A fast one-dimensional nonlinear thermoacoustic code

Introduction The design of thermoacoustic (TA) systems is often aided with computational models. These computational models should be both fast, to quickly obtain feedback on design decisions, and accurate to know that the results are representative for a real TA system. However, in many cases these demands counteract each other. This often leads to a trade-off between computational cost and accuracy when choosing a specific design tool. Currently, several computer codes are available to aid the design of TA systems. For example, the linear TA theory is implemented in the widely used computer code DeltaEC [5]. DeltaEC also has capabilities to compute nonlinear effects such as Gedeon streaming up to second order. For detailed simulations of the full nonlinear governing equations, commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software can be used. However, CFD tends to be computationally costly and time consuming. This abstract describes the development and the first tests of a new one-dimensional nonlinear TA code, called the ThermoAcoustic System Modeling Environment Twente (TASMET). The code is capable of solving one-dimensional TA systems in a computationally efficient manner. It makes use of one-dimensional models to retain a low computational cost. However, to achieve better accuracy for high amplitude oscillations, the existing one-dimensional linear thermoacoustic theory is extended to the nonlinear domain.