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At least 163 records · Page 9

Shock Tube Radiation Measurements in Nitrogen

Spectrally and spatially resolved radiance has been measured in the Electric Arc Shock Tube (EAST) facility, with the aim of improving fundamental understanding of high enthalpy flows in pure nitrogen. These tests provide data to inform models used for simulations of high speed flight in nitrogen rich atmospheres, such as Earth or Titan. The experiments presented in this paper cover conditions from approximately 6 km/s to 11 km/s at an initial pressure of 0.2 Torr. A wide range of physics, with different degrees of non-equilibrium and nitrogen dissociation, are covered. The EAST data are presented in different formats for analysis and comparisons. These formats include the spectral radiance at equilibrium (where appropriate), the spatial dependence of radiance over defined wavelength ranges and the mean non-equilibrium spectral radiance (the so-called "spectral non-equilibrium metric"). All the information needed to simulate each experimental trace, including free-stream conditions, shock time of arrival (i.e. x-t) relation, and the spectral and spatial resolution functions, are provided. Equilibrium radiation calculations are shown as a reference. It is the intention of this paper to motivate code comparisons benchmarked against this data set.

shock tube↗

A piston-actuated shock-tube, with laser-Schlieren diagnostics

The essential construction features of a piston actuated shock tube are described, and its advantages relative to the conventional use of diaphragm ruptures for shock initiation are listed. Typical operational parameters are presented to illustrate the levels of reproducibility achieved. Tests with He and N2 drivers into about 99 percent Ar covered shock speeds from 1.539 +/- 0.002-0.8143 +/- 0.002 mm/microsec, corresponding to 2390-847 K incident shock temperatures. Application of this tube for recording postshock front density gradients of the endoergic dissociation of ethane and the exoergic condensation of iron atoms via the laser-Schlieren technique is described.

Hurst, S. M.↗

Application of the space-time conservation element and solution element method to shock-tube problem

An Euler solver based on the method of space-time conservation element and solution element is in this paper to simulate shock-tube flows involving shock waves, contact discontinuities, expansion waves and their intersections. Seven test problems are considered to examine the capability of this method. The numerical results, when compared with exact solutions and/or numerical solutions by other methods, indicate that the present method can accurately resolve strong shock and contact discontinuities without using any ad hoc techniques which are used only at the neighborhood of a discontinuity.

Wang, Xiao-Yen↗

Performance and operating characteristics of the arc-driven Langley 6-inch shock tube

Performance characteristics for the arc-driven Langley 6-inch shock tube were determined for driver energies from 0.62 to 5 MJ. Voltage, current and pressure histories of the arc driver were recorded, and driver efficiencies were determined from measured shock velocities. Time-resolved spectra for test gases of air, carbon monoxide, xenon, and a mixture of 80 percent helium and 20 percent hydrogen are presented.

Nealy, J. E.↗

Time Accurate Simulation of Nonequilibrium Flow inside the NASA Ames Electric Arc Shock Tube

Numerical investigations of the ow field inside NASA Ames' Electric Arc Shock Tube have been performed. The focus is to simulate the experiments designed to reproduce shock layer radiation layer relevant to Earth re-entry conditions. This paper assess the current computational capability in simulating unsteady nonequilibrium flows in the presence of strong shock waves with state-of-the-art physical models. The technical approach is described with preliminary results presented for one specific ow condition. The numerical problems encountered during the computation of these flows are detailed, along with the methods used to resolve them. Post-shock conditions are discussed and compared to CEA equilibrium prediction.

Bensassi, Khalil↗

Hot electron preheat effects in two-photon polymerization plastic lattice laser-driven shock-tube experiments on the OMEGA laser

We present simulations of Omega shock tube experiments designed to investigate hot electron preheat effects in 3D-printed, two-photon polymerization (2PP) plastic lattices. Preheat is inferred in the experiments from the expansion of a plastic witness disk embedded in the lattice. Using the Eulerian radiation-hydrodynamics code xRAGE, we model shock propagation and preheat from both radiative and hot electron energy sources to evaluate their relative impact. To simulate the transport of laser-generated hot electrons, the nonlocal electron heat transport model proposed by Schurtz, Nicolaï, and Busquet (SNB) is extended with a hot electron source term and an energy cascade algorithm. We explore how variations in ablator, lattice geometry, and laser drive affect the shock velocity and witness disk expansion. Simulations show that the inclusion of a 5 μm gold layer reduces shock pressure by 60% and shock speeds by 30%–40% but does not significantly reduce the hot electron preheat, and that different lattice geometries lead to enhanced shock velocities—up to 40% faster than in homogeneous foams. However, radiative and conductive preheat from classical mechanisms alone fail to match experiment. By including a hot electron source term, we reproduce experimental observables such as disk expansion rates and spatial radiographic features. We find that a hot electron population corresponding to 4%–8% of the incident laser energy with T hot = 50 keV produces expansion which agrees with the experimental data, suggesting hot electron preheat is the most plausible explanation.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Shock tube spectroscopy of C3 + C2H mixture in the 140 to 700 nm range

Absorption spectroscopy has been performed in the reflected-shock region of a shock tube. Acetylene was shock-heated to produce a mixture, at around 4000 K, rich in C3 and C2H to simulate the ablation layer over the Jovian entry probe, and the spectral range from 140 to 700 nm was surveyed with an evacuable spectrograph. The observed spectra were dominated by those of C2 and C3 and an unknown band at wavelengths below 300 nm. The cross sections of the C3 Swings band in the 300 to 450 nm range agreed with previous measurements within a factor of 1.5. No absorption was observed in the wavelength range from 550 to 700 nm. The unknown broadband absorption with a peak cross section of 4 times 10 to the minus 17/sq cm at around 170 nm was attributed tentatively to the C2H radical. A preliminary calculation showed that the newly found absorption band would reduce the radiative heat flux to the stagnation point wall by about 12.5% in a typical flight condition.

Prakash, S. G.↗

Comparisons of Air Radiation Model with Shock Tube Measurements

This paper presents an assessment of the predictive capability of shock layer radiation model appropriate for NASA s Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle lunar return entry. A detailed set of spectrally resolved radiation intensity comparisons are made with recently conducted tests in the Electric Arc Shock Tube (EAST) facility at NASA Ames Research Center. The spectral range spanned from vacuum ultraviolet wavelength of 115 nm to infrared wavelength of 1400 nm. The analysis is done for 9.5-10.5 km/s shock passing through room temperature synthetic air at 0.2, 0.3 and 0.7 Torr. The comparisons between model and measurements show discrepancies in the level of background continuum radiation and intensities of atomic lines. Impurities in the EAST facility in the form of carbon bearing species are also modeled to estimate the level of contaminants and their impact on the comparisons. The discrepancies, although large is some cases, exhibit order and consistency. A set of tests and analyses improvements are proposed as forward work plan in order to confirm or reject various proposed reasons for the observed discrepancies.

Bose, Deepak↗

Probing the Effects of NO x and SO x Impurities on Oxy-Fuel Combustion in Supercritical CO 2 : Shock Tube Experiments and Chemical Kinetic Modeling

The direct-fired supercritical carbon dioxide cycles are one of the most promising power generation methods in terms of their efficiency and environmental friendliness. Two important challenges in implementing these cycles are the high pressure (300 bar) and high CO 2 dilution (>80%) in the combustor. The design and development of supercritical oxy-combustors for natural gas require accurate reaction kinetic models to predict the combustion outcomes. The presence of a small amount of impurities in natural gas and other feed streams to oxy-combustors makes these predictions even more complex. During oxy-combustion, trace amounts of nitrogen present in the oxidizer is converted to NO x and gets into the combustion chamber along with the recirculated CO 2 . Similarly, natural gas can contain a trace amount of ammonia and sulfurous impurities that get converted to NO x and SO x and get back into the combustion chamber with recirculated CO 2 . In this work, a reaction model is developed for predicting the effect of impurities such as NO x and SO x on supercritical methane combustion. The base mechanism used in this work is GRI Mech 3.0. H 2 S combustion chemistry is obtained from Bongartz et al. while NOx chemistry is from Konnov. The reaction model is then optimized for a pressure range of 30–300 bar using high-pressure shock tube data from the literature. It is then validated with data obtained from the literature for methane combustion, H 2 S oxidation, and NO x effects on ignition delay. The effect of impurities on CH 4 combustion up to 16 atm is validated using NO x -doped methane studies obtained from the literature. In order to validate the model for high-pressure conditions, experiments are conducted at the UCF shock tube facility using natural gas identical mixtures with N 2 O as an impurity at ~100 bar. Current results show that there is a significant change in ignition delay with the presence of impurities. A comparison is made with experimental data using the developed model and predictions are found to be in good agreement. The model developed was used to study the effect of impurities on CO formation from sCO 2 combustors. It was found that NO x helps in reducing CO formation while the presence of H 2 S results in the formation of more CO. The reaction mechanism developed herein can also be used as a base mechanism to develop reduced mechanisms for use in CFD simulations.

Energy & Fuels↗