The operating mode of the water-cooled MHD accelerator of SMGDU with a magnetic field that changed along the channel

The work is aimed at solving the problem of creating in laboratory conditions hypersonic high-enthalpy gas flows that parameters are kept constant for 5-10 seconds. For this purpose the test section of the MHD channel with water-cooled electrodes and side walls was under investigation at the set up with a magnetohydrodynamic accelerator in TsAGI. A new series of runs was performed in which the MHD-acceleration stage was successively increased to 5 seconds. It was determined that the electrical and gas-dynamic characteristics of the MHD accelerator did not depend on the duration of the run. It was first demonstrated that the use of a magnetic field special shaped along the axis of the channel made it possible to avoid catastrophic damage to the side walls of the channel at the entrance and exit of the MHD accelerator, which increased the service life of the installation. (paper)