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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 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1993

CFD Analysis of Spray Combustion and Radiation in OMV Thrust Chamber

The Variable Thrust Engine (VTE), developed by TRW, for the Orbit Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV) uses a hypergolic propellant combination of Monomethyl Hydrazine (MMH) and Nitrogen Tetroxide (NTO) as fuel and oxidizer, respectively. The propellants are pressure fed into the combustion chamber through a single pintle injection element. The performance of this engine is dependent on the pintle geometry and a number of complex physical phenomena and their mutual interactions. The most important among these are (1) atomization of the liquid jets into fine droplets; (2) the motion of these droplets in the gas field; (3) vaporization of the droplets (4) turbulent mixing of the fuel and oxidizer; and (5) hypergolic reaction between MMH and NTO. Each of the above phenomena by itself poses a considerable challenge to the technical community. In a reactive flow field of the kind occurring inside the VTE, the mutual interactions between these physical processes tend to further complicate the analysis. The objective of this work is to develop a comprehensive mathematical modeling methodology to analyze the flow field within the VTE. Using this model, the effect of flow parameters on various physical processes such as atomization, spray dynamics, combustion, and radiation is studied. This information can then be used to optimize design parameters and thus improve the performance of the engine. The REFLEQS CFD Code is used for solving the fluid dynamic equations. The spray dynamics is modeled using the Eulerian-Lagrangian approach. The discrete ordinate method with 12 ordinate directions is used to predict the radiative heat transfer in the OMV combustion chamber, nozzle, and the heat shield. The hypergolic reaction between MMH and NTO is predicted using an equilibrium chemistry model with 13 species. The results indicate that mixing and combustion is very sensitive to the droplet size. Smaller droplets evaporate faster than bigger droplets, leading to a well mixed zone in the combustion chamber. The radiative heat flux at combustion chamber and nozzle walls are an order of negligible less than the conductive heat flux. Simulations performed with the heat shield show that a negligible amount of fluid is entrained into the heat shield region. However, the heat shield is shown to be effective in protecting the OMV structure surrounding the engine from the radiated heat.

Giridharan, M. G.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Science Support for Space-Based Droplet Combustion: Drop Tower Experiments and Detailed Numerical Modeling

This program supports the engineering design, data analysis, and data interpretation requirements for the study of initially single component, spherically symmetric, isolated droplet combustion studies. Experimental emphasis is on the study of simple alcohols (methanol, ethanol) and alkanes (n-heptane, n-decane) as fuels with time dependent measurements of drop size, flame-stand-off, liquid-phase composition, and finally, extinction. Experiments have included bench-scale studies at Princeton, studies in the 2.2 and 5.18 drop towers at NASA-LeRC, and both the Fiber Supported Droplet Combustion (FSDC-1, FSDC-2) and the free Droplet Combustion Experiment (DCE) studies aboard the shuttle. Test matrix and data interpretation are performed through spherically-symmetric, time-dependent numerical computations which embody detailed sub-models for physical and chemical processes. The computed burning rate, flame stand-off, and extinction diameter are compared with the respective measurements for each individual experiment. In particular, the data from FSDC-1 and subsequent space-based experiments provide the opportunity to compare all three types of data simultaneously with the computed parameters. Recent numerical efforts are extending the computational tools to consider time dependent, axisymmetric 2-dimensional reactive flow situations.

Marchese, Anthony J.↗
NASA NTRS1998

A Simplified Model for the Investigation of Acoustically Driven Combustion Instabilities

A simplified one-dimensional model of reactive flow is presented which captures features of aeropropulsion systems, including acoustically driven combustion instabilities. Although the resulting partial differential equations are one dimensional, they qualitatively describe observed phenomena, including, resonant frequencies and the admission of both steady and unsteady behavior. A number of simulations are shown which exhibit both steady and unsteady behavior, including flame migration and thermo acoustic instabilities. Finally, we present examples of unsteady flow resulting from fuel modulation.

Paxson, Daniel E.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Liquid Methane/Oxygen Injector Study for Mars Ascent Engines

As a part of the advancing technology of the cryogenic propulsion system for the Mars exploration mission, this effort aims at evaluating propellant injection concepts for liquid methane/liquid oxygen (LOX) rocket engines. Split-triplet and unlike impinging injectors were selected for this study. A total of four injector configurations were tested under combustion conditions in a modular combustor test article (MCTA), equipped with optically accessible windows, at MSFC. A series of forty hot-fire tests, which covered a wide range of engine operating conditions with the chamber pressure ranging from 320 to 510 and the mixture ratio from 1.5 to 3.5, were conducted. The test matrix also included a variation in the combustion chamber length for the purpose of investigating its effects on the combustion performance and stability. Initial assessments of the test results showed that the injectors provided stable combustion and there were no injector face overheating problems under all operating conditions. The Raman scattering signal measurement method was successfully demonstrated for the hydrocarbon/oxygen reactive flow field. The near-injector face flow field was visually observed through the use of an infrared camera. Chamber wall temperature, high frequency chamber pressure, and average throat section heat flux were also recorded throughout the test series. Assessments of the injector performance are underway.

Trinh, Huu Phuoc↗
NASA NTRS2001

Chemical and Flowfield Modeling for Enhanced Analysis of Contamination Experiments

This paper describes the application of a new Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) code, the Molecular Beam Simulator (MBS), which is designed to analyze laboratory scale molecular beam-surface (and crossed-beam) experiments. The MBS is primarily intended to model experiments associated with spacecraft contamination effects, but it can also be used to simulate a variety of surface chemistry and reactive flow measurements. The MBS code is fully three-dimensional, includes a wide-range of chemical processes, and can model one or multiple pulsed (non-steady) sources. As an example application of the MBS code, a fast, pulsed, oxygen atom-surface experiment which examines the chemistry behind erosion of graphite by oxygen atoms is analyzed. Unsteady DSMC simulations show that experimental observations of excited molecular states after the pulse has hit the surface are consistent with two distinct chemical mechanisms: a direct one where the excited molecules are formed on the surface, and a two-step mechanism where ground state molecules formed on the surface are collisionally excited after they leave the surface by trailing oxygen atoms in the pulse. Further DSMC calculations suggest experiments which can distinguish between these mechanisms.

Braunstein, Matthew↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Analysis of PICA-NuSil at the Hypersonic Materials Environmental Test System (HyMETS)

Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) gained heritage during the stardust mission and is the baseline material for missions to Mars. The phenolic phase of PICA is friable, and therefore the surface is treated with a siloxane resin (NuSil) to mitigate the shedding of particulate matter. Historically, material response models have not accounted for the presence of this coating. Therefore, a test campaign was executed at the Hypersonic Materials Environmental Test System (HyMETS) to investigate the performance of NuSil under multiple heating rates and gas composition. Sphere-cone models were instrumented with thermocouples to measure the in-depth temperature response, and surface temperatures were monitored with a pyrometer. Furthermore, emission spectrometers were used to collect spectra from species emitting at the surface of the test article and the post-shock stagnation region. Post-test analysis suggests that the coating decomposes according to multiple stages. Inspection of silicon emission data reveals a rapid rise and decline in intensity within the first couple of seconds of testing, which is attributed to pyrolysis of NuSil. Pyrolysis is followed by a stagnation in silicon emission and surface temperature which are attributed to the formation of a thin layer of oxidation-resistant silicon oxycarbide. Moreover, the presence of the silicon oxycarbide layer significantly reduces the in-depth thermal response when compared to the baseline material. Eventually, the silicon oxycarbide layer decomposes via high-temperature reactions, which expose the underlying char layer to a highly reactive flow.

PICA-NuSil↗
NASA NTRS1987

Chemistry-split techniques for viscous reactive blunt body flow computations

The weak-coupling structure between the fluid and species equations has been exploited and resulted in three, closely related, time-iterative implicit techniques. While the primitive variables are solved in two separated groups and each by an Alternating Direction Implicit (ADI) factorization scheme, the rate-species Jacobian can be treated in either full or diagonal matrix form, or simply ignored. The latter two versions render the split technique to solving for species as scalar rather than vector variables. The solution is completed at the end of each iteration after determining temperature and pressure from the flow density, energy and species concentrations. Numerical experimentation has shown that the split scalar technique, using partial rate Jacobian, yields the best overall stability and consistency. Satisfactory viscous solutions were obtained for an ellipsoidal body of axis ratio 3:1 at Mach 35 and an angle of attack of 20 degrees.

Li, C. P.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Dynamic analysis of an open-cycle gas-core nuclear rocket

Reactivity and flow disturbances were used to investigate the transient response of a conceptual open cycle gas core nuclear rocket engine. The disturbances were made with the system initially operating at its steady state design point. Results of the study show that the feedbacks associated with the propellant density and propellant temperature have a dominant effect on the response of the system. Furthermore, there appears to be a rather limited range of values of these propellant feedback coefficients for which the gas core nuclear rocket has a stable response. The system was rather insensitive to a fuel flow rate disturbance, whereas a similar disturbance in the propellant flow rate caused large changes in reactor power. For a similar disturbance in the propellant flow rate caused large changes in reactor power. For most reactivity and flow rate disturbances, the response showed oscillations of various intensity.

Turney, G. E.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Chemorheology of reactive systems: Finite element analysis

The equations which govern the nonisothermal flow of reactive fluids are outlined, and the means by which finite element analysis is used to solve these equations for the sort of arbitrary boundary conditions encountered in industrial practice are described. The performance of the computer code is illustrated by several trial problems, selected more for their value in providing insight to polymer processing flows than as practical production problems. Although a good deal remains to be learned as to the performance and proper use of this numerical technique, it is undeniably useful in providing better understanding of today's complicated polymer processing problems.

Douglas, C.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Reactive mixing in swirling flows

The effect of swirl on the mixing of two gas streams of the same density and axial velocity in a coaxial annular geometry has been examined. The flow is studied via a fluorescent tracer, 2-3 biacetyl. Through direct excitation, collisional excitation, and collisional de-excitation of the tracer, the turbulent transport, molecularly mixed and unmixed regions in the flow are visualized. The visualization results indicate that there are interesting three dimensional inviscid large scale structures. Mixing in the molecular level is found to be mainly localized in these structures.

Cheng, W. K.↗
NASA NTRS1982

A flow-system comparison of the reactivities of calcium superoxide and potassium superoxide with carbon dioxide and water vapor

A single pass flow system was used to test the reactivity of calcium superoxide with respiratory gases and the performance was compared to that of potassium superoxide. The KO2 system is used by coal miners as a self-contained unit in rescue operations. Particular attention was given to the reactivity with carbon dioxide and water vapor at different temperatures and partial pressures of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor. The calcium superoxide beds were found to absorb CO2 and H2O vapor, releasing O2. The KO2 bed, however, released O2 at twice the rate of CO2 absorption at 37 C. It is concluded that the calcium superoxide material is not a suitable replacement for the KO2 bed, although Ca(O2)2 may be added to the KO2 bed to enhance the CO2 absorption.

Wood, P. C.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Theoretical study of reactive and nonreactive turbulent coaxial jets

The hydrodynamic properties and the reaction kinetics of axisymmetric coaxial turbulent jets having steady mean quantities are investigated. From the analysis, limited to free turbulent boundary layer mixing of such jets, it is found that the two-equation model of turbulence is adequate for most nonreactive flows. For the reactive flows, where an allowance must be made for second order correlations of concentration fluctuations in the finite rate chemistry for initially inhomogeneous mixture, an equation similar to the concentration fluctuation equation of a related model is suggested. For diffusion limited reactions, the eddy breakup model based on concentration fluctuations is found satisfactory and simple to use. The theoretical results obtained from these various models are compared with some of the available experimental data.

Gupta, R. N.↗
NASA NTRS1976

A kinetic-theory approach to turbulent chemically reacting flows

The paper examines the mathematical and physical foundations for the kinetic theory of reactive turbulent flows, discussing the differences and relation between the kinetic and averaged equations, and comparing some solutions of the kinetic equations obtained by the Green's function method with those obtained by the approximate bimodal method. The kinetic method described consists essentially in constructing the probability density functions of the chemical species on the basis of solutions of the Langevin stochastic equation for the influence of eddies on the behavior of fluid elements. When the kinetic equations are solved for the structure of the diffusion flame established in a shear layer by the bimodal method, discontinuities in gradients of the mean concentrations at the two flame edges appear. This is a consequence of the bimodal approximation of all distribution functions by two dissimilar half-Maxwellian functions, which is a very crude approximation. These discontinuities do not appear when the solutions are constructed by the Green's function method described here.

Chung, P. M.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Numerical Simulation of Supersonic Compression Corners and Hypersonic Inlet Flows Using the RPLUS2D Code

A two-dimensional computational code, PRLUS2D, which was developed for the reactive propulsive flows of ramjets and scramjets, was validated for two-dimensional shock-wave/turbulent-boundary-layer interactions. The problem of compression corners at supersonic speeds was solved using the RPLUS2D code. To validate the RPLUS2D code for hypersonic speeds, it was applied to a realistic hypersonic inlet geometry. Both the Baldwin-Lomax and the Chien two-equation turbulence models were used. Computational results showed that the RPLUS2D code compared very well with experimentally obtained data for supersonic compression corner flows, except in the case of large separated flows resulting from the interactions between the shock wave and turbulent boundary layer. The computational results compared well with the experiment results in a hypersonic NASA P8 inlet case, with the Chien two-equation turbulence model performing better than the Baldwin-Lomax model.

Kapoor, Kamlesh↗
NASA NTRS1988

Structural isomers of C2N(+) - A selected-ion flow tube study

Reactivities of the structural isomers CCN(+) and CNC(+) were examined in a selected-ion flow tube at 300 + or - 5 K. The less reactive CNC(+) isomer was identified as the product of the reactions of C(+) + HCN and C(+) + C2N2; in these reactions only CNC(+) can be produced because of energy constraints. Rate coefficients and branching ratios are reported for the reactions of each isomer with H2, CH4, NH3, H2O, C2H2, HCN, N2, O2, N2O, and CO2. Ab initio calculations are presented for CCN(+) and CNC(+); a saddle point for the reaction CCN(+) yielding CNC(+) is calculated to be 195 kJ/mol above CNC(+). The results provide evidence that the more reactive CCN(+) isomer is unlikely to be present in measurable densities in interstellar clouds.

Knight, J. S.↗