Numerical simulation of commercial-scale non-equilibrium magnetohydrodynamic generator with inlet swirl

We conduct two-dimensional numerical simulations to study the effects of inlet swirl on plasma fluid behaviors of a commercial-scale non-equilibrium magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) generator with a thermal input of 1000 MW. The effects of inlet swirl are presented for two cases: (1) with preionization by applying a radio-frequency (RF) electromagnetic field; (2) without the preionization. An inlet swirl ratio, which is defined as the ratio of circumferential velocity to radial velocity at inlet of MHD channel, varies from 0.0 to 0.5, and the RF power is fixed at 0.3 % of the thermal input of the MHD generator. Cesium seeded Helium is used as a working gas.