You are on page 1of 28

AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and Hypersonics Systems and Technologies AIAA 2005-3225

MHD FLOW CONTROL IN HYPERSONIC FLIGHT


V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov
Institute for High Temperatures of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Tel. 7 (095) 484 28 44, E-mail: bityurin@ihed.ras.ru
J.Lineberry
LyTec LLC, Tullahoma, TN, USA

Abstract. Experimental and theoretical studies of the MHD flow interaction around aerobodies [9,10,16-
24,26,30,31] in a hypersonic ionized air stream are presented with comments on potential application for
flow and flight control for advanced aerospace vehicles. The current work is a continuation of past efforts
by the authors’ directed at characterization of MHD flow field interaction over/around several different
basic geometric configurations with mutually orthogonal magnetic field and velocity vectors.
Experimental results from tests conducted with wedge models in a hypervelocity MHD accelerator driven
wind tunnel facility with ionized air flow at an MHD interaction parameter, Su, of 0.1.are presented.
Distinctive MHD influence on the flow structure around the wedge was confirmed in experiments.
Experimental and numerical simulations with a wedge configuration that is representative of a hypersonic
inlet are reported. The potential for use of MHD interaction to adjust the oblique shock system to achieve
an on-cowl lip condition when flight operation is off-design was demonstrated. Supporting analysis work
has achieved correlation with experimental observations and provides a means to project MHD
interaction effects to full-scale hypersonic vehicles subject to real atmospheric flight.

Introduction

A new MHD role for aerospace applications was formulated at fiftieth [1] when
the re-entry problem became real and critically important. Several proposals have been
developed to reduce heat flux strength at critical point by means of magnetic field
created by an on-board system. At the same time two new areas were formed where the
MHD effects are the primary importance – MHD electrical power generation as a direct
heat energy conversion into electricity and thermonuclear reactors with magnetic sustain
of active matter –hot high temperature plasma.
A number of successful demonstration of MHD interaction stimulated research
and development a numerous applications and particularly for space. One of the
practically developed branches is the development of so called MHD low thrust
accelerators for long term interplanetary journey. Another example of the successful
development of a large-scale MHD system is pulse MHD generator in power output
range from 1MWe till 100MWe for special applications in defense systems.
Since 50th considerable attention has been paid to the flows around blunt body in
the presence of external magnetic field. At high magnetic Reynolds number the fluid
deforms the magnetic field, rather than passes through it. As a result liquid free cavities
are produced near the body, which prevents to appearing of large heat flux into the body
surface [2]. The application problems of author’s interest are those in which magnetic
Reynolds number values are of order of unit or even much less. In this case the
feasibility of MHD flow control relies on another principles and should be investigated
in more details. The incompressible MHD flows around bodies including cylindrical
that were vastly studied in 60th (see, for example, [3]). Many exact and approximate
analytical methods were developed for solving problems on the MHD flow over bodies
of different shape. The bibliography of earlier studies on the finite conductivity MHD
flows can be found in [4]. In one of the first work on the supersonic MHD flow around
a body [4] it was shown that increasing MHD interaction factor leads to increasing of
the bow-shock stand-off distance. Many fundamental features of MHD flows have been

Copyright © 2005 by V.Bityurin,A.Bocharov,J.Lineberry. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., with permission.
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

revealed in works of Bush [6,7] and Bleviss [8]. From recent studies on MHD flows
around bodies note the works [9-13]. In papers [9-12] the Hall effect was neglected. In
[10] the effects of chemistry on the MHD flow around a blunt body were evaluated. In
[13] the two-dimensional analysis of the Scramjet inlet has been carried out.
Later a number of papers are published at AIAA Aerospace Science meetings
(USA), Weakly Ionized Gas Workshop (AF,USA) , Moscow Workshop on Magneto-
Aerodynamics for Aerospace Applications (RAS/EOARD) and at others forums.
In hypersonic low-pressure air flows (M>10) the electrical conductivity behind
the bow-shock may become sufficient for the strong MHD interaction to appear in the
presence of magnetic field of order of one Tesla.
The primary conditions for the implementation of any on-board MHD
technology are the first - to provide a sufficient level of electrical conductivity of
airflow and, the second – to make proper design of the magnetic system, which is
known to be a weight critical component. In this respect, the physical background of
flow parameters modification and the magnetic system assessments are discussed
further in this Section. The magnet size and weight must be gauged against the gain that
can be obtained in terms of flow optimization. Some general relationships are obtained
in this Section which should be useful for the development of a systematic approach to
this problem.
The MHD flow/flight control is one of the clearest options of MHD technology
applications in this field. However in literature there are not so many good examples of
such a suggestion. Typically the MHD flow control is the natural component of another
suggestion including MHD interaction such as, for example, MHD scramjet in-take
optimization.
The latter is included in one of the most intrigue cases of MHD application in
aerospace so-called AJAX concept proposed more than ten years ago in Russia. The
basic idea is to use MHD energy conversion cycle to provide more desirable flow
conditions inside of scramjet flow train from in-take up to the nozzle exit. The results of
estimation for this type of system, based on a simplified analysis, are discussed herein.
One of the most promising fields for MHD applications is MHD control of the
bow shock characteristics. In particular, optimization of the drag to thrust ratio and/or a
significant reduction in vehicle heat stress can be expected. Theoretical estimations and
numerical simulation have shown that the bow shock configuration changes
significantly when in the presence of an externally applied magnetic field. On the other
hand, the reliable flow parameters prediction is still problematic due to very
complicated phenomena that occur in the vicinity of a hypersonic vehicle nose.

Background

The motion of spacecraft in the upper atmosphere occurs with hypersonic


velocity and for these reason results in a strong shock wave creation. The strong shock
waves form highly non-uniform flow field. The velocity of spacecraft between 7 and
11km/s corresponds to temperature elevation just behind the shock up to 10000-
20000K. Due to relaxation phenomena the air temperature decreases to the level of
5000-10000K at the vehicle surface. High heat fluxes in the vicinity of critical points of
spacecraft limit the acceptable trajectories of different kinds of spacecraft and need to
optimize the flow around the hypervelocity vehicle. Traditional gas dynamics approach
is based on the vehicle shape and trajectory optimization. The potential of the condition
optimization can be increased significantly by involving additional physical phenomena

2
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

influencing on the flow field. In the case under consideration when one of the main
peculiarities of the process is the ionization phenomena in shock layer on the vehicle
surface the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) interaction can be used to extend the
optimizing flow control.
Generally speaking the MHD interaction is characterized by the local
momentum and energy conversion and their redistribution over the flow field. The
ponderomotive force
F = ∫ j × BdV (1)
integrated over whole external flow has provided the reaction R = −F and, probably,
the moment
K = ∫ r × ( j × B)dV . (2)
These two body force integral values in combination with conventional
gasdynamics force and moment
Fgd = − ∫ p n dS , K = − ∫ r × p n dS (3)
define the motion of the aircraft in atmosphere. It is important to note that
electrodynamics ponderomotive force f = j × B and energy source jE modifies the flow
field and, consequently indirectly change the gasdynamics values Fgd and Kgd.
Thus, the magnetohydrodynamics interaction between the external flow and
electrical and magnetic fields can be used as an additional flight control system
influencing on the external flow in some vicinity of the vehicle. The flow region
affected by such a control system is independent directly upon Mach number
distribution.
The MHD interaction intensity is characterized by the value of so-called MHD
interaction parameters (or Steward Number) equal to the ratio of the electromagnetic
body force j×B times characteristics length l to the dynamics pressure gradient
S = j × B l ρu 2 ≈ σB 2 l ρu , (4)
where j is the electrical current density, B is the magnetic induction, and l represents a
characteristics length (a deceleration distance). It should be noted that the second
definition of the Steward number is based on an implicit assumption that the electrical
current is self-generated. The current is produce by the mechanical work done by the
flow against body force j×B. In an on-board MHF flow/flight control system the
electrical current can be defined by externally applied electrical field, which could be
much higher as compared with the characteristic value of induced field u×B. In such
cases the actual MHD interaction could be correspondingly much higher than the
classical MHD estimation. One of the examples is a MHD accelerator providing
significant increase of the jet impulse.
Electrical current density j is defined by the generalized Ohm's law, one of the
it’s simplest form including so-called Hall effect is
j + ωτ Bj × B = σ (E + u × B ) , (5)
where σ is electrical conductivity and ωτ Hall parameter. The electrical conductivity
can be estimated by formula σ = ne e 2 τ me , where ne is electron number density and τ
is a free path time. Consequently in the same approximation the Hall parameter is
ωτ = eB meτ or ωτ = σB ne e .
It is clear that there are two key values needed for actual MHD interaction:
electrical conductivity and magnetic field. The magnetic field can be in principle

3
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

created with a proper on-board magnetic system. The electrical conductivity needs the
presence of free charges in the gas flow – in practice it should be electrons. Taking as an
example the conditions of upper atmospheric hypersonic flight: velocity 3000m/s,
temperature 250K, pressure 1kPa, gas density .01kg/m3 one can find the current density
required for effective MHD interaction (S ~ 1) j ~ ρu2/Bl ~ 104 - 105A/m2 for B=1T and
l~1m.
Thus, the required level of the electrical conductivity is from several Siemens till
several tens of Siemens. In the pure air such a level of electrical conductivity
corresponds under thermal equilibrium conditions to the temperature above 6000-
7000K. This level is reached in the hypersonic viscous shock layer formed behind bow
shock in hypersonic flight.
Another possibility to provide the conductivity is an artificially created a rather
high ionization degree. The latter can be estimated as
mQ 3kTe
α ≈ σ e 2 ea ≈ 10-3-10-2 . (6)
e me
From the other hand the MHD interaction parameter based on an induced current
density as a characteristic value can presented in the following form:
σB 2 l ne e 2τ B 2 l t me
Su ≈ = =K=α (ωτ )2 , (7)
ρu m e ρu τ ma
where t is a residence time in working volume.
In the case of externally applied electric field the similar estimation gives
σEBl ne e 2τ EBl eV
Sp ≈ = = K = αωτ . (8)
p me na kTa kTa
In this expression V represents an external voltage applied over the whole
interaction area.
In high Mach number supersonic flow it is important to note that two different
definition of MHD interaction parameter – by momentum Su and by pressure Sp are
connected as following: S p ≈ Suγ M 2 .
One of the most important meaning of the Hall parameter is to indicate when the
scalar (‘conventional’) character of the plasma conductivity in external magnetic field
(ωτ<<1) changes to the tensor character of the conductivity (ωτ≥1). The tensor
character of the conductivity results, in particular, in the fact that the directions of
electrical field and current density vectors are significant different. Furthermore the
effective plasma impedance becomes higher along with the value of (1+ωτ2). It is
known however that the effective conductivity of plasma in magnetic field can be
recovered in principle with special configuration of electric field. Unfortunately under
realistic conditions of more or less significant non-uniformity of electrical conductivity
in flow such an electrical field re-configuration becomes not effective – the effective
plasma impedance is estimated as r = G σ , where so-called G-factor firstly
introduced by R.Rosa [14] is defined as
G = (κ − 1)(ωτ ) 2 + κ ,
(9)
κ = 〈σ 〉〈1 σ 〉 where κ ≥ 1
Furthermore, under conditions when the Hall current leakage is allowed the G-
factor should be modified as
G x = (κ − k x )(ωτ ) 2 + κ , where k x ≤ 1 . (10)

4
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

Substitution of (10) into (7) and (8) results in


σB 2 l ne e 2τ B 2 l t me ωτ 2 t me 1
Su ≈ = =K=α →α when ωτ → ∞ (11)
ρuG x me ρuG x τ ma G x τ ma (κ − k x )
Thus, MHD interaction parameter for non-uniform non-perfectly insulated
plasma formation saturates at some level with ωτ2→∞ (magnetic field strength!). For
this reason the operation under high Hall parameter condition (ωτ>1) is rather
undesirable because results in much more complexity of on-board MHD system. Then
the relationships presented above can be used to estimate the value of governing
parameters when the Hall parameter is limited.
As it will be shown later the typical values of the parameters in MHD interaction
parameter formula for the conditions of hypervelocity flight in upper atmosphere are as
follows: σ∼200S/m, ρu∼1, and for the characteristics length the shock wave distant can
be used l∼0.1m. So for effective MHD interaction the magnetic induction needed is
about B≥0.2T that is the routine electromechanical level. However, the discussed above
Hall effect limits the effectiveness significantly.
In calculating the hypersonic flow over blunt body one should take into account
the radiation transfer from the high temperature region. Also note that factor M2/Re (M
is the Mach number and Re is the Reynolds number) becomes of order of one, which
leads to smearing of the shock wave.
Under conditions mentioned above the MHD flow is described by the following
set of the governing parameters:
ρ∞, p∞, v∞, r, cp, µ, λ, γ, Tw, qR, T, B*, Ez (12)
In (12) cp is the heat capacity at constant pressure, γ is the ratio of heat
capacities, qR is the characteristic radiation power, or the value of divergence of
radiative heat flux, µ=ωeτe/B, ωeτe is the Hall parameter.
According to the theory of similarity and dimensionality (see, for example [15]),
any dimensionless flow characteristics is the function of the set of the following
parameters
Γ= {M, Re, γ, Pr, Tw , qR ; S, K, β, Rem}, (13)
Here M is the Mach number, Re is the Reynolds number, Pr is the Prandtl
number, Tw is the temperature factor, the ratio of surface temperature and the free-
stream stagnation temperature. q R is the characteristic radiation power. S and K are
MHD interaction factor and electric load coefficient, respectively. β is the Hall
parameter, Rem is the magnetic Reynolds number. These magnitudes are defined as
follows:
u2 ρ ρ u r cpµ σB∗2 r
M 2 = ∞ ∞ , Re = ∞ ∞ , Pr = , S= ,
γ p∞ µ λ ρ ∞u∞
Ez eτB∗
K= , β= , Re m = u∞ rσµ0 (14)
u∞ B∗ m
(µ0 is the magnetic permeability of vacuum). Variety of flow regimes is determined by
first six gasdynamics parameters and by four electrodynamics ones.
It is notable that under hypersonic flight conditions the non-equilibrium and
finite rate kinetics effects play an important role. Thus, for the full characterization of
the hypersonic flow over a body the Damkoeler number Da=τchu∞ /L is to be introduced
into the expression (14). Moreover, taking into account the low pressure at high altitude
and the rather limited size of the bodies considered the Knudsen number Kn = lf /L is to

5
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

be added into the right hand part of the symbolic expression (12). It can be easily shown
that the Knudsen number is naturally appeared in expressions (7), (8), and (11) in place
of τ/t ratio. This fact seems to be very important saying that the fundamental linear scale
for MHD aerospace applications is the free path length of electron.
Three main aspects are considered as a potential for MHD interaction
applications to hypersonic, and in particularly to re-entry flights:
- Heat flux management to reduce the peak heat flux values;
- On-board MHD electrical power generation;
- MHD hypersonic/reentry flight control.
The local MHD flow control such as boundary layer separation/attachment, laminar-to –
turbulent transition control are considered as well.

MHD Flow Around Circular Cylinder

The first numerical and experimental studies of MHD interaction in hypersonic


flow were conducted with the circular cylinder. Experimental studies were carried out
on the TsAGI MHD WT Facility [20-25]. Bottom part of the facility and the test section
are schematically shown in Fig.1. The feature of the TsAGI Facility is use of MHD
accelerator to increase the speed of flow up to hypersonic values, M ~ 10-15. MHD

Fig.1. General Test Bed Arrangement for Wedge Model MHD Flow Interaction Experiments

flow around cylinder is schematically shown in Fig.2. Magnetic field is generated by the
current flowing within the cylinder along the cylinder axis. In such configuration the
plasma current providing MHD interaction (faraday current) should also flow along the
cylinder axis, see Fig.2. Plasma is due to the presence of atoms of Na or K, which could
be ionized at high temperatures. Seeding is used in MHD accelerator, and we were
assuming that seed atoms and/or ions are available in the flow coming into test section.
In numerical studies two models of electrical conductivity of flow were considered. In
first model it was assumed that seed atoms could be ionized at high temperatures behind
the bow shock. In second model we assumed that fully ionized seed is present in the
oncoming flow. Such a consideration relies on the supposition that electrons available in
the MHD accelerator are “frozen” during fast expansion in the nozzle at temperature of
order of 5500K close to the vibrational temperature of diatomic molecules. For brevity,
the first model is referred to as the equilibrium ionization model, and the second is
referred to as the frozen ionization model. It should be noticed that the first model is
closer to the re-entry conditions, while the second model has appeared to be typical of
the given facility. The following flow conditions were considered in the numerical
simulations, which are typical for the facility under consideration:

6
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

ρ0 = 1.725·10-4 kg/m3, p0 = 33 Pa, V0 = 5000 m/s, T0 = 550 K, M = 9.44.


16 mm cylinder was tested both in experiments and computations. For these conditions,
Reynolds number based on cylinder diameter is ~800. The 2% seed mole fraction was
taken. Azimuthal magnetic field is generated by the pulse of electric current, such that
at-surface magnetic induction varies from 0 to 2 tesla and back for 2 ms. However,

u
Bow Shock

jxB

jxB B
j

Fig.2. Schematic of MHD flow over the circular cylinder with axial electric current.

steady-state solutions with constant magnetic field were sought in computations.


As seen from Fig.2 the designed configuration allows one to apply the two-
dimensional numerical models to analyze the MHD flow around the cylinder. Low
magnetic Reynolds number approach was used, in which the MHD source terms are
added to the Navier-Stokes equations. The MHD force and the work of electromagnetic
field are found from the solution to equation for electric potential. The latter is obtained
from the electric charge conservation along with the generalized Ohm’s low. The
solution to the coupled set of gasdynamic and electrodynamic equations is sought in the
plane of flow and magnetic field. Third (faraday) component of electric current density
can be derived algebraically from the solution. Details can be found in Refs. [21,30].
The computational domain was spread 10 cm upstream the model, 30 cm downstream,
and 20 cm in height. Due to symmetry, only half of the whole domain can be
considered. To model ground conditions in the test section zero potential was set at the
outer boundary. At the upstream part of the outer boundary the oncoming flow
conditions were applied as boundary conditions. At the downstream part of the
boundary two types of boundary conditions were applied. For supersonic outflow
simple extrapolation of flow variables from the interior was used. For subsonic outflow
typical for strong MHD interaction the static pressure was set to prevent the backward
flow entering into the domain. At the cylinder surface no-slip conditions along with the
constant temperature condition were specified. Insulating boundary conditions were set
in the electrodynamics problem. Symmetry conditions were applied at the symmetry
lines.
Fig.3 and Fig.4 demonstrate the flow fields obtained for two ionization models
and at-surface magnetic field 1.25 tesla. In Fig.3a the static pressure distribution at the
vicinity of cylinder is shown for the case of equilibrium ionization model (model 1). In
Fig.3b the same field is shown for the frozen ionization model (model 2). Fig.4a and 4b
demonstrate the temperature distributions for the conditions corresponding to Figs.3.

7
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

a) b)
Fig.3. Distribution of pressure for B0=1.25T. a) equilibrium ionization model; b) frozen ionization
model.

a) b)
Fig.4. Distribution of temperature for B0=1.25T. a) equilibrium ionization model; b) frozen
ionization model.

Several features are clearly seen from the pictures. The bow shock stand-off distance is
essentially larger in the case of equilibrium ionization model. Both position and shape
of the shock in the case of equilibrium ionization model differ significantly from the
original, MHD-off case values. For the frozen ionization model, the bow shock slightly
changes from its original shape. Also, perturbation of the flow field behind the shock
differs dramatically for these two ionization models. From these one could conclude
that effect of magnetic field on the flow is much stronger for the case of equilibrium
ionization model than for the case of frozen ionization one. At the same time, in the case
of frozen ionization remarkable perturbation of temperature is observed in a large region
upstream the bow shock, compare Fig3a and 3b. This means that MHD interaction takes
place in this cold, low conductivity region. Before giving several comments on the
influence of external magnetic field on the hypersonic flow around circular cylinder,
some local characteristics will be presented for the case of equilibrium ionization
model. In Fig.5 the position of bow shock on the stagnation line is shown for the
different values of the at-surface magnetic induction. For the same magnetic induction
values, Fig.6 represents the distributions of the heat flux density on the cylinder surface.
It is seen that both stand-off distance and the heat flux distribution correlate well with
the magnetic field amplitude: the higher magnetic field, the larger stand-off distance and
the lower the heat flux on the surface. This well known result has been predicted by
many authors, but with one exception. In most of publications the Hall effect (direction
of electric current density doesn’t coincide with the direction of electric field) was
neglected. Our analysis (see, for example, Refs. [20-22]) has shown that in low-density
flows Hall effect is a key factor and cannot be omitted. For comparison, the Curves 4 on
both graphs correspond to the case of no Hall effect and should be compared with
Curves 1. In spite the significant differences in characteristics obtained with taking Hall
effect into account and with neglecting it, the attractive features related with MHD flow
control could remain even in the case of very strong Hall effect (it is characterized by
the so called Hall parameter, βe = ωe·τe, production of electron gyro-magnetic
frequency and mean electron collision time). As far as the frozen ionization model is

8
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

concerned, no remarkable effect of magnetic field on the near cylinder flow field has
been observed.
Intensive experimental studies on MHD flow around a circular cylinder
confirmed hypothesis that the flow in test section is much closer to the frozen ionization
model than to equilibrium one. No visible shock displacement has been revealed.
However, noticeable changes in flow structure were detected in a large region upstream
cylinder and in the wake. Details on experimental setup and results can be found in
Refs. [20,21,30].
5 4

Heat flux density, MW/m**2


0
4
3 1
3
Pressure, kPa

2
3
3
2
4
2
4
1
1
0 1 2

0 0
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03
Distance along stagnation line, m Distance along surface, m

Fig.5. Effect of magnetic field on distribution Fig.6. Effect of magnetic field on the surface
of pressure along stagnation line. Curve 0–B=0; heat flux. Curve 0-B=0; 1-B=1T; 2-B=1.25T; 3-
1–B=1T; 2-B=1.25T; 3-B=1.50T; 4-B=1T, no Hall B=1.50T; 4-B=1T, no Hall effect.
effect.

Here we shortly summarize the main features of MHD flow around a cylinder
with current. As the flow in the test section of TsAGI MHD WT Facility is ionized
everywhere, MHD interaction could take place in a whole flow region, not only in the
vicinity of cylinder behind the bow shock. Under such conditions two principal factors
determine the character of MHD flow: Hall effect and electrical circuit including both
plasma bulk, facility elements and external circuit. Due to grounding of all elements of
the facility the voltage drop along the flow direction, or longitudinal electric field (Hall
field), is low. In this case one could say that the operation mode is close to the short-
circuit conditions for the Hall electric field. From analysis Ref. [21] it follows that Hall
current should be large, and overall efficiency of MHD effect is reduced by factor
1/(1+ βe2) from its nominal value achievable in the case of no Hall effect case.
1
Experimental conditions were such that Hall parameter βe can vary in the range of 10 ÷
2
10 . This explains why no visible interaction took place in the vicinity of cylinder where
magnetic field is maximal. In the large regions upstream the bow shock and in region of
wake the treatment given above is valid. The difference from the near-body region is
that the amplitude of magnetic field is essentially smaller; therefore efficiency of MHD
interaction is essentially higher in those regions.
The case of equilibrium ionization model rather corresponds to the so called
open-circuit conditions for the Hall current (zero total Hall current). In this case large
longitudinal voltage drop should take place, and overall efficiency of MHD interaction

9
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

becomes comparable with the case when the Hall effect is neglected. Note, that such the
case is more suitable for the flight conditions because the bow shock represents a
natural boundary for the ionization domain, within which the overall Hall current is
expected to be small.

MHD Interaction Over Wedge – Shaped Models

In the more recent experimental work [24], wedge shaped models were used.
Again, the wedge models were designed with an embedded electromagnet and surface
electrodes to view perturbation of the flow structure around the wedge by MHD
interaction and measurement of induced electrodynamics. A simplistic sketch of the
wedge model and general test configuration is provided in Fig.7.
The wedge simulates a geometric configuration that is representative of a
hypersonic vehicle forebody and inlet. Active control for positioning the bow to cowl
oblique shock structure is considered to be an application for the MHD inlet to advance
hypersonic technology. This concept was posed at the onset of this research project.
Fig.8 is a sketch that shows two scenarios for hypersonic inlet off-design operation.
These illustrate the vehicle forebody/inlet with shock and flow streamlines.

Fig.7. General Test Bed Arrangement for Wedge Model MHD Flow Interaction Experiments

w/o MHD w/o MHD


Bow Shock
Bow Shock Ingested
Spillage

MHD Assist MHD Assist


Shock-on-Lip Shock-on-Lip
Scenario 1 Scenario 2
Fig.8. Illustration of MHD Inlet Control over Design Point

Scenario 1 is flight at lower than design Mach number where the shock stands
off the lip and spillage drag exists due to flow behind the shock moving around the
cowl. In this scenario, MHD assist can be turned on in the flow compression mode to

10
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

force more flow into the inlet and


Electromagnet
modify the pressure distribution to
move the bow shock to a shock-on-
lip condition, eliminating spillage
Cowl Plate drag.
Scenario 2 is flight at a
higher than design Mach number.
Here the bow shock is ingested into
the inlet. In this scenario, MHD
Wedge / Ramp assist can be turned on in the
expansion mode to modify the
pressure distribution and force the
bow shock out of the inlet and to a
Fig.9. Photograph of Wedge Model Test Article – shock-on-lip condition.
Simulitude for Hypersonic Inlet - Ramp and
Opposing Cowl Plate
Experiments conducted in
the MHD accelerator tunnel under
this project during the second half of
CFD Simulation Experiment (Photo)
2003 utilized various wedge models
with embedded electromagnets and
surface electrodes. One model was
configured to simulate a hypersonic
inlet ramp and opposing cowl lip. A
Flow Structure at Inlet Model without MHD Interaction photograph of this model is shown
CFD Simulation Experiment (Photo)
in Fig.9. The configuration depicted
in the photograph shows the magnet
external loops with the primary
magnet turns run through the
wedge/ramp in the fashion as that
shown in the schematic of Fig.7.
Flow Structure at Inlet Model with MHD Interaction The magnetic field distribution over
Fig.10. LyTec Experiment on the Influence of MHD the model and into the flow stream
Interaction on the Flow Field Over a Hypersonic can be inferred from this orientation.
Inlet Model. (Model position and cowl plate have One of the most significant
been superimposed on the simulations and results obtained in this project was a
photographs for illustration of the model position.
Upper simulation and photograph are for un-
demonstration of MHD interaction
influenced hypervelocity stream; lower simulation flow field manipulation with the
and photograph are for hypervelocity flow subject inlet model that is consistent with
to MHD interaction.) Scenario 2 illustrated in Fig.8. This
result was reported in our previous
AIAA publication9 at the 5th Air Force Weakly Ionized Gases workshop. The MHD
flow field manipulation, as recorded during experiment by high-speed photography and
simulated in post test analyses, is shown in Fig.10. In relation to Fig.10, the parameters
of the incoming ionized air stream to the test section are as follows:

ρ0 = 2.835·10-4 kg/m3,
p0 = 33 Pa,
V0 = 4,760 m/s,
T0 = 350 K.

11
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

The magnet is configured by a set of conductors embedded in the ramp plate and
aligned normal to the plane of the photograph. Therefore, magnetic field is in the same
plane as the incoming flow direction. It should be noticed this type of magnet
configuration differs from more traditional ideas in which the magnetic field is
perpendicular to the plane of flow. This choice was due to design constraints.
The most recent activities of this project have extended the previous wedge
studies towards the next classic aero shape of interest which is a flat plate at varying
angle of attack. This configuration is selected to simulate an aero surface such as the
aircraft forebody or control surface. A few tunnel experiments with the flat plate
configuration were conducted in early 2004 and the results of those tests are currently
under evaluation.
Along with the latest experimental effort has been extensive analysis of past
results through use of project developed 2-D CFD/MHD simulations methodologies.
This analysis work has been directed at using the experimental results to validate the
computational codes and then utilizing the code as a means to extrapolate results
towards true hypersonic flight conditions and flight scale hardware. Reporting on these
latest activities is provided in the following.

MHD Interaction over a wedge

First impressions on the


MHD flow over the wedge can 800
be obtained view of Figs.11 and
12. These figures map the
pressure fields for the two 600
Pressure, Pa

electrical conductivity models model 2 model 1


and for two distinct values of
magnetic field intensity. 400
The first model assumes B = 2T
that seeding atoms can be ionized
only at high temperatures behind 200 B = 1T
the oblique shock. The second B=0
conductivity model assumes that
gas is ionized everywhere with 0
relative electron concentration as 0.00 0.04 0.08
high as 0.01. As a measure of Distance from the wall, m
magnetic field intensity, the
Fig.11. Outlet Boundary Pressure Distribution for
value of magnetic induction at Computational Cases Shown in Fig.12.
the outer surface of magnetic
system conductors is used.
The top pictures in Fig.12 correspond to a magnetic induction value of 1 Tesla
and the bottom pictures correspond to 2 Tesla. (It should be mentioned that magnetic
field in the domain is inversely proportional to the distance from the magnetic system.
Therefore, the domain-averaged magnetic induction value is approximately one order of
magnitude less than characteristic one.) The left row of pictures correspond to the
second conductivity model while the right rows correspond to the first one. The black-
colored lines on the pictures show the location of shock for undisturbed flow field (no
MHD). The main feature of these distributions is that MHD interaction takes place for
both conductivity models. The oblique shock deviates from the wedge surface which is

12
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

considered as the most prominent effect of MHD interaction on the flow. It is seen from
Fig.12 that shock deviation increases with increasing the magnetic field level.
In Fig.11, the pressure distributions along the outlet (right) boundary are shown
for the cases presented in Fig.12. Both the influence of magnetic field and the difference
between the two conductivity models are distinctively seen.

Electrical Conductivity Model 2 – B = 1.0 Tesla Case Electrical Conductivity Model 1 – B = 1.0 Tesla Case

Electrical Conductivity Model 2 – B = 2.0 Tesla Case Electrical Conductivity Model 1 – B = 2.0 Tesla Case

Fig.12. Representative Numerical Simulations of Ionized Air Flow Over a Wedge Surface With Varying
Level of MHD Interaction

Experimental photographs with evidence of the presence of MHD interaction on


the flow over the wedge can be seen in Fig. 13. The left photos represent the flow
visualization made by 2000 fps camera. The right images of the same flow were
obtained with spectral filtering. A filter with the wavelength 779 nm and the width
15nm was used. The top photos correspond to the non-MHD case and bottom pictures
correspond to the MHD-On case. The influence of MHD interaction can be detected
both by increasing the luminosity and by increasing the angle of deviation of oblique
shock from the wedge surface. The right bottom image shows that there is a disturbance
of intensity in the region upstream the body leading edge. This is caused by the presence
of MHD interaction in the oncoming flow specific for the second conductivity model.
The qualitative agreement of the experimental and computational flow fields can
be seen by comparing photographs to calculations in Fig.13. The temperature field is
shown corresponding to the calculations made with the two conductivity models and
with characteristic magnetic induction value 2 Tesla.

13
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

The effect of conductivity model on the flow field is well seen. In general,
stronger MHD interaction takes place in the case of first model. This displays in a
higher level of pressure and a larger deviation of shock from the wedge surface. The
reasons for these distinctions were recognized in References [20-23] where
experimental and theoretical study of flow around a circular cylinder was reported.

Experimental Photographs of Wedge Model Test (Right Side Photo Images – Left Side Spectral Enhanced Images)

MHD - Off Flow Conductivity Model 2 – B = 2.0 Tesla

Representative Numerical Simulations of Temperature Field

Fig.13. Hypersonic Flow Over a Single Wedge – Experimental and Numerical Results

It was determined in the previous works with the cylinder geometry, that the
Hall effect is the primary influence on the flow structure. In the case of the second
conductivity model, the fluid is conductive in the entire domain and since all the test
cell elements are grounded, near zero electric field in the direction of main flow exists
(i.e., short-circuit conditions). This results in a large current leakage in the flow
direction (Hall current) and the force-generating Faraday current (perpendicular to the
flow plane) is small. Whereas, in the case of the first conductivity model, the situation is
closer to open-circuit conditions, i.e. non-zero electric field along with the small Hall
current. As a consequence, non-zero Faraday current prevails. It was also noted that
there are several MHD operation modes within the flow field. For the shorted Hall

14
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

Electromagnetic Force (J×B) Distribution Energy Deposition (J.E)

Electromagnetic Force (J×B) Distribution Energy Deposition (J.E)

Fig.14. Numerical Simulations of MHD Interacting Flow Over a Wedge

lectric field (experimental conditions), the region just upstream the cylinder is the
MHD-acceleration zone, i.e., the electromagnetic force acts toward the body surface. At
the same time the large region behind the cylinder was the MHD power generation
zone. The energy from MHD generation zone is transferred to the MHD acceleration
and flow braking zones. The latter zone is located between the nozzle and the bow
shock.
All these effects as derived from analysis of the cylinder studies also take place
in the flow over the wedge. Fig.14 shows the distribution of flow directed component of
electromagnetic force [J×B]x (upper picture) and the distribution of energy source-term
(J@E). (On all pictures the blue color corresponds to negative values of the force and
power rate, yellow-red color corresponds to positive values, and green denotes close-to-
zero values.) These distributions were obtained for the characteristic magnetic field
value 2 Tesla with the upper pair being for the second conductivity model (or Hall field
shorted condition) and the lower pair being for the first conductivity model (open-circuit
Hall field).
Most of the oncoming flow experiences as the MHD brake force since energy is
released and the flow decelerates. Two regions left and right of magnetic system operate
as the MHD generator: energy is extracted and flow decelerates. The region just above
the magnetic system operates as the MHD accelerator both power and force are positive.
This structure is almost the same as was observed in the circular cylinder studies of
previous works. In the wedge case both generation zones are placed near the surface.
Unlike the cylinder, MHD-induced flow deformations occur in the region of flow to be
modified. As a result noticeable changes in the flow field take place even in non-ideal,
short-circuit case.
Two MHD generation zones left and right of the magnetic system are present in
both cases calculated, as well as, the MHD acceleration zone between them. However,
the intensities of interaction in the cases differ essentially as can be seen from reference
values shown in Figures.

15
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

According to the analysis made in [21-23], the absence of total Hall current may
restore the MHD interaction characterized to the ideal factor which is realized in non-
magnetized fluid. In the case of first conductivity model, the total Hall current is close
to zero because of the closed loop character of the current pattern. This circumstance
reduces the nominal MHD interaction by a factor of two at higher characteristic values
of magnetic field, but, not by an order of magnitude as seen in the case of the first
model. From one viewpoint, this is due to applied boundary conditions (zero electric
potential). From another, these boundary conditions simulate the grounded conditions of
bottom ends of the testbed. In the case of short-circuit conditions, a large Hall current
(consequence of small amplitude of Hall electric field) results in a situation, when the
intensity of MHD interaction is significantly affected by a factor of 1/(1+ βe 2).
This study revealed two important features of hypersonic MHD flow. First, even
under not the best conditions realized in experimental facility the MHD interaction can
significantly impact the flow structure, such that desirable flow properties can be
achieved. This has been demonstrated both by experiments and numerical analyses. The
unanticipated results obtained in the experimental study of flow around the cylinder
were due to the fact that short-circuit conditions specific for the MHD WT facility were
realized. This resulted in little interaction in the region near the cylinder stagnation point
which was considered as the region of primary interest. At the same time, significant
MHD interaction was detected in the region far downstream the cylinder.
As far as the flow over a wedge is concerned the structure of electric fields is
qualitatively same as in the case of the cylinder. However, the small interaction region
located just above the magnetic system which is similar to the region just in front of the
cylinder is in general surrounded by two regions where strong MHD interaction is
observed. These strong interaction regions, similar to the downstream regions for the
cylinder case, provide a positive effect on the flow structure over a wedge. Namely, a
significant change in the oblique shock angle is confirmed by both the experimental
studies and computations.
Second, much stronger MHD interaction has been observed in the numerical
simulations for the open-circuit conditions, i.e. for conditions close to those of real
flight. In spite of the large values of Hall parameter inherent to the low-density flows,
the configuration of electric fields is such that the undesirable Hall currents have a
bounded influence on the MHD interaction intensity. This gives an opportunity for the
MHD flow control under real flight conditions and some predictions will be discussed
later.

MHD interaction over a wedge with a cowl

Numerical and experimental study of MHD interaction over a single wedge of


the previous sub-section showed that essential changes in the flow structure can be
made even under the flow conditions of the real test section. Encouraging results from
those studies motivated consideration of simulating the inlet of a hypersonic vehicle. In
this effort, the same wedge with built-in magnetic system was used with the cowl plate
positioned over the wedge (see Fig.9).
Fig.15 demonstrates the pressure distributions obtained in the numerical
simulations of the wedge-cowl configuration. Fig.15a shows the pressure field obtained
without MHD interaction. The oncoming flow conditions correspond to test Run 138.
The flow in the gap between the wedge and cowl represents an intersection of several
oblique shocks due to geometry and viscous-inviscid interaction. Fig.15b represents the

16
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

pressure field calculated for a


characteristic magnetic induction
value of 1.75 Tesla. As seen, the
original oblique shock from the
leading edge comes nearly to the
cowl-lip. The pressure level in the
gap is larger than in the MHD-off
flow and a second shock appears
near the mid-cross section of the (a) Pressure Distribution with No Magnetic Field
gap. MHD interaction also results
in a remarkable change in the
geometry of the bow shock
originating from the cowl-lip.
Further increase of
magnetic field amplitude made
small changes in the flow field
structure, see Fig.15c. The second,
MHD-induced oblique shock (b) Pressure Distribution – Magnetic Field = 1.75 T
moved to the left from its 1.75
Tesla position and the angle of the
cowl bow shock increased. This is
in accordance with analysis made
in Ref. [22], where it was shown
that at higher magnetic field values
and under Hall field shorting
conditions, the MHD interaction
factor becomes independent on the (c) Pressure Distribution – Magnetic Field = 2.5 T
magnetic field.
Fig.15. Numerical Simulations for Wedge-Cowl Model
– Variable Magnetic Field Intensity

Prediction of MHD control of at Flight Scale

Analysis work has extended to consider MHD interaction for flight scale
hypersonic bodies. Emphasis has been in study of a blunt nose body and is made on two
aspects: the effect of MHD interaction on the bow shock position and the decrease or
redistribution of the heat flux on the surface of the body. It is assumed that the magnetic
field is created by the coil which produces dipole-like magnetic field near the critical
point of the body. The coil (one turn with current) of radius of 0.2 m was used to
generate the dipole-like magnetic field near the stagnation point of the spherical part of
the body. The magnetic strength value at the stagnation point is characterizes the
magnetic field amplitude. The body itself is a spherical-conical configuration with
spherical nose radius of 0.72m and a 15° cone angle.
Flight conditions selected for analysis corresponding to the altitude of 60 km
with
P∞ = 11 Pa, ρ∞ = 1.64·10-4 kg/m3, V∞ = 6500 m/s, M∞ = 21.15.

The flow behind the bow shock is known to be in thermo-chemical non-


equilibrium. To determine the flow characteristics the computational model described in
Refs. [26,27] is applied. This model includes the Navier-Stokes equations coupled with

17
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

the equations for mass conservation of individual species. In addition, the vibrational
excitation and vibrational energy transport is taken into account for each diatomic
species. The vibrational-translational relaxation is estimated on the base of the Landau-
Teller model for the vibrational-translational characteristic relaxation times. The species
production rates due to chemical conversions are evaluated from the chemical kinetics
model described in Ref. [27] that includes 11 species with 80 reactions. (The original 11
species – 98 reactions model was reduced since addition of molecular oxygen ion to the
scheme has negligible effect.) The reaction rate constants for dissociation reactions are
modified in accordance with the Marrone-Treanor model (Ref. [28]) to take into
account the influence of vibrational excitation of diatomic molecules on the
dissociation. The transport coefficients are calculated according to the work of Ref. [29]
(also Ref. [27]).
The two-dimensional axisymmetric formulation is used. The free-stream data
along with 79% N2 + 21% O2 (mole fractions) air composition are applied as inlet
boundary conditions. At the body surface, the no-slip conditions are specified, the wall
temperature Tw = 1,650 K is set, and zero-gradient condition is applied for species
concentrations and vibrational temperatures. Symmetry conditions are applied at the
symmetry axis. Numerical solution is obtained with same technique described in
Ref.[30]. The stiffness of the equations related with the chemical kinetics is resolved via
using a semi-implicit procedure in which the chemical source-terms are calculated with
special Stiff-ODE solver. A body-
Pressure, Pa Temperature, K fitted grid was used in calculations
8000 15000 1.50E-3
consisted of 51 uniformly spaced
P T grid-lines along the surface and 181
Electron mole fraction

grid-lines in other direction (along


10000 1.00E-3
the free-stream flow). In this
4000 direction a stretched grid was
5000 5.00E-4 generated such that nearest-to-wall
Xe mesh size is of order of 0.04 mm
(cell-size based Reynolds number
0 0 0.00E+0 is of order of one) and cell-size
0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 increment is not more than 4%.
Distance along stagnation line, m
Some results characterizing
Fig.16. Simulation of Flow and Electrophysical the flow behind the bow shock are
Properties alongStagnation Streamline for
Blunt Body at Hypersonic Flight Conditions
shown in Fig.16 where the
distributions of static pressure,
translational temperature and
electron concentration along the
stagnation line are given. Also, vibrational temperatures of N2 and O2 are shown.
Such calculations are still very costly, therefore a simplified formulation of
MHD hypersonic flow was considered. It is nearly same as those considered in previous
Section, but the ratio of specific heats, γ, is approximated as function of density and
pressure. To take into account non-uniformity of electron concentration across the shock
layer the following approximation for electron mole fraction is applied.
Xe = ε + X0 ⋅ th((T-T0)/D),
where ε = 10-9, T0 = 3000 K, D = 3000 K, X0 = 0.002

18
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

This problem has been solved on


12000 the 101·150 mesh with the same
B=0 near-wall grid stretching as was used
B = 0.042 T in calculations of the non-MHD
Temperature, K

8000 B = 0.084 T
thermo-chemical non-equilibrium
B = 0.126 T
flow. The steady-state solution was
sought for each characteristic value
of the magnetic field induction.
4000 Fig.17a gives the distributions of
temperature along the stagnation line
with dependence on magnetic field
0 amplitude. It is seen that position of
0.00 0.04 0.08 0.12 the bow shock changes with
Distance along stagnation line, m increasing of the magnetic field
(a) Temperature Distribution amplitude. Within the shock layer the
8.0E+5 electromagnetic force acts mainly
against the flow. This leads to
Heat flux density, W/m**2

B=0 shifting the bow shock position


B = 0.042 T toward the free stream flow and a re-
B = 0.084 T distribution of temperature within the
B = 0.126 T shock layer. The temperature re-
4.0E+5
distribution is such that the
temperature gradient drops, and,
hence, conductive heat flux into the
surface decreases. However, the
structure of the flow field within the
0.0E+0
0.00 0.40 0.80 1.20
shock layer depends on both the
Distance along the surface, m magnetic field configuration and
(a) Heat Flux Distribution magnetic induction level.
Fig.17b demonstrates the
Fig.17. Simulation of of Hypersonic Blunt Nose Body
for Varying MHD Interaction
dependence of the surface heat flux
on the magnetic field intensity. Two
features of these distributions can be
noticed. First, changes in heat flux take place only on a spatial scale of order of the
magnetic system size. Second, a significant decrease of the heat flux is observed even at
moderate magnetic field intensity. This sample shows that MHD indeed has a potential
to control a hypersonic flow, at least from the viewpoint of protecting the surface from
extreme thermal loads.

On Board MHD Electrical Power generation


A concept of the on-board surface MHD electrical power generator converting some
part of the kinetic energy of a (re-entry) vehicle into the electricity for on-board use was
first proposed in our papers [17,9]. Some rough estimation made at that time [9] has
shown rather promising performance of such a device. The Faraday type MHD
generator with multi pole electromagnet as qualitatively shown in Fig.18 was
considered. The complicated mechanism of the electrical charge transfer in low-
pressure air and in rather strong magnetic filed forced us later to consider as the first
candidate a so-called Hall configured MHD generator. Thus, in our recent experiments
we tested both Hall and Faraday configurations compromised in the same model.

19
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

Fig. 18. A concept of On-Board surface MHD Generator on a Re-Entry vehicle.


Red lines represent (left) the magnetic field lines, and blue – the induced current lines. The
electrically conducting flow is assumed behind the bow shock, the surface electrodes are located just
above the magnetic system leads and imbedded into the flow face surface.

The example of the surface MHD generator model tested at Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel
Facility with MHD accelerator [25] is presented in Fig 19. In series of five tests the very
stable results are obtained with power extraction of about 200-250 Watts estimated from
current and voltage measurements at three of 12 electrodes. The model was design foe a
single test run and was destroyed by heat load in hypersonic flow especially at the jet
border.

(a) (b) (c)

(d) (e)
Fig. 19. The experimental Model of the surface MHD generator.
(a) – concept design; (b) during the assemblage; (c) on a holder; (d) – in a test section; (e) –
after power extraction run, 200W power extraction estimated.
Another experimental series was recently conducted [31] at the HFP driven subsonic
Wind Tunnel of TsNIImash. The similar but larger size model was tested. The airflow
parameters correspond to those of hypersonic flight behind the bow shock. The airflow
is closed to thermal equilibrium conditions, and electrical conductivity in core flow is
estimated as high as 200-300 mOh/m. The problem revealed during the experiments is

20
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

Fig.20. The arrangement of experiments on surface MHD generator at HFP WT

Fig.21. Two frames of flow visualization .


Upper – just before the magnetic field
pulse; lower – at the moment of ~ maximal
magnetic field. Main stream is separated
from plate surface, the back wall windows
becomes visible.
very poor conductivity near “cold” wall,
and probably for this reason no
measurable power output was recorded.
Nevertheless, the strong MHD
interaction resulted in flow separation Fig.22. The 2D numerical simulation of the
induced by the body force are recorded flow filed (temperature filled and velocity
through flow visualization. Some vectors) at the time moments corresponding to
those of Fig.21.
information on this series is presented in Back flow along the downstream half of the
Fig. 20 and Fig.21. The numerical plate is clearly seen

21
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

simulation has qualitatively (2D center plane flow is considered instead of full 3D
approach is required) confirmed the explanation of the phenomena observed. For more
details of the experiment and data analysis the Ref.[31] could be helpful.
MHD Hypersonic (Re-Entry) Flight Control
The analysis of the large amount of experimental and simulations results on MHD flow
control partly discussed in this paper has clearly shown the potential of MHD
interaction in hypersonic flights, and in particularly in re-entry flights is much wider
than just the local flow field modification. MHD interaction being significantly
distributed practically over whole area where the magnetic filed is presented even at low
level intensity can efficiently influence on the integrated forces and moments applied to
the vehicle. This could be used as a strong mechanism of flight control, providing
additional tool of the trajectory optimisation, manoeuvring, stability control etc. MHD
interaction flight control tool has advanced with very fast of response time typical of
electrodynamics rather than mechanical device.
The MHD interaction phenomena are rather complicated and realized in various form.
In our papers [19,32] we discussed at first a so-called «MHD parachute effect»
characterized by an extended subsonic flow region formed behind the body (the cylinder
was considered there). It was found that integral drag has increase several time for this
reason in compare with classical gasdynamic drag. Because the cylinder is far from any
practical application it was decided to check this result for more «practical»
configuration shaped as an airfoil with magnet dipole inside. The several of angle-of-
attack are considered. The drag and lift forces are found as functions of magnetic filed
intensity. The expectation was even exceeded.

Fig.23. The flow filed (temperature – filled, and flow stream lines) for no MHD case (left) and MHD
On case (right). Airflow conditions correspond to ~ 60 km altitude and velocity 7500m/sec.Angle-of-
attack is 10o. Magnetic filed intensity is maximum 1.5 Tesla at the airfoil surface.

In Fig.23 the flow filed is presented for reference case (no MHD) and regular MHD
interaction case with 1.5 Tesla magnetic field. The magnetic system is a dipole type
located at centres of upstream-and downstream-blunted edges shaped as a circular half
cylinder. The case of 10o of angle-of-attack is shown. In this simulation the thermal

22
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

equilibrium is assumed to estimate the electrical conductivity. It is interesting to see that


MHD interaction reveals a trend to «recover» the symmetry of the flow filed. This trend
is even more obvious from the summarizing plot of integral characteristics given in
Fig.24 where normalized drag and lift are plotted as function of magnetic filed strength
for several angle-of-attack values. Absolute values of forces acting on the airfoil from
Nornalized Drag and Lift 50

40
Drag, 0 deg
30 Drag, 10 deg

20
Drag, 30 deg
10

0
Lift
-10
0.0 1.0 2.0
Magnetic induction, tesla
Fig.24. The integral characteristics of MHD parachute effects

plasma weakly depend on angle-of-attack. Normalized drag and lift are plotted in Fig.24
as function of magnetic filed strength for several angle-of-attack values. Both drag and
lift are normalized to dynamic pressure times the middle cross-section of airfoil; the
latter increases as sine of angle-of-attack. MHD cases are characterized one-two order
of magnitude higher drag as compared to classical gasdynamic drag that is defined
under considered conditions mostly (.90%) by pressure rather than friction. The lift
dependencies are not good resolved and need more detailed analysis, however it is
clearly seen that lift modification is relatively weak with configuration considered here.
The negative lift values can be attributed to the secondary effect of the static pressure
redistribution over the body surface due to MHD interaction in the bulk.
It solid be also mentioned here that as usual the peak heat flux near upstream stagnation
point has decreased, however the integrated over the whole surface heat flux is slightly
higher and changes irregular with magnetic filed strength. This effect needs probably
more accurate analysis as well.
MHD parachute effects on parameters of re-entry trajectory
To illustrate possible effects of using of MHD parachute on typical reentry trajectory
the simplified calculations have been undertaken within the following assumptions:
- The Earth atmosphere is isothermal with exponential distribution of air
density (and static pressure) along the altitude ρ/ρ0 =exp(-y/Y*);
- The Earth surface is flat;
- Aerodynamics Forces (drag and lift) can be represented by simplified
expression normalized by the dynamic pressure;

23
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

Some results are plotted in Figs.25 through 28.

It was also assumed that a reentry

Fig.26. The dynamic pressure variation


Fig.25. Horizontal and vertical velocity along the trajectory
evolution vs altitude at different MHD
interaction level vehicle enters horizontally the
atmosphere at altitude 80 km with
velocity equal to 11.4 km/sec . Angle-of-Attack of 30o is used for Drag/Lift estimation
ratio, the average density of the vehicle is assumed as high as 650kg/m3. The MHD
interaction is scaled along the trajectory by a function of stagnation temperature to
reflect the fact of the strong dependence of the air conductivity on temperature. The
parameter characterizing the level of MHD interaction is an integral MHD based drag
normalized by the dynamic pressure times middle area.

Fig.27. Head Load scaling factor vs


Fig.28. Stagnation Temperature variation
altitude.
along trajectory.
In Fig.25 the horizontal and vertical velocity as functions of altitude for four different
level of MHD interaction (0 – reference case, 1., 10., 100.) are plotted. The
corresponding effect of MHD parachute on the dynamic pressure distribution along the
trajectory is shown in Fig.26, demonstrating the strong influence of MHD interaction on
the dynamic pressure even for low level MHD interaction. One of the critical
parameters of the reentry missions is a heat load, in particularly, at the stagnation point.
The peak heat fluxes is here scaled with the stagnation enthalpy flux, thus the variation
of ρu3 along the trajectory is a rather good characterization value for the heat load
comparative estimation. The variation of ρu3 along the trajectory is plotted in Fig.27 for

24
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

the same conditions referred above. The dramatic reduced of the maximal value of this
parameter is probably the most impressive result of the MHD parachute utilization.
For practice it is very important not only the level of the MHD interaction required but
also the duration of the active period of an on-board MHD device. The plots in Fig.28
provide some information on this matter as well. Taking as a limiting value of the
stagnation temperature 7000K (at this temperature the airflow conductivity is acceptable
high) one can see that the required operation time of an MHD device is an order of 10
secs for high interaction and could be as high as 100-200 secs for moderate interaction
case. This could be a subject of system optimization study.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The study of MHD interaction influence on hypersonic flow structure has been
carried out in the paper and preceding works by the authors. Under experimental
conditions of the MHD wind tunnel facility, investigated and detailed analysis of the
MHD interaction performed. Differences in MHD flow structure for the flow around a
cylinder and over the wedge have been recognized. The prediction to the MHD flow
over a blunt body under real flight conditions have been simulated and effect of external
magnetic field on the surface thermal loads has been investigated.
As in our previous works, in this paper it was shown that the real MHD
operation mode is between two limiting cases: fully shorted Hall electric field (short-
circuit conditions) and zero Hall current density (open-circuit conditions). Under short-
circuit conditions, the potential level of MHD interaction intensity is approximately
reduced by factor of 1/(1+ βe 2). In the second case, or even in the case of low total Hall
current, MHD interaction patterns look similar to the case where Hall effect is missing.
Three features characterize the flow in the our experiments: large values of Hall
parameter, presence of charged particles in the entire flow and low voltage drops
between the main facility units due to ground. Under such conditions the MHD
interaction is closer to the short-circuit conditions for the Hall field. Therefore, MHD
interaction factor characterizing intensity of MHD interaction may achieve just several
percents of its nominal value corresponding to the ideal open-circuit conditions.
The spatial structure of MHD interaction in the flow over a wedge is such that
there are two zones of MHD generation located left and right of the magnetic system
and MHD acceleration zone in between. In generation zones the flow decelerates, the
pressure rises and the angle between the oblique shock and the wedge surface increases.
This primary effect of MHD interaction over a wedge has been obtained numerically
and confirmed by experiments even under bad conditions of low Hall voltage and high
Hall current. If one could diminish the Hall currents in the test section, significantly
higher MHD interaction intensity could be achieved.
Hypersonic flow around a blunt body under real flight conditions is
characterized by low density, low electron concentration (of order of 10-3), and high
Hall parameter (10 to 100). However, the advantage compared to the MHD flow in the
ground test facilities is low total Hall current. Numerical predictions to the MHD impact
on the flow near the critical point of a blunt body showed that significant decrease of the
heat flux onto the surface body could be obtained. The region of intensive MHD
interaction is restricted by the magnetic system size. In this region the radial component
of the electromagnetic force predominate, which decelerates flow. This results in
formation of the re-circulation zone near the critical point such that a high temperature
zone pushes away from the surface toward the outer boundary of the shock layer. The

25
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

size of re-circulation zone, as well as the heat flux decrease, directly depends on the
magnetic induction amplitude. At the same time, position of the bow-shock does not
change as dramatically as the heat flux does. A common pattern of MHD interaction
behind the bow shock looks like no Hall effect is available. This is because a total Hall
current is small and Hall effect is essentially blocked out. For the considered flight
conditions and electrical closing almost 50% of possible MHD potential available
without Hall effect is recovered.
The On-Board MHD electrical power generation has been proved
experimentally and with numerical simulation. The new series of experiments are now
under preparation and will be performed during this year on both test facilities used
earlier.
The MHD parachute effect has confirmed with more sophisticated simulation
and proposed for more detailed study experimental and numerical. The strategy of the
practical implementation still has to be formulated on the base of critical analysis of
existing approaches and missions.
The first estimations of MHD parachute effect on the re-entry missions are very
promising. Other related applications are also visible in this context.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work has been made possible by resources provided by Russian Academy
of Sciences through Fundamental Research Program #20, and by EOARD through the
ISTC/EOARD projects 1892p, 2196p. Authors thank colleagues from IVTAN
(D.Baranov, S.Bychkov, S.Leonov, D.Yarantsev), TsAGI (V.Alferov, A. Podmazov,
V.Tikhonov, A.Tikhonchuk) and TsNIImash (A.Krasilnikov, V.Knotko) for conducting
experiments, and CIAM (A. Vatazhin, V.Kopchenov, O.Gusev) for fruitful discussions
on numerical simulations problem.

References

1. Kantrowitz A.R. A Survey of Physical Phenomena Occurring in Flight at Extreme


Speeds. -Proceedings of Conf. on High Speed Aeronaut., N.Y., 1955, p.335.
2. Kulikovski A.G., “On the Flow of Conducting Fluid Over the Magnetized Bodies”,
Doklady of USSR Acagemy of Sciences, 1957, v.17, No.2 (in Russian).
3. Zinober A.B., “Magnetohydrodynamic Flow Around Bodies”, Riga, Zinatne, 1970,
291p. (in Russian).
4. Kulikovski A.G., Lyubimov G.A., “Magnetohydrodynamics”, M: Fismatgiz, 1962,
246p. (in Russian).
5. Resler E.L., Sears W.R., “The Prospects for Magnetohydrodynamics”, JAS, 1958,
v.25, No.4, pp.235-245.
6. Bush W.B. “Magnetohydrodynamics – Hypersonic Flow Past a Blunt Body”,
Journal of the Aero/Space Sciences, v.25, Nov., 1958, pp.685-690.
7. Bush W.B. “Compressible Flat-Plate Boundary Layer Flow with an Applied
Magnetic Field”, Journal of the Aero/Space Sciences, v.26, Jan., 1960, pp.49-58.
8. Bleviss Z.O. “Magnetohydrodynamics of Hypersonic Couette Flow”, Journal of the
Aero/Space Sciences, v.25, Oct. 1958, pp.601-615.

26
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

9. V.A.Bityurin, V.A.Zeigarnik, A.L.Kuranov, On a Perspective of MHD Technology


in Aerospace Applications. // AIAA Paper 96-2355, 27th AIAA Plasmadynamics
and Lasers Conference, New Orleans, 1996.
10. V.A. Bityurin and J.T. Lineberry, V.G. Potebnia, V.I. Alferov, A.L. Kuranov and
E.G. Sheikin, Assessment OF Hypersonic MHD Concepts // AIAA 97-2393, 28th
Plasmadynamics and Lasers Conference, June 23-25, 1997, Atlanta, GA
11. Hoffmann K.A., Damevin H.-M., Dietiker J.-F. “Numerical Simulation of
Hyprsonic MHD Flow”, AIAA Paper 2000-2259, June, 2000.
12. Poggie J., Gaitonde, “Magnetic Control of Hypersonic Blunt Body Flow”, AIAA
Paper 2000-0452, Jan, 2000.
13. Deb P., Agarwal R. “Numerical Simulation of Compressible Viscous MHD Flow
with a Bi-Temperature, Model for Reducing Supersonic Drag of Blunt Bodies and
Scramjet Inlets”, AIAA Paper 2000-2419, June, 2000.
14. Rosa R.J. MHD Energy Conversion, McCran hill, 1967
15. Sedov L.I., “Similarity and Dimensionality Methods in Mechanics”, 10th Edition,
M: Nauka, 1987, 432p. (in Russian).
16. V.A.Bityurin and J.T. Lineberry, “Aerospace Applications of MHD,” Invited
Lecture, 13th International Conference on MHD, IEE AC, Beijing, China, Oct 1999.
17. Bityurin V.A., Ivanov V.A. An Alternative Energy Source Utilization with an MHD
Generator // Proceedings of the 33rd Symposium on Engineering Aspects of
Magnetohydrodynamics, Tennessee, USA, June 13-15, 1995, pp.X.2-
18. Lineberry J.T., et al., “Prospects of MHD Flow Control for Hypersonics,” AIAA
2000-3057, July 2000, Las Vegas, NV.
19. Bityurin, V.A. and Lineberry, J.T. “Assessments of MHD Interaction for Aerospace
Applicaations”, 5th International Workshop on Magneto-Aerodynamics for
Aerospace Applications, April 12-16, 2003, IVTAN, Moscow, Russia.
20. Bityurin, V.A., et al., “Theoretical and Experimental Study of an MHD Interaction
Effects at Circular Cylinder in a Transversal Hypersonic Flow”, 40th AIAA
Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Jan, 2002, AIAA 2002-0491, Reno, NV.
21. Lineberry, J.T., Bityurin, V.A., and Bocharov, A.N., “MHD Flow Control Studies -
Analytical Study of MHD Flow Interaction Around a Right Circular Cylinder in
Transverse Hypersonic Flow,” 14th International Conference on MHD, Maui,
Hawaii, May, 2002.
22. Bityurin V.A., et al., “Experimental Studies of MHD Interaction at Circular
Cylinder in Hypersonic Airflow,” 4th Moscow Workshop on Magneto-Plasma
Aerodynamics in Aerospace Applications, IVTAN, Moscow, April, 2002
23. Bityurin V.A., Bocharov A.N., Lineberry J.T., Suckomel C., “Studies on MHD
Interaction in Hypervelocity Ionized Air Flow over Aero-Surfaces” 43rd AIAA
Aerospace Sciences Meeting & Exhibit, June 23-26, 2003, AIAA Paper 2003-4303,
Orlando, FL.
24. Bityurin V.A., Bocharov A.N., Lineberry J.T., Suckomel C., “Experimental and
Theorectical Studies of MHD Interaction in Hypersonic Ionized Air over a Wedge”
43rd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting & Exhibit, January 3-7, 2004, AIAA Paper
2003-1194, Reno, NV.
25. Alferov, V.I. “Current Status and Potentialities of Wind Tunnels with MHD
Acceleration”, High Temperature, 2000, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 300-313.
26. A.N.Bocharov, V.A. Bityurin, I. B. Klement’eva, S. B.Leonov, “A Study of MHD
Assisted Mixing and Combustion,” AIAA Paper 2002-5878, Reno, NV, 2002.

27
V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.Lineberry, AIAA/CIRA 13th International Space Planes and
MHD Flow Control in Hypersonic Flight Hypersonics Systems and Technologies Conference
16 - 20 May 2005, Capua, Italy

27. Zubkov A. I., Tirskiy G.A., Levin V.A., Sakharov V.I. “Motion of bodies in Earth’s
and Planet’s Atmospheres with Supersonic and Hypersonic Velocities under
Conditions of Chemical Conversions, Heat Transfer and Radiation,” Rep. No.4507,
Inst. Of Mech of Moscow State University, 1998.
28. G.G.Chernyi, S.A.Losev, S.O.Macheret, B. V. Potapkin, “Physical and Chemical
Processes in Gas Dynamics: Cross Sections and Rate Constants,” Progress in
Astronautics and Aeronautics, Vol. 196, Published by AIAA, 2002.
29. Andriatis A.V., Zhluktov S.A., Sokolova I.A. “Transport Coefficients for Chemical
Nonequilibrium Components of Air Mixtures," J. Mathematical Modeling, v.4,
No.1, 1992.
30. V.A.Bityurin, A.N.Bocharov, J.T.Lineberry, Results of Experiments on MHD
Hypersonic Flow Control//Paper AIAA-2004-2263, 35th AIAA Plamadynamics and
Lasers Conference, 28 June - 1 July, Portland, Oregon.
31. V.A. Вityuriп, A.N. Bocharov, D.S. Baraпov, А.V. Krasilпikov, V.B. Knotko,
Yu.А. Plastinin Study of Experimental MНD Generator Models at High Frequency
Plasmatron // Paper AIAA-2005-0982, 43rd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting aпd
Exhibit, 10-13 Jan, Reno Hilton, Reno, Nevada.
32. V. A. Вityuriп, A.N. Bocharov, J.Lineberry, Study of MHD interaction in Re-Entry
Flow, In: 4th International Symposium Atmospheric Reentry Vehicles &
Systems,21-23 March 2005, Arcachon-France

28

You might also like