Search results for "propulsion"
showing 10 items of 44 documents
E-sail test payload of the ESTCube-1 nanosatellite
2014
The scientific mission of ESTCube-1, launched in May 2013, is to measure the electric solar wind sail (E-sail) force in orbit. The experiment is planned to push forward the development of the E-sail, a propulsion method recently invented at the Finnish Meteorological Institute. The E-sail is based on extracting momentum from the solar wind plasma flow by using long thin electrically charged tethers. ESTCube-1 is equipped with one such tether, together with hardware capable of deploying and charging it. At the orbital altitude of ESTCube-1 (660–680 km) there is no solar wind present. Instead, ESTCube-1 shall observe the interaction between the charged tether and the ionospheric plasma. The E…
Large-Eddy Simulation of Flow and Heat Transfer in Compact Heat Exchangers
1994
LES results are presented for different heat exchanger geometries. Subgrid terms were usually computed by the Smagorinsky model; preliminary comparative results are also given for the ‘dynamic’ subgrid model. The numerical methods used were those implemented in a commercial general-purpose code (CFDS-FLOW3D); they included a finite-volume approach, colocated body-fitted grids, central differencing for the advection terms, the SIMPLEC algorithm, and Crank-Nicolson time stepping. Predictions arc compared with experimental measurements (including local Nu distributions), and with results from a low-Reynolds number k-e model. In most cases, LES was more ‘robust’ and required little more CPU tim…
Controllable Solid Propellant Rocket Motor Stability: Deep and Rapid Variable Thrust Operations
2008
When flow and combustion processes couple with the acoustic modes of the combustion chamber, the solid rocket motors experience unsteady gas motion and associated thrust oscillation and motor vibration. The operations of the variable nozzle introduce relevant dynamic changes in the chamber flow and combustion. This article proposes a non-linear approach for the analysis of the effects of severe nozzle manoeuvres on the controllable solid rocket motor stability and provides the evidence that the acoustic wave amplitude evolution is influenced by the nozzle manoeuvre severity, shape and direction. The additional complexity in the problem of the combustion stability analysis introduced by the …
Solid Rocket Motor Combustion Instabilities: Analysis of the Transition to the First Limit Cycle
2009
A nonlinear multi time-scale analysis of the solid propellant rocket motor transition to the first limit cycle is presented and the motor behavior subsequent to some relevant transition scenarios is investigated. Important physical parameters characterizing the transition to limit cycle are then put in evidence and their cross-effects are studied. The analysis takes into account the effects of acoustic-vorticity-entropy wave coupling, waves steepening, rotational and viscous flow losses due to the steep-fronted waves, energy losses in the steepened state, nonlinear energy pathways and includes the study of the oscillatory energy losses in the nozzle, the unsteady combustion and the combusti…
Propellant non-steady burning effects on controllable solid rocket motor internal ballistics
2009
An analysis of the unsteady non-linear behavior of the controllable solid propellant rocket motor (CSRM) consequent to rapid and relevant nozzle operation is presented. The study includes a development of a non-linear unsteady combustion model able to handle relevant and rapid chamber pressure changes typical of CSRMs. The CSRM nonlinear unsteady model is implemented according to a main solver - sub models architecture and uses different time scales. The formulation of the combustion gas mass flow rate is developed considering the propellant density, the unsteady combustion, the regression of the combustion surface and the outflow through the variable nozzle. The grain surface involved in t…
Realistic Steady State Performance of an Electric Turbo-Compound Engine for Hybrid Propulsion System
2022
The efficiency of Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) may be substantially increased if the unexpanded exhaust gas energy is efficiently recovered and employed for vehicle propulsion. This can be accomplished employing a properly designed exhaust gas turbine connected to a suitable generator whose output electric energy is stored in the vehicle storage system; a new hybrid propulsion system is hence delineated, where the power delivered by the main engine is combined to the power produced by the exhaust gas turbogenerator: previous studies, carried out under some simplifying assumptions, showed potential vehicle efficiency increments up to 15% with respect to a traditional turbocharged engine. …
Atti del 63° Congresso Nazionale ATI - "Energia per lo sviluppo sostenibile". Polididattico dell'Università degli Studi di Palermo. Palermo 23-26 Set…
2008
Performance Prevision of a Turbocharged Natural Gas Fuelled S.I. Engine
2008
Natural gas represents today maybe the most valid alternative to conventional fuels for road vehicles propulsion. The main constituent of natural gas, methane, is characterized by a high autoignition temperature, which makes the fuel highly resistant to knocking: this allows a considerable downsizing of the engine by means of supercharging even under high compression ratio. Starting from these considerations, the authors realized a thermodynamic model of a 4-cilynder s.i. engine for the prevision of in-cylinder pressure, employing a two-zone approach for the combustion and adding sub-models to account for gas properties change and knocking occurrence. An extensive experimental campaign has …
Some considerations in support of solid propulsion for space debris disposal.
2011
Some considerations on the use of solid rocket motors for space debris disposal are presented. From the synthesis of a de-orbit sample mission and a tradeoff study on costs and benefits, a solid propellant unit for end-of-life missions and debris in-space disposal missions is evaluated. The enhanced operation flexibility, the propellant development and an advanced ignition concept granting multiple and independent firing capability of a new solid propulsion concept are discussed.
A Hybrid Energy Storage Sizing for a Vertical Take-off and Landing Electric Aircraft
2021
The energy storage sizing procedure for an all-electric aircraft, characterised by vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), is presented in the paper. In order to define the energy consumption, the propulsion system model has been developed and simulated, referring to a specific configuration of VOLT obtained by the transformation of a very light twin-propeller aircraft named Tecnam P2012 T. Specifically, a flight mission-oriented to air city taxing has been considered. The simulation results highlight the presence of significant peak power during take-off and landing. At the aim of optimising the weight and the volume of the energy storage systems (ESSs), considered a critical issue in all-el…