Thermoacoustic effect of traveling–standing wave Original Research Article

In order to improve thermoacoustic efficiency, the thermoacoustic devices have been developed from standing wave devices to traveling wave devices. Actually, the acoustic field in practical thermoacoustic devices is neither a pure traveling wave nor a pure standing wave. The thermoacoustic effect is the hybrid effect of traveling wave component and standing wave component. Therefore, the thermoacoustic effect of traveling–standing wave will be study in this paper. Firstly, the thermoacoustic conversion performance of the traveling–standing wave are analyzes qualitatively by combining the thermoacoustic conversion performance of the traveling wave with those of the standing wave. Then, based on the basic thermoacoustic formulas, the influence of the parameters of the acoustic field and the regenerator’s structure on the thermoacoustic conversion is analyzed, and the optimum condition for the thermoacoustic conversion is discussed. The results are consistent with the qualitative analysis. Additionally, our theoretical results also show a good agreement with the experimental data [Biwa et al. Phys Rev E 2004;69(6):066304(6)], which indicates the validity of the analysis in this paper. Furthermore, the analysis in this paper further provides a more intensive understanding of these experimental results. The conclusions obtained in this paper are significant to guide for the design of new thermoacoustic devices.