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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 271 records · Page 15

Effect of Maximum Cruise-power Operation at Ultra-lean Mixture and Increased Spark Advance on the Mechanical Condition of Cylinder Components

A continuous 50-hour test was conducted to determine the effect of maximum cruise-power operation at ultra-lean fuel-air mixture and increased spark advance on the mechanical conditions of cylinder components. The test was conducted on a nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engine at the following conditions:brake horsepower, 750; engine speed, 1900 rpm; brake mean effective pressure, 172 pounds per square inch; fuel-air ratio, 0.052; spark advance, 30 deg B.T.C.; and maximum rear-spark-plug-bushing temperature, 400 F. In addition to the data on corrosion and wear, data are presented and briefly discussed on the effect of engine operation at the conditions of this test on economy, knock, preignition, and mixture distribution. Cylinder, piston, and piston-ring wear was small and all cylinder component were in good condition at the conclusion of the 50-hour test except that all exhaust-valve guides were bellmouthed beyond the Army's specified limit and one exhaust-valve face was lightly burned. It is improbable that the light burning in one spot of the valve face would have progressed further because the burn was filled with a hard deposit so that the valve face formed an unbroken seal and the mating seat showed no evidence of burning. The bellmouthing of the exhaust-valve guides is believed to have been a result of the heavy carbon and lead-oxide deposits, which were present on the head end of the guided length of the exhaust-valve stem. Engine operational the conditions of this test was shown to result In a fuel saving of 16.8 percent on a cooled-power basis as compared with operation at the conditions recommended for this engine by the Army Air Forces for the same power.

ENGINE CYLINDERS-WEAR↗

Recent GRC Aerospace Technologies Applicable to Terrestrial Energy Systems

This paper is an overview of a wide range of recent aerospace technologies under development at the NASA Glenn Research Center, in collaboration with other NASA centers, government agencies, industry and academia. The focused areas are space solar power, advanced power management and distribution systems, Stirling cycle conversion systems, fuel cells, advanced thin film photovoltaics and batteries, and combustion technologies. The aerospace-related objectives of the technologies are generation of space power, development of cost-effective and reliable, high performance power systems, cryogenic applications, energy storage, and reduction in gas-turbine emissions, with attendant clean jet engines. The terrestrial energy applications of the technologies include augmentation of bulk power in ground power distribution systems, and generation of residential, commercial and remote power, as well as promotion of pollution-free environment via reduction in combustion emissions.

Kankam, David↗

State of Wildfires

Fire is an essential component of ecosystems and acts as key driver of biogeochemical cycling with impacts on vegetation structure and composition, soil conditions, and climate feedbacks. Fire behavior and effects vary based on the types of fuel, fuel dryness, and frequency of ignition. Due to changing climate and land use patterns, fire danger is increasing in many regions globally, and fires are having increasingly devastating impacts on human health, infrastructure, and ecosystem services. Recurrent fires help to determine the distribution of trees and grasses, and overall fuel load, which inform the behavior of future fires. Process-based models can be used to capture multi-scale impacts at the forest stand-level up to the landscape level, and across minutes to centuries, but must capture variation in fire behavior and intensity as a function of the fuel and climate, from high intensity forest crown fires within boreal regions to low intensity rapid grass fires of the tropics. Fire model development demonstrates our ability to capture large scale fire influenced biogeography and vegetation distribution at the earth system scale through vegetation traits and fire feedbacks. At the individual stand scale the importance of interactions and feedbacks between above and below ground process is essential to capturing the vegetation dynamics across boreal forest systems. Improving the mechanics of including plant physiology and specifically live fuel moisture content is the next step to advancing the capability of process based models to inform fire research. Advances in the testing and creation of a mechanistic live fuel moisture model demonstrate the foundation for future live fuel dynamics research that can be informed by field and remote sensing information. Improved remote sensing, technological and modeling capabilities support a more comprehensive and cohesive fire response that will be better equipped to overcome current barriers and anticipate the new reality of fires in a warming world.

wildfires↗

Soot and hydrocarbon formation in a turbulent diffusion flame

Formation and emission of soot and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PCAH) from a turbulent continuous flow combustor have been studied. Measurements included mass concentration of both soot and PCAH, composition of individual PCAH, and size distribution of soot particles, as a function of mixing intensity, fuel equivalence ratio and type of fuel (kerosene or benzene). Both soot and PCAH concentrations reach maxima early in the flame, after which PCAH decays rapidly and soot decays much slower. The maximum PCAH concentration always preceded that of soot in agreement with the concept that certain PCAH may serve as intermediates in soot formation. An approximate calculation based on the assumptions of local equilibrium with respect to soot formation and a Gaussian distribution of air-fuel mixedness gave satisfactory correlations of the data on soot formation at the higher cold gas velocity. At the lower velocity, the amount of soot and PCAH formed was drastically increased and strongly dependent on fuel atomization.

Prado, G. P.↗

Sizing an external-fueled in-core thermionic reactor.

Parametric studies on sizing of external-fueled in-core thermionic reactors are presented. Reactor physics results obtained for a variety of fuel element designs are used as a basis for nuclear criticality, power distribution, and control worth design. Thermionic performance results for a single fuel element for several sets of operating conditions are presented. An algorithm combining the electrical and reactor physics results in a form amenable to preliminary systems analysis is presented.

Nakashima, A. M.↗

Comparison of alternate fuels for aircraft

A comparison of candidate alternate fuels for aircraft is presented. The fuels discussed include liquid hydrogen, liquid methane, and synthetic aviation kerosene. Each fuel is evaluated from the standpoint of production, transmission, airport storage and distribution facilities, and use in aircraft. Technology deficient areas for cryogenic fuels, which should be advanced prior to the introduction of the fuels into the aviation industry, are identified, as are the cost and energy penalties associated with not achieving those advances. Environmental emissions and safety aspects of fuel selection are discussed. A detailed description of the various fuel production and liquefaction processes and their efficiencies and economics is given.

Witcofski, R. D.↗

Characterization of a swept-strut hydrogen fuel-injector for scramjet applications

Results of an experimental investigation of a swept-strut hydrogen fuel-injector simulating the center strut of a three strut scramjet module at Mach 6 flight conditions are presented. Detailed wall pressure distributions from over 100 separate tests with overall fuel flow from 0.1 to 1.3 times stoichiometric and test gas stagnation temperature from 1100 to 2400 K were recorded. The distance for pressure rise from the point of injection was found to increase with increasing test stagnation temperature. This trend indicates that chemical kinetics in the immediate region of perpendicular injection are not likely to be the mechanism controlling the onset of pressure rise. A fluid dynamic mechanism is suggested involving separation of the boundary layer downstream of injection which is forced upstream from the trailing edge by pressure rise due to combustion occurring in the base region of the strut. The results obtained indicate that the swept-strut fuel-injector concept can be adapted to a wide range of flight conditions by varying the amount of perpendicular fuel injection.

Northam, G. B.↗

Simulations of Evaporating Multicomponent Fuel Drops

A paper presents additional information on the subject matter of Model of Mixing Layer With Multicomponent Evaporating Drops (NPO-30505), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 28, No. 3 (March 2004), page 55. To recapitulate: A mathematical model of a three-dimensional mixing layer laden with evaporating fuel drops composed of many chemical species has been derived. The model is used to perform direct numerical simulations in continuing studies directed toward understanding the behaviors of sprays of liquid petroleum fuels in furnaces, industrial combustors, and engines. The model includes governing equations formulated in an Eulerian and a Lagrangian reference frame for the gas and drops, respectively, and incorporates a concept of continuous thermodynamics, according to which the chemical composition of a fuel is described by use of a distribution function. In this investigation, the distribution function depends solely on the species molar weight. The present paper reiterates the description of the model and discusses further in-depth analysis of the previous results as well as results of additional numerical simulations assessing the effect of the mass loading. The paper reiterates the conclusions reported in the cited previous article, and states some new conclusions. Some new conclusions are: 1. The slower evaporation and the evaporation/ condensation process for multicomponent-fuel drops resulted in a reduced drop-size polydispersity compared to their single-component counterpart. 2. The inhomogeneity in the spatial distribution of the species in the layer increases with the initial mass loading. 3. As evaporation becomes faster, the assumed invariant form of the molecular- weight distribution during evaporation becomes inaccurate.

Bellan, Josette↗

Electrochemical engineering

Rotating disks, current and potential distribution in cylindrical geometrics, foaming electrolyte fuel cell, and iodine cathode

Source record↗

A study of the steady state spray equation.

A constant cross-sectional area rocket motor was used to study the combustion of a spray of ethanol in gaseous oxygen. The variables of the combustion gas and the flux of liquid ethanol versus the distance from the injector, were determined by an experimental-analytical method which did not require any assumption about the distribution, drag, and vaporization of the fuel drops (static pressure measurements were used instead). The steady-state spray equation is solved, for various drag and vaporization models, and the local flux of liquid ethanol thus calculated is compared with the experimentally determined one for the purpose of selecting a proper spray combustion model.

Bracco, F. V.↗

Heat-Exchanger Computational Procedure For Temperature-Dependent Fouling

Computer program predicts heat-exchanger performance under variety of conditions. Program provides rapid means of calculating distribution of fluid and wall temperatures, fuel deposit formation, and pressure losses at various locations in heat exchanger. Developed for use with heat exchanger that vaporizes fuel prior to fuel ignition; other applications possible.

Chiappetta, L.↗

KC-135 winglet program overview

A joint NASA/USAF program was conducted to accomplish the following objectives: (1) evaluate the benefits that could be achieved from the application of winglets to KC-135 aircraft; and (2) determine the ability of wind tunnel tests and analytical analysis to predict winglet characteristics. The program included wind-tunnel development of a test winglet configuration; analytical predictions of the changes to the aircraft resulting from the application of the test winglet; and finally, flight tests of the developed configuration. Pressure distribution, loads, stability and control, buffet, fuel mileage, and flutter data were obtained to fulfill the objectives of the program.

Barber, M. R.↗

Quasar evolution and the growth of black holes

A 'minimalist' model of AGN evolution is analyzed that links the measured luminosity function to an elementary description of black hole accretion. The observed luminosity function of bright AGN is extrapolated and simple prescriptions for the growth and luminosity of black holes are introduced to infer quasar birth rates, mean fueling rates, and relict black hole distribution functions. It is deduced that the mean accretion rate scales as (M exp -1./5)(t exp -6.7) and that, for the most conservative model used, the number of relict black holes per decade declines only as M exp -0.4 for black hole masses between 3 x 10 exp 7 and 3 x 10 exp 9 solar masses. If all sufficiently massive galaxies pass through a quasar phase with asymptotic black hole mass a monotonic function of the galaxy mass, then it is possible to compare the space density of galaxies with estimated central masses to that of distant quasars.

Small, Todd A.↗

Investigation of Effects of Inlet-air Velocity Distortion on Performance of Turbojet Engine

To determine effect of nonuniform inlet-air velocities, a full scale, axial-flow turbojet engine was investigated in Lewis altitude wind tunnel at altitudes from 20,000 to 50,000 feet, 0.21 flight Mach number and corrected engine speeds from 77.3 percent of rated speed to rated speed. Total-pressure variations as large as 103 pounds per square foot in radial direction and 90 pounds per square foot in circumferential direction at 30,000 feet were obtained. With the distortions investigated, net thrust varied between 0.95 and 1.03 of the thrust with uniform inlet-air distribution. Similarly the ratio of specific fuel consumption varied from 1.00 to 1.04. Within the arrange of this investigation the effects of nonuniform inlet velocity were not serious for the engine investigated.

AIR INLETS↗

High-speed Oil Engines for Vehicles. Part II

Further progress toward the satisfactory solution of the difficult problem of the distribution and atomization of the injected fuel was made by extensive experimentation with various fuel valves, nozzles, and atomizing devices. Valuable information was also obtained through numerous experimental researches on the combustion of oils and the manner of introducing the combustion air into the cylinder, as well as on the physical processes of atomization, the determination of the size of drops, etc. These researches led to the conclusion that it is possible, even without producing great turbulence in the combustion chamber and at moderate pump pressure, if the degree of atomization and the penetrative power of the fuel jet are adapted to the shape of the combustion chamber and to the dimensions of the cylinder.

ENGINES, OIL↗