Applied Acoustics 65 (2004) 113

www.elsevier.com/locate/apacoust

Thermal-relaxation dissipation in thermoacoustic

systems
M.E.H. Tijania,b,*, S. Spoelstraa, P.W. Bacha
a
Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, PO Box 1, 1755 ZG Petten, The Netherlands
b
Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513,
5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Received 27 February 2003; received in revised form 25 July 2003; accepted 29 July 2003

Abstract
Pressure oscillations in a sound wave are accompanied by temperature oscillations. In the
presence of a solid boundary, the heat transfer from the oscillating gas to the solid boundary
causes dissipation of the acoustic energy. This results in the attenuation of the sound wave.
This thermal-relaxation dissipation process has a negative eect on the performance of ther-
moacoustic heat pumps and engines. A simple analytical model describing the interaction
between an acoustic wave and a solid boundary is presented. The eect of the solid material
and gas type on thermal-relaxation dissipation is analysed. The main result of this model is
that the choice of a solid material with the smallest possible heat capacity per unit area in
combination with a gas with the largest possible heat capacity per unit area minimises the
thermal-relaxation dissipation. From the dierent combinations solid-gas used in the calcu-
lations, the combination cork-helium leads to the lowest thermal attenuation of the sound
wave. In this case, the heat transfer from the gas to the wall less damps the temperature
oscillations. However, because of the porosity of cork that may cause some problems, it is
suggested that the combination polyester-helium can be used in practice to minimise the
thermal-relaxation losses.
# 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Thermoacoustic; Thermal-relaxation; Performance

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +31-224-564029; fax: +31-224-568615.

E-mail address: tijani@ecn.nl (M.E.H. Tijani).

0003-682X/$ - see front matter # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apacoust.2003.07.002
2 M.E.H. Tijani et al. / Applied Acoustics 65 (2004) 113

1. Introduction

Thermoacoustic heat pumps are devices that use acoustic power to transfer heat
from a low temperature to a high temperature source. Reversibly, thermoacoustic
engines are systems that use a temperature dierence to produce sound [1]. Typi-
cally, standing-wave thermoacoustic devices consist mainly of an acoustic resonator
lled with a gas. In the resonator, a stack consisting of a number of parallel plates,
and two heat exchangers, are appropriately installed. In the case of an engine
(Fig. 1), the heat exchangers are used to maintain a temperature gradient over the
stack. The hot heat exchanger supplies heat Qh to the hot end of the stack and the
cold heat exchanger extracts the heat Qc from the cold end of the stack. The stack is
the heart of the engine where the thermoacoustic cycle is generated. A detailed
description of these systems and the way they work can be found in the literature
[16].
One of the ways in which sound waves are aected near solid boundaries is by
viscosity and thermal-relaxation. This has a negative eect on the performance of
thermoacoustic systems. The viscous losses are due to the viscosity that dissipates
acoustic energy by viscous shear in the viscous boundary [1,2]. The viscous dissipa-
tion is well known and is discussed in de literature [1,2]. To reduce the eect of
viscosity, and hence to improve the performance of thermoacoustic systems, gas-
mixtures with a low Prandtl number can be used. This has resulted in a 70%
improvement of the performance of a thermoacoustic cooler [7]. The thermal-
relaxation loss is due to dissipation of the acoustic energy in the thermal boundary
layer [1,2]. The magnitude of this eect depends on the temperature dierence
between the core of the gas and the solid boundary. Although an analytical expres-
sion for the thermo-viscous dissipation was derived [1,8], a detailed analysis of the
thermal-relaxation dissipation and possible solutions to reduce its negative eect on
thermoacoustic systems is still lacking.
The aim of this paper is to present a simple analytical model describing the inter-
action between the periodic temperature changes in a gas with a solid boundary. The
eect of the solid material and gas type on this interaction is analysed. The calcula-
tion results of the model will be presented and commented and some conclusions
related to the minimisation of thermal-relaxation dissipation in thermoacoustic sys-

Fig. 1. A simple illustration of a thermoacoustic engine. A stack of parallel plates and two heat exchan-
gers are placed in a gas lled resonator. Heat Qh is supplied to the engine at temperature Th, and the waste
heat Qc is extracted at temperature Tc, so that sound is produced.
 M.E.H. Tijani et al. / Applied Acoustics 65 (2004) 113 3

tems will be drawn. To the knowledge of the authors it is the rst time that such
model is used to analyse this eect. The remaining of this paper is organised as fol-
lows: Section 2 is devoted to the analytical model describing the heat transfer from
the sound wave to the solid wall. Section 3 is devoted to the outline of the model
results. In section 4, a discussion and interpretation of the model results is given. In
the last section some conclusions related to the minimisation of the thermal-relaxa-
tion dissipation in thermoacoustic systems are summarised.

2. Formulation of the problem

The thermal-relaxation attenuation of an acoustic wave in contact with a solid

surface can be dealt with by considering the interaction between the periodic tem-
perature changes of a gas in contact with a solid boundary. This problem is analo-
gue to a problem that was of interest in mechanical engineering. In an internal
combustion engine, for instance, the gas temperature undergoes cyclic changes, and
it was important to learn how far the cylinder wall follows these changes (and thus
periodic thermal stress). The high temperature used in combustion engines does not
damage the cylinder wall, only because of the fact that the temperature changes are
greatly damped by the transfer of heat.
The pressure oscillations in a sound wave are accompanied by temperature oscil-
lations. Heat transfer at boundaries usually damps these periodic temperature
changes. This dissipation of the adiabatic compressive energy results in the
attenuation of the sound wave. The physical origin for this dissipation process can
be understood by considering an acoustic wave in a tube (Fig. 1). In response to the
acoustic wave, the gas in the tube oscillates and is compressed and expanded. As a
consequence of this, oscillating temperature gradients in the direction normal to the
tube wall are produced. During the forward part of the oscillation, the sound wave
compresses the gas and heat ow takes place from the hotter gas within the core to
the colder gas in the thermal boundary layer and to the colder wall tube. During this
thermal-relaxation step, the gas experiences thermal contraction at high pressure.
During the reverse phase of oscillation, the sound wave expands the gas that
becomes colder and heat diuses from the gas in the boundary layer and wall into
the gas core. During this step, the gas experiences thermal expansion at low pres-
sure. Since the gas contracts at high pressure and expands at low pressure, a net
work is done on it by the sound wave. The work lost from the sound wave is dis-
sipated and appears as heat near the average temperature Tm. Because the loss of
acoustic energy has a negative eect on the eciency of thermoacoustic systems, it is
important to minimise this dissipation process.
The thermal dissipation of acoustic power takes place over the whole internal
tube-, stack- and heat exchangers surfaces (Fig. 1). The geometry used in the ana-
lysis and discussion of the thermal-relaxation attenuation is illustrated in Fig. 2. In
this geometry a portion of the tube wall (or a stack plate) of Fig. 1 is shown. The x-
axis is along the direction of acoustic vibration and the y-axis perpendicular to the
wall of the tube, with y=0 at the gaswall interface.
4 M.E.H. Tijani et al. / Applied Acoustics 65 (2004) 113

Fig. 2. Illustration used in the analysis and discussion of the thermal-relaxation dissipation. The thermal
boundary layer of the gas, k,and that of the solid, s, are also illustrated. The interface gaswall is at y=0.

We assume that in the gas a one-dimensional acoustic wave with a frequency !

exists and that the gas is conned in an acoustic resonator (tube). The temperature
oscillations in the gas have the same frequency, !. We suppose that the temperature
of the gas is given by


Tg Tm Re Ta ei!t : 1

where Tm is the mean temperature of the gas and Ta is the amplitude of the tem-
perature oscillation in the gas as a consequence of pressure oscillations. Re () sig-
nies the real part. Furthermore, we consider only unidirectional heat ow in y-
direction, so that the temperature Tw in the wall will be given by the partial dier-
ential equation [9]

@Tw @2 T w
ks ; 2
@t @y2

where ks is the thermal diusivity of the wall material. We seek a solution of type


Tw y; t Tm Re Tb yei!t : 3

where Tm is the mean temperature of the wall and Tb is the magnitude of the tem-
perature oscillation in the wall. Tb(y) is complex to account for both the amplitude
and the time phasing.
The boundary condition for Eq. (2) is given by
 

 @Tw
h Tg  Tw y0 Ks ; 4
@y y0

where Ks is the thermal conductivity of the solid. We notice that the thermal diu-
sivity of the wall is given by ks=Ks/scs , where s and cs are the density and specic
heat per unit mass of the wall, respectively. The parameter h is the heat transfer
coecient between the gas and the wall. Substituting (3) in (2) it follows that Tb(y)
must satisfy
 M.E.H. Tijani et al. / Applied Acoustics 65 (2004) 113 5

d2 Tb i!
Tb : 5
dy2 ks
The solution of (5) which is nite as y!1 is
y
Tb y Ae1is ; 6

where A is an integration constant and s is given by

r
2ks
s : 7
!

The thermal boundary layer of the wall, s, is the distance the temperature wave
travels in a time interval 1/o. The solution of Eq. (2) that satises the boundary
condition (4) is
0 1
B Ta
Tw y; t Tm Re@ m  emy ei!tmy C
A 8
1 1 i
b
where b h=Ks , and m 1
s . Evaluation of the real part of Eq. (8) yields

Tw  Tm BTa emy cos!t  my  : 9

where
1
B r
 ; 10
m2 m2
1
b b
and
0 1
B 1 C
arctan@ A: 11
b
1
m
The heat ux at the surface is
 
@Tw
Q Ks : 12
@y y0

Substituting Tw from Eq. (9), performing the dierentiation, and nally sub-
stituting y=0 yield
p  
Q BTa Ks s cs !cos !t  : 13
4
6 M.E.H. Tijani et al. / Applied Acoustics 65 (2004) 113

Expression (13) represents the heat ow entering the wall per unit area.

3. Results

Expression (9) represents the excess temperature of a point in the wall over the
mean temperature Tm. The temperature distribution from Eq. (9) oscillates with the
same frequency ! as the temperature in the gas. Eq. (9) describes a progressive
temperature wave of wave number m and wavelength l given by
2
l 2 s : 14
m

Some features of the temperature oscillations in the wall can be recognised from
Expression (9):
1. The frequency, !, and the sinusoidal form of the temperature wave in the wall
do not change with the depth y; only its amplitude decreases like
p
! 2 y
emy ey 2ks e l 15

and thus falls o more rapidly for large !. At a distance of one thermal boundary
layer the amplitude is reduced by a factor e1, so the temperature waves are strongly
attenuated.
2. With increasing y, the temperature wave is delayed; it occurs at the time
my
t 16
!
3. Because the temperature maximum (minimum) always needs a time interval, o/
2p/o, to proceed by a distance l, its velocity is:

2 l ! p
v 2!ks : 17
! m

Since the aim of this study is to learn how to minimize the thermal-relaxation
losses, we are thus more interested in the temperature excess at the surface (y=0) of
the wall which is given by
Tw  Tm BTa cos!t  : 18
Expression (18) shows that only at the instant t=/! does the temperature at the
surface have its rst maximum. The ratio /! is the time lag of the amplitude of
oscillation at y=0, counted from the previous amplitude of the temperature excess
of the gas.
Since B41, the amplitude at the surface is smaller than in the gas, and B is the
fraction to which the amplitude is reduced by the heat transfer to the wall (thermal-
relaxation).
 M.E.H. Tijani et al. / Applied Acoustics 65 (2004) 113 7

Eqs. (10) and (11) show that the time lag along with the amplitude of the tem-
perature at the surface are both a function of the ratio m/b. This ratio is in its turn
controlled by the thermo-physical parameters of the gas and the wall material. The
temperature at the surface of the wall would have the same temperature amplitude
and in phase with the temperature in the gas whenever the ratio m/b!0. In this
extreme case only there would be no thermal-relaxation losses. On the other hand if
m/b!1, then TwTm!0 which would form a boundary condition on the gas
temperature [1].
The heat transfer coecient is a function of many variables that are specic for
the ow and heat conduction of a gas. Our objective is to determine the ratio m/b as
function of the thermo-physical parameters of the gas and wall material. The next
step is thus to determine the heat transfer coecient. The sound wave in the tube
causes the gas to oscillate along the surface of the tube while compressing and
expanding. From the adiabatic gas law pVg=constant, the change in the gas core
temperature Ta, due to acoustic pressure change, p, can be expressed in terms of the
mean temperature and pressure, Tm and pm, as

1 p
Ta Tm 19

pm

where
is the ratio of the specic heat at constant pressure to the specic heat at
constant volume. Since in an acoustic wave, the dynamic pressure p is a function of
location x, the temperature Ta is also a function of location. Therefore, a local
convective heat transfer from an acoustically oscillating ow has to be considered.
Since the radius of the tube is large compared to the thermal boundary layer, the
curvature of the tube wall can be neglected and we can consider the problem of a
laminar ow over a at plate. The correlation function for this case is given by [10]

hL 1 1
Nu 0:664Re2  3 : 20
Kg

where Nu is the average Nusselt number, L is a characteristic length,  is the Prandtl

number, and Ry is the Reynolds number dened as [10]
g huiL
Ry : 21
g

where hui is the time average of the acoustic velocity over one half cycle. In the case
of a standing wave the amplitude of the acoustic velocity in the tube is given by [1]
p
u sinka x: 22
g a

where ka is the acoustic wave number (ka=o /a), a is the sound velocity, and x is the
distance from the nearest velocity node. The use of expression (20) means that
8 M.E.H. Tijani et al. / Applied Acoustics 65 (2004) 113

although the acoustic character of the ow, the corresponding heat-transfer rate
equals the rate in steady ow with the same instantaneous speed. Because the heat
transfer is independent of the ow direction, the net heat-transfer is obtained by
using the time average of the acoustic velocity over one half cycle. In the stack where
the spacing between the plates is very small, the correlation function (20) holds
indeed.
In the resonator where the ow may be turbulent and because of the curvature of
the wall tube, expression (20) may be less appropriate. However, this has no con-
sequences for our analysis and expression (20) is also used for the resonator to keep
our model as simple as possible. The use of a correlation function of a turbulent
fully developed ow in a tube leads to the same analysis results as in Fig. 3. Thus
expression (20) will also be used for the tube to keep our model as simple as possible.
The harmonic character of the ow suggests also that the length L can be given
by the peak displacement of the gas particles, L=u/!. From Eqs. (20) and (21) it
follows then
p 1
Kg Nu 0:664Kg Ry  3 1 p
h 0:813 3 !Kg g cp : 23
L L

In the derivation of Eq. (23) the expression of the thermal conductivity for a pure
gas Kg =15gR/4M and cp=5R/2M have been used [11], where R is the universal
gas constant, g is the gas density, M is the molecular weight, and cp is the isobaric
specic heat per unit mass. Using the denition of m and b with expression (23) leads
to the expression
s s
m 1 Ks s cs Ks s cs
const ; 24
b 0:813 13 Kg g cp Kg g cp

where the constant has a value of order one for gases. Expression (24) shows that the
ratio m/b is determined by the ratio of the heat capacities per unit area of the solid
and the gas. Notice that expression (24) can also be written as a function of the ratio
of the solids boundary layer and that of the gas. The numerical values of the
boundary layer in the gas and wall, Eqs. (7) and (27), are given in Table 1. Since the
ideal ratio m/b!0 can not be realized in practice, one can only try to minimize the
ratio by choosing a wall material with the lowest possible combination Ksscs and
a gas with the largest possible Kggcp. Expression (24) is closely related to the
reciprocal of the parameter "s dened by Swift as [1]
p
Kg g cp
"s p : 25
Ks s cc

This parameter was introduced in thermoacoustics to characterise the fact that if

Ksscs is not large compared to Kggcp, then Ta at the boundary is non zero [1]. The
temperature change experienced by the thermal boundary layer of the gas as it
relaxes to the boundary layer of the wall is thereby reduced; consequently, the
 M.E.H. Tijani et al. / Applied Acoustics 65 (2004) 113 9

Fig. 3. Temperature distribution in the wall (y>0) as function of the dimensionless depth y/s, at three
dierent instants t1=/!, t2=/4, and t3=/2, and for six dierent combinations wallgas. The period 
=!/2 is the time needed for one full cycle of the wave. The wall is in contact with a gas (y <0) where a
sound wave exists with an oscillating temperature of amplitude Ta=10 K. The full line represents the
temperature distribution curve at t1, the dashed line the distribution at t2, and the dotted line the dis-
tribution at t3 (t1 <t2 <t3). The dash-dot lines represent the envelope functions  Bey/s.
10 M.E.H. Tijani et al. / Applied Acoustics 65 (2004) 113

Table 1
Thermo-physical parameters of some gases and wall materiala

K (W/mK)  (Kg/m3) c (J/KgK) a (m/s) Kc k,s (m)

Argon 0.018 16 520 322 150 1.17 104

Helium 0.15 1.6 5192 1019 1263 3.41 104
Cork 0.11 200 2000 44.103 4.18 105
Polyester 0.08 1060 1300 11.104 1.92 105
Stainless steel 50 7800 460 18.107 2.98 104
a
The boundary layer thickness in gas and solid are also given.

hydrodynamic heat ux is reduced. Since in the stack the hydrodynamic ux has to

be made maximal (thermoacoustic eect), the combination Ksscs has to be large
compared to Kggcp (m/b large) [1]. As a consequence, the stack material has to be
chosen with a large ratio m/b, to improve the hydrodynamic heat transfer between
the gas and the stack. On the other hand to minimize the thermal-relaxation at the
resonator surface, the resonator material has to be chosen with a small ratio m/b.
In Fig. 3 is the temperature distribution from Eq. (9) plotted as function of the
dimensionless depth y/s for six dierent combinations gaswall material, at three
dierent instants t1=/!, t2=/4, and t3==/2, where  =2 /! is the time needed
for one full cycle of the wave. The time t1 is the instant at which the temperature at
the surface has its rst maximum [Eq. (16)]. The thermo-physical properties of the
gases and wall materials used in the calculations are given in Table 1. The numerical
values of the ratio m/b are given in Table 2. In the calculations a mean pressure
pm=10 bar, a mean temperature Tm =300 K, a frequency f=50 Hz (f=!/2 ), and a
practical value of the gas temperature amplitude Ta=10 K are used.
Fig. 3 shows that the temperature distribution in the wall at subsequent instants of
time (t1 < t2 < t3) has the character of a wave moving into the wall. The full line
represents the temperature distribution curve at t1=/!, the dashed line the dis-
tribution at t2=/4, and the dotted line the distribution at t3==/2. The dash-dot
lines represent the envelope functions Bey=s (Fig. 3a). For all calculation results
for the six combinations wall-gas shown in Fig. 3, the temperature wave decreases
with an exponential function of the dimensionless depth y/s [Eq. (9)]. Furthermore,
the temperature wave completely disappears at a depth of approximately 4s. These

Table 2
Numerical values of the ratio m/b for six dierent combinations solidgas

Solidgas m/b

Corkhelium 5.9
Polyesterhelium 9.3
Corkargon 17.1
Polyesterargon 27
Stainless steelhelium 378
Stainless steelargon 1096
 M.E.H. Tijani et al. / Applied Acoustics 65 (2004) 113 11

implies that a minimum thickness for the stack plate of about 8s is necessary, so
that the thermoacoustic interaction gas-stack would be optimal.

4. Discussion

In Fig. 3, the region y > 0 corresponds to the wall and y < 0 to the gas where a
periodic temperature oscillation of amplitude Ta=10 k is present. Fig. 3 shows how
the temperature oscillations are damped by heat transfer to the wall surface (y=0).
From the dierent combinations gas-wall used in the calculations, the combination
stainless steelargon leads to the largest damping. The temperature amplitude at the
wall surface is about 103 of that in the gas (Fig. 3a). The parameter m/b=1096 is
large for this combination (c.f. Table 2). Fig. 3f shows that the combination cork-
helium leads to the lowest damping, as the temperature oscillations at the surface of
the cork wall follows better the oscillations in helium gas. This combination has the
lowest ratio m/b=5.9. All other combinations gaswall lead to intermediate results
between the results of corkhelium and stainless steelargon (Fig. 3).
Since cork is not an appropriate material that can be used in the construction of
an acoustic resonator at high pressure, one can use a thin layer of cork (4s =0.17
mm) of cork or a similar material with a low Ksscs number inside a metallic reso-
nator. The inside surface of cork layer has to be very smooth, so that viscous losses
can be minimized.
Although, the corkhelium combination leads to the lowest thermal losses, it is
clear from Fig. 3f that the heat transfer still has an appreciable eect. The tem-
perature at the surface of the wall is only about 10% of that in the gas. In the
boundary-layer approximation, in which all dimensions of the resonator are much
larger than the boundary layers, an expression for the energy dissipated by the
thermal-relaxation dissipation, E, was derived, and it is given by [1,8]
 2
1
 1! p
E  k pm : 26
4 1 "s pm

where the thermal boundary layer of the gas, k, is given by [1,2]
s
2Kg
k 27
 g cg !

Expression (26) represents the acoustic energy dissipated by thermal-relaxation

per unit of surface area of the tube, within the thermal boundary layer k near the
wall (c.f. Fig. 2). Expression (26) shows that increasing "s (decreasing m/b) will result
in a decrease of the thermal relaxation dissipation. This result is equivalent to the
previous discussion concerning m/b. Expression (26) shows also that the energy dis-
sipated by thermal-relaxation is proportional to the root square of the mean pres-
p
sure pm (because k pm pm ) at constant drive ratio. The drive ratio is dened as
the ratio of the acoustic pressure amplitude p to the mean pressure of the gas pm.
12 M.E.H. Tijani et al. / Applied Acoustics 65 (2004) 113

Table 3
Acoustic energy dissipated per unit of surface area of a tube due to the thermal relaxation [Eq. (26)]a

Solidgas E (W/m2)
pm=10 bar pm=30 bar

Corkhelium 62 97
Polyesterhelium 66 106
Stainless steelhelium 73 126
a
Helium is used as working gas at a mean pressure of 10 and 30 bar, the frequency is 50 Hz, and de
drive ratio is 8.3%.

This suggests that using a high mean pressure, will result in an increase of the losses
at the same drive ratio. Furthermore, thermal relaxation dissipation is proportional
to the square of the drive ratio. As expression (26) represents the energy dissipated
by thermal-relaxation per unit area, this suggests that the shape of the resonator can
be optimized to obtain minimal loss [5]. In general, a minimal surface has to be used
in regions of high dynamic pressure (pressure antinode).
We note that, contrary to the expression of the acoustic energy dissipated by
thermal-relaxation, the expression of the energy dissipated by viscous shear does not
depend on the parameters of the wall material [1,8]. This means that walls of dier-
ent materials but with surfaces with the same smoothness will cause the same viscous
dissipation for the same ow conditions.
An example of the numerical values of the acoustic energy dissipated by thermal
relaxation in the thermal boundary layer, using three dierent wall materials and
helium as working gas at pm =10 and 30 bar, are given in Table 3. The data used in
the calculations are given in the caption of Table 3. As can be seen the combination
heliumcork leads to the lowest dissipation. The dissipation for heliumstainless
steel is about 15% higher than for heliumcork at pm =10 bar. The calculations
show that this dierence reaches about 25% at pm=30 bar for the same drive ratio
(Table 3). However, because of some problems which may be associated with the
porosity of cork, it is suggest to use a thin layer of polyester (4s =76 mm) inside a
metallic tube to minimize the thermal-relaxation dissipation. This will lead to about
20% less thermal relaxation losses than stainless steel at pm=30 bar (Table 3).
Because the thermal-relaxation losses are typically about 30% of the total thermo-
viscous losses in thermoacoutic systems this will hence improve the performance of
this systems.

5. Conclusion

A simple analytical model describing the interaction between a sound wave and a
solid surface is presented. The thermal-relaxation dissipation at the gasresonator
interface is analyzed. This is minimal whenever the temperature oscillations in the
wall can better follow the temperature oscillations in the gas. The main result of the
model is that thermal-relaxation losses can be minimized by using a tube material
 M.E.H. Tijani et al. / Applied Acoustics 65 (2004) 113 13

with the smallest possible combination Ksscs and a gas with the largest possible
combination Kggcp. For this case a minimal ratio m/b is realized. This result fol-
lows also from the expression of the acoustic energy dissipated by thermal relaxation
[Eq. (26)]. From the dierent combinations gassolid analyzed in the study, cork
helium leads to the lowest thermal relaxation dissipation. However, it is concluded
that because of some problems which can be associated with the porosity of cork, a
thin lm (4s=76 mm) of polyester may be used inside a metallic tube to minimize
the thermal-relaxation dissipation. This will lead to about 20% less thermal relaxa-
tion losses than stainless steel at pm=30 bar and hence improving the performance
of thermoacoustic systems. Using the expression of the acoustic energy dissipated by
thermal-relaxation per unit of surface area of the tube, it is shown that the losses can
be furthermore minimized by optimizing the shape of the resonator in the regions of
high acoustic pressure. In contrast, for the stack where the thermoacoustic eect
takes place and the hydrodynamic heat ow has to be maximized, a stack material
with a large Ksscs in comparison to Kggcp is suitable. It is concluded that a plate
thickness of about 8s forms a minimum. This completes the set of parameters needed
for the design of stacks besides the spacing between the plates and length [5,12].

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