• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.25-32
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• 2020

A numerical study on combustion instabilities in a model combustor was conducted with various momentum flux ratios. Five ratios are calculated based on an actual operating condition of rocket engine. As momentum flux ratio increases, the spreading angle on the injector outlet decreases. And, as increase of axial momentum flux, pressure fluctuation decreases inside the combustor. By using dynamic mode decomposition method, the acoustic modes inside the combustor are identified. Combustion stabilities are analyzed by comparing the damping coefficient of the 2^nd longitudinal mode.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.51-57
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• 2013

This study aims to experimentally investigate the combustion characteristics of a lean premixed swirl-stabilized burner with dual-stage fuel injection arrays. The results show that a variation in the fuel distribution to fuel stages 1 (upstream) and 2 (downstream) produces a noticeable change in the NOx and CO emissions. Reducing the confined ratio, defined as the ratio of the nozzle exit diameter to the liner diameter, may reduce NOx and CO emissions owing to reduced combustion loading and longer residence time, respectively. A nozzle exit velocity of 30 m/s shows the optimum characteristics in terms of NOx and CO emissions and flame stability: increasing or decreasing the nozzle exit velocity leads to a degradation in emissions or flame stability, respectively.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.24-33
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• 2010

Design of a Pump Jet Propulsor (PJP) was undertaken for an underwater body with axisymmetric configuration using axial/low compressor design techniques supported by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis for performance prediction. Experimental evaluation of the PJP was earned out through experiments in a Wind Tunnel Facility (WTF) using momentum defect principle for propulsive performance prior to proceeding with extensive experimental evaluation in towing tank and cavitation tunnel. Experiments were particularly conducted with respect to Self Propulsion Point (SPP), residual torque and thrust characteristics over a range of vehicle advance ratio in order to ascertain whether sufficient thrust is developed at the design condition with least possible imbalance torque left out due to residual swirl in the slip stream. Pumpjet and body models were developed for the propulsion tests using Aluminum alloy forged material. Tests were conducted from 0 m/s to 30 m/s at four rotational speeds of the PJP. SPP was determined confirming the thrust development capability of PJP. Estimation of residual torque was carried out at SPP corresponding to speeds of 15, 20 and 25 m/s to examine the effectiveness of the stator. Estimation of thrust and residual torque was also carried out at wind speeds 0 and 6 m/s for PJP RPMs corresponding to self propulsion tests to study the propulsion characteristics during the launch of the vehicle m water where advance ratios are close to Zero. These results are essential to assess the thrust performance at very low advance ratios to accelerate the body and to control the body during initial stages. This technique has turned out to be very useful and economical method for quick assessment of overall performance of the propulsor and generation of exhaustive fluid dynamic data to validate CFD techniques employed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.35 no.7
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• pp.709-715
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• 2011

In order to observe the wake interaction between tip vortices generated by a two-bladed rotor with slightly different pitch angles, the velocity components of the tip vortices were measured by using a two-dimensional LDV system. It was observed that the swirl velocity components of the ensuing blade deviated from the Vatistas' n = 2 vortex model and the axial velocity components of the preceding blade deviated from the Gaussian profile. It was also found that in the wake-age range of $200^{\circ}$ to $240^{\circ}$, the filament of the ensuing blade tip vortex was stretched as result of the closing in of two vortices. The results from these observations suggest the possibility that a similar wake interaction is generated in actual rotor blades, especially, in the ones with articulated hubs.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.3 no.4 s.9
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• pp.38-43
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• 2000

Recently, KARI(Korea Aerospace Research Institute, Korea) and CIAM(Central Institute of Aviation Motors, Russia) have made an effort in developing a centrifugal compressor for a small gas turbine engine as part of a collaboration program. This compressor has been designed as a sub-component for an axial-centrifugal compression system for a small turbo-shaft engine aiming adiabatic efficiency higher than 0.81. The geometrical design requirement imposes restrictions to have high inlet hub-to-tip ratio and inlet swirl flow. In this study, the compressor has been designed using the generalized experimental data established from those compressors having pressure ratio of 3.7 to 5. From this generalized empirical correlation, desirable values of design parameters could be obtained. Subsequently, quasi-3D and 3D viscous flow analyses have been performed to ensure the adopted methodology. It is expected that the centrifugal compressor provides total pressure ratio of 4.89, corrected mass flow-rate of 1.64kg/sec, and adiabatic efficiency of 0.815 with inlet hub-to-tip ratio of 0.641. These relatively high total pressure ratio and inlet hub-to-tip ratio are the main distinctive features in this design. Besides, one of the main features of this centrifugal compressor is the adoption of a double-row bladed diffuser to effectively decelerate the transonic flow leaving the impeller. The compressor has been manufactured and will be tested in the near future.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.283-293
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• 2015

The effect of the inlet swirling flow in a hydraulic turbine draft tube is a very complex phenomenon, which has been extensively investigated both theoretically and experimentally. In fact, the finding of the optimal flow distribution at the draft tube inlet in order to get the best performance has remained a challenge. Thus, attempting to answer this question, it was assumed that through an automatic optimization process a Genetic Algorithm would be able to manage a parameterized inlet velocity profile in order to achieve the best flow field for a particular draft tube. As a result of the optimization process, it was possible to obtain different draft-tube flow structures generated by the automatic manipulation of parameterized inlet velocity profiles. Thus, this work develops a qualitative and quantitative analysis of these new draft tube flow field structures provoked by the redesigned inlet velocity profiles. The comparisons among the different flow fields obtained clearly illustrate the importance of the flow uniformity at the end of the conduit. Another important aspect has been the elimination of the re-circulating flow area which used to promote an adverse pressure gradient in the cone, deteriorating the pressure recovery effect. Thanks to the evolutionary optimization strategy, it has been possible to demonstrate that the optimized inlet velocity profile can suppress or mitigate, at least numerically, the undesirable draft tube flow characteristics. Finally, since there is only a single swirl number for which the objective function has been minimized, the energy loss factor might be slightly affected by the flow rate if the same relation of the axial-tangential velocity components is maintained, which makes it possible to scale the inlet velocity field to different operating points.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.53-57
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• 2011

The present study has been carried out to analyze the flow characteristics of a heat recovery steam generator with the change of inlet flow conditions by using numerical flow analysis. The inlet of HRSG corresponds the outlet of gas turbine exit and the flow after gas turbine has strong swirl flow and turbulence. The inlet flow condition of HRSG should be included the exit flow characteristics of gas turbine. The present numerical analysis adopted the flow analysis result of gas turbine exit flow as a inlet flow condition of HRSG analysis. The computational flow analysis result of gas turbine exit shows that the maximum axial velocity appears near circular duct wall and the maximum turbulent kinetic energy and dissipation rate exist relatively higher gradient region of axial velocity. The comparison of flow analysis will be executed with change of inlet turbulent flow condition. The first case is using the inlet turbulent properties from the result of computational analysis of gas turbine exit flow, and the second case is using the assumed turbulent intensity with the magnitude proportional to the velocity magnitude and length scale. The computational results of flow characteristics for two cases show great difference especially in the velocity field and turbulent properties. The main conclusion of the present study is that the flow inlet condition of HRSG should be included the turbulent properties for the accurate computational result of flow analysis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.1-2
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• 2011

Hybrid rockets have lately attracted attention as a strong candidate of small, low cost, safe and reliable launch vehicles. A significant topic is that the first commercially sponsored space ship, SpaceShipOne vehicle chose a hybrid rocket. The main factors for the choice were safety of operation, system cost, quick turnaround, and thrust termination. In Japan, five universities including Hokkaido University and three private companies organized "Hybrid Rocket Research Group" from 1998 to 2002. Their main purpose was to downsize the cost and scale of rocket experiments. In 2002, UNISEC (University Space Engineering Consortium) and HASTIC (Hokkaido Aerospace Science and Technology Incubation Center) took over the educational and R&D rocket activities respectively and the research group dissolved. In 2008, JAXA/ISAS and eleven universities formed "Hybrid Rocket Research Working Group" as a subcommittee of the Steering Committee for Space Engineering in ISAS. Their goal is to demonstrate technical feasibility of lowcost and high frequency launches of nano/micro satellites into sun-synchronous orbits. Hybrid rockets use a combination of solid and liquid propellants. Usually the fuel is in a solid phase. A serious problem of hybrid rockets is the low regression rate of the solid fuel. In single port hybrids the low regression rate below 1 mm/s causes large L/D exceeding a hundred and small fuel loading ratio falling below 0.3. Multi-port hybrids are a typical solution to solve this problem. However, this solution is not the mainstream in Japan. Another approach is to use high regression rate fuels. For example, a fuel regression rate of 4 mm/s decreases L/D to around 10 and increases the loading ratio to around 0.75. Liquefying fuels such as paraffins are strong candidates for high regression fuels and subject of active research in Japan too. Nakagawa et al. in Tokai University employed EVA (Ethylene Vinyl Acetate) to modify viscosity of paraffin based fuels and investigated the effect of viscosity on regression rates. Wada et al. in Akita University employed LTP (Low melting ThermoPlastic) as another candidate of liquefying fuels and demonstrated high regression rates comparable to paraffin fuels. Hori et al. in JAXA/ISAS employed glycidylazide-poly(ethylene glycol) (GAP-PEG) copolymers as high regression rate fuels and modified the combustion characteristics by changing the PEG mixing ratio. Regression rate improvement by changing internal ballistics is another stream of research. The author proposed a new fuel configuration named "CAMUI" in 1998. CAMUI comes from an abbreviation of "cascaded multistage impinging-jet" meaning the distinctive flow field. A CAMUI type fuel grain consists of several cylindrical fuel blocks with two ports in axial direction. The port alignment shifts 90 degrees with each other to make jets out of ports impinge on the upstream end face of the downstream fuel block, resulting in intense heat transfer to the fuel. Yuasa et al. in Tokyo Metropolitan University employed swirling injection method and improved regression rates more than three times higher. However, regression rate distribution along the axis is not uniform due to the decay of the swirl strength. Aso et al. in Kyushu University employed multi-swirl injection to solve this problem. Combinations of swirling injection and paraffin based fuel have been tried and some results show very high regression rates exceeding ten times of conventional one. High fuel regression rates by new fuel, new internal ballistics, or combination of them require faster fuel-oxidizer mixing to maintain combustion efficiency. Nakagawa et al. succeeded to improve combustion efficiency of a paraffin-based fuel from 77% to 96% by a baffle plate. Another effective approach some researchers are trying is to use an aft-chamber to increase residence time. Better understanding of the new flow fields is necessary to reveal basic mechanisms of regression enhancement. Yuasa et al. visualized the combustion field in a swirling injection type motor. Nakagawa et al. observed boundary layer combustion of wax-based fuels. To understand detailed flow structures in swirling flow type hybrids, Sawada et al. (Tohoku Univ.), Teramoto et al. (Univ. of Tokyo), Shimada et al. (ISAS), and Tsuboi et al. (Kyushu Inst. Tech.) are trying to simulate the flow field numerically. Main challenges are turbulent reaction, stiffness due to low Mach number flow, fuel regression model, and other non-steady phenomena. Oshima et al. in Hokkaido University simulated CAMUI type flow fields and discussed correspondence relation between regression distribution of a burning surface and the vortex structure over the surface.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.207-214
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• 2014

With the depletion of high grade coal, it is indispensable to be used co-combustion of low rank coal with bituminous coal in pulverized coal-fired power plants. This study describes the detailed measurements of combustion characteristics of bituminous and subbituminous coal in a 0.7MWth pilot-scale test facility. This experimental works include the measurement of gas temperature, gas concentrations along with the reactor axial and radial distance at the condition of excess air ratio of 1.2. The solid sampling was carried out and analyzed with the combustion of bituminous coal. The main reaction zone of coal flame in a reactor was formed about 1 m from the swirl burner, and at downstream, the fully developed temperature and species distribution was observed. The sampled particles of bituminous coal in a reactor revealed the complete carbon burn-out was achieved just after an main combustion zone.