Abstract <p>To efficiently utilize gas driving liquid metal for two-phase magnetohydrodynamic power generatior, a double-nozzle venturi mixer was proposed and the impact of mixer key dimensions, applied magnetic field and load factor on the mixing characteristics and power generation performance were investigated by adopting the VOF (volume of fluid) method in this paper. The results show that the velocity of liquid metal is greatly increased by the high-pressure gas in the mixer and the two-phase churn flow regime with lower two-phase slip ratio and higher uniformity, which represents a better mixing effect, can be found in the mixer with the smaller ratio of nozzle area to gas inlet area (<InlineEquation ID="IEq1"> <InlineMediaObject> <ImageObject Color="BlackWhite" FileRef="162_2025_738_Article_IEq1.gif" Format="GIF" Height="20" Rendition="HTML" Resolution="72" Type="Linedraw" Width="50" /> </InlineMediaObject> <EquationSource Format="TEX">$S_{\textrm{n}}/S_{\textrm{g}})$</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <mrow> <msub> <mi>S</mi> <mtext>n</mtext> </msub> <mo stretchy="false">/</mo> <msub> <mi>S</mi> <mtext>g</mtext> </msub> <mrow> <mo stretchy="false">)</mo> </mrow> </mrow> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation> and the larger ratio of mixing chamber area to total inlet area (<InlineEquation ID="IEq2"> <InlineMediaObject> <ImageObject Color="BlackWhite" FileRef="162_2025_738_Article_IEq2.gif" Format="GIF" Height="19" Rendition="HTML" Resolution="72" Type="Linedraw" Width="51" /> </InlineMediaObject> <EquationSource Format="TEX">$S_{\textrm{m}}/S_{\textrm{i}})$</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <mrow> <msub> <mi>S</mi> <mtext>m</mtext> </msub> <mo stretchy="false">/</mo> <msub> <mi>S</mi> <mtext>i</mtext> </msub> <mrow> <mo stretchy="false">)</mo> </mrow> </mrow> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation>. In the range of this study, the output current, output power, and power generation efficiency of the LMMHD generator reach the maximum as <InlineEquation ID="IEq3"> <InlineMediaObject> <ImageObject Color="BlackWhite" FileRef="162_2025_738_Article_IEq3.gif" Format="GIF" Height="20" Rendition="HTML" Resolution="72" Type="Linedraw" Width="102" /> </InlineMediaObject> <EquationSource Format="TEX">$S_{\textrm{n}}/S_{\textrm{g}}=0.040$</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <mrow> <msub> <mi>S</mi> <mtext>n</mtext> </msub> <mo stretchy="false">/</mo> <msub> <mi>S</mi> <mtext>g</mtext> </msub> <mo>=</mo> <mn>0.040</mn> </mrow> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation> and <InlineEquation ID="IEq4"> <InlineMediaObject> <ImageObject Color="BlackWhite" FileRef="162_2025_738_Article_IEq4.gif" Format="GIF" Height="19" Rendition="HTML" Resolution="72" Type="Linedraw" Width="103" /> </InlineMediaObject> <EquationSource Format="TEX">$S_{\textrm{m}}/S_{\textrm{i}}=0.144$</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <mrow> <msub> <mi>S</mi> <mtext>m</mtext> </msub> <mo stretchy="false">/</mo> <msub> <mi>S</mi> <mtext>i</mtext> </msub> <mo>=</mo> <mn>0.144</mn> </mrow> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation>. When the magnetic field is small, appropriately increasing it not only enhances the volume fraction of liquid metal in the power generation channel, but also upgrades the two-phase uniformity, which are beneficial to improve the output power <InlineEquation ID="IEq5"> <InlineMediaObject> <ImageObject Color="BlackWhite" FileRef="162_2025_738_Article_IEq5.gif" Format="GIF" Height="16" Rendition="HTML" Resolution="72" Type="Linedraw" Width="27" /> </InlineMediaObject> <EquationSource Format="TEX">$P_{\textrm{wo}}$</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <msub> <mi>P</mi> <mtext>wo</mtext> </msub> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation> and power generation efficiency <InlineEquation ID="IEq6"> <InlineMediaObject> <ImageObject Color="BlackWhite" FileRef="162_2025_738_Article_IEq6.gif" Format="GIF" Height="12" Rendition="HTML" Resolution="72" Type="Linedraw" Width="13" /> </InlineMediaObject> <EquationSource Format="TEX">$\eta $</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <mi>η</mi> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation>. However, the bigger magnetic field also leads to the uprising of two-phase slip ratio that makes the power generation performance be deteriorated.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>

Performance investigations of the two-phase mixer for liquid metal magnetohydrodynamic generator

期刊论文
发表日期：

2025年2月8日

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Shaozheng Wang,
Zhongtian Liu,
Hulin Huang,
Peng Lu

摘要

Abstract

To efficiently utilize gas driving liquid metal for two-phase magnetohydrodynamic power generatior, a double-nozzle venturi mixer was proposed and the impact of mixer key dimensions, applied magnetic field and load factor on the mixing characteristics and power generation performance were investigated by adopting the VOF (volume of fluid) method in this paper. The results show that the velocity of liquid metal is greatly increased by the high-pressure gas in the mixer and the two-phase churn flow regime with lower two-phase slip ratio and higher uniformity, which represents a better mixing effect, can be found in the mixer with the smaller ratio of nozzle area to gas inlet area ( $S_{\textrm{n}}/S_{\textrm{g}})$ $S_{n} / S_{g})$ and the larger ratio of mixing chamber area to total inlet area ( $S_{\textrm{m}}/S_{\textrm{i}})$ $S_{m} / S_{i})$ . In the range of this study, the output current, output power, and power generation efficiency of the LMMHD generator reach the maximum as $S_{\textrm{n}}/S_{\textrm{g}}=0.040$ $S_{n} / S_{g} = 0.040$ and $S_{\textrm{m}}/S_{\textrm{i}}=0.144$ $S_{m} / S_{i} = 0.144$ . When the magnetic field is small, appropriately increasing it not only enhances the volume fraction of liquid metal in the power generation channel, but also upgrades the two-phase uniformity, which are beneficial to improve the output power $P_{\textrm{wo}}$ $P_{wo}$ and power generation efficiency $\eta $ $η$ . However, the bigger magnetic field also leads to the uprising of two-phase slip ratio that makes the power generation performance be deteriorated.

Graphical abstract