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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 415 records · Page 23
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Role of ring-enlargement reactions in the formation of aromatic hydrocarbons

Ring-enlargement reactions can provide a fast route towards the formation of six-membered single-ring or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). To investigate the participation of the cyclopentadienyl (C 5 H 5 ) radical in ring-enlargement reactions in high-temperature environments, a mass-spectrometric study was conducted. Experimental access to the C 5 H 5 high-temperature chemistry was provided by two counterflow diffusion flames. Cyclopentene was chosen as a primary fuel given the large amount of resonantly stabilized cyclopentadienyl radicals produced by its decomposition and its high tendency to form PAHs. In a second experiment, methane was added to the fuel stream to promote methyl addition pathways and to assess the importance of ring-enlargement reactions for PAH growth. The experimental dataset includes mole fraction profiles of small intermediate hydrocarbons and of several larger species featuring up to four condensed aromatic rings. Results show that, while the addition of methane enhances the production of methylcyclopentadiene and benzene, the concentration of larger polycyclic hydrocarbons is reduced. The increase of benzene is probably attributable to the interaction between the methyl and the cyclopentadienyl radicals. However, the formation of larger aromatics seems to be dominated only by the cyclopentadienyl driven molecular-growth routes which are hampered by the addition of methane. Furthermore, in addition to the experimental work, two chemical mechanisms were tested and newly calculated reaction rates for cyclopentadiene reactions were included. In an attempt to assess the impact of cyclopentadienyl ring-enlargement chemistry on the mechanisms’ predictivity, pathways to form benzene, toluene, and ethylbenzene were investigated. Results show that the updated mechanism provides an improved agreement between the computed and measured aromatics concentrations. Nevertheless, a detailed study of the single reaction steps leading to toluene, styrene, and ethylbenzene would be certainly beneficial.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS1978

Characteristics and combustion of future hydrocarbon fuels

As the world supply of petroleum crude oil is being depleted, the supply of high-quality crude oil is also dwindling. This dwindling supply is beginning to manifest itself in the form of crude oils containing higher percentages of aromatic compounds, sulphur, nitrogen, and trace constituents. The result of this trend is described and the change in important crude oil characteristics, as related to aircraft fuels, is discussed. As available petroleum is further depleted, the use of synthetic crude oils (those derived from coal and oil shale) may be required. The principal properties of these syncrudes and the fuels that can be derived from them are described. In addition to the changes in the supply of crude oil, increasing competition for middle-distillate fuels may require that specifications be broadened in future fuels. The impact that the resultant potential changes in fuel properties may have on combustion and thermal stability characteristics is illustrated and discussed in terms of ignition, soot formation, carbon deposition flame radiation, and emissions.

Rudey, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Characteristics and combustion of future hydrocarbon fuels

Changes in fuel properties that are expected in future hydrocarbon fuels for aircraft are discussed along with the principal properties of 'syncrudes' and the fuels that can be derived from them. The impact that the resultant potential changes in fuel properties may have on combustion and thermal stability characteristics is illustrated and discussed in terms of ignition, soot formation, carbon deposition, flame radiation, and emissions.

Rudey, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Fundamental rocket injector/spray programs at the Phillips Laboratory

The performance and stability of liquid rocket engines is determined to a large degree by atomization, mixing, and combustion processes. Control over these processes is exerted through the design of the injector. Injectors in liquid rocket engines are called upon to perform many functions. They must first of all mix the propellants to provide suitable performance in the shortest possible length. For main injectors, this is driven by the tradeoff between the combustion chamber performance, stability, efficiency, and its weight and cost. In gas generators and preburners, however, it is also driven by the possibility of damage to downstream components, for example piping and turbine blades. This can occur if unburned fuel and oxidant later react to create hot spots. Weight and cost considerations require that the injector design be simple and lightweight. For reusable engines, the injectors must also be durable and easily maintained. Suitable atomization and mixing must be produced with as small a pressure drop as possible, so that the size and weight of pressure vessels and turbomachinery can be minimized. However, the pressure drop must not be so small as to promote feed system coupled instabilities. Another important function of the injectors is to ensure that the injector face plate and the chamber and nozzle walls are not damaged. Typically this requires reducing the heat transfer to an acceptable level and also keeping unburned oxygen from chemically attacking the walls, particularly in reusable engines. Therefore the mixing distribution is often tailored to be fuel-rich near the walls. Wall heat transfer can become catastrophically damaging in the presence of acoustic instabilities, so the injector must prevent these from occurring at all costs. In addition to acoustic stability (but coupled with it), injectors must also be kinetically stable. That is, the flame itself must maintain ignition in the combustion chamber. This is not typically a problem with main injectors, but can be a consideration in preburners, where the desire to keep turbine inlet temperatures as cool as possible can make it advantageous for the preburners to operate as far from stoichiometry as can be tolerated. For some missions such as single stage to orbit, all of the above requirements must be maintained over a throttleable range, for example 5:1 to 10:1. Finally, the injectors must be ignitable during startup where pressures and temperatures are far from design conditions, and ignition transients must be minimized in order to avoid damage to engine components. In order to satisfy these various constraints, the injector designer must be able to perform design tradeoff studies, and it is important that this be done with minimal time and costs. In fact, it can easily be argued that reducing engine development time and costs is essential to maintaining U.S. competitiveness in space. The Propulsion Directorate of the Phillips Laboratory has invested in a number of programs to advance liquid rocket engine technology, and several of these are directed at improving design tools for liquid rocket injectors. The purpose of the presentation will be to describe some of these latter programs.

Talley, D. G.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Experimental Investigation of Magnesium Powder Combustion With C02 for Mars Ascent Applications

Combustion of metals with CO2 has been identified as a possible propellant for Mars ascent applications. CO2 could be condensed from the Martian atmosphere, reducing the amount of propellant that must be transported from Earth. An attractive feature of this approach compared to other in situ propellant concepts is that no chemical processing on Mars is required. Magnesium has been identified as the most promising metal for this application because it ignites and burns easily in CO2. Preliminary systems studies indicate a 2 to 1 delivered mass advantage for Mg ascent propulsion using in situ C02, as compared to a conventional storable propellant system. The Propulsion Research Center at MSFC is undertaking an experimental investigation of magnesium powder combustion with CO2 in order to provide fundamental data on the combustion performance of Mg powder + CO2 mixtures needed to assess the feasibility of developing a practical Mg powder + CO2 rocket engine. Initial combustion experiments will be carried out in a small scale atmospheric pressure dump combustor. Effects of varying the Mg particle size, firing rate and O/F ratio on combustion stability and efficiency will be investigated. The combustion process will be characterized by optical flame measurements and extraction of combustion product samples. The experimental facility is currently being prepared and combustion experiments will begin during the first quarter of 2005. The final paper will describe the test facility and initial experimental results.

Foote, John P.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Dual Use Space Technology Transfer Conference Paper

New textile fibers have been developed or modified to meet the complex and constraining criteria of space applications. The most common of these criteria are light weight, nonflammability or flame retardancy, and high strength and durability in both deep space environment and the oxygen enriched crew bay area of the spacecraft. The fibers which successfully pass the tests of flammability and toxicity, and display the desired mechanical properties are selected for space applications. Such advanced fibers developed for the Crew and Thermal Systems Division (CTSD) at the Johnson Space Center include 'Beta' fiber, heat stabilized polybenzimidazole and polyimide, as well as modified aramid Durette(TM), multi-fibrous Ortho(TM) fabric, and flame resistant cotton. The physical, mechanical, and chemical properties of these fibers are briefly discussed. The testing capabilities in the CTSD laboratory to ascertain some of the properties of these and other fibrous materials are also discussed. Most of these materials developed for spacecraft, space suit, and flight equipment applications have found other commercial applications. These advanced textile fibers are used mostly for aircraft, transportation, public buildings, hospitals, and protective clothing applications.

Orndoff, Evelyne↗
NASA NTRS1993

Flame balls - Past, present and future

This paper discusses analytical and numerical work that has been carried out in order to understand flame-balls and related phenomena that have been observed in microgravity experiments. The importance of heat losses is identified, whether from conduction, convection, or radiation. Accurate numerical simulations for hydrogen-air mixtures with radiation losses reveal a flammability limit of 3.5 percent of hydrogen by volume, a value close to the experimental one. The important role of stability analyses is emphasized, with particular attention to the role of three-dimensional instabilities in explaining unsteady spheroidal flames and flame-strings, objects that are observed in the experiments. We speculate that the dynamics of flame-strings is affected by in-depth radiation absorption for mixtures containing SF6, and report on some preliminary calculations in which this phenomenon is accounted for.

Buckmaster, J.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Turbulence, combustion, pollutant, and stability characterization of a premixed, step combustor

A two dimensional combustion tunnel was constructed to study a lean premixed turbulent propane/air flame stablized behind a rearward facing step. Studied were: (1) the existence and importance of large coherent structures in turbulent reacting and nonreacting free shear layers behind the steps; (2) the effect of inlet temperature and reference velocity on combustion efficiency; (3) CO, NO2 and NO sub x production in the flame; and (4) the blowout and upstream propagation of the flame. In the ranges studied, the large coherent structures dominated both the reacting and the nonreacting free shear layers behind the step. The growth of the vortices and the propagation of the flamer were intimately linked. Vortex pairing was observed to be one of the mechanisms for introduction of fresh reactants into the shear layer and growth of the shear layer. Probe composition measurements of the flame showed that, in the recirculation zone, the reaction was above 99 percent complete, CO and unburnt hydrocarbons were above the equilibrium level NO sub x concentration was far below the equilibrium level and NO2 comprised a negligible fraction of NO sub x.

Ganji, A. T.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Additives in Localized High Concentration Electrolytes for Safe Lithium-Ion Batteries

In this work, the effects of various additives in a localized high concentration electrolyte (LHCE) on the cycling performance of lithium (Li)-ion batteries were studied. The LHCEs utilize trimethyl phosphate as a flame-retarding solvent and 1H,1H,5H-octafluoropentyl 1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethyl ether as a medium-high flash point diluent, for the purpose to reduce the electrolyte flammability and improve the battery safety, which are not possessed by the conventional electrolytes of LiPF 6 in organic carbonates due to their high flammability. The LHCEs have unique solvation structure which enables the use of flame-retardant solvents to greatly decrease the electrolyte flammability as well as enhance the battery cycling stability. However, the additives added in the LHCEs result in different battery performances. The organic carbonate additives largely reduce the initial capacities although the cell capacity can be partially recovered with cycling. The two phosphate salt additives behave better than the organic carbonate additives in terms of cell capacity and cycling stability. More cell performance evaluation will be conducted and the detailed characterization will be performed to investigate the root causes of different behaviors of additives in the LHCEs on battery performances.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
NASA NTRS1990

Down-to-earth studies of carbon clusters

Recent advances in supersonic beam experiments with laser-vaporization sources of clusters have provided some interesting new insights into the nature of the small clusters of carbon, and the processes through which carbon condenses. One cluster in particular, C(sub 60), appears to play a central role. It is argued that this cluster takes the shape of a soccerball: a hollow sphere composed of a shell of 60 carbon atoms connected by a lattice of hexagonal and pentagonal rings, in a pattern of overall icosahedral symmetry. Although C(sub 60) appears to be uniquely stable due to its perfect symmetry, all other even-numbered carbon clusters in the 32 to 100+ atom size range seem to favor similar closed spheroidal forms. These species are interpreted as relatively unreactive side products in condensation reactions of carbon vapor involving spiraling graphitic sheets. The prevalence of C(sub 60) in laser-vaporized carbon vapors and sooting flames suggests that it may be formed readily whenever carbon condenses. Such ready formation and extraordinary stability may have substantial astrophysical implications.

Smalley, R. E.↗
NASA NTRS1978

The effect of cycle variables on the emissions and performance of lean premixed gas turbine primary zone combustor

Experiments were conducted in which a stream of premixed propane and air was burned under conditions representative of gas-turbine operation. Emissions of NOx, CO, and unburned hydrocarbons were measured over a range of combustor inlet temperature (600-1000 K), pressure (5-30 atm), and residence time (1-3 msec) at equivalence ratios from 0.7 down to the lean stability limit. At inlet temperatures of 800 and 1000 K, NOx emissions displayed little sensitivity to pressure. At an inlet temperature of 600 K, observed NOx levels dropped markedly with decreasing pressure for pressures below 20 atm. NOx levels were proportional to combustor residence time, and formation rate was principally a function of adiabatic flame temperature. For adiabatic flame temperatures of 2050 K and higher, CO reached chemical equilibrium within 2 msec. Unburned hydrocarbon species dropped to a negligible level within 2 msec regardless of inlet temperature, pressure, or equivalence ratio. For a combustor residence time of 2.5 msec, combustion inefficiency became less than 0.01% at an adiabatic flame temperature of 2050 K. The maximum combustion inefficiency observed was of the order of 1% and corresponded to conditions near the lean stability limit.

Roffe, G.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Improved plasma torch for ignition and flame holding in supersonic combustion

A plasma torch system designed for ignition and flame-holding in supersonic combustion studies has been modified, in order to decrease electrode wear and increase stability, through the incorporation of a flow swirler in the gas inlet that adds vortex-stabilization to the arc. The torch body was redesigned in order to achieve superior alignment of the electrodes; the electrode gap was made continuously adjustable, thereby allowing fine tuning during torch operation. Table operation of the improved torch has been demonstrated in pure nitrogen, eliminating the requirement of argon gas for arc stabilization.

O'Brien, W. F.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Stability Criteria for Self-Propagating Reaction Waves in Co/Al Multilayers

The propagation of self-sustained formation reactions in sputter-deposited Co/Al multilayers is known to exhibit a design-dependent instability. Multilayers having thin bilayers (<55 nm period) exhibit stable propagating waves, whereas those with a larger period react unstably. The specific two-dimensional (2D) instability observed involves the transverse propagation of a band in front of a stalled front commonly referred to as a “spin band.” Previous finite-element studies have shown that these instabilities are thermodynamically driven by the forward conduction of heat away from the flame front. However, the magnitude of that loss is inherently tied to the bilayer design in traditional bimetallic multilayers, which couples any proposed stability criteria to a varying critical diffusion distance. Here, this work utilizes a recently developed class of materials known as “inert-mediated reactive multilayers” to decouple the thermodynamic and kinetic contributions to propagating wave stability by reducing the stored chemical energy density in normally stable bilayer designs. By depositing an inert product phase (B2-CoAl) within the mid-plane of Co and Al reactant layers, spin instabilities arise as a function of both diluted volume and critical diffusion distance. From there, a stability criterion is determined for Co/Al multilayers based on enthalpy loss from the reaction zone, and its physical significance is explored.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

The use of partial fuel stratification to enable stable ultra-lean deflagration-based Spark-Ignition engine operation with controlled end-gas autoignition of gasoline and E85

Lean operation of Spark-Ignition engines can provide higher thermal efficiency compared to standard stoichiometric operation. However, for a homogeneous lean mixture, the associated reduction of flame speeds becomes an important issue from the perspective of robust ignition and fast flame spread throughout the charge. This study is focused on the use of a lean partial fuel stratification strategy that can stabilize the deflagration, while sufficiently fast combustion is ensured via the use of end-gas autoignition. The engine has a spray-guided Direct-Injection Spark-Ignition combustion system and was fueled with either a high-octane certification gasoline or E85. Partial fuel stratification was achieved using several fuel injections during the intake stroke in combination with a small pilot-injection concurrent with the Spark-Ignition. The results reveal that partial fuel stratification enables very stable combustion, offering higher thermal efficiency for parts of the load range in comparison to well-mixed lean and stoichiometric combustion. The heat release and flame imaging demonstrate that the combustion often has three distinct stages. The combustion of the pilot-injected fuel, ignited by the normal spark, acts as a “super igniter,” ensuring a very repeatable initiation of combustion, and flame incandescence reveals locally rich conditions. The second stage is mainly composed of blue flame propagation in a well-mixed lean mixture. The third stage is the compression autoignition of a well-mixed and typically very lean end-gas. The end-gas autoignition is critical for achieving high combustion efficiency, high thermal efficiency, and stable combustion. Partial fuel stratification enables very effective combustion-phasing control, which is critical for controlling the occurrence and intensity of end-gas autoignition. Comparing the gasoline and E85 fuels, it is noted that achieving end-gas autoignition for the higher octane E85 requires a more aggressive compression of the end-gas via the use of a more advanced combustion phasing or higher intake-air temperature.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
NASA NTRS1997

Fuel Line Based Acoustic Flame-Out Detection System

An acoustic flame-out detection system that renders a large high pressure combustor safe in the event of a flame-out and possible explosive reignition. A dynamic pressure transducer is placed in the fuel and detects the stabilizing fuel pressure oscillations, caused by the combustion process. An electric circuit converts the signal from the combustion vortices, and transmitted to the fuel flow to a series of pulses. A missing pulse detector counts the pulses and continuously resets itself. If three consecutive pulses are missing, the circuit closes the fuel valve. With fuel denied the combustor is shut down or restarted under controlled conditions.

Puster, Richard L.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Computation of Steady and Unsteady Laminar Flames: Theory

In this paper we describe the numerical analysis underlying our efforts to develop an accurate and reliable code for simulating flame propagation using complex physical and chemical models. We discuss our spatial and temporal discretization schemes, which in our current implementations range in order from two to six. In space we use staggered meshes to define discrete divergence and gradient operators, allowing us to approximate complex diffusion operators while maintaining ellipticity. Our temporal discretization is based on the use of preconditioning to produce a highly efficient linearly implicit method with good stability properties. High order for time accurate simulations is obtained through the use of extrapolation or deferred correction procedures. We also discuss our techniques for computing stationary flames. The primary issue here is the automatic generation of initial approximations for the application of Newton's method. We use a novel time-stepping procedure, which allows the dynamic updating of the flame speed and forces the flame front towards a specified location. Numerical experiments are presented, primarily for the stationary flame problem. These illustrate the reliability of our techniques, and the dependence of the results on various code parameters.

Hagstrom, Thomas↗
NASA NTRS1982

Further industrial tests of ceramic thermal barrier coatings

The NASA Lewis Research Center made technical assistance arrangements (contracts) with several commercial organizations under which Lewis designed plasma-sprayed thermal-barrier coatings (TBC) for their products. Lewis was then furnished with the test conditions and evaluations of coating usefulness. The coating systems were developed and sprayed at Lewis. All of the systems incorporated a two-layer, ceramic-bond coating concept. Coating thickness and chemical composition were varied to fit three applications: the leading edges of first-stage turbine vanes for an advanced gas turbine engine; the flame impingement surfaces of a combustor transition section; and diesel engine valves and head surfaces. The TBC incorporated yytria-stabilized zirconia, which lowered metal temperatures, protected metal parts, and increased metal part life. In some cases metal burning, melting, and warping were eliminated. Additional benefits were realized from these endeavors: hands-on experience with thermal-barrier coatings was provided to industry; the success of these endeavors encourages these and other organizations to accelerate the implementation of TBC technology.

Liebert, C. H.↗