Propulsion and Power Commons^™

Magnus Effect In Duct Flow, Cameron W. Clarke, Jesse S. Batko, Kenneth W. Smith Jr.

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The following research paper details the preliminary research carried out by this team. The project was originally conceived to determine if Magnus Lift could be utilized in an unconventional way to assist rockets during takeoff. Several conceptual designs were proposed, but the idea was scrapped when it became apparent that the team would not be able to generate the desired lift without inducing significant amounts of drag and additional weight on a rocket. Instead, the team focused on researching an interesting topic that hasn’t been previously explored: Magnus lift on a cylinder within a duct. An experimental procedure that could …

Magnus Effect In Duct Flow, Jesse S. Batko, Cameron W. Clarke, Kenneth W. Smith Jr.

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The following research paper details the preliminary research carried out by this team. The project was originally conceived to determine if Magnus Lift could be utilized in an unconventional way to assist rockets during takeoff. Several conceptual designs were proposed, but the idea was scrapped when it became apparent that the team would not be able to generate the desired lift without inducing significant amounts of drag and additional weight on a rocket. Instead, the team focused on researching an interesting topic that hasn’t been previously explored: Magnus lift on a cylinder within a duct.

An experimental procedure that could …

Design Of The Structural And Propulsion Systems For The 2015 University Of Akron Rocket Team, Kyle W. Dehoff, Nicholas J. Hrusch

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

No abstract provided.

Identification Of Hydrodynamic Forces Developed By Flapping Fins In A Watercraft Propulsion Flow Field, Erdem Aktosun

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In this work, the data analysis of oscillating flapping fins is conducted for mathematical model. Data points of heave and surge force obtained by the CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) for different geometrical kinds of flapping fins. The fin undergoes a combination of vertical and angular oscillatory motion, while travelling at constant forward speed. The surge thrust and heave lift are generated by the combined motion of the flapping fins, especially due to the carrier vehicle’s heave and pitch motion will be investigated to acquire system identification with CFD data available while the fin pitching motion is selected as a function …

Helical Models Of The Bidirectional Vortex In A Conical Geometry, Timothy Andrew Barber

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation represents the descriptive and analytical breakdown of two new fluid dynamics solutions for vortex motion. Both solutions model the bidirectional vortex within a conical geometry. The first explored solution satisfies a simple Beltramian characteristic, where the Lamb vector is identically zero. The second solution is of the generalized Beltramian type, which fulfills the condition that the curl of the Lamb vector is equal to zero. The two Beltramian solutions describe the axisymmetric, double helical motion often found in industrial cyclone separators. Other applications include cone-shaped, vortex-driven combustion chambers and the swirling flow through conical devices. Both solutions are …

Stability Of Particle-Mean Flow Interactions In Solid And Hybrid Rockets, Trevor Sterling Elliott

Doctoral Dissertations

Combustion instabilities associated with rocket motors as a result of unsteady components in the combustion chamber flow have been known to cause pressure oscillations. These pressure oscillations can result in changes to flight characteristics and vibrations translated to the rocket or payload. The unsteady components are comprised of two subcomponents, the vortico-acoustic fluctuations and the hydrodynamic fluctuations. As the vortico-acoustic fluctuations have been investigated in an exhaustive manner this work will focus on the hydrodynamic fluctuations. It has been known that the addition of particles increases specific impulse due to the resulting increase in combustion temperature and mass flow. They …

Adomian Decomposition Of The Flowfield In A Simulated Rocket Motor, Jeisson Juliany Parra

Masters Theses

The work presents an analytic, approximate solution to an internal flowfield for a solid rocket motor. The flowfield is modeled as a wall-normal injection or suction in a symmetric porous channel with laterally expanding or contracting walls. From the effective speeds that gases are ejected into the combustion chamber of typical rocket motors, the flowfield is modeled to be incompressible. Since the flame zone occurs in a very thin space above the propellant grain surface, it will be disregarded. Assuming linearly varying axial velocity and uniform expansion (or contraction), the Navier-Stokes equations will be reduced into a single nonlinear equation …

Cold Flow Performance Of A Ramjet Engine, Harrison G. Sykes

Master's Theses

The design process and construction of the initial modular ramjet attachment to the Cal Poly supersonic wind tunnel is presented. The design of a modular inlet, combustor, and nozzle are studied in depth with the intentions of testing in the modular ramjet. The efforts undertaken to characterize the Cal Poly supersonic wind tunnel and the individual component testing of this attachment are also discussed. The data gathered will be used as a base model for future expansion of the ramjet facility and eventual hot fire testing of the initial components. Modularity of the inlet, combustion chamber, and nozzle will allow …

Achieving Global Range In Future Subsonic And Supersonic Airplanes, Nihad E. Daidzic Ph.D., Sc.D.

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

No commercial airplane in service today is able to fly half great-circle distances over the globe and achieve the non-stop or the global range to any antipodal location on Earth. A subsonic jetliner has the optimum cruising speed at Mach numbers approaching the drag divergence Mach number while still preserving relatively high aerodynamic efficiency. Various fuel-flow laws were used to investigate the cruise performance of subsonic and supersonic aircraft. The effect of wind and aircraft weight and how it affects the optimal cruising airspeed was investigated. Of all different operational cruising techniques, the cruise-climb at high Mach numbers is the …

Lightweight, High-Temperature Radiator For In-Space Nuclear-Electric Power And Propulsion, Briana N. Tomboulian

Doctoral Dissertations

The desire to explore deep space destinations with high-power and high-speed spacecraft inspired this work. Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP), shown to provide orders of magnitude higher specific impulse and propulsion efficiency over traditional chemical rockets, has been identified as an enabling technology for this goal. One of large obstacle to launching an NEP vehicle is total mass. Increasing the specific power (kW/kg) of the heat radiator component is necessary to meet NASA’s mass targets. This work evaluated a novel lightweight, high-temperature carbon fiber radiator designed to meet the mass requirements of future NEP missions. The research is grouped into three …

Exploration Of A Computational Fluid Dynamics Integrated Design Methodology For Potential Application To A Wind Turbine Blade, Gaurav Kapoor

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The main purpose of this thesis is to conduct a parametric sensitivity study on the blade design of AOC 15/50 wind turbine based on a CFD approach and optimize the blade design for maximizing the power output. The ANSYS® Fluent® flow solver using the k-ω SST turbulence model was validated by simulating the flow over two dimensional airfoils comprising the AOC 15/50 wind turbine blade. The CFD results have shown a considerable agreement with the experimental data for the airfoils. Parametric correlation study and sensitivity analysis were conducted by performing actual flow simulations over the turbine blade using ANSYS® Fluent®. …

Development Of An Optically-Actuated Carbon Nanotube (Cnt) Laminated Composite, John Alcorn

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Design Of A Thrust Stand To Introduce Propulsion Concepts In The Classroom, Ethan Hopping

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion, Adam Dziubanek

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Measuring Burning Rate Of Solid Rocket Propellant Using X-Ray Radioscopy, Matthew Denny

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Small Motor Testing For Determining The Burning Rate Of Solid Propellant, Daniel A. Jones

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Jet Breakup Length On The Acoustic Coupling Of Like-Doublet Injectors, Brian Sweeney

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Design Of A 3-D Printed Unified Hybrid Motor, Matthew A. Hitt, Michael D. Mascaro

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of Condensed And Early Stage Gas Phase Hypergolic Reactions, Jacob Daniel Dennis

Open Access Dissertations

Traditional hypergolic propellant combinations, such as those used on the space shuttle orbital maneuvering system first flown in 1981, feature hydrazine based fuels and nitrogen tetroxide (NTO) based oxidizers. Despite the long history of hypergolic propellant implementation, the processes that govern hypergolic ignition are not well understood. In order to achieve ignition, condensed phase fuel and oxidizer must undergo simultaneous physical mixing and chemical reaction. This process generates heat, intermediate condensed phase species, and gas phase species, which then may continue to react and generate more heat until ignition is achieved. The process is not well understood because condensed and …

Investigation Of Pulse Detonation Engine Flow Conditions For Turbomachinery Integration, Luis Estefano Ferrer-Vidal Espa˜Na-Heredia

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Pressure gain combustion has been known to be more thermodynamically efficient than its constant pressure counterpart, which employs deflagration. Integration of pressure gain combustors into gas turbine engines has been and still is one of the most important challenges facing the gas turbine industry. Pressure gain combustion devices are inherently unsteady. This unsteadiness affects turbomachinery components designed using steady operation assumptions, and results in mechanical inefficiencies which could outweigh the thermal efficiency benefits. Understanding of turbine components specifically made to operate in the exhaust conditions provided by a pressure gain combustor may yield new turbine design paradigms. As a first …