No abstract

A derivation of acoustic streaming in a steady-state thermoacoustic device is presented in the case of zero second-order time-averaged mass flux across the resonator section (nonlooped device). This yields analytical expressions for the time-independent second-order velocity, pressure gradient, and time-averaged mass flux in a fluid supporting a temperature gradient and confined between widely to closely separated solid boundaries, both in the parallel plate and in the cylindrical tube geometries (two-dimensional problem). From this, streaming can be evaluated in a thermoacoustic stack, regenerator, pulse tube, main resonator of a thermoacoustic device, or in any closed tube that supports a mean temperature gradient, providing only that the acoustic pressure, the longitudinal derivative of the pressure, and the mean temperature variation are known.

It is demonstrated that the temperature oscillations near the edge of the thermoacoustic stack are highly anharmonic even in the case of harmonic acoustic oscillations in the thermoacoustic engines. In the optimum regime for the acoustically induced heat transfer, the amplitude of the second harmonic of the temperature oscillations is comparable to that of the fundamental frequency.