SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Combustion dynamics”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 703 records · Page 39

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1992

Investigation of the aerothermodynamics of hypervelocity reacting flows in the ram accelerator

New diagnostic techniques for measuring the high pressure flow fields associated with high velocity ram accelerator propulsive modes was experimentally investigated. Individual propulsive modes are distinguished by their operating Mach number range and the manner in which the combustion process is initiated and stabilized. Operation of the thermally choked ram accelerator mode begins by injecting the projectile into the accelerator tube at a prescribed entrance velocity by means of a conventional light gas gun. A specially designed obturator, which is used to seal the bore of the gun, plays a key role in the ignition of the propellant gases in the subsonic combustion mode of the ram accelerator. Once ignited, the combustion process travels with the projectile and releases enough heat to thermally choke the flow within several tube diameters behind it, thereby stabilizing a high pressure zone on the rear of the projectile. When the accelerating projectile approaches the Chapman-Jouguet detonation speed of the propellant mixture, the combustion region is observed to move up onto the afterbody of the projectile as the pressure field evolves to a distinctively different form that implies the presence of supersonic combustion processes. Eventually, a high enough Mach number is reached that the ram effect is sufficient to cause the combustion process to occur entirely on the body. Propulsive cycles utilizing on-body heat release can be established either by continuously accelerating the projectile in a single propellant mixture from low initial in-tube Mach numbers (M less than 4) or by injecting the projectile at a speed above the propellant's Chapman-Jouguet detonation speed. The results of experimental and theoretical explorations of ram accelerator gas dynamic phenomena and the effectiveness of the new diagnostic techniques are presented in this report.

Hertzberg, A.↗

NASA NTRS1991

CFD for hypersonic propulsion

An overview is given of research activity on the application of computational fluid dynamics (CDF) for hypersonic propulsion systems. After the initial consideration of the highly integrated nature of air-breathing hypersonic engines and airframe, attention is directed toward computations carried out for the components of the engine. A generic inlet configuration is considered in order to demonstrate the highly three dimensional viscous flow behavior occurring within rectangular inlets. Reacting flow computations for simple jet injection as well as for more complex combustion chambers are then discussed in order to show the capability of viscous finite rate chemical reaction computer simulations. Finally, the nozzle flow fields are demonstrated, showing the existence of complex shear layers and shock structure in the exhaust plume. The general issues associated with code validation as well as the specific issue associated with the use of CFD for design are discussed. A prognosis for the success of CFD in the design of future propulsion systems is offered.

Povinelli, Louis A.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Combustion Research Aboard the ISS Utilizing the Combustion Integrated Rack and Microgravity Science Glovebox

The Physical Sciences Research Program of NASA sponsors a broad suite of peer-reviewed research investigating fundamental combustion phenomena and applied combustion research topics. This research is performed through both ground-based and on-orbit research capabilities. The International Space Station (ISS) and two facilities, the Combustion Integrated Rack and the Microgravity Science Glovebox, are key elements in the execution of microgravity combustion flight research planned for the foreseeable future. This paper reviews the Microgravity Combustion Science research planned for the International Space Station implemented from 2003 through 2012. Examples of selected research topics, expected outcomes, and potential benefits will be provided. This paper also summarizes a multi-user hardware development approach, recapping the progress made in preparing these research hardware systems. Within the description of this approach, an operational strategy is presented that illustrates how utilization of constrained ISS resources may be maximized dynamically to increase science through design decisions made during hardware development.

Sutliff, Thomas J.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Pre-Test CFD for the Design and Execution of the Enhanced Injection and Mixing Project at NASA Langley Research Center

With the increasing costs of physics experiments and simultaneous increase in availability and maturity of computational tools it is not surprising that computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is playing an increasingly important role, not only in post-test investigations, but also in the early stages of experimental planning. This paper describes a CFD-based effort executed in close collaboration between computational fluid dynamicists and experimentalists to develop a virtual experiment during the early planning stages of the Enhanced Injection and Mixing project at NASA Langley Research Center. This projects aims to investigate supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) fuel injection and mixing physics, improve the understanding of underlying physical processes, and develop enhancement strategies and functional relationships relevant to flight Mach numbers greater than 8. The purpose of the virtual experiment was to provide flow field data to aid in the design of the experimental apparatus and the in-stream rake probes, to verify the nonintrusive measurements based on NO-PLIF, and to perform pre-test analysis of quantities obtainable from the experiment and CFD. The approach also allowed for the joint team to develop common data processing and analysis tools, and to test research ideas. The virtual experiment consisted of a series of Reynolds-averaged simulations (RAS). These simulations included the facility nozzle, the experimental apparatus with a baseline strut injector, and the test cabin. Pure helium and helium-air mixtures were used to determine the efficacy of different inert gases to model hydrogen injection. The results of the simulations were analyzed by computing mixing efficiency, total pressure recovery, and stream thrust potential. As the experimental effort progresses, the simulation results will be compared with the experimental data to calibrate the modeling constants present in the CFD and validate simulation fidelity. CFD will also be used to investigate different injector concepts, improve understanding of the flow structure and flow physics, and develop functional relationships. Both RAS and large eddy simulations (LES) are planned for post-test analysis of the experimental data.

Drozda, Tomasz G.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Dynamic Models for LES of Turbulent Front Propagation With a Spectral Method

Direct numerical simulation of turbulent reacting flows places extreme demands on computational resources. At the present time, simulations can be performed only for greatly simplified reaction systems and for very low Reynolds numbers. Direct simulation of more realistic cases occurring at higher Reynolds number and including multiple species and numerous chemical reactions will exceed available computational resources far into the future. Because of this, there is a clear need to develop the technique of large eddy simulation for reacting flows. Unfortunately this task is complicated by the fact that combustion arises from chemical reactions that occur at the smallest scales of the flow. Capturing the large-scale behavior without resolving the small-scale details is extremely difficult in combustion problems. Thus LES modeling for turbulent combustion encounters difficulties not present in modeling momentum transport, in which the main effect of the small scales is to provide dissipation. The difficulty is more pronounced in premixed combustion, where detailed chemistry plays an essential role in determining the flame speed (or overall burning rate); in nonpremixed combustion infinite rate chemistry can be assumed, eliminating the small scale features to a first approximation.

Im, H. G.↗

NASA NTRS2001

SRM Internal Flow Tests and Computational Fluid Dynamic Analysis: CFD RSRM Full-Scale Analyses - Volume 2

This document presents the full-scale analyses of the CFD RSRM. The RSRM model was developed with a 20 second burn time. The following are presented as part of the full-scale analyses: (1) RSRM embedded inclusion analysis; (2) RSRM igniter nozzle design analysis; (3) Nozzle Joint 4 erosion anomaly; (4) RSRM full motor port slag accumulation analysis; (5) RSRM motor analysis of two-phase flow in the aft segment/submerged nozzle region; (6) Completion of 3-D Analysis of the hot air nozzle manifold; (7) Bates Motor distributed combustion test case; and (8) Three Dimensional Polysulfide Bump Analysis.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1985

Advanced research and technology programs for advanced high-pressure oxygen-hydrogen rocket propulsion

A research and technology program for advanced high pressure, oxygen-hydrogen rocket propulsion technology is presently being pursued by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to establish the basic discipline technologies, develop the analytical tools, and establish the data base necessary for an orderly evolution of the staged combustion reusable rocket engine. The need for the program is based on the premise that the USA will depend on the Shuttle and its derivative versions as its principal Earth-to-orbit transportation system for the next 20 to 30 yr. The program is focused in three principal areas of enhancement: (1) life extension, (2) performance, and (3) operations and diagnosis. Within the technological disciplines the efforts include: rotordynamics, structural dynamics, fluid and gas dynamics, materials fatigue/fracture/life, turbomachinery fluid mechanics, ignition/combustion processes, manufacturing/producibility/nondestructive evaluation methods and materials development/evaluation. An overview of the Advanced High Pressure Oxygen-Hydrogen Rocket Propulsion Technology Program Structure and Working Groups objectives are presented with highlights of several significant achievements.

Marsik, S. J.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Advanced research and technology program for advanced high pressure oxygen-hydrogen rocket propulsion

Marsik, S. J.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Hybrid propulsion system with a gyro component for economic and dynamic operation

The design of a hybrid drive with gyro components is described and its drive components for a medium class private car are discussed. The gyro component affects the short-period output of the drive by accelerating and slowing down and -- because of the mechanical transfer of kinetic energy between the gyro and the vehicle -- it affects also the energy balance in the case of intermittent operation. Energy can be taken in as desired either in the form of fuel or as fuel and current. A high energy recovery efficiency as well as the favorable operating range of the interval combustion engine makes it possible to reduce the fuel consumption per unit distance travelled to almost half that for a private car with a traditional engine.

Giera, B.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Thermal-Flow Code for Modeling Gas Dynamics and Heat Transfer in Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motor Joints

A new, thermal-flow simulation code, called SFLOW. has been developed to model the gas dynamics, heat transfer, as well as O-ring and flow path erosion inside the space shuttle solid rocket motor joints by combining SINDA/Glo, a commercial thermal analyzer. and SHARPO, a general-purpose CFD code developed at Thiokol Propulsion. SHARP was modified so that friction, heat transfer, mass addition, as well as minor losses in one-dimensional flow can be taken into account. The pressure, temperature and velocity of the combustion gas in the leak paths are calculated in SHARP by solving the time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations while the heat conduction in the solid is modeled by SINDA/G. The two codes are coupled by the heat flux at the solid-gas interface. A few test cases are presented and the results from SFLOW agree very well with the exact solutions or experimental data. These cases include Fanno flow where friction is important, Rayleigh flow where heat transfer between gas and solid is important, flow with mass addition due to the erosion of the solid wall, a transient volume venting process, as well as some transient one-dimensional flows with analytical solutions. In addition, SFLOW is applied to model the RSRM nozzle joint 4 subscale hot-flow tests and the predicted pressures, temperatures (both gas and solid), and O-ring erosions agree well with the experimental data. It was also found that the heat transfer between gas and solid has a major effect on the pressures and temperatures of the fill bottles in the RSRM nozzle joint 4 configuration No. 8 test.

Wang, Qunzhen↗

NASA NTRS1999

Fluid Physical and Transport Phenomena Studies aboard the International Space Station: Planned Experiments

This paper provides an overview of the microgravity fluid physics and transport phenomena experiments planned for the International Spare Station. NASA's Office of Life and Microgravity Science and Applications has established a world-class research program in fluid physics and transport phenomena. This program combines the vast expertise of the world research community with NASA's unique microgravity facilities with the objectives of gaining new insight into fluid phenomena by removing the confounding effect of gravity. Due to its criticality to many terrestrial and space-based processes and phenomena, fluid physics and transport phenomena play a central role in the NASA's Microgravity Program. Through widely publicized research announcement and well established peer-reviews, the program has been able to attract a number of world-class researchers and acquired a critical mass of investigations that is now adding rapidly to this field. Currently there arc a total of 106 ground-based and 20 candidate flight principal investigators conducting research in four major thrust areas in the program: complex flows, multiphase flow and phase change, interfacial phenomena, and dynamics and instabilities. The International Space Station (ISS) to be launched in 1998, provides the microgravity research community with a unprecedented opportunity to conduct long-duration microgravity experiments which can be controlled and operated from the Principal Investigators' own laboratory. Frequent planned shuttle flights to the Station will provide opportunities to conduct many more experiments than were previously possible. NASA Lewis Research Center is in the process of designing a Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) to be located in the Laboratory Module of the ISS that will not only accommodate multiple users but, allow a broad range of fluid physics and transport phenomena experiments to be conducted in a cost effective manner.

Singh, Bhim S.↗

NASA NTRS2026

Proactive Wildfire Management: A Remote Sensing and Multimodal CNN-MLP Architecture for Ignition Risk Forecasting

As the frequency and intensity of wildfires increase, with fire seasons now starting earlier and ending later than they have over the past decades, current monitoring systems, such as lookout towers and satellites, are hindered by cloud cover, low-resolution imagery, and static data gaps that fail to track vegetation moisture levels fast enough to catch rapid pre-ignition changes. This report proposes a Machine Learning-enabled Wildfire Ignition Prediction framework that combines satellite monitoring with dynamic and high-resolution remote sensing from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) swarms. The method would use multispectral and thermal data from the Landsat program to create a baseline for vegetation health, calculating a two-band Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI2) and the moisture content of the vegetation. These inputs will later be fused with microscale UAV weather data, including thermal hotspots found through thick canopies, hyperspectral chemical signatures of pre-visual combustion, and local weather streams. The multispectral satellite, multispectral Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), and thermal data would then be processed through a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), alongside a Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) for the micro-weather telemetry. The outputs of these networks would be fused into a single feature representation and passed through a final prediction network to generate real-time ignition risk scores and hotspot alerts. Model performance would be assessed using standard classification metrics, including a Receiver Operating Characteristic - Area Under the Curve (ROC AUC) and F1 score. This system would allow first responders to identify high-risk zones and intervene before ignition occurs, improving emergency response time compared to current approaches.

machine learning↗

NASA NTRS1984

Analysis of physical-chemical processes governing SSME internal fluid flows

The efforts to adapt CHAM's computational fluid dynamics code, PHOENICS, to the analysis of flow within the high pressure fuel turbopump (HPFTP) aft-platform seal cavity of the SSME are summarized. In particular, the special purpose PHOENICS satellite and ground station specifically formulated for this application are listed and described, and the preliminary results of the first part two-dimensional analyses are presented and discussed. Planned three-dimensional analyses are also briefly outlined. To further understand the mixing and combustion processes in the SSME fuelside preburners, a single oxygen-hydrogen jet element was investigated.

Singhal, A. K.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Aerothermal environment induced by mismatch at the SSME main combustion chamber-nozzle joint

The computational study reported here is motivated by a Space Shuttle main engine hardware problem detected in post-flight and post-test inspections. Of interest are the potential for hot gas ingestion into the joint (G15) at the main combustion chamber-to-nozzle interface and the effect of particular goemetric nonuniformities on that gas ingestion. The flowfield in the G15 region involves supersonic flow past a rounded forward facing step preceded by a deep narrow cavity. This paper describes the physical problem associated with joint G15 and computational investigations of the G15 aerothermal environment. The associated flowfield was simulated in two and three space dimensions using the United Solutions Algorithm (USA) computational fluid dynamics code series. A benchmark calculation of experimentally measured supersonic flow over of a square cavity was performed to demonstrate the accuracy of the USA code in analyzing flows similar to the G15 computational flowfield. The G15 results demonstrate the mechanism for hot gas ingestion into the joint and reveal the sensitivity to salient geometric nonuniformities.

Mcconnaughey, H. V.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Benchmark of FDNS CFD Code For Direct Connect RBCC Test Data

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis results are compared with experimental data from the Pennsylvania State University's (PSU) Propulsion Engineering Research Center (PERC) rocket based combined cycle (RBCC) rocket-ejector experiments. The PERC RBCC experimental hardware was in a direct-connect configuration in diffusion and afterburning (DAB) operation. The objective of the present work was to validate the Finite Difference Navier Stokes (FDNS) CFD code for the rocket-ejector mode internal fluid mechanics and combustion phenomena. A second objective was determine the best application procedures to use FDNS as a predictive/engineering tool. Three-dimensional CFD analysis was performed. Solution methodology and grid requirements are discussed. CFD results are compared to experimental data for static pressure, Raman Spectroscopy species distribution data and RBCC net thrust and specified impulse.

Ruf, J. H.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Dynamical Approach Study of Spurious Numerics in Nonlinear Computations

The last two decades have been an era when computation is ahead of analysis and when very large scale practical computations are increasingly used in poorly understood multiscale complex nonlinear physical problems and non-traditional fields. Ensuring a higher level of confidence in the predictability and reliability (PAR) of these numerical simulations could play a major role in furthering the design, understanding, affordability and safety of our next generation air and space transportation systems, and systems for planetary and atmospheric sciences, and in understanding the evolution and origin of life. The need to guarantee PAR becomes acute when computations offer the ONLY way of solving these types of data limited problems. Employing theory from nonlinear dynamical systems, some building blocks to ensure a higher level of confidence in PAR of numerical simulations have been revealed by the author and world expert collaborators in relevant fields. Five building blocks with supporting numerical examples were discussed. The next step is to utilize knowledge gained by including nonlinear dynamics, bifurcation and chaos theories as an integral part of the numerical process. The third step is to design integrated criteria for reliable and accurate algorithms that cater to the different multiscale nonlinear physics. This includes but is not limited to the construction of appropriate adaptive spatial and temporal discretizations that are suitable for the underlying governing equations. In addition, a multiresolution wavelets approach for adaptive numerical dissipation/filter controls for high speed turbulence, acoustics and combustion simulations will be sought. These steps are corner stones for guarding against spurious numerical solutions that are solutions of the discretized counterparts but are not solutions of the underlying governing equations.

Yee, H. C.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

HIFiRE Flight 2 Unstart Reliability Analysis

The objective of this work was to assess the unstart reliability of the HIFiRE Flight 2 system. To do this, a quantification of margins and uncertainties framework was used for comparing model predictions of the predicted combustion induced shock location to the predicted last stable shock location within the isolator. Uncertainty sources included parametric uncertainty in the flight conditions, the heat release model, and turbulence modeling, as well as model verification errors. Additionally, an estimate of model-form uncertainty was established by comparing the model to measured ground test data. A computationally efficient non-intrusive polynomial chaos approach was used to propagate parametric uncertainty through the computational flu-ids dynamics models of both the ground test configuration and the flight vehicle. Compared to direct-connect ground test data, computational fluid dynamics predictions yielded about two duct heights of model-form uncertainty. This was applied to a prediction of flight vehicle unstart margin at the Mach 6.5 flight condition. Building up all of the computational model uncertainty, including parametric uncertainty, verification errors, and the determined model-form uncertainty, a 95% probability level based confidence ratio, or a ratio of total uncertainty to a statistical margin measure, was found to be 0.31 for the flight system.

Thomas K West↗

NASA NTRS1991

A hierarchy for modeling high speed propulsion systems

General research efforts on reduced order propulsion models for control systems design are overviewed. Methods for modeling high speed propulsion systems are discussed including internal flow propulsion systems that do not contain rotating machinery such as inlets, ramjets, and scramjets. The discussion is separated into four sections: (1) computational fluid dynamics model for the entire nonlinear system or high order nonlinear models; (2) high order linearized model derived from fundamental physics; (3) low order linear models obtained from other high order models; and (4) low order nonlinear models. Included are special considerations on any relevant control system designs. The methods discussed are for the quasi-one dimensional Euler equations of gasdynamic flow. The essential nonlinear features represented are large amplitude nonlinear waves, moving normal shocks, hammershocks, subsonic combustion via heat addition, temperature dependent gases, detonation, and thermal choking.

Hartley, Tom T.↗