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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.

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At least 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

Advancing Coal Catalytic Gasification to Promote Optimum Syngas Production

An investigation was pursued to improve the use of low rank sub-bituminous coal by using suitable catalysts to advance gasification and create cleaner synthesis gas. Bench- and pilot-scale experiments were performed to measure key reactive properties and verify the use of red mud catalyst. The experiments provided reaction data for the development of kinetic models and validation data for CFD simulations. The reaction kinetics were analyzed to provide an understanding of the major pathways involved and identify the necessary reaction mechanisms needed for the computational models. The reaction kinetics model was implemented into the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code MFiX to simulate, predict and validate the chemistry model with the experiments. It was shown that red mud as a catalyst lowered methane formation during coal gasification. Additional benefits were that red mud destroyed tars formation, promoted water gas shift reaction resulting in a syngas rich in hydrogen. In the presence of red mud catalyst, biomass feedstocks high in ash did not form clinker in the fluidized bed because it prevented the formation of eutectic mixtures. The reaction kinetics model was reasonably robust and the CFD predictions using the model were in good agreement with the experiments.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2020

A phenomenological rate of injection model for predicting fuel injection with application to mixture formation in light-duty diesel engines

Fuel injection rate laws are one of the most important pieces of information needed when modeling engine combustion with computational fluid dynamics. In this study, a simple phenomenological model of a common-rail injector was developed and calibrated for the Bosch CRI2.2 platform. The model requires three tunable parameter fits, making it relatively easy to calibrate and suitable for injector modeling when high-fidelity information about the internal injector’s geometry and electrical circuit details are not available. Each injection pulse is modeled as a sequence of up to four stages: an injection needle mechanical opening transient, a full-lift viscous flow inertial transient, a Bernoulli steady-state stage, and a needle descent transient. Parameters for each stage are obtained as polynomial fits from measured injection rate properties. The model enforces total injected mass, and the intermediate stages are only introduced if the injection pulse duration is long enough. Experimental rates of injection from two separate campaigns on the same injector were used to calibrate the model. The model was first validated against measured injection rate laws featuring pilot injections, short partially premixed combustion pulses, and conventional diesel combustion injection strategies. Then, it was employed as an input to engine computational fluid dynamics simulations, which were run to simulate experiments of mixture formation in an optically accessible light-duty diesel engine. It was found that, though simple, this model is capable of predicting both pilot and main injection pulse mass flow rates well: the simulations yielded accurate predictions of in-cylinder equivalence ratio distributions from injection strategies for both partially premixed combustion and pilot injections. Also, once calibrated, the model produced appropriate results for a wide range of injected mass and rail pressure values. Finally, it was observed that usage of such a relatively simple model can be a good choice when high-fidelity injection rate input and highly detailed information of the injector’s geometry and operation are not available, particularly as noticeable discrepancies can be present also among different experimental campaigns on similar hardware.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1994

On the Dynamics of Computing a Chemically Relaxed Nonequilibrium Flow

In order to gain insights into the strong dependence of numerical solutions on initial data for finite time steps, a set of nonlinear test problems rich enough to capture the behavior of difference schemes were recently identified and the numerical basins of attraction for these problems were computed using commonly used time discretizations in CFD. Our study revealed a wealth of surprisingly nonlinear behavior of numerical schemes that were not observed before, in particular for the implicit time discretizations that are commonly used in CFD. The goal of this work is to apply these tools to study a practical model from non-equilibrium flowfield relaxation. This type of problem arises in chemically nonequilibrium hypersonic flows such as in a shock tube experiment or an expanding nozzle. Here we consider a reacting mixture of (N2, N) for an inviscid one-dimensional steady model. Preliminary numerical results indicate that, aside from the possibility of spurious numerical solutions being introduced by the time discretizations, limitations on the model for physical or accurate solutions may also play a part in the dynamics observed.

Sweby, P. K.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Validation of the HyRAM+ physics models for use with propane

The Hydrogen Risk Assessment Model Plus (HyRAM+) toolkit combines quantitative risk assessment with simulations of unignited dispersion, ignited turbulent diffusion flames, and indoor accumulation with delayed ignition of fuels. HyRAM+ is differentiated from HyRAM in that it includes models and leak data for other alternate fuels. The models of the physical phenomena need to be validated for each of the fuels in the toolkit. This report shows the validation for propane which is being used as a surrogate for autogas, which is a mixture of propane and butane and used in internal combustion engines in vehicles. For flame length comparisons, five previously published experiments from peer reviewed journals were used to validate our models. The validation looked at flame lengths and flame widths with respect to different leak diameters, mass flow rates, and source pressures. Most of the sources included more than one set of experimental data, which were collected using different methods (CCD cameras, IR visualization etc.). In general, HyRAM+ overpredicts the flame lengths by around 65%. For heat and radiation models, we compared the heat flux and radiation data reported from two different sources to the values calculated by HyRAM+. For higher mass flow rates, the HyRAM+ calculated flame length results gave a better estimate of what is found in the experiments (65% error), but a higher error (85%) is observed between the HyRAM+ calculated lengths and the experimental flame lengthsfor lower mass flows. Some differences can be attributed to outdoor environmental effects (i.e. wind speed) and uncertainties in jet flame shapes. The propane flame trajectory is predicted for a high Reynolds number case with Re = 12,500 and a low Reynolds number case where Re = 2,000. The Re=12,500 case which is momentum dominated matches well with the experimental flame trajectory, but the agreement for the bouancy driven low Reynolds number case is not as good. Dispersion modeling for unignited propane was also analyzed. We compared the mole fraction, mixture fraction, mean velocity, concentration half width, and inverse mass concentration over an axial distance from different credible journals to the values calculated by HyRAM+. The results display good agreement but generally, HyRAM+ predicts a wider profile for mole fraction and mixture fraction experiments. Overall, HyRAM+’s results are reasonable for predicting the flame length, heat flux, flame trajectory, and dispersion for propane and can be used in risk analyses

08 HYDROGEN↗
NASA NTRS1995

Supersonic combustion ramjet propulsion experiments in a shock tunnel

Measurements have been made of the propulsive effect of supersonic combustion ramjets incorporated into a simple axisymmetric model in a free piston shock tunnel. The nominal Mach number was 6, and the stagnation enthalpy varied from 2.8 MJ kg(exp -1) to 8.5 MJ kg(exp -1). A mixture of 13 percent silane and 87 percent hydrogen was used as fuel, and experiments were conducted at equivalence ratios up to approximately 0.8. The measurements involved the axial force on the model, and were made using a stress wave force balance, which is a recently developed technique for measuring forces in shock tunnels. A net thrust was experienced up to a stagnation enthalpy of 3.7 MJ kg(exp -1), but as the stagnation enthalpy increased, an increasing net drag was recorded. pitot and static pressure measurements showed that the combustion was supersonic. The results were found to compare satisfactorily with predictions based on established theoretical models, used with some simplifying approximations. The rapid reduction of net thrust with increasing stagnation enthalpy was seen to arise from increasing precombustion temperature, showing the need to control this variable if thrust performance was to be maintained over a range of stagnation enthalpies. Both the inviscid and viscous drag were seen to be relatively insensitive to stagnation enthalpy, with the combustion chambers making a particularly significant contribution to drag. The maximum fuel specific impulse achieved in the experiments was only 175 sec., but the theory indicates that there is considerable scope for improvement on this through aerodynamic design.

Paull, A.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Renewable Aromatics from Syngas

This study focuses on developing a catalytic process for the aromatization of mixed olefin (comprised of C 2 -C 6 ) over various metal doped zeolites towards the formation of large aromatics (preferably C 8 -C 16 ) compliance to the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Experiments were carried out using model olefin feedstocks containing either ethylene (C 2 ) or mixture of C 2 and C 3+ olefins. Both the catalyst composition and process parameters were evaluated in detail to identify their impact on the formation large aromatics. We specifically focus on the aromatization of ethylene as the model reaction and evaluated the impact of C 2+ olefins and paraffins that may present in the real feedstock. In all the reaction condition, aromatization of ethylene was used as the baseline to evaluate the effect of larger olefins or paraffins. Our results show that at this reaction condition paraffins remained either inert or show positive impact on the formation of large aromatics. While C 2 and C 3 olefins are highly reactive towards aromatization during reaction condition, large olefins are less reactive and thus, strategy was developed to oligomerize these large olefins (C 4+ ) alongside the aromatization of smaller olefins (C 2 /C 3 ).

10 SYNTHETIC FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Direct numerical simulations of three-component Rayleigh–Taylor mixing and an improved model for multicomponent reacting mixtures

We present direct numerical simulations of a three-layer Rayleigh–Taylor instability (RTI) problem with a configuration based on the experiments of Suchandra & Ranjan ( J. Fluid Mech. , vol. 974, 2023, A35) and Jacobs & Dalziel ( J. Fluid Mech. , vol. 542, 2005, pp. 251–279). The problem consists of a layer of light fluid between two layers of heavy fluid with an Atwood number of 0.3. These simulations are first validated through comparison with available experimental data. The validated simulations are then utilized to analyse statistics in this three-component flow. First, length scales are examined utilizing spectra and two-point spatial correlations of velocity and species concentration fluctuations. Next, joint probability density functions (p.d.f.s) of species concentration are compared against several model p.d.f.s representing generalizations of the bivariate beta distribution. Notably, the joint p.d.f.s do not appear to be accurately described by a Dirichlet distribution, indicating the marginal distributions do not conform to a beta distribution. Finally, similarity of the present configuration to three-component mixing found in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) applications is exploited to develop and validate an improved model for the impact of multicomponent mixing on thermonuclear (TN) reaction rates. A single time instant from the present simulations is chosen for a TN burn calculation under the hypothetical assumption of ICF materials and temperatures. Total TN output from this second calculation is then compared against the prediction of the improved model. The new model is found to accurately predict TN reaction rates in both premixed and non-premixed configurations.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2019

Turbulent nonpremixed cool flames: Experimental measurements, Direct Numerical Simulation, and manifold-based combustion modeling

Turbulence, low-temperature chemistry, and their interactions in the form of turbulent cool flames are critical to understanding and improving advanced engines. Design of such engines requires tractable simulations which in turn necessitate turbulent combustion models that can account for cool flames. While manifold-based turbulent combustion models are an attractive option for hot flames, their applicability to cool flames is not yet fully understood. This is partially due to the lack of turbulent cool flame experiments, which has made model validation difficult. This work addresses these points with a combined experimental and computational investigation of turbulent nonpremixed dimethyl ether cool flames. First, a Co-flow Axisymmetric Reactor-Assisted Turbulent (CARAT) burner is developed and tested. Turbulent cool flames are studied using the formaldehyde planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF), acetone PLIF, and planar Rayleigh scattering techniques. The acetone PLIF signals are converted into mixture fraction values, and measurements of time-averaged temperature are derived from the Rayleigh scattering signals by taking advantage of the similarities between cool flames and unburned mixtures. Second, a Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) of the CARAT burner is conducted. The flame is shown to be sensitive to thermal boundary conditions such that the stabilization method is dependent on a 10 K change in inlet temperature. Comparisons of first- and second-order statistics of temperature, mixture fraction, and formaldehyde between the DNS and experiment show good agreement. The validity of manifold-based turbulent combustion models in turbulent cool flames is then explored by first studying the effective Lewis numbers in the flame using a local differential diffusion parameter analysis. Turbulent cool flames are shown to have effective unity Lewis number transport even at a much lower Reynolds number than typically required for hot flames. Good agreement is shown for temperature and formaldehyde between DNS conditional means and one-dimensional nonpremixed flame solutions. Additionally, the motion of the cool flame in mixture fraction space is shown to be well described by one-dimensional nonpremixed flame solutions. These points indicate that the fundamental physics of turbulent cool flames are analogous to turbulent hot flames, implying that the same reduced-order manifold-based modeling approaches utilized for turbulent hot flames can be utilized for turbulent cool flames.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2017

How to sustain a CO 2 -thermosiphon in a partially saturated geothermal reservoir: Lessons learned from field experiment and numerical modeling

CO 2 has been proposed as a working fluid for geothermal energy production because of its ability to establish a self-sustaining CO 2 thermosiphon, taking advantage of the strong temperature dependence of CO 2 density. To test the concept of CO 2 heat extraction, in January 2015 a CO 2 thermosiphon was operated at the SECARB Cranfield Site, Cranfield, Mississippi, where a brine-saturated sand at a depth of 3.2 km has been under near continuous CO 2 flood since December 2009 as part of a U.S. Department of Energy demonstration of CO 2 sequestration, resulting in a partially saturated reservoir surrounding a well pair. The lateral distance between the producer and injector was 112 m at reservoir depth, a distance considered pre-commercial in scale, but great enough that thermal breakthrough was still not significant after several years of injection. Instead of producing power with a turbine, heat was extracted heat from recirculated fluid using a heat exchanger and portable chiller. The well field and surface equipment were instrumented to compare field observations with predicted responses from numerical models. Thermosiphon flow could be initiated by venting, but thereafter flow rate steadily declined, indicating that the thermosiphon was not sustainable. To model the system, the capability of T2Well, a fully coupled wellbore/reservoir numerical simulator, was expanded to enable simulation of the entire loop of fluid circulation in the fully-coupled system consisting of the injection/production wells, the reservoir, and the surface devices (heat exchanger, flow-rate regulator etc.). Combined with the newly developed TOUGH2 equation of state module called EOS7CMA, the enhanced T2 Well was used prior to the field experiment to simulate the circulation of a CO 2 -H 2 O-CH 4 mixture in a model geothermal system patterned after the Cranfield demonstration test. The model predicted that a sustainable thermosiphon could be achieved. After the field thermosiphon did not achieve the pre-test prediction of flow rates and thermosiphon sustainability, the numerical model was modified to improve realism and calibrate certain processes; it was then able to reproduce the major phenomena observed in the field. In a series of sensitivity studies, many factors were found that could potentially contribute to the failing of a sustainable thermosiphon. These factors could be categorized as two types: factors that increase the resistance to flow and factors that increase heat loss of the working fluid. In conclusion, the lessons learned can be applied to both future modeling and to achieving CO 2 -based geothermal reservoir exploitation.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Probing the Effects of NO x and SO x Impurities on Oxy-Fuel Combustion in Supercritical CO 2 : Shock Tube Experiments and Chemical Kinetic Modeling

The direct-fired supercritical carbon dioxide cycles are one of the most promising power generation methods in terms of their efficiency and environmental friendliness. Two important challenges in implementing these cycles are the high pressure (300 bar) and high CO 2 dilution (>80%) in the combustor. The design and development of supercritical oxy-combustors for natural gas require accurate reaction kinetic models to predict the combustion outcomes. The presence of a small amount of impurities in natural gas and other feed streams to oxy-combustors makes these predictions even more complex. During oxy-combustion, trace amounts of nitrogen present in the oxidizer is converted to NO x and gets into the combustion chamber along with the recirculated CO 2 . Similarly, natural gas can contain a trace amount of ammonia and sulfurous impurities that get converted to NO x and SO x and get back into the combustion chamber with recirculated CO 2 . In this work, a reaction model is developed for predicting the effect of impurities such as NO x and SO x on supercritical methane combustion. The base mechanism used in this work is GRI Mech 3.0. H 2 S combustion chemistry is obtained from Bongartz et al. while NOx chemistry is from Konnov. The reaction model is then optimized for a pressure range of 30–300 bar using high-pressure shock tube data from the literature. It is then validated with data obtained from the literature for methane combustion, H 2 S oxidation, and NO x effects on ignition delay. The effect of impurities on CH 4 combustion up to 16 atm is validated using NO x -doped methane studies obtained from the literature. In order to validate the model for high-pressure conditions, experiments are conducted at the UCF shock tube facility using natural gas identical mixtures with N 2 O as an impurity at ~100 bar. Current results show that there is a significant change in ignition delay with the presence of impurities. A comparison is made with experimental data using the developed model and predictions are found to be in good agreement. The model developed was used to study the effect of impurities on CO formation from sCO 2 combustors. It was found that NO x helps in reducing CO formation while the presence of H 2 S results in the formation of more CO. The reaction mechanism developed herein can also be used as a base mechanism to develop reduced mechanisms for use in CFD simulations.

Energy & Fuels↗
DOE OSTI2023

Gas-Liquid Flow Modeling for Renewable Fuels Production

Aerobic/anaerobic and gas fermentation pathways have emerged as promising new technologies for the generation of renewable fuels/chemicals from biomass derived sugars, and mixtures of greenhouse/energy rich gas streams (CO2/CH4/H2/CO) via microbial action. Example pathways include sugars-to-ethanol conversion, biomethanation (CO2/H2 to CH4), biogas upgrading, CO fermentation and wet-waste conversion. Gas and liquid phase transport, mass-transfer, and mixing physics at large length scales can significantly affect microbial conversion rates, particularly when the microbial reaction requires a narrow set of conditions. These phenomena are difficult to study in small-scale bench-top reactors that are typically well-mixed. Predictive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) based simulations can therefore aid in the scale-up, design and optimization of these reactors. This work presents multiphase Euler-Euler CFD simulations of at-scale (~500 m3) bioreactors. Our mathematical model treats the gas and liquid as interpenetrating phases. This approach reduces the computational complexity of tracking individual gas bubbles that are several orders of magnitude smaller than reactor dimensions. We solve the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) multiphase equations that account for phase and chemical species transport, interphase mass and momentum transfer and uses a phenomenological model for gas uptake by microbes. We use a customized solver derived from open-source CFD toolbox, OpenFOAM [1], to perform these simulations, which has been validated against small-scale reactors in our previous work [2]. There is currently a knowledge-gap regarding bubble-size distributions when using gas mixtures with vastly different properties, which can have a significant impact overall mass-transfer. For example, hydrogen bubbles are more buoyant compared to other relatively heavier gases (CO2/CH4/CO), resulting in a large distribution of residence times and bubble sizes. This work therefore develops a deeper understanding of bubble dynamics and interphase mass transfer in such heterogenous gas mixtures through well-resolved computational models. We use a population balance model (PBM) for bubble-size-distribution modeling that is validated against small-scale experiments in our solver with an uncertainty quantification study for bubble coalescence and break-up model parameters. Results pertaining to multiple simulations of gas-fermentation reactors are presented where gas mixtures with varying compositions of CO2/CH4/CO/H2 are imposed at the sparger boundaries. The spatio-temporal variations in bubble-size distribution and mass transfer coefficient are analyzed for varying superficial velocities and gas-compositions for varying sizes of bubble-column and airlift reactors. This work will also examine the performance of different reactor designs, viz. bubble column reactor, airlift reactor with an internal draft tube, and a stirred-tank reactor with Rushton impellers. Reactor mass-transfer coefficient, gas hold-up, and dissolved gas distribution are critically analyzed among reactors, and sensitivity studies pertaining to gas flow rates and reactor geometry will be presented. [1] Weller, H., Tabor, G., Jasak, H. and Fureby, C., A tensorial approach to computational continuum mechanics using object-oriented techniques, Computers in physics, 12, 6, 620--631, 1998. [2] Rahimi, M., Sitaraman, H., Humbird, D. and Stickel, J., Computational fluid dynamics study of full-scale aerobic bioreactors: Evaluation of gas-liquid mass transfer, oxygen uptake, and dynamic oxygen distribution, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 139: 283-295.

BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2025

G-Mapper: Learning a Cover in the Mapper Construction

The Mapper algorithm is a visualization technique in topological data analysis (TDA) that outputs a graph reflecting the structure of a given dataset. However, the Mapper algorithm requires tuning several parameters in order to generate a “nice” Mapper graph. This paper focuses on selecting the cover parameter. We present an algorithm that optimizes the cover of a Mapper graph by splitting a cover repeatedly according to a statistical test for normality. Our algorithm is based on G-means clustering, which searches for the optimal number of clusters in 𝑘-means by iteratively applying the Anderson–Darling test. Our splitting procedure employs a Gaussian mixture model to carefully choose the cover according to the distribution of the given data. In conclusion, experiments for synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrate that our algorithm generates covers so that the Mapper graphs retain the essence of the datasets, while also running significantly faster than a previous iterative method.

G-means clustering↗
NASA NTRS1985

An experimental investigation of agglutinate melting mechanisms - Shocked mixtures of sodium and potassium feldspars

The results of an experiment designed to test the validity of the model for agglutinate formation involving fusion of the finest fraction or F3 are reported. Impact glasses were formed from various mixes of orthoclase and albite powders, which were used as analogs for soils with chemically constrasting coarse and fine fractions. The results showed that the single most important factor displacing the composition of a small-scale impact melt from the bulk composition of the source regolith is the fractionated composition of the finest soil fraction. Volatile loss and the amount of melting, which in turn are determined by the degree of shock, are also important. As predicted by the model, the lower pressure melts are the most fractionated, and higher pressure is accompanied by increased melting causing glass compositions to approach the bulk. In general, the systematics predicted by the model are observed; the model appears to be valid.

Simon, S. B.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Autoignition Delay Time Measurements and Chemical Kinetic Modeling of Hydrogen/Ammonia/Natural Gas Mixtures

Abstract In recent years, hydrogen-carrying compounds have accrued interest as an alternative to traditional fossil fuels due to their function as zero-emission fuels. As such, there is interest in investigating hydrogen-carrying compounds to improve understanding of the fuels’ characteristics for use in high-pressure systems. In the current study, the oxidation of ammonia/natural gas/hydrogen mixtures was carried out to study CO formation profiles as well as the ignition delay times behind reflected shock waves in order to refine chemical kinetic models. Experiments were carried out in the University of Central Florida’s shock tube facility by utilizing chemiluminescence to obtain OH* emission and laser absorption spectroscopy to obtain CO profiles. Experimental results were then compared with the GRI 3.0 mechanism, as well as the proprietary UCF 2022 mechanism utilizing CHEMKIN-Pro software. In general, both models were able to capture the trend in autoignition delay times and CO time histories for natural gas and ammonia mixtures. However, for ammonia-hydrogen mixtures, GRI 3.0 failed to predict ignition delay times whereas the UCF 2022 mechanism was able to capture the IDTs within the uncertainty limits of the experiments. A sensitivity analysis was conducted for different mixtures to understand the important reactions at the experimental conditions. Finally, a reaction pathway analysis was carried out to understand important ammonia decomposition pathways in the presence of hydrogen and natural gas.

Baker, Jessica B.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Structure of Flame Balls at Low Lewis-Number (SOFBALL): Preliminary Results From the STS-83 and STS-94 Space Flight Experiments

Results from the Structure Of Flame Balls At Low Lewis-number (SOFBALL) space flight experiment conducted on the MSL-1 Space Shuttle missions are reported. Several new insights were obtained, including: much lower buoyancy-induced drift speed than anticipated pre-flight; repulsion of adjacent flame balls due to their mutual interaction; remarkable sensitivity of flame balls to small accelerations resulting from Orbiter attitude control maneuvers; and very similar net heat release for all flame balls in all mixtures tested. Comparison of experimental results to computational predictions reveals limitations in current models of H2-02 chemistry for very lean mixtures. It is discussed how the results of these space experiments may provide an improved understanding of the interactions of the two most important phenomena in combusting materials, namely chemical reaction and transport processes, in the unequivocally simplest possible configuration.

Ronney, Paul D.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Co-transport of water and p-xylene through carbon molecular sieve membranes

Carbon molecular sieve (CMS) materials are a potential candidate for scalable and high-performance reverse osmosis membranes due to their impressive chemical and thermal stabilities. Moreover, they have the potential to enable impressive rejections of small neutral solutes from water based on their known ability to separate small organic molecules. CMS has been extensively examined for gas and organic solvent separations, but the transport of organic and aqueous mixtures through CMS microstructures is poorly understood. In this work, we investigated the sorption, diffusion, and permeation behavior of organic compounds and water in poly(vinylidene fluoride)(PVDF)-derived CMS (PVDF-CMS). Experimental observations of diffusion, sorption, and permeation shows how the properties of penetrants such as polarity and molecular size affect the transport rates and selectivity. These basic transport and sorption parameters are utilized in sorption-diffusion models to permeation rates of water-organic mixtures in CMS membranes. The transport of water and p-xylene in CMS was experimentally confirmed to follow the sorption-diffusion mechanism. The sorption-diffusion model ideal permselectivity indicates that the CMS is p-xylene selective over water. Water/p-xylene mixture permeation experiments revealed an increased selectivity of p-xylene over water, thus providing tentative evidence for a competitive sorption-selective separation mechanism. Furthermore, this work suggests that CMS membranes exhibit organic-permeable separation properties in water/organic separations. The results presented here highlight the potential for the removal of dilute organics in water via CMS pervaporation membranes.

02 PETROLEUM↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Numerical Predictions of the Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics in the Film Boiling Regime During Tube Quenching

Cryogenic fluid management plays a major role in refueling of spacecrafts while in space for NASA’s future human space exploration missions. Due to the low boiling points of cryogens, storage, transport and handling of these fluids becomes difficult and may result in inefficient operation of the space propulsion systems. For refueling applications in space, the cryogenic fluids have to be transported across different locations and hence, the transfer of cryogenic fluids through pipes become critical. The cryogenic chill-down process is characterized by different regimes of flow boiling, viz., film boiling, transition boiling and nucleate boiling. The prediction of these regimes in a single CFD framework available in the literature is challenging and the present work attempts to address this challenge by initially modeling the film boiling regime accurately and to incorporate an user-defined function for transition and nucleate boiling at a later stage. Hence, the aim of the present work is to numerically model and validate the film boiling regime of the chilldown curve for liquid nitrogen experiments available in the literature. The validations are carried out at different inlet mass fluxes to have a robust simulation methodology. A dispersed mixture model is used to predict the vapor-liquid interface dynamics with the phase change phenomena modeled using the Lee model.

line chilldown↗