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At least 991 records · Page 55

Low NO(x) potential of gas turbine engines

Nitrogen oxide levels of low gas turbine engine emissions are correlated in this paper. The predictions of NO(x) emissions are based on a review of the literature of previous low NO(x) combustor programs and analytical chemical kinetic calculations. Concepts included in the literature review consisted of Lean-Premixed-Prevaporized (LPP), Rich Burn/Quick Quench/Lean/Burn (RQL), and Direct Injection. The NO(x) emissions were found to be an exponential function of adiabatic combustion temperature over a wide range of inlet temperatures, pressures and (lean) fuel-air ratios. It is stated that the low NO(X) potential of LPP is offset by the operational disadvantages of its narrow stability limits and its susceptibility to autoignition/ flashback. The RQL and the Direct Injection concepts have the advantage of wider stability limits comparable to conventional combustors. Results were obtained primarily with gaseous fuels and it is noted that the challenge will be to produce the same low levels of NO(x) with liquid fuels.

Tacina, Robert R.↗

Focused Schlieren flow visualization studies of multiple venturi fuel injectors in a high pressure combustor

Multiple venturi fuel injectors were used to obtain uniform fuel distributions, better atomization and vaporization in the premixing/prevaporizing section of a lean premixed/prevaporized flame tube combustor. A focused Schlieren system was used to investigate the fuel/air mixing effectiveness of various fuel injection configurations. The Schlieren system was focused to a plane within the flow field of a test section equipped with optical windows. The focused image plane was parallel to the axial direction of the flow and normal to the optical axis. Images from that focused plane, formed by refracted light due to density gradients within the flow field, were filmed with a high-speed movie camera at framing rates of 8,000 frames per second (fps). Three fuel injection concepts were investigated by taking high-speed movies of the mixture flows at various operating conditions. The inlet air temperature was varied from 600 F to 1000 F, and inlet pressures from 80 psia to 150 psia. Jet-A fuel was used typically at an equivalence ratio of 0.5. The intensity variations of the digitized Schlieren images were analytically correlated to spatial density gradients of the mixture flows. Qualitative measurements for degree of mixedness, intensity of mixing, and mixing completion time are shown. Various mixing performance patterns are presented with different configurations of fuel injection points and operating conditions.

Chun, K. S.↗

Role of Inlet Boundary Conditions on Fuel-Air Mixing at Supercritical Conditions

Advanced engine design and alternative fuels present the possibility of fuel injection at purely supercritical conditions in diesel engines and gas turbines. The complex interactions that govern this phenomenon still need significant research, particularly the boundary conditions for fuel injection are critical for accurate simulation. However, the flow inside the injector itself is often omitted to reduce the computational efforts, and thus, velocity, mass flux, or total pressure is specified at the injector exit (or domain inlet), often with simplified velocity profiles and turbulence levels. This simplified inlet boundary treatment has minimal effects on results for conventional fuel injection conditions, however, the validity of this approach at supercritical conditions has not been assessed. Comprehensive real-gas and binary fluid mixing models have been implemented for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of fuel-air mixing at supercritical conditions. The model is verified using prior CFD results from the literature. The model is used to investigate the effects of the shape of axial velocity and mass fraction profiles at the inlet boundary with the goal to improve the comparison of predictions to experimental data. Results show that the boundary conditions have a significant effect on the predictions, and none of the cases match precisely with experimental data. Furthermore, the study reveals that the physical location of the inlet boundary might be difficult to infer correctly from the experiments and highlights the need for high-quality, repeatable measurements at supercritical conditions to support the development of relevant high-fidelity models for fuel-air mixing.

02 PETROLEUM↗

CONTROL AND DATA ACQUISITION IN A CYBER-PHYSICAL MIDSTREAM TESTBED

This thesis presents the development of a laboratory-scale cyber–physical midstream pipeline testbed designed to address this gap and support research in industrial control systems security. The platform integrates pumps, valves, sensors, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and a human–machine interface (HMI) to emulate the monitoring and control architecture of real pipeline operations. The physical process is implemented as a closed-loop liquid circulation system designed to replicate flow behavior characteristic of midstream pipeline infrastructure. The testbed enables real-time data acquisition of key process variables, including flow rate and pressure facilitating the generation of datasets representative of normal pipeline operation. A threat model encompassing common ICS attack vectors was developed, including sensor spoofing, command injection, false data injection, denial-of-service attacks, and relay manipulation. Multiple attack scenarios were implemented and evaluated to demonstrate how cyber intrusions targeting sensors, actuators, networks, and software propagate into measurable physical consequences in pipeline flow and pressure. The developed platform serves as a practical, cost-effective environment for experimentation, education, and future cybersecurity research in midstream pipeline systems.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Assessing mechanical response of CO 2 storage into a depleted carbonate reef using a site-scale geomechanical model calibrated with field tests and InSAR monitoring data

Geomechanical risks of injection have raised concerns regarding secure CO 2 storage. In this work, a combined monitoring and modeling approach is used to assess the stress changes and surface uplift associated with CO 2 injection into a depleted carbonate reef of the Michigan basin. A site-scale geomechanical model is built by assigning mechanical properties of formations using well-log and experimental data. Gravity load is applied to the model to estimate the vertical component of stress as well as different lateral boundary displacement scenarios to estimate horizontal stresses. We used a poroelastic pressure-dependent model (instead of a linear elastic mechanical earth model) to calibrate initial stresses using hydraulic fracture test data measured at depleted reservoir status. Multi-phase fluid flow-geomechanical simulations are performed to estimate the poroelastic response during (1) primary depletion (2) field-scale CO 2 injection phase (3) a hypothetical forecast scenario in which well bottom hole pressure (BHP) reach 45000 KPa. The predicted surface uplift is less than 1 mm at the end of the field-scale CO 2 injection phase which is in good agreement with Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) uplift measurement. Although the InSAR data shows an insignificant uplift, hydromechanical modeling of injection shows that CO 2 injection still causes reservoir deformation emphasizing the role of carbonate overburden and reservoir formation mechanical properties and limited size of reef on diminishing the surface deformation. Modeling indicates poroelastic response of caprock matters to estimate uplift. The lower permeability of the top two layers provides additional barrier to large uplift. Also, history of subsidence due to production should be accounted to predict uplift due to a follow up injection correctly. This report shows the significance of combining a calibrated geomechanical model with field measured stresses and monitoring data to be used as a tool to ensure the safety of CO 2 storage.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Access to stable, high pressure tokamak pedestals using local electron cyclotron current drive

Abstract Experiments on the DIII-D tokamak demonstrate that edge localized mode (ELM) stability can be manipulated using localized electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) in conjunction with resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs). The injection of counter-plasma-current edge ECCD reduces the RMP amplitude required to suppress ELMs and bifurcates the pedestal into a high-confinement regime with 7 kPA pedestal pressure. This is the first time such a high confinement regime has been accessed through the bifurcation from the ballooning stability branch predicted by existing models. These observations are consistent with modeled ECCD manipulation of magnetic islands induced by the RMPs.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Validated Reduced Computational Methods for Realistic RDC Injection Modeling

This paper outlines a simplified computational method without chemistry for single and multi-injector performance for rotating detonation combustion (RDC) environment as well as relevant performance metrics. For non-reactive cases, an unsteady pressure profile from a Method of Characteristics (MOC) simulation was used to simulate an RDC combustion wave travelling around the annulus. In reactive cases, a pre-mixed stoichiometric mixture of hydrogen and air is injected into a 2D unwrapped combustion chamber with a specified injector area. The performance is evaluated based on several performance metrics including unsteady discharge coefficient, average mass flux coming into the combustor, and percentage time obstructed. Finally, the computational method was validated through an experimental RDC test setup with a single element injector in a hydrogen-air detonation driver environment.

Propulsion↗

Effect of Viscosity on Fuel Leakage Between Lapped Plungers and Sleeves and on the Discharge from a Pump-Injection System

Test data and analysis show that the rate of fuel leakage between a lapped plunger and sleeve varies directly with the density of the fuel, the diameter of the plunger, the pressure producing the leakage, and the cube of the mean clearance between the plunger and sleeve. The rate varies inversely as the length of the lapped fit and the viscosity of the fuel. With a mean clearance between the plunger and sleeve of 0.0001 inch the leakage amounts to approximately 0.2 percent of the fuel injected with gasoline and as low as 0.01 percent with diesel fuel oils. With this mean clearance an effective seal is obtained when the length of the lap is three times the diameter of the lap. The deformation of the sleeve and plunger under pressure is sufficient to change the rate of leakage appreciably from that which would be obtained if the clearance was constant under pressure.

Rothrock, A M↗

Transient Liquefaction on the Lunar or Martian Surface Operational Demonstration

As developments of local production of cryogenic fluids on the Lunar or Martian Surface progress, it is important to understand transient system responses to help with the balancing of process plant power and understanding system level operations. During the Cryogenic Fluid In-situ Liquefaction for Landers (CryoFILL) testing, a series of transient oxygen liquefaction tests were completed. These tests included varying liquefaction flow rate, environmental temperature, tank fill level, and effective cryocooler lift while allowing the tank pressure to respond to the input controls. An additional transient test was run at the 90% fill level to determine the impact of injecting the gaseous oxygen at the bottom of the tank, allowing the vapor to bubble up through the liquid. Tests were run in a cyclical nature varying one variable at a time. The control variable was set in a manner to increase tank pressure for a period of time and then subsequently changed in a manner to decrease the tank pressure back to its original value with multiple cycles run for all tests. Tank pressure and system temperature responses were tracked as a function of time with an emphasis on repeatability. Results indicate that of the four variables tested, the environmental temperature is the least important. As expected, the bubbling of the liquefaction gas significantly decreased the pressurization and depressurization rates in the tank at the 90% full level.

Liquefaction↗

Processing of sintered alpha SiC

Processing methods of sintered alpha SiC for engine applications are developed in a cost effective manner, using a submicron sized powder blended with sintering aids (boron and carbon). The processes for forming a green powder compact, such as dry pressing, cold isostatic pressing and green machining, slip casting, aqueous extrusion, plastic extrusion, and injection molding, are described. Dry pressing is the simplest route to component fabrication, and is carried out at approximately 10,000 psi pressure, while in the cold isostatic method the pressure could go as high as 20,000 psi. Surfactants are added to control settling rates and casting characteristics in the slip casting. The aqueous extrusion process is accomplished by a hydraulic ram forcing the aqueous mixture through a die. The plastic forming processes of extrusion and injection molding offer the potential of greater diversity in shape capacity. The physical properties of sintered alpha SiC (hardness, Young's modulus, shear modulus, and thermal diffusivity) are extensively tested. Corrosion resistance test results of silicon carbide are included.

Storm, R. S.↗

A deep learning-based workflow for fast prediction of 3D state variables in geological carbon storage: A dimension reduction approach

Deep learning (DL) models are extensively used as surrogate models for high-fidelity simulations of multiphase fluid flow in porous media at large scales, enabling fast forecasts of the spatial–temporal evolution of three-dimensional (3D) state variables in geological carbon storage (GCS). However, training these models in high-dimensional space remains computationally demanding and prone to overfitting because of limited training data. This paper presents a novel workflow to address these challenges by integrating dimension reduction (DR) methods. Here, the proposed workflow employed pre-trained DR models to extract the latent variables of geological models and state variables and utilized the multi-layer perceptron (MLP) for constructing mapping functions between the input and output variables in latent spaces. Subsequently, the pre-trained reconstruction models converted the MLP-predicted latent state variables to their original high-dimensional form. Furthermore, we proposed a novel strategy for the DR and reconstruction of 3D saturation fields to account for the unique data characteristics of sparsity, nonuniformity, and discontinuity. The proposed strategy applied PCA and inverse PCA for 2D average saturation fields and developed a DL-based 3D reconstruction model, leveraging three 2D average saturation fields as input to produce a 3D saturation field as output. The pre-training of DR and reconstruction models and training of MLP models were conducted on 84 Gulf of Mexico (GoM) simulations and evaluated on 12 testing simulations. Each simulation contained 720 monthly time steps, with the first 360 months as the injection period and the rest as the post-injection period. The proposed workflow, incorporating DR and DL models, accurately predicts the normalized 3D pressure fields, achieving mean square error (MSE) of 2.92 × 10 -7 compared to the ground truth obtained from a full-physics simulator. Furthermore, the proposed strategy outperformed PCA and convolutional autoencoder (CAE) models on 3D saturation fields, resulting in minor workflow prediction errors with an MSE of 2.93 × 10 -5 . The results suggest the proposed workflow provides sufficient predictive fidelity across temporal and spatial scales, and enables a speedup of 160 times compared to the full-physics simulator, facilitating improved decision-making and risk assessment for large-scale GCS management in real-time scenarios.

3D reconstruction model↗

Estimating diffusion coefficients of shale oil, gas, and condensate with nano-confinement effect

Molecular diffusion plays an important role in oil and gas migration in tight shale formations. However, there are insufficient reference data in the literature to specify the diffusion coefficients within porous media. This study aims at calculating diffusion coefficients of shale gas, shale condensate, and shale oil at reservoir conditions with CO 2 injection for EOR/EGR. The large nano-confinement effects including large gas-oil capillary pressure and critical property shifts could alter the phase behaviors. This paper estimates the diffusivities of shale fluids in nanometer-scale shale rock from two perspectives: 1) examining the shift of diffusivity caused by nanopore confinement effects from phase change (phase composition and fluid property) perspective, and 2) calculating the effective diffusion coefficient in porous media by incorporating rock intrinsic properties (porosity and tortuosity factor). The tortuosity is obtained by using tortuosity-porosity relations as well as the measured tortuosity of shale from 3D imaging techniques. The results indicated that nano-confinement effects could affect the diffusion coefficient through altering the phase properties, such as phase compositions and densities. Compared to bulk phase diffusivity, the effective diffusion coefficient in porous shale rock is reduced by 10 2 to 10 4 times as porosity decreases from 0.1 to 0.03.

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS↗

The scoping, design, and plasma physics optimization of the Eos neutron source stellarator

On the path to a fusion pilot plant, Thea Energy plans to build Eos, a sub-breakeven, deuterium-deuterium, beam-target fusion, stellarator neutron source facility for producing tritium and other valuable radioisotopes. In this paper, a set of 1D plasma physics models are coupled and used to design the operating point of the facility and predict performance. At this foundational stage of the design, analytic and approximate models are sufficient to capture the leading-order effects, and fast enough to run in the inner loop of an optimizer. Higher-fidelity analyses will follow. Models of 1D profile-dependent neutral beam stopping, ion beam slowing down, beam-target fusion, electron-ion classical heat transfer, energy confinement (ISS04), beam pressure, beam heating of ions and electrons, beam-beam fusion fraction, and neutral beam injection and gyrotron heating electrical efficiencies are included. A numerical optimizer is used to determine the minimum required facility electric power to generate tritium at a given rate. A potentially advantageous regime is described in which modern precisely-quasisymmetric stellarators, new high-temperature superconductors, ITER-derived neutral beam injection, and new high-frequency gyrotrons enable a suitible target plasma with hot electrons, cold ions, peaked density and temperature profiles, and high beam-injected ion density. It appears possible at this time for a facility with a medium-scale and medium-strength stellarator whose required facility electric power is less than 40 MW to produce $2.5\times 10^{17}$ neutrons s -1 for the production of radioisotopes. With the addition of a tritium breeding blanket, such a facility could produce 0.2 grams d -1 or 70 grams yr -1 of tritium.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Simulation of Chilled-water Injection at EGS Collab Testbed 2 using the GEOS simulation framework

This work seeks to model the chilled-water injection that occurred at EGS Collab Testbed 2 as part of experiment 3, using the open-source GEOS simulation framework. Modeling of this process, previously conducted using STOMP-GT, confirmed that thermal breakthrough was expected to occur during the chill water injection and may have been masked by strong Joule-Thompsons effects induced by large pressure drops between the fractures and the production wells. Building a GEOS numerical model of this process will allow to include additional physics. In fact, GEOS can model fully coupled thermo-poromechanical processes in fractured porous media and can be employed to model the process of artificially enhancing rock permeability by hydraulically fracturing the rocks. For example, the GEOS model could help understanding the dynamic nature of the EGS collab experiment 3 flow system. Since the limited time and resources do not allow for an extensive study, the focus is on building a baseline model of this process. As such, the main outcomes of this modelling efforts are listed below.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

A Finite Element Method for Compressible and Turbulent Multiphase Flow Instabilities with Heat Transfer

We present a new finite element framework for modeling compressible, turbulent multiphase flows with heat transfer. For two-fluid systems with a free surface, the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method is implemented without the need for interface reconstruction, while turbulence is resolved using a dynamic Vreman large eddy simulation (LES) model. Unlike most two-phase VOF studies, which neglect heat transfer, the present approach incorporates energy transport equations within the VOF formulation to account for heat exchange, an effect particularly important in turbulent flows. Conjugate heat transfer is often challenging in finite volume methods, which require explicit specification of heat fluxes at the solid–fluid interface, limiting accuracy and predictive capability. By contrast, the finite element formulation does not require heat flux inputs, allowing more accurate and robust simulation of heat transfer between solids and fluids. The method is demonstrated through three representative cases. First, a two-fluid instability with a single-mode perturbation is simulated and validated against analytical growth rates. Second, conjugate heat transfer is examined in a high-temperature flow over a cold metal cylinder, with validation performed both quantitatively—via pressure coefficient comparisons with experimental data—and qualitatively using vector field topology. Finally, compressible spray injection and breakup are modeled, demonstrating the ability of the framework to capture interfacial dynamics and atomization under turbulent, high-speed conditions. In the compressible spray injection and breakup case, the results indicate that the finite element formulation achieved higher predictive accuracy and robustness than the finite-volume method. With the same mesh resolution, the FEM reduced the root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) from 6.96 mm and 26.0% (for the FVM) to 4.85 mm and 12.7%, respectively, demonstrating improved accuracy and robustness in capturing interfacial dynamics and heat transfer. The study also introduced vector field topology to visualize and interpret coherent flow structures and instabilities, offering insights beyond conventional scalar-field analyses.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Multiple-orifice liquid injection into hypersonic air streams.

Review of oblique water and fluorocarbon injection test results obtained in experimental studies of the effects of multiple-orifice liquid injection into hypersonic air streams. The results include the finding that maximum lateral penetration from such injections increases linearly with the square root of the jet-to-freestream dynamic-pressure ratio and is proportional to an equivalent orifice diameter.

Weaver, W. L.↗

Evolution of a moderately short turbulent boundary layer in a severe pressure gradient

The early and intermediate development of a highly accelerated (or decelerated) turbulent boundary layer is analyzed. For sufficiently large accelerations (or pressure gradients) and for total normal strains which are not excessive, the equation for the Reynolds shear stress simplifies to give a stress that remains approximately constant as it is convected along streamlines. The theoretical results for the evolution of the mean velocity in favourable and adverse pressure gradients agree well with experiment for the cases considered. A calculation which includes mass injection at the wall is also given.

Deissler, R. G.↗