• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.91-93
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• 2003

A comprehensive numerical study is carried out to investigate for the understanding of the flow evolution and flame development in a supersonic combustor with normal injection of ncumally injecting hydrogen in airsupersonic flows. The formulation treats the complete conservation equations of mass, momentum, energy, and species concentration for a multi-component chemically reacting system. For the numerical simulation of supersonic combustion, multi-species Navier-Stokes equations and detailed chemistry of H2-Air is considered. It also accommodates a finite-rate chemical kinetics mechanism of hydrogen-air combustion GRI-Mech. 2.11[1], which consists of nine species and twenty-five reaction steps. Turbulence closure is achieved by means of a k-two-equation model (2). The governing equations are spatially discretized using a finite-volume approach, and temporally integrated by means of a second-order accurate implicit scheme (3-5).The supersonic combustor consists of a flat channel of 10 cm height and a fuel-injection slit of 0.1 cm width located at 10 cm downstream of the inlet. A cavity of 5 cm height and 20 cm width is installed at 15 cm downstream of the injection slit. A total of 936160 grids are used for the main-combustor flow passage, and 159161 grids for the cavity. The grids are clustered in the flow direction near the fuel injector and cavity, as well as in the vertical direction near the bottom wall. The no-slip and adiabatic conditions are assumed throughout the entire wall boundary. As a specific example, the inflow Mach number is assumed to be 3, and the temperature and pressure are 600 K and 0.1 MPa, respectively. Gaseous hydrogen at a temperature of 151.5 K is injected normal to the wall from a choked injector.A series of calculations were carried out by varying the fuel injection pressure from 0.5 to 1.5MPa. This amounts to changing the fuel mass flow rate or the overall equivalence ratio for different operating regimes. Figure 1 shows the instantaneous temperature fields in the supersonic combustor at four different conditions. The dark blue region represents the hot burned gases. At the fuel injection pressure of 0.5 MPa, the flame is stably anchored, but the flow field exhibits a high-amplitude oscillation. At the fuel injection pressure of 1.0 MPa, the Mach reflection occurs ahead of the injector. The interaction between the incoming air and the injection flow becomes much more complex, and the fuel/air mixing is strongly enhanced. The Mach reflection oscillates and results in a strong fluctuation in the combustor wall pressure. At the fuel injection pressure of 1.5MPa, the flow inside the combustor becomes nearly choked and the Mach reflection is displaced forward. The leading shock wave moves slowly toward the inlet, and eventually causes the combustor-upstart due to the thermal choking. The cavity appears to play a secondary role in driving the flow unsteadiness, in spite of its influence on the fuel/air mixing and flame evolution. Further investigation is necessary on this issue. The present study features detailed resolution of the flow and flame dynamics in the combustor, which was not typically available in most of the previous works. In particular, the oscillatory flow characteristics are captured at a scale sufficient to identify the underlying physical mechanisms. Much of the flow unsteadiness is not related to the cavity, but rather to the intrinsic unsteadiness in the flowfield, as also shown experimentally by Ben-Yakar et al. [6], The interactions between the unsteady flow and flame evolution may cause a large excursion of flow oscillation. The work appears to be the first of its kind in the numerical study of combustion oscillations in a supersonic combustor, although a similar phenomenon was previously reported experimentally. A more comprehensive discussion will be given in the final paper presented at the colloquium.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.16 no.7 s.80
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• pp.1133-1140
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• 2006

Human HtrA1 (High temperature requirement protein A1) is a homologue of the E. coli periplasmic serine protease HtrA. A recent study has demonstrated that HtrA1 is a serine protease involved in processing of insulin like growth factor binding protein (ICFBP), indicating that it serves as an important regulator of IGF activity. Additionally, several lines of evidence suggest a striking correlation between proteolytic activity of HtrA1 serine protease and the pathogenesis of several diseases; however, physiological roles of HtrA1 remain to be elucidated. We used the pGEX bacterial expression system to develop a simple and rapid method for purifying HtrA1, and the recombinant HtrA1 protein was utilized to investigate the optimal conditions in executing its proteolytic activity. The proteolytically active HtrA1 was purified to approximately 85% purity, although the yield of the recombinant HtrA1 protein was slightly low $460{\mu}g$ for 1 liter E. coli culture). Using in vitro endoproteolytic cleavage assay, we identified that the HtrA1 serine protease activity was dependent on the enzyme concentration and the incubation time and that the best reaction temperature was $42^{\circ}C$ instead of $37^{\circ}C$. We arbitrary defined one unit of proteolytic activity of the HtrA1 serine protease as 200nM of HtrA1 that cleaves half of $5{\mu}M\;of\;{\beta}-casein$ during 3 hr incubation at $37^{\circ}C$. Our study provides a method for generating useful reagents to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which HtrA1 serine protease activity contributes in regulating its physiological function and to identify natural substrates of HtrA1.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.392-400
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• 2003

We used an oxygen microelectrode to measure the vertical profiles of oxygen concentration in sediments located near point sources of organic matter. The measurements were carried out between 13th and 17th May, 2003, in semi-closed bay and coastal sediments in the central part of the South Sea. The measured oxygen penetration depths were extremely shallow and ranged from 1.30 to 3.80 mm. This suggested that the oxidation and reduction reactions in the early diagenesis should be studied at the mm depth scale. In order to estimate the oxygen consumption rate, we applied the one-dimension diffusion-reaction model to vertical profiles of oxygen near the sediment/water interface. Oxygen consumption rates were estimated to be between 10.8 and 27.6 mmol O$_2$ m$\^$-2/ day$\^$-1/(average: 19.1 mmol O$_2$ m$\^$-2/ day$\^$-1/). These rates showed a positive correlation with the organic carbon of the sediments. The corresponding benthic organic carbon oxidation rates calculated using an modified Redfield ratio (170/110) at the sediment/water interface were in the range of 89.5-228.1 mg C m$\^$-2/ day$\^$-1/(average: 158.0 mg C m$\^$-2/ day$\^$-1/). We suggest that these results are maximum values at the presents situation in the bay because the sampling sites were located near point sources of organic materials. This study will need to be carried out at many coastal sites and throughout the seasons to allow an understanding of the mechanisms of eutrophication e.g. the spatial distribution of oxygen consumption within the oxic zone and hypoxic conditions in the coastal sea.

• 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.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.311-330
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• 2023

Development of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technique is becoming increasingly important as a method to mitigate the strengthening effects of global warming, generated from the unprecedented increase in released anthropogenic CO₂. In the recent years, the characteristics of basaltic rocks (i.e., large volume, high reactivity and surplus of cation components) have been recognized to be potentially favorable in facilitation of CCS; based on this, research on utilization of basaltic formations for underground CO₂ storage is currently ongoing in various fields. This study investigated the feasibility of underground storage of CO₂ in basalt, based on the examination of the CO₂ storage mechanisms in subsurface, assessment of basalt characteristics, and review of the global research on basaltic CO₂ storage. The global research examined were classified into experimental/modeling/field demonstration, based on the methods utilized. Experimental conditions used in research demonstrated temperatures ranging from 20 to 250 ℃, pressure ranging from 0.1 to 30 MPa, and the rock-fluid reaction time ranging from several hours to four years. Modeling research on basalt involved construction of models similar to the potential storage sites, with examination of changes in fluid dynamics and geochemical factors before and after CO₂-fluid injection. The investigation demonstrated that basalt has large potential for CO₂ storage, along with capacity for rapid mineralization reactions; these factors lessens the environmental constraints (i.e., temperature, pressure, and geological structures) generally required for CO₂ storage. The success of major field demonstration projects, the CarbFix project and the Wallula project, indicate that basalt is promising geological formation to facilitate CCS. However, usage of basalt as storage formation requires additional conditions which must be carefully considered - mineralization mechanism can vary significantly depending on factors such as the basalt composition and injection zone properties: for instance, precipitation of carbonate and silicate minerals can reduce the injectivity into the formation. In addition, there is a risk of polluting the subsurface environment due to the combination of pressure increase and induced rock-CO₂-fluid reactions upon injection. As dissolution of CO₂ into fluids is required prior to injection, monitoring techniques different from conventional methods are needed. Hence, in order to facilitate efficient and stable underground storage of CO₂ in basalt, it is necessary to select a suitable storage formation, accumulate various database of the field, and conduct systematic research utilizing experiments/modeling/field studies to develop comprehensive understanding of the potential storage site.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.853-860
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• 2012

To estimate potential use of fly ash in reducing $CH_4$ and $CO_2$ emission from soil, $CH_4$ and $CO_2$ fluxes from a paddy soil mixed with fly ash at different rate (w/w; 0, 5, and 10%) in the presence and absence of fertilizer N ($(NH_4)_2SO_4$) addition were investigated in a laboratory incubation for 60 days under changing water regime from wetting to drying via transition. The mean $CH_4$ flux during the entire incubation period ranged from 0.59 to $1.68mg\;CH_4\;m^{-2}day^{-1}$ with a lower rate in the soil treated with N fertilizer due to suppression of $CH_4$ production by $SO_4^{2-}$ that acts as an electron acceptor, leading to decreases in electron availability for methanogen. Fly ash application reduced $CH_4$ flux by 37.5 and 33.0% in soils without and with N addition, respectively, probably due to retardation of $CH_4$ diffusion through soil pores by addition of fine-textured fly ash. In addition, as fly ash has a potential for $CO_2$ removal via carbonation (formation of carbonate precipitates) that decreases $CO_2$ availability that is a substrate for $CO_2$ reduction reaction (one of $CH_4$ generation pathways) is likely to be another mechanisms of $CH_4$ flux reduction by fly ash. Meanwhile, the mean $CO_2$ flux during the entire incubation period was between 0.64 and $0.90g\;CO_2\;m^{-2}day^{-1}$, and that of N treated soil was lower than that without N addition. Because N addition is likely to increase soil respiration, it is not straightforward to explain the results. However, it may be possible that our experiment did not account for the substantial amount of $CO_2$ produced by heterotrophs that were activated by N addition in earlier period than the measurement was initiated. Fly ash application also lowered $CO_2$ flux by up to 20% in the soil mixed with fly ash at 10% through $CO_2$ removal by the carbonation. At the whole picture, fly ash application at 10% decreased global warming potential of emitted $CH_4$ and $CO_2$ by about 20%. Therefore, our results suggest that fly ash application can be a soil management practice to reduce green house gas emission from paddy soils. Further studies under field conditions with rice cultivation are necessary to verify our findings.