| Abstract: | Numerical simulations of the closed‐cycle disk MHD generation experiment with Tokyo Institute of Technology's Fuji‐1 blow‐down facility are performed. In the calculations, the r–z two‐dimensional time‐dependent simulation code developed by the authors that can take the effect of water contamination into account is used, and the experimental conditions of Run A4109 operated by Disk‐F4 generator are selected as the numerical conditions. When the water contamination is the lowest level realized in the experiments, the simulation results coincide with the experimental results reasonably well, though there exist some discrepancies caused by inaccuracy of used basic plasma parameters, limitations of the two‐dimensional approximation, and so on. The voltage–current curve is almost linear, indicating that the MHD interaction is relatively weak and the flow field is mainly determined by the back‐pressure. The increase of the water contamination level results in decreased seed ionization rate at the generator channel inlet, leading to the steep deterioration of the generator performance. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 148(2): 46–54, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10335 |
