Rijke-type thermoacoustic oscillations

ISSN： 0143-0807

Source： European Journal of Physics, Vol.32, Iss.2, 2011-03, pp. : 305-327

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Abstract

Thermoacoustic instability can appear in any thermal device when the unsteady heat transfer is favourably coupled with the fluctuations of acoustic pressure. In this paper, we present a project type of physical measuring and modelling task; the aim of our project is to help our students increase their knowledge of thermoacoustics. Our paper proposes several experiments and describes some tools' setups that are easy to obtain and work with. Free software is offered to analyse the signals with a personal computer. In this paper, the basis of standing wave theory and the tie between thermodynamics and acoustical oscillations are also discussed; some devices and technical applications of thermoacoustic oscillations are presented. The objective of this paper is to present the theory of frequency shifting of thermoacoustic oscillations as well. The frequencies of the acoustic modes in the excited state are of interest for practical purposes; the differences between the calculated and the measured values of these frequencies are shown. The behaviour of the properties of the exited modes shows the complexity of the real thermoacoustic systems; the mathematical modelling intended to simulate the effect of frequency shifting is observed in tests. We think that these experiments can be implemented in physics courses on thermodynamics for graduates or specialized courses for undergraduates.