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Jagoda, J.

Publications and source records attributed to Jagoda, J..

3 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1997

Turbulent Premixed Flame Propagation in Microgravity

A facility in which turbulent Couette flow could be generated in a microgravity environment was designed and built. To fit into the NASA Lewis drop tower the device had to be very compact. This means that edge effects and flow re-circulation were expected to affect the flow. The flow was thoroughly investigated using LDV and was found to be largely two dimensional away from the edges with constant turbulence intensities in the core. Slight flow asymmetries are introduced by the non symmetric re-circulation of the fluid outside the test region. Belt flutter problems were remedied by adding a pair of guide plates to the belt. In general, the flow field was found to be quite similar to previously investigated Couette flows. However, turbulence levels and associated shear stresses were higher. This is probably due to the confined re-circulation zone reintroducing turbulence into the test section. An estimate of the length scales in the flow showed that the measurements were able to resolve nearly all the length scales of interest. Using a new LES method for subgrid combustion it has been demonstrated that the new procedure is computational feasible even on workstation type environment. It is found that this model is capable of capturing the propagation of the premixed names by resolving the flame in the LES grid within 2-3 grid points. In contrast, conventional LES results in numerical smearing of the flame and completely inaccurate estimate of the turbulent propagation speed. Preliminary study suggests that there is observable effect of buoyancy in the 1g environment suggesting the need for microgravity experiments of the upcoming experimental combustion studies. With the cold flow properties characterized, an identical hot flow facility is under construction. It is assumed that the turbulence properties ahead of the flame in this new device will closely match the results obtained here. This is required since the hot facility will not enable LDV measurements. The reacting flow facility is also being constructed with planned drop tower experiments in mind. Therefore, issues related to safety and structural integrity are being take into account. Further development of the numerical model will also be carried out to include finite-rate kinetics for representative premixed cases. More detail analysis of the flame structure and propagation nature will be investigated. Simulations will also be compared to the flame properties observed in the experiments.

Menon, S.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Premixed Turbulent Flame Propagation in Microgravity

Papers included address the following topics: (1) Turbulent premixed flame propagation in microgravity; (2) The effect of gravity on turbulent premixed flame propagation - a preliminary cold flow study; and (3) Characteristics of a subgrid model for turbulent premixed combustion.

Menon, S.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Premixed turbulent flame propagation in microgravity

To reduce pollutant formation there is, at present, an increased interest in employing premixed fuel/air mixture in combustion devices. It is well known that greater control over local temperature can be achieved with premixed flames and with lean premixed mixtures, significant reduction of pollutants such as NO(x) can be achieved. However, an issue that is still unresolved is the predictability of the flame propagation speed in turbulent premixed mixtures, especially in lean mixtures. Although substantial progress has been made in recent years, there is still no direct verification that flame speeds in turbulent premixed flows are highly predictable in complex flow fields found in realistic combustors. One of the problems associated with experimental verification is the difficulty in obtaining access to all scales of motion in typical high Reynolds number flows, since, such flows contain scales of motion that range from the size of the device to the smallest Kolmogorov scale. The overall objective of this study is to characterize the behavior of turbulent premixed flames at reasonable high Reynolds number, Re(sub L). Of particular interest here is the thin flame limit where the laminar flame thickness is much smaller than the Kolmogorov scale. Thin flames occur in many practical combustion devices and will be numerically studied using a recently developed new formulation that is briefly described.

Menon, S.↗