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Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering

Optimization Of Mixing Efficiency In Low Reynolds Unlike Doublet Injectors By Incorporating Swirl, Samuel Braggins Ligon Jan 2020

Optimization Of Mixing Efficiency In Low Reynolds Unlike Doublet Injectors By Incorporating Swirl, Samuel Braggins Ligon

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

One of the largest issues concerning industrial cube satellite manufacturing is the development of propulsion systems at extremely small scales. Bipropellant cube satellite propulsion systems face challenges associated with the mixing of two fluids which operate in low Reynolds number environments. Low Reynolds, or laminar, fluid flow is unique to cube satellite injection systems because of their unprecedented small scale. This work is intended to both test the validity of a proposed cube satellite injection system, and to test the accuracy of numerical method approaches to solving the problem of laminar flow mixing in such devices. The proposed injector is …


Experimental And Computational Studies Of Heat Transfer In Flexible Two-Dimensional Woven Fiber Ceramic Materials, Rodrigo Penide Fernandez Jan 2020

Experimental And Computational Studies Of Heat Transfer In Flexible Two-Dimensional Woven Fiber Ceramic Materials, Rodrigo Penide Fernandez

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Flexible thermal protection materials made from two-dimensional woven ceramics fibers are of significant interest for hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerators being developed by NASA for future missions on Mars and other planets. A key component of the thermal shield is a heat-resistant outer ceramic fabric that must withstand harsh aero-thermal atmospheric entry conditions. However, a predictive understanding of heat conduction processes in complex woven-fiber ceramic materials under deformation is currently lacking. This dissertation presents a combined experimental and computational study of thermal conductivity in alumina-based Nextel-440 and silicon carbide Hi-Nicalon 5-harness-satin woven fabrics, using the hot-disk transient plane source method and …


Characterization Of The University Of Vermont Plasma Torch And Simulation Of Pyrolysis Gas And Plasma Interactions, Precious Jagun Jan 2020

Characterization Of The University Of Vermont Plasma Torch And Simulation Of Pyrolysis Gas And Plasma Interactions, Precious Jagun

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

In previous studies done at the University of Vermont’s Inductively coupled Plasma (ICP) touch facility, the plasma conditions were always assumed to be in Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium(LTE) state. To improve the knowledge of the thermodynamic properties of the plasma conditions, in this study, experiments and analysis were conducted to determine whether or not the facility is indeed in LTE. LIF data was collected at 7mm off the exit of the quartz tube and compared with CEA simulations for the same plasma conditions. The facility was also better characterized by using LTE analyses of the absolute emission intensities to determine the …