Effect of RC load on performance of thermoacoustic engine

Based on linear thermoacoustics, a symmetric standing-wave thermoacoustic engine connected with an acoustic resistance and acoustic compliance (RC) load was simulated to study the effect of the load impedance on the performance of the thermoacoustic engine. Experiments were performed to verify the simulation. Both the simulation and the experimental results show that there is a non-monotonic variation of the acoustic power delivered to the load with the acoustic resistance of the load and a maximal acoustic power may be obtained when the acoustic resistance equals to its compliance impedance. And a lower compliance impedance of RC load may lead to a higher acoustic power delivered to the load.