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Engineering topics

Fay, J. A.

Publications and source records attributed to Fay, J. A..

At least 19 records

Air pollution from aircraft

A series of fundamental problems related to jet engine air pollution and combustion were examined. These include soot formation and oxidation, nitric oxide and carbon monoxide emissions mechanisms, pollutant dispension, flow and combustion characteristics of the NASA swirl can combustor, fuel atomization and fuel-air mixing processes, fuel spray drop velocity and size measurement, ignition and blowout. A summary of this work, and a bibliography of 41 theses and publications which describe this work, with abstracts, is included.

Heywood, J. B.↗

Air pollution from aircraft

Forty-one annotated abstracts of reports generated at MIT and the University of Sheffield are presented along with summaries of the technical projects undertaken. Work completed includes: (1) an analysis of the soot formation and oxidation rates in gas turbine combustors, (2) modelling the nitric oxide formation process in gas turbine combustors, (3) a study of the mechanisms causing high carbon monoxide emissions from gas turbines at low power, (4) an analysis of the dispersion of pollutants from aircraft both around large airports and from the wakes of subsonic and supersonic aircraft, (5) a study of the combustion and flow characteristics of the swirl can modular combustor and the development and verification of NO sub x and CO emissions models, (6) an analysis of the influence of fuel atomizer characteristics on the fuel-air mixing process in liquid fuel spray flames, and (7) the development of models which predict the stability limits of fully and partially premixed fuel-air mixtures.

Heywood, J. B.↗

The dispersion of propellants from aircraft

Two aspects of the dispersion of pollutants from aircraft are reviewed. The first is the dispersal of aircraft exhaust emissions in the vicinity of airports; the second is the dispersal of exhaust trails in the upper atmosphere. Techniques available for modeling this dispersal and how they might be applied to the airport problem are discussed. Field studies of airport pollution are then reviewed to assess current pollutant levels around airports and the aircraft's contribution to those levels. The possibility of contrail formation from jet emissions at high altitude is then considered and the effect of uncertainties in the trial mixing processes evaluated.

Fay, J. A.↗

Buoyant plumes and wakes.

The problem of mixing of pollutants induced by vehicular motions is considered as an example of dispersion that is initially unaffected by atmospheric turbulence. Some models are discussed that have proven helpful in understanding certain aspects of the problem of dispersion of air pollutants in the atmosphere. However, the considerable variability of atmospheric flow, as compared with a laboratory flow, makes the application of these models, both experimental and theoretical, of limited scientific usefulness to the prediction of ambient air-pollutant levels.

Fay, J. A.↗

Dispersion of SST trails in the stratosphere.

A simple theory for the dispersion of the exhaust of a supersonic transport cruising in the stratosphere is presented. This model shows that far downstream from the aircraft, buoyancy dominates the growth of the wake. This growth is limited by the stable stratification of the atmosphere. Data on the visible width of the wake from scaled experiments in a towing tank and from studies on the growth of contrails of subsonic aircraft verify the growth of the wake in an unstratified atmosphere is predicted by the model. This growth is faster than would be predicted for the wake of an axisymmetric body with no buoyancy.

Overcamp, T. J.↗

Air pollution from future giant jetports

Because aircraft arrive and depart in a generally upwind direction, the pollutants are deposited in a narrow corridor extending downwind of the airport. Vertical mixing in the turbulent atmosphere will not dilute such a trail, since the pollutants are distributed vertically during the landing and take-off operations. As a consequence, airport pollution may persist twenty to forty miles downwind without much attenuation. Based on this simple meteorological model, calculations of the ambient levels of nitric oxide and particulates to be expected downwind of a giant jetport show them to be about equal to those in present urban environments. These calculations are based on measured emission rates from jet engines and estimates of aircraft performance and traffic for future jetports.

Fay, J. A.↗