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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 613 records · Page 34

Effect of spark repetition rate on the ignition limits of a single tubular combustor /Hampton H. Foster

The effect of spark repitition rate on the altitude ignition limits of a single tubular (turbojet engine) combustor was investigated. An increase in sparking rate from 3 to 140 sparks per second reduced the ignition limiting combustor-inlet pressure about 2 to 4 inches of mercury for air-flow rates of 1.87 and 2.80 pounds per second per square foot.520::At 3.75 pounds pe At 3.75 pounds per second per square foot, the corresponding reduction was 4 to 12 inches of mercury. The trend was similar for both low-and high-volatility fuels and for two spark-energy levels.

IGNITION SYSTEMS - ENGINES, JET↗

Altitude Wind Tunnel Investigation of the Performance of Compressor, Combustor, and Turbine Components of Prototype J47D (RX1-1) Turbojet Engine

As a portion of an over-all performance investigation of the prototype J47D (RX-1) turbojet engine, performance of the compressor, combustor, and turbine components has been determined in the Lewis altitude wind tunnel over a range of altitude from 5000 to 55,000 feet and at flight Mach numbers from 0.19 to 0.92. Investigations were conducted with the engine operating on an electronic control schedule and slow with a two-lever control system by which fuel flow and exhaust-nozzle area could be controlled separately. Two combustor configurations were investigated.

ENGINES, TURBO-JET↗

Preliminary Investigation of Combustion of Diborane in a Turbojet Combustor

Boron and its hydrides offer increased flight range relative to conventional fuels for turbojet engines. Preliminary evaluation has been made of the combustion characteristics and deposition problems resulting from burning diborone in a single, modified J33 combustor. A combustor relatively free of deposits for the limited test conditions has been developed. Three possible methods of alleviating deposits on the turbine blades are reported.

Kaufman, Warner B↗

Modified Tubular Combustors as High-temperature Gas Generators

A pair of combustors and transition liners in a quarter-annular, direct-connect assembly was operated at temperatures up to 2400 degrees F to determine the feasibility of using production-type combustor systems as high-tmeperature gas generators for turbine-cooling studies. Operation at high temperatures for 32 hours was possible when minor liner modifications were made that provided greater cooling-air flow between the turbine casing and interior components.

Friedman, Robert↗

Performance of Four Experimental High-btu-per-gallon Fuels in a Single Turbojet Combustor

Performance characteristics of four hydrocarbon fuels having high Btu per gallon were determined in a single turbojet combustor. At simulated low-altitude operating conditions, the fuels with high Btu per gallon generally produced more carbon than did JP-4 and JP-5 fuels. The deposits were reduced appreciably with a fuel-oil additive. At high-altitude conditions, the high Btu-per-gallon fuels gave lower efficiencies than did JP-4 or JP-5 fuels. No attempts were made to improve performance by combustor design modification.

Jonash, Edmund R↗

Performance at Simulated High Altitudes of a Prevaporizing Annular Turbojet Combustor Having Low Pressure Loss

An annular prevaporizing turbojet combustor having pressure losses lower than those obtained in current turbojet combustors was developed, Pressure losses of 2 to 4 percent, satisfactory temperature profiles, and combustion efficiencies of 98, 88, and 81 percent were obtained at 56,000, 70,000, and 80,000 feet respectively, for a simulated 5.2- pressure-ratio engine at rated speed and 0.6 flight Mach number with JP-4 fuel. Use of JP-5 fuel resulted in a small penalty in efficiency due, at least in part, to insufficient prevaporizer capacity.

Norgren, Carl T↗

Performance of an Experimental Annular Turbojet Combustor with Methane and Propane

Combustion efficiencies obtained with gaseous methane were compared with reported data obtained with gaseous propane for the same experimental combustor configuration. The combustion efficiencies obtained with methane were 98, 91, and 77 percent at simulated flight altitudes of 56,000, 70,000 and 80,000 feet, corresponding to combustor inlet-air pressures from 15 to 5 inches of mercury absolute. Combustion efficiencies with propane were equivalent to those with methane up to a simulated altitude of 70,000 feet. At the most severe conditions investigated propane operated with a higher efficiency and over a wider range of fuel-air ratio than methane.

Norgren, Carl T↗

Effect of Fuel Variables on Carbon Formation in Turbojet-Engine Combustors

Report presents the results of an investigation of the effects of fuel properties and of a number of fuel additives on combustion-chamber carbon deposition and exhaust-gas smoke formation in a single tubular turbojet-engine combustor. Limited tests were conducted with a number of the fuels in several full-scale turbojet engines to verify single-combustor data.

Jonash, Edmund R↗

Temperature in a J47-25 Turbojet-engine Combustor and Turbine Sections During Steady-state and Transient Operation in a Sea-level Test Stand

In order to determine the conditions of engine operation causing the most severe thermal stresses in the hot parts of a turbojet engine, a J47-25 engine was instrumented with thermocouples and operated to obtain engine material temperatures under steady-state and transient conditions. Temperatures measured during rated take-off conditions of nozzle guide vanes downstream of a single combustor differed on the order of 400 degrees F depending on the relation of the blades position to the highest temperature zone of the burner. Under the same operation conditions, measured midspan temperatures in a nozzle guide vane in the highest temperature zone of a combustor wake ranged from approximately 1670 degrees F at leading and trailing edges to 1340 degrees F at midchord on the convex side of the blade. The maximum measured nozzle-guide-vane temperature of 1920degrees at the trailing edge occurred during a rapid acceleration from idle to rated take-off speed following which the tail-pipe gas temperature exceeded maximum allowable temperature by 125 degrees F.

Morse, C R↗

Analysis of supersonic flows using k-epsilon model and the RPLUS code: Progress towards high speed combustor analysis

The problem of interest here is the analysis of chemically reacting flow inside of supersonic ramjet combustors. Two key parameters need to be determined: mixing/combustion efficiency and kinetic energy efficiency. In order to determine these parameters, several potential loss mechanisms must be modeled correctly, including mixing, shear, turbulence, vorticity, shock waves, heat transfer, fuel injector drag, poor wall pressure integral, and chemical dissociation. This document discusses k-epsilon turbulence models for use in the RPLUS code for numerical modeling of combustor flow fields.

Lee, J.↗

A numerical study of mixing and combustion in hypervelocity flows through a scramjet combustor model

Interest in high speed, air-breathing propulsion systems such as scramjets has revived in recent years fueled to a large extent by the National Aerospace Plane (NASP) program. These vehicles are expected to fly trans-atmospheric and as a consequence, the Mach number level within the engine/combustor would be rather high (M greater than 5). Ground based testing of such scramjet engines requires a facility that can not only achieve the right Mach number, but also have the proper pressures and temperatures to simulate the combustion processes. At present, only pulse type facilities can provide such high enthalpy flows. The newest of these is the free-piston shock tunnel, T5 located at GALCIT. Recently, a generic combustor model was tested in T5, and the experimental data from that study is analyzed in the present report. The available experimental data from T5 are essentially the static pressures on the injection wall and the one opposite to it. Thus, a principal aim of the present study was to validate the available experimental data by using a proven CFD tool and then investigate the performance characteristics of the combustor model, such as, the mixing efficiency and combustion efficiency. For this purpose, in this study, the code GASP has been used.

Krishamurthy, Ramesh↗

Multi-dimensional combustor flowfield analyses in gas-gas rocket engine

The objectives of the present research are to improve design capabilities for low thrust rocket engines through understanding of the detailed mixing and combustions processes. Of particular interest is a small gaseous hydrogen-oxygen thruster which is considered as a coordinated part of an on-going experimental program at NASA LeRC. Detailed computational modeling requires the application of the full three-dimensional Navier Stokes equations, coupled with species diffusion equations. The numerical procedure is performed on both time-marching and time-accurate algorithms and using an LU approximate factorization in time, flux split upwinding differencing in space. The emphasis in this paper is focused on using numerical analysis to understand detailed combustor flowfields, including the shear layer dynamics created between fuel film cooling and the core gas in the vicinity on the nearby combustor wall; the integrity and effectiveness of the coolant film; three-dimensional fuel jets injection/mixing/combustion characteristics; and their impacts on global engine performance.

Tsuei, Hsin-Hua↗

Non-intrusive measurements in a rocket engine combustor

In recent years analytical tools to characterize combustor flow have been developed in order to support design. To facilitate anchoring of combustion related physical models and the CFD codes in which they are incorporated, considerable development and application of non-intrusive combustion diagnostic capabilities has occurred. Raman spectroscopy can be used to simultaneously detect all polyatomic molecules present in significant concentrations and to determine gas temperature. This is because all molecules possess a distinct temperature dependent Raman spectrum. A multi-point diagnostic system for non-intrusive temperature and species profiling in rocket engines has been developed at Rocketdyne. In the present effort, the system has been undergoing validation for application to rocket engine component testing. A 4 inch diameter windowed combustor with a coaxial gas-gas injector was chosen for this series of validation experiments. Initially an excimer-pumped tunable dye laser and later a solid state Nd-Yag laser served as excitation sources. The Raman signal was dispersed by a monochromator and detected by a gated, intensified Charged Coupled Device (CCD) array. Experiments were carried out prior to each series of hot fire tests to ensure that the Raman signal detected was due to a spontaneous rather than a stimulated Raman emission process. Over sixty hot fire tests were conducted during the first series of tests with the excimer/dye laser. All hot fire testing was at a mixture ratio of 0.5 and chamber pressures of approximately 100 and approximately 300 psia. The Raman spectra of hydrogen, water vapor and oxygen recorded during single element hot fire tests were reduced and analyzed. A significant achievement was the attainment of single shot Raman spectra in cold flow tests. Unfortunately, the single shot signal-to-noise ratio deteriorated to an unacceptable level during the hot fire testing. Attempts to obtain temperature data from the hydrogen Q1-branch profiles obtained in hot fire tests suggest that potentially complicating factors may render the approach of averaging data on the photodiode array invalid. A second series of hot fire tests was conducted with a 4 element coaxial injector using the Nd-Yag laser. A very compact and portable diagnostics set up was assembled for ease of alignment, relocation and flexibility. Measurements were made at several regions in the chamber in order to map concentration profiles. High spatial resolution and improved signal to noise characteristics were demonstrated.

Farhangi, S.↗

Sensitivity of Combustion-Acoustic Instabilities to Boundary Conditions for Premixed Gas Turbine Combustors

Premixed combustors, which are being considered for low NOx engines, are susceptible to instabilities due to feedback between pressure perturbations and combustion. This feedback can cause damaging mechanical vibrations of the system as well as degrade the emissions characteristics and combustion efficiency. In a lean combustor instabilities can also lead to blowout. A model was developed to perform linear combustion-acoustic stability analysis using detailed chemical kinetic mechanisms. The Lewis Kinetics and Sensitivity Analysis Code, LSENS, was used to calculate the sensitivities of the heat release rate to perturbations in density and temperature. In the present work, an assumption was made that the mean flow velocity was small relative to the speed of sound. Results of this model showed the regions of growth of perturbations to be most sensitive to the reflectivity of the boundary when reflectivities were close to unity.

Darling, Douglas↗

Combustion-acoustic stability analysis for premixed gas turbine combustors

Lean, prevaporized, premixed combustors are susceptible to combustion-acoustic instabilities. A model was developed to predict eigenvalues of axial modes for combustion-acoustic interactions in a premixed combustor. This work extends previous work by including variable area and detailed chemical kinetics mechanisms, using the code LSENS. Thus the acoustic equations could be integrated through the flame zone. Linear perturbations were made of the continuity, momentum, energy, chemical species, and state equations. The qualitative accuracy of our approach was checked by examining its predictions for various unsteady heat release rate models. Perturbations in fuel flow rate are currently being added to the model.

Darling, Douglas↗

Modeling scramjet combustor flowfields with a grid adaptation scheme

The accurate description of flow features associated with the normal injection of fuel into supersonic primary flows is essential in the design of efficient engines for hypervelocity aerospace vehicles. The flow features in such injections are complex with multiple interactions between shocks and between shocks boundary layers. Numerical studies of perpendicular sonic N2 injection and mixing in a Mach 3.8 scramjet combustor environment are discussed. A dynamic grid adaptation procedure based on the equilibration of spring-mass system is employed to enhanced the description of the complicated flow features. Numerical results are compared with experimental measurements and indicate that the adaptation procedure enhances the capability of the modeling procedure to describe the flow features associated with scramjet combustor components.

Ramakrishnan, R.↗

Concentration Measurements in a Cold Flow Model Annular Combustor Using Laser Induced Fluorescence

A nonintrusive concentration measurement method is developed for determining the concentration distribution in a complex flow field. The measurement method consists of marking a liquid flow with a water soluble fluorescent dye. The dye is excited by a two dimensional sheet of laser light. The fluorescent intensity is shown to be proportional to the relative concentration level. The fluorescent field is recorded on a video cassette recorder through a video camera. The recorded images are analyzed with image processing hardware and software to obtain intensity levels. Mean and root mean square (rms) values are calculated from these intensity levels. The method is tested on a single round turbulent jet because previous concentration measurements have been made on this configuration by other investigators. The previous results were used to comparison to qualify the current method. These comparisons showed that this method provides satisfactory results. 'Me concentration measurement system was used to measure the concentrations in the complex flow field of a model gas turbine annular combustor. The model annular combustor consists of opposing primary jets and an annular jet which discharges perpendicular to the primary jets. The mixing between the different jet flows can be visualized from the calculated mean and rms profiles. Concentration field visualization images obtained from the processing provide further qualitative information about the flow field.

Morgan, Douglas C.↗

Imaging of Combustion Species in a Radially-Staged Gas Turbine Combustor

Planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) is used to characterize the complex flowfield of a unique fuel-lean, radially-staged, high pressure gas turbine combustor. PLIF images of OH are presented for two fuel injector configurations. PLIF images of NO, the first acquired at these conditions, are presented and compared with gas sample extraction probe measurements. Flow field imaging of nascent C2 chemiluminescence is also investigated. An examination is made of the interaction between adjoining lean premixed prevaporized (LPP) injectors. Fluorescence interferences at conditions approaching 2000 K and 15 atm are observed and attributed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emissions. All images are acquired at a position immediately downstream of the fuel injectors with the combustor burning JP-5 fuel.

Locke, Randy J.↗