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Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering
Enabling Premixed Hydrogen-Air Combustion For Aeroengines Via Laboratory Experiment Modeling, Christopher James Caulfield
Enabling Premixed Hydrogen-Air Combustion For Aeroengines Via Laboratory Experiment Modeling, Christopher James Caulfield
Masters Theses
All combustion systems from large scale power plants to the engines of cars to gas turbines in aircraft are looking for new fuel sources. Recently, clean energy for aviation has come into the foreground as an important issue due to the environment impacts of current combustion methods and fuels used. The aircraft industry is looking towards hydrogen as a new, powerful, and clean fuel of the future. However there are several engineering and scientific challenges to overcome before hydrogen can be deployed into the industry. These issues
range from storing the hydrogen in a viable cryogenic form for an aircraft …
Model Predictive Power Management Of A Hybrid Electric Propulsion System For Aircraft, Tyler J. Wall
Model Predictive Power Management Of A Hybrid Electric Propulsion System For Aircraft, Tyler J. Wall
Masters Theses
This work presents the switched optimal power flow control for an aircraft with a hybrid electric propulsion system. The propulsion system is a switched system that operates in either of two modes: (i) battery discharging and electric motor propelling and (ii) battery charging and electric motor generating. The aircraft model and components that form the hybrid propulsion system are modeled as either an algebraic power source/sink or as a dynamic model with appropriate power and state interconnections. With the system model defined, a model predictive control power management strategy is set fourth which minimizes a performance index that includes altitude …
Development, Analysis, And Optimization Of A Swirl-Promoting Mean Flow Solution For Solid Rocket Motors, Andrew Steven Fist
Development, Analysis, And Optimization Of A Swirl-Promoting Mean Flow Solution For Solid Rocket Motors, Andrew Steven Fist
Masters Theses
This work demonstrates and analyses a new flow candidate for describing the internal gaseous motion in simulated rocket motors. The fundamental features of this solution include the conservation of key system properties also incorporated in the classic Taylor-Culick (TC) system (i.e. inviscid, axisymmetric, steady and rotational properties), while allowing for the development of a swirling velocity component. The work compares the new solution to the development and formulation of the classic TC system, ultimately identifying that both the new and classic solutions are special cases of the Bragg-Hawthorne equation. Following this development, the text then explores the development of energy-optimized …
The Decomposition Of Hydroxylammonium Nitrate Under Vacuum Conditions, Gregory A. Neff
The Decomposition Of Hydroxylammonium Nitrate Under Vacuum Conditions, Gregory A. Neff
Masters Theses
This research investigates the decomposition of the ionic liquid: hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN), under vacuum conditions. All research was conducted at the Aerospace Laboratory for Plasma Experiments (ALPE) at Western Michigan University. Hydroxylammonium nitrate solution 24% wt. in H2O was used consistently throughout this research. A variety of temperatures and pressures ranging from 23°C to 645°C and 6E-3 Torr to 4 Torr, respectively, were used to decompose HAN. The primary gaseous species resulting from these decomposition conditions are N2O, NO, and trace amounts of NO2. The formation of H2O, and N2 is conditional on the experimental conditions, and the formation of …
Computational Investigations Of Characteristic Performance Improvements For Subkilogram Laser Micropropulsion, Richard Joel Thompson
Computational Investigations Of Characteristic Performance Improvements For Subkilogram Laser Micropropulsion, Richard Joel Thompson
Masters Theses
Experimental investigations have evaluated the feasibility of using laser-driven plasma microthrusters for small-thrust, high-specific-impulse space maneuvers, particularly for micro- and nanosatellite missions. Recent work made use of the Mach2 hydromagnetics code for the construction of an adequate computational model of the micro-thruster opera- tion. This thesis expounds on this previous work by extending the computational modeling capabilities, allowing for the determination of plasma plume properties and characteristic performance assessment of the microthruster; this allows for further computational investi- gation of the performance improvements achieved by new design considerations. Two par- ticular design changes are implemented and measured: (i) the simulation …