Organizational Unit:
Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
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    Simulations of a Sub-scale Liquid Rocket Engine: Transient Heat Transfer in a Real Gas Environment
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006-11-21) Masquelet, Matthieu M.
    The prediction of transient phenomena inside Liquid Rocket Engines (LREs) has not been feasible until now because of the many challenges posed by the operating conditions inside the combustion chamber. Especially, the departure from ideal gas because of the cryogenic injection in a high-pressure chamber is one of the ma jor hurdle for such simula- tions. In order to begin addressing these issue, a real-gas model has been implemented in a massively parallel flow solver. This solver is capable of performing Large-Eddy Simula- tions (LES) in geometrical configurations ranging from an axisymmetric slice to a 3D slice up to a full 3D combustor. We present here the results from an investigation of unsteady combustion inside a small-scale, multi-injectors LRE. Both thermally perfect gas (TPG) and real gas (RG) approaches are evaluated for this LOX-GH2 system. The Peng-Robinson cubic equation of state (PR EoS) is used to account for real gas effects associated with the injection of cryogenic oxygen. Realistic transport properties are computed but simplified chemistry is used in order to achieve a reasonable turnaround time. Results show the impor- tance of the unsteady dynamics of the flow, especially the interaction between the different injectors. The role of the equation of state is assessed and the real gas model, despite a limited zone of application, seems to have a strong influence on the overall chamber behav- ior. Although several features in the simulated results agree well with past experimental observations, the prediction of heat flux using a simplified flux boundary condition is not completely satisfactory. This work also reviews in details the state of our knowledge on supercritical combustion in a coaxial injector configuration, stressing issues where numeri- cal modeling could provide new insights. However, many developments and improvements are required before an LES modeling of such a flow is both feasible and valid. We finally propose a comprehensive roadmap towards the completion of this goal and the possible use of CFD as a design tool for a modern liquid rocket engine.
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    Large Eddy Simulation of a Stagnation Point Reverse Flow Combustor
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006-08-17) Parisi, Valerio
    In this study, numerical simulations of a low emission lab-scale non-premixed combustor are conducted and analyzed. The objectives are to provide new insight into the physical phenomena in the SPRF (Stagnation Point Reverse Flow) combustor built in the Georgia Tech Combustion Lab, and to compare three Large Eddy Simulation (LES) combustion models (Eddy Break-Up [EBU], Steady Flamelet [SF] and Linear Eddy Model [LEM]) for non-premixed combustion. The nominal operating condition of the SPRF combustor achieves very low NOx and CO emissions by combining turbulent mixing of exhaust gases with preheated reactants and chemical kinetics. The SPRF numerical simulation focuses on capturing the complex interaction between turbulent mixing and heat release. LES simulations have been carried out for a non-reactive case in order to analyze the turbulent mixing inside the combustor. The LES results have been compared to PIV experimental data and the code has been validated. The dominating features of the operational mode of the SPRF combustor (dilution of hot products into reactants, pre-heating and pre-mixing) have been analyzed, and results from the EBU-LES, SF-LES and LEM-LES simulations have been compared. Analysis shows that the LEM-LES simulation achieves the best agreement with the observed flame structure and is the only model that captures the stabilization processes observed in the experiments. EBU-LES and SF-LES do not predict the correct flow pattern because of the inaccurate modeling of sub-grid scale mixing and turbulence-combustion interaction. Limitations of these two models for this type of combustor are discussed.
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    Flow Field Measurements in a Counter-Swirl Stabilized Liquid Combustor
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006-03-27) Colby, Jonathan A.
    To adhere to the current requirements for NOx and CO emissions in combustion systems, modern land and air based gas turbine engines often operate in the fuel lean regime. While operating near the lean blow out (LBO) limit does reduce some harmful emissions, combustor stability is sacrificed and extinction becomes a major concern. To fully understand the characteristics of lean operation, an experimental study was conducted to map the time averaged flow field in a typical industrial, counter-swirling, liquid fuel combustor. This study examined two steady-state operating conditions, both near the lean extinction limit for this swirl burner. Using an LDV/PDPA system, 2-D mean and fluctuating velocities, as well as Reynolds stresses, were measured throughout the combustor. These measurements were taken for both the non-reacting and reacting flow fields, enabling a direct analysis of the result of heat addition and increased load on a turbulent swirling flow field. To further understand the overall flow field, liquid droplet diameter measurements were taken to determine the fuel spray characteristics as a function of operating pressure and rated spray angle. Chemical composition at the combustor exit was also measured, with an emphasis on the concentrations of both CO and NOx emissions. This large database of aerodynamic and droplet measurements improves understanding of the swirling, reacting flow field and aids in the accurate prediction of lean blow-out events. With this understanding of the lean blow-out limit, increased fuel efficiency and decreased pollutant emissions can be achieved in industrial combustors, especially those used for thrust in the airline industry.
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    Prediction of Soot Formation in Laminar Opposed Diffusion Flame with Detailed and Reduced Reaction Mechanisms
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004-12-01) Chang, Hojoon
    The present work focuses on a computational study of a simplified soot model to predict soot production and destruction in methane/oxidizer (O2 and N2) and ethylene/air flames using a one-dimensional laminar opposed diffusion flame setup. Two different detailed reaction mechanisms (361 reactions and 61 species for methane/oxidizer flame and 527 reactions and 99 species for ethylene/air flame) are used to validate the simplified soot model in each flame. The effects of strain rate and oxygen content on the soot production and destruction are studied, and the soot related properties such as soot volume fraction, particle number density and particle diameter are compared with published results. The results show reasonable agreement with data and that the soot volume fraction decreases with higher strain rate and lower oxygen content. The simplified soot model has also been used with two reduced reaction mechanisms (12-step, 16-species for methane flame and 20-species for ethylene flame) since such reduced mechanisms are computationally more efficient for practical application. The profiles of the physical properties and the major species are in excellent agreement with the results using the detailed reaction mechanisms. However, minor hydrocarbon-species such as acetylene (C2H2) that is the primary pyrolysis species in the simplified soot model is significantly over predicted and this, in turn, results in an over-prediction of soot production. Finally, the reduced reaction mechanism is modified to get more accurate prediction of the minor hydrocarbon-species. The modified reduced reaction mechanism shows that the soot prediction can be improved by improving the predictions of the key minor species.
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    Numerical Simulation of Flame-Vortex Interactions in Natural and Synthetic Gas Mixtures
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004-08-17) Weiler, Justin D.
    The interactions between laminar premixed flames and counter-rotating vortex pairs in natural and synthetic gas mixtures have been computationally investigated through the use of Direct Numerical Simulations and parallel processing. Using a computational model for premixed combustion, laminar flames are simulated for single- and two-component fuel mixtures of methane, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen. These laminar flames are forced to interact with superimposed laminar vortex pairs, which mimic the effects of a pulsed, two-dimensional slot-injection. The premixed flames are parameterized by their unstretched laminar flame speed, heat release, and flame thickness. The simulated vortices are of a fixed size (relative to the flame thickness) and are parameterized, solely, by their rotational velocity (relative to the flame speed). Strain rate and surface curvature measurements are made along the stretched flame surfaces to study the effects of additive syngas species (CO and H2) on lean methane-air flames. For flames that share the same unstretched laminar flame speed, heat release, and flame thickness, it is observed that the effects of carbon monoxide on methane-air mixtures are essentially negigible while the effects of hydrogen are quite substantial. The dynamics of stretched CH4/Air and CH4/CO/Air flames are nearly identical to one another for interactions with both strong and weak vortices. However, the CH4/H2/Air flames demonstrate a remarkable tendency toward surface area growth. Over comparable interaction periods, the flame surface area produced during interactions with CH4/H2/Air flames was found to be more than double that of the pure CH4/Air flames. Despite several obvious differences, all of the interactions revealed the same basic phenomena, including vortex breakdown and flame pinch-off (i.e. pocket formation). In general, the strain rate and surface curvature magnitudes were found to be lower for the CH4/H2/Air flames, and comparable between CH4/Air and CH4/CO/Air flames. Rates of flame stretching are not explicitely determined, but are, instead, addressed through observation of their individual components. Two different models are used to determine local displacement speed values. A discrepancy between practical and theoretical definitions of the displacement speed is evident based on the instantaneous results for CH4/Air and CH4/H2/Air flames interacting with weak and strong vortices.
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    Numerical study of minimum ignition energy for methane-air mixture
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2002-05) Kim, Jin-Hong
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    Simulations of combustion dynamics in pulse combustor
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2001-08) Tajiri, Kazuya
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    Unsteady simulations of mixing and combustion in internal combustion engines
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2001-08) Sone, Kazuo
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    Numerical study of combustion chemical vapor deposition processes
    (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2000-05) Amaya, John