Engineering topics
Mehta, Unmeel
Publications and source records attributed to Mehta, Unmeel.
Skylon Aerodynamics and SABRE Plumes
An independent partial assessment is provided of the technical viability of the Skylon aerospace plane concept, developed by Reaction Engines Limited (REL). The objectives are to verify REL's engineering estimates of airframe aerodynamics during powered flight and to assess the impact of Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE) plumes on the aft fuselage. Pressure lift and drag coefficients derived from simulations conducted with Euler equations for unpowered flight compare very well with those REL computed with engineering methods. The REL coefficients for powered flight are increasingly less acceptable as the freestream Mach number is increased beyond 8.5, because the engineering estimates did not account for the increasing favorable (in terms of drag and lift coefficients) effect of underexpanded rocket engine plumes on the aft fuselage. At Mach numbers greater than 8.5, the thermal environment around the aft fuselage is a known unknown−a potential design and/or performance risk issue. The adverse effects of shock waves on the aft fuselage and plumeinduced flow separation are other potential risks. The development of an operational reusable launcher from the Skylon concept necessitates the judicious use of a combination of engineering methods, advanced methods based on required physics or analytical fidelity, test data, and independent assessments.
Power Requirement for Nonequilibrium MHD-Bypass Scramjet
It has been suggested previously that the performance of scramjet propulsion system may be improved by the use of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) energy bypass: an MHD generator could be made to decelerate the flow entering the combustor, thereby improving combustion efficiency, and the electrical power generated could be made to accelerate the flow exiting from the combustor prior to expanding through the nozzle. In one of such proposed schemes, the MHD generator is proposed to be operated at a low temperature and ionization is to be achieved under nonequilibrium by the application of an external power. In the present work, the required power of such an external source is calculated assuming a 100%-efficient nonequilibrium ionization scheme. The power required is that needed to prevent the degree of ionization from reaching equilibrium with the low gas temperature. The flow is seeded with potassium or cesium. Specific impulse is calculated with and without turbulent friction. The results show that, for typical intended flight conditions, the specific impulse obtained is substantially higher than that of a typical scramjet, but the required external-power is several times that of the power generated in the MHD generator.
Interactive boundary-layer calculations of a transonic wing flow
Results obtained from iterative solutions of inviscid and boundary-layer equations are presented and compared with experimental values. The calculated results were obtained with an Euler code and a transonic potential code in order to furnish solutions for the inviscid flow; they were interacted with solutions of two-dimensional boundary-layer equations having a strip-theory approximation. Euler code results are found to be in better agreement with the experimental data than with the full potential code, especially in the presence of shock waves, (with the sole exception of the near-tip region).
Further comparisons of interactive boundary-layer and thin-layer Navier-Stokes procedures
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Further comparisons of interactive boundary-layer and thin-layer Navier-Stokes procedures
Calculations of the flows over NACA 4412 and GA(W)-2 airfoils with low-speed flow and over NACA 0012 and RAE 2822 airfoils with transonic flow are reported. They were obtained by solving potential flow and boundary-layer equations, and by solving thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations. The results cover a range of angles of attack up to and including stall and allow the evaluation of the numerical and physical features of the two solution methods. The agreement with measurements is acceptable except between the results of the thin Navier-Stokes equations and measurements in subsonic flow at high angles of attack. The interactive boundary-layer method is considerably more efficient requiring considerably less computer time and storage.
Some aspects of vortex flows determined from the thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations
Vortex flows caused by a swept wing are described in some detail. The thin-shear-layer Navier-Stokes equations with an algebraic eddy-viscosity turbulence model are solved. An implicit, factored numerical scheme is used. On the upper surface of the wing, flow is primarily along the free-stream and spanwise direction, respectively, at small and large angles of attack.
The computation of flow past an oblique wing using the thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations
Essential aspects are presented for computing flow past an oblique wing with the thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations. A new method is developed for generating a grid system around a realistic wing. This method utilizes a series of conformal transformations. The thin-shear-layer approximation and an algebraic eddy-viscosity turbulence model are used to simplify the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. An implicit, factored numerical scheme and the concept of pencil data structure are utilized. For the first time, some flow fields caused by the oblique wing in a supersonic free stream are discussed, emphasizing the separated vortex flows associated with such a wing.
Numerical Prediction Methods (Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Simulations of Transonic Separated Flows)
During the past five years, numerous pioneering archival publications have appeared that have presented computer solutions of the mass-weighted, time-averaged Navier-Stokes equations for transonic problems pertinent to the aircraft industry. These solutions have been pathfinders of developments that could evolve into a major new technological capability, namely the computational Navier-Stokes technology, for the aircraft industry. So far these simulations have demonstrated that computational techniques, and computer capabilities have advanced to the point where it is possible to solve forms of the Navier-Stokes equations for transonic research problems. At present there are two major shortcomings of the technology: limited computer speed and memory, and difficulties in turbulence modelling and in computation of complex three-dimensional geometries. These limitations and difficulties are the pacing items of the continuing developments, although the one item that will most likely turn out to be the most crucial to the progress of this technology is turbulence modelling. The objective of this presentation is to discuss the state of the art of this technology and suggest possible future areas of research. We now discuss some of the flow conditions for which the Navier-Stokes equations appear to be required. On an airfoil there are four different types of interaction of a shock wave with a boundary layer: (1) shock-boundary-layer interaction with no separation, (2) shock-induced turbulent separation with immediate reattachment (we refer to this as a shock-induced separation bubble), (3) shock-induced turbulent separation without reattachment, and (4) shock-induced separation bubble with trailing edge separation.