海角社区 Mechanical Engineering Professor Seeks to Better Understand Fuel Droplet Dynamics in Propulsion Systems
July 8, 2024
BATON ROUGE, LA 鈥� 海角社区 Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor Shyam Menon is part of a collaborative project with Missouri University of Science and Technology that will develop strategies to facilitate a better understanding of the physics of high-speed propulsion systems. Such systems have application in the defense sector and civilian sector, including supersonic commercial transport and commercial rocketry for space access.
Menon is working with Missouri S&T Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Associate Professor Zhi Liang, who is principal investigator on the project. The work is sponsored by a three-year, $600,000 grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
Specifically, the duo is researching microscale liquid fuel droplets. Understanding the dynamics and evaporation of these droplets鈥攖ypically .001-.01 cm in diameter and found in fuel sprays generated by high-speed propulsion systems used by the U.S. Air Force鈥攊n super critical environments is important to the design and development of advanced propulsion systems. Droplet dynamics can critically influence fuel-air mixing, effecting things like combustor stability, performance, and emissions.
鈥淥ur overarching goal is to develop strategies that will facilitate predictive modeling of high-speed propulsion systems,鈥� Menon said. 鈥淭his will be demonstrated through the multiscale modeling approach validated by experimental measurements of fundamental droplet dynamic processes at supercritical conditions. We will also develop a unique test data set for microscale droplets at extreme conditions that can be utilized by other researchers.鈥�
Menon鈥檚 role in the project is to develop experimental capabilities for studying droplet processes at supercritical conditions and generate highly spatially- and temporally-resolved data to validate the research team鈥檚 multiscale modeling approaches. In his lab at 海角社区, he will examine droplet phase change and vaporization, droplet collisions, and droplet-shock wave interactions using a high-pressure/temperature test chamber that offers a view of what is taking place inside, a shock tube, and high-speed imaging diagnostics.
鈥淥ur project outcomes have the potential to increase [modeling fidelity]. We also hope to shed light on the underlying fluid dynamics and fluid physics at conditions that have been relatively unexplored in previous work. I would say our experimental approaches focusing on high spatial and temporal resolution could yield first-of-a-kind test data at these extreme conditions.鈥�
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