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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 289 records · Page 16

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NASA NTRS1976

Effect of flame stabilizer design on performance and exhaust pollutants of a two-row 72-module swirl-can combustor

A test program was conducted to evaluate the effects of four flame stabilizer designs on the performance and gaseous pollutant levels of an experimental full-annular swirl-can combustor. Combustor operating parameters, including inlet-air temperature, reference velocity, and fuel-air ratio, were set to simulate conditions in a 30:1 pressure ratio engine. Combustor inlet total pressure was held constant at 6 atm due to the facility limit. Combustor performance and gaseous pollutant levels were strongly affected by the geometry and resulting total pressure loss of the four flame stabilizer designs investigated. The addition of shrouds to two designs produced an 18 to 22% decrease in the combustion chamber pressure loss and thus resulted in doubling the exit temperature pattern factor and up to 42% higher levels of oxides of nitrogen. A previously developed oxides of nitrogen correlating parameter agreed with each model within an emission index of plus or minus 1 but was not capable of correlating all models together.

Biaglow, J. A.↗

NASA NTRS1976

The pollution reduction technology program for can-annular combustor engines - Description and results

Pollutant reduction and performance characteristics were determined for three successively more advanced combustor concepts. Program Element I consisted of minor modifications to the current production JT8D combustor and fuel system to evaluate means of improved fuel preparation and changes to the basic airflow distribution. Element II addressed versions of the two-staged Vorbix (vortex burning and mixing) combustor and represented a moderate increase in hardware complexity and difficulty of development. The concept selected for Element III employed vaporized fuel as a means of achieving minimum emission levels and represented the greatest difficulty of development and adaptation to the JT8D engine. Test results indicate that the Element I single-stage combustors were capable of dramatic improvement in idle pollutants. The multistage combustors evaluated in Program Elements II and III simultaneously reduced CO, THC and NOx emissions, but were unable to satisfy the current 1979 EPA standards.

Roberts, R.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Remote measurements of ambient air pollutants with a bistatic laser system

The ambient air pollutants ozone, nitric oxide, and ethylene have been monitored in the Pasadena area with a bistatic IR laser apparatus. These pollutants were measured with a differential absorption technique, using selected wavelengths in the 9.5-, 5.2-, and 10.5-micron regions, respectively. The transmitted laser radiation was detected using both direct and heterodyne detection techniques. In the direct detection case, cube corner retroreflectors provided the return, and the heterodyne detection responded to scattered radiation from various rough surfaces, ranging from 400 m to 1.9 km in distance from the apparatus. Significant departures from ambient background concentration levels were noticed in the region near a local freeway during periods of moderate and heavy traffic.

Menzies, R. T.↗

NASA NTRS1977

A simulation of air pollution model parameter estimation using data from a ground-based LIDAR remote sensor

One way to obtain estimates of the unknown parameters in a pollution dispersion model is to compare the model predictions with remotely sensed air quality data. A ground-based LIDAR sensor provides relative pollution concentration measurements as a function of space and time. The measured sensor data are compared with the dispersion model output through a numerical estimation procedure to yield parameter estimates which best fit the data. This overall process is tested in a computer simulation to study the effects of various measurement strategies. Such a simulation is useful prior to a field measurement exercise to maximize the information content in the collected data. Parametric studies of simulated data matched to a Gaussian plume dispersion model indicate the trade offs available between estimation accuracy and data acquisition strategy.

Kibler, J. F.↗

NASA NTRS1976

A simulation of water pollution model parameter estimation

A parameter estimation procedure for a water pollution transport model is elaborated. A two-dimensional instantaneous-release shear-diffusion model serves as representative of a simple transport process. Pollution concentration levels are arrived at via modeling of a remote-sensing system. The remote-sensed data are simulated by adding Gaussian noise to the concentration level values generated via the transport model. Model parameters are estimated from the simulated data using a least-squares batch processor. Resolution, sensor array size, and number and location of sensor readings can be found from the accuracies of the parameter estimates.

Kibler, J. F.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Numerical problems in the advection of pollutants

Prediction of pollutant transport involves solution of the advection equation numerically. Truncation errors arising from integrating the advection equation by using finite difference schemes are discussed. Numerical errors manifest themselves in artificial dissipation and dispersion of pollutants. Criteria for measuring the dissipation and dispersion are presented, and minimization of those errors is discussed. An alternative procedure by integration in the wavenumber space is examined. Examples illustrating quantitative discrepancy in actual forecasting are also shown.

Liu, C. Y.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Remote sensing of air pollutants

Monitoring of pollutants within the troposphere is discussed. Selected specific techniques were investigated and it was shown how the use of these techniques fits into the overall national strategy for air pollution abatement.

Eckert, J. A.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Burning crude oil without pollution

Crude oil can be burned at drilling sites by two-stage combustion process without producing pollution. Process allows easier conformance to strict federal or state clean air standards without installation of costly pollution removal equipment. Secondary oil recovery can be accomplished with injection of steam heating by burning oil.

Houseman, J.↗

NASA NTRS1977

The effects of the pollutant, sodium cyanide, on the morphology and physiology of oedogonium cardiacum

OEDOGONIUM cardiacum exposed to varying concentrations of sodium cyanide for 15 day periods exhibited both morphological and physiological alterations. Organisms were exposed to the pollutant in concentrations of 1, 10, 25, 50, and 100 parts per million. Exposure period for organisms in each concentration was 15 days. As the concentration of the pollutant increased fragmentation also increased. Exposure also caused organisms to lose chlorophyll. The third morphological alteration was the incidence of rupture. Physiological effects altered by exposure included: reduced oxygen evolution, retardation of starch production and death. Death occurs when organisms are exposed to high concentrations over the total 15 day period.

Sparks, E.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Satellite passive remote sensing of off-shore pollutants, volume 2

Satellite detection and monitoring of off-shore dumped pollutants, other than oil, are discussed. Summaries of satellite sensor performance in three spectral bands (visible, infrared, and microwave) are presented. The bulk of the report gives all the calculations, trade-offs and limitations of the three sensor systems. It is asserted that the problem of pollution monitoring is not a sensor problem but a problem of mathematical modeling and data processing.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1979

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.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Annoyance due to noise and air pollution to the residents of heavily frequented streets

The residents of different streets with varying traffic density and building density were questioned about annoyance due to traffic noise and air pollution. Results show that annoyance felt is dependent not only on the measured noise levels and/or air pollution concentrations, but that there do exist interactions between the residential quarters and annoyance. These interactions should be considered when fixing the limits and standards.

Wanner, H. U.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Advanced technology for controlling pollutant emissions from supersonic cruise aircraft

Gas turbine engine combustor technology for the reduction of pollutant emissions is summarized. Variations of conventional combustion systems and advanced combustor concepts are discussed. Projected results from far term technology efforts aimed at applying the premixed prevaporized and catalytic combustion techniques to aircraft combustion systems indicate a potential for significant reductions in pollutant emission levels.

Duerr, R. A.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Assessment of space sensors for ocean pollution monitoring

Several passive and active microwave, as well as passive optical remote sensors, applicable to the monitoring of oil spills and waste discharges at sea, are considered. The discussed types of measurements relate to: (1) spatial distribution and properties of the pollutant, and (2) oceanic parameters needed to predict the movement of the pollutants and their impact upon land. The sensors, operating from satellite platforms at 700-900 km altitudes, are found to be useful in mapping the spread of oil in major oil spills and in addition, can be effective in producing wind and ocean parameters as inputs to oil trajectory and dispersion models. These capabilities can be used in countermeasures.

Alvarado, U. R.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Measurement of dielectric properties and determination of microwave emissivity of polluted waters

The dielectric properties of polluted waters are measured with a reflection-type resonant cavity at 1.43 GHz. Very small water samples in quartz tubes of known volume are placed in the center of the maximum electric field. Measurement of the resonance-frequency variation and a change of the cavity's quality factor are used to determine the dielectric properties. The microwave emissivity of the polluted water is then calculated via the Fresnel equation and applied to data reductions of microwave radiometer measurements.

Blume, H.-J. C.↗

NASA NTRS1981

An application of Landsat and computer technology to potential water pollution from soil erosion

Agricultural activity has been recognized as the primary source of nonpoint source water pollution. Water quality planners have needed information that is timely, accurate, easily reproducible, and relatively inexpensive to utilize to implement 'Best Management Practices' for water quality. In this paper, a case study shows how the combination of satellite data, which can give accurate land-cover/land-use information, and a computerized geographic information system, can assess nonpoint pollution at a regional scale and be cost effective.

Campbell, W. J.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Air pollutant production by algal cell cultures

The production of phytotoxic air pollutants by cultures of Chlorella vulgaris and Euglena gracilis is considered. Algal and plant culture systems, a fumigation system, and ethylene, ethane, cyanide, and nitrogen oxides assays are discussed. Bean, tobacco, mustard green, cantaloupe and wheat plants all showed injury when fumigated with algal gases for 4 hours. Only coleus plants showed any resistance to the gases. It is found that a closed or recycled air effluent system does not produce plant injury from algal air pollutants.

Fong, F.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Advection fog formation and aerosols produced by combustion-originated air pollution

The way in which pollutants produced by the photochemical reaction of NO(X) and SO(X) affect the quality of the human environment through such phenomena as the formation of advection fog is considered. These pollutants provide the major source of condensation nuclei for the formation of fog in highways, airports and seaports. Results based on the monodisperse, multicomponent aerosol model show that: (1) condensation nuclei can grow and form a dense fog without the air having attained supersaturation; (2) the mass concentration range for NO(X) is one-third that of SO(X); and (3) the greater the mass concentration, the particle concentration, and the radius of condensation nuclei, the denser the fog that is formed.

Hung, R. J.↗