MHD performance demonstration experiment, October 1, 1080-September 30, 1981

The Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) has been under contract with the Department of Energy (DOE) since December 1973 to conduct a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) High Performance Demonstration Experiment (HPDE). The objective of this experimental research is to demonstrate the attainment of MHD performance on a sufficiently large scale to verify that projected commercial MHD objectives are possible. This report describes the testing of the system under power-producing conditions during the period from October 1, 1980 to September 30, 1981. Experimental results have been obtained with the channel configured in the Faraday mode. Test conditions were selected to produce low supersonic velocity along the entire channel length. Tests have been conducted at magnetic fields up to 4.1 Tesla (T) (70% of design). Up to 30.5 MW of power has been produced to date (60% of design) for an enthalpy extraction of approximately 11%. The high Hall voltage transient, observed during the previous series of tests has been reduced. The reduction is mostly probably due to the fuel and seed being introduced simultaneously. The replacement of the ATJ graphite caps on the electrode walls with pyrolytic graphite caps has resulted in significantly higher surface temperature. As a result, the voltage drop is some 60% of the cold wall voltage drop during the previous series of tests. However, the absolute value of the present voltage drop is still greater than the original design predictions. Test results indicate, however, that the overall enthalpy extraction objective can be achieved