, is considered as the computational domain. A thermally induced pressure wave is generated by heating the left wall. The wave repeatedly traverses the length between the left and right walls, and its amplitude eventually damps out due to the viscous and thermal losses within the fluid, thus heating the bulk fluid. Results are presented in this paper that shows the heating up of the bulk fluid due to piston effect.