Effects of the biodiesel fuel physical properties on the swirl stabilised spray combustion characteristics

An increasin g interest in biofuel applications in modern engines requires a better understanding of biodiesel combustion behaviour. Many numerical studies have been carried out on unsteady combustion of biodiesel in situations similar to diesel engines, but very few studies have been done on the steady combustion of biodiesel in situations similar to a gas turbine combustor environment. The study of biodiesel spray combustion in gas turbine applications is of special interest due to the possible use of biodiesel in the power generation and aviation industries. In modelling spray combustion, an accurate representation of the physical properties of the fuel is a first important step, since spray formation is largely influenced by fuel properties such as viscosity, density, surface tension and vapour pressure. In the present work, a calculated biodiesel properties database based on the measured composition of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) has been implemented in a multi-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) spray simulation code. Simulations of non-reacting and reacting atmospheric-pressure sprays of both diesel and biodiesel have been carried out using a spray burner configuration for which experimental data is available. A pre-defined droplet size probability density function (pdf) has been implemented together with droplet dynamics based on phase Doppler anemometry (PDA) measurements in the near-nozzle region. The gas phase boundary condition for the reacting spray cases is similar to that of the experiment which employs a plain air-blast atomiser and a straight-vane axial swirler for flame stabilisation. A reaction mechanism for heptane has been used to represent the chemistry for both diesel and biodiesel. Simulated flame heights, spray characteristics and gas phase velocities have been found to compare well with the experimental results. In the reacting spray cases, biodiesel shows a smaller mean droplet size compared to that of diesel at a constant fuel mass flow rate. A lack of sensitivity towards different fuel properties has been observed based on the non-reacting spray simulations, which indicates a need for improved models of secondary breakup. By comparing the results of the non-reacting and reacting spray simulations, an improvement in the complexity of the physical modelling is achieved which is necessary in the understanding of the complex physical processes involved in spray combustion simulation. Copyright © 2012 SAE International.

Spray flame structure of rapeseed biodiesel and Jet-A1 fuel

The spray combustion characteristics of rapeseed methyl esters (RME) were compared to Jet-A1 fuel using a gas turbine type combustor. The swirling spray flames for both fuels were established at a constant power output of 6 kW. The main swirling air flow was preheated to 350 C prior to coaxially enveloping the airblast-atomized liquid fuel spray at atmospheric pressure. Investigation of the fundamental spray combustion was performed via measurements of the fuel droplet sizes and velocities, gas phase flow fields and flame reaction zones. The spray flame droplets and flow fields in the combustors were characterised using phase Doppler anemometry (PDA) and particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) respectively. Flame chemiluminescence imaging was employed to identify the flame reaction zones. The highest droplet concentration zone extends along a 30 angle from the symmetry axis, inside the flame zone. Only small droplets(<17 μ) (<17 μm)are found around the centreline region, while larger droplets are found at the edge of the spray outside the flame reaction zone. RME exhibits spray characteristics similar to Jet-A1 but with droplet concentration and volume fluxes four times higher, consistent with the expected longer droplet evaporation timescale. The flow field characteristics for both RME and Jet-A1 spray flames are very similar despite the significantly different visible characteristics of the flame reaction zones. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using drift nets to capture early life stages and monitor spawning of the Yangtze River Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis)

P>A sampling system for capturing sturgeon eggs using a D-shaped bottom anchored drift net was used to capture early life stages (ELS) of Chinese sturgeon, Acipenser sinensis, and monitor annual spawning success at Yichang on the Yangtze River, 1996-2004, before and just after the Three Gorges Dam began operation. Captured were 96 875 ELS (early life stages: eggs, yolk-sac larvae = eleuthero embryos, and larvae); most were eggs and only 2477 were yolk-sac larvae. Most ELS were captured in the main river channel and inside the bend at the Yichang spawning reach. Yolk-sac larvae were captured for a maximum of 3 days after hatching began, indicating quick dispersal downstream. The back-calculated day of egg fertilization over the eight years indicated a maximum spawning window of 23 days (20 October-10 November). Spawning in all years was restricted temporally, occurred mostly at night and during one or two spawning periods, each lasting several days. The brief temporal spawning window may reduce egg predation by opportunistic predators by flooding the river bottom with millions of eggs. During 1996-2002, the percentage of fertilized eggs in an annual 20-egg sample was between 63.5 to 94.1%; however, in 2003 the percentage fertilized was only 23.8%. This sudden decline may be related to the altered environmental conditions at Yichang caused by operation of the Three Gorges Dam. Further studies are needed to monitor spawning and changes in egg fertilization in this threatened population.

Discrete multicomponent model for biodiesel spray combustion simulation

An important first step in spray combustion simulation is an accurate determination of the fuel properties which affects the modelling of spray formation and reaction. In a practical combustion simulation, the implementation of a multicomponent model is important in capturing the relative volatility of different fuel components. A Discrete Multicomponent (DM) model is deemed to be an appropriate candidate to model a composite fuel like biodiesel which consists of four components of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). In this paper, the DM model is compared with the traditional Continuous Thermodynamics (CTM) model for both diesel and biodiesel. The CTM model is formulated based on mixing rules that incorporate the physical and thermophysical properties of pure components into a single continuous surrogate for the composite fuel. The models are implemented within the open-source CFD code OpenFOAM, and a semi-quantitative comparison is made between the predicted spray-combustion characteristics and optical measurements of a swirl-stabilised flame of diesel and biodiesel. The DM model performs better than the CTM model in predicting a higher magnitude of heat release rate in the top flame brush region of the biodiesel flame compared to that of the diesel flame. Using both the DM and CTM models, the simulation successfully reproduces the droplet size, volume flux, and droplet density profiles of diesel and biodiesel. The DM model predicts a longer spray penetration length for biodiesel compared to that of diesel, as seen in the experimental data. Also, the DM model reproduces a segregated biodiesel fuel vapour field and spray in which the most abundant FAME component has the longest vapour penetration. In the biodiesel flame, the relative abundance of each fuel component is found to dominate over the relative volatility in terms of the vapour species distribution and vice versa in the liquid species distribution. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of turbulence-chemistry interaction for n-heptane spray combustion under diesel engine conditions with emphasis on soot formation and oxidation

The influence of the turbulence-chemistry interaction (TCI) for n-heptane sprays under diesel engine conditions has been investigated by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The conditional moment closure approach, which has been previously validated thoroughly for such flows, and the homogeneous reactor (i.e. no turbulent combustion model) approach have been compared, in view of the recent resurgence of the latter approaches for diesel engine CFD. Experimental data available from a constant-volume combustion chamber have been used for model validation purposes for a broad range of conditions including variations in ambient oxygen (8-21% by vol.), ambient temperature (900 and 1000 K) and ambient density (14.8 and 30 kg/m3). The results from both numerical approaches have been compared to the experimental values of ignition delay (ID), flame lift-off length (LOL), and soot volume fraction distributions. TCI was found to have a weak influence on ignition delay for the conditions simulated, attributed to the low values of the scalar dissipation relative to the critical value above which auto-ignition does not occur. In contrast, the flame LOL was considerably affected, in particular at low oxygen concentrations. Quasi-steady soot formation was similar; however, pronounced differences in soot oxidation behaviour are reported. The differences were further emphasised for a case with short injection duration: in such conditions, TCI was found to play a major role concerning the soot oxidation behaviour because of the importance of soot-oxidiser structure in mixture fraction space. Neglecting TCI leads to a strong over-estimation of soot oxidation after the end of injection. The results suggest that for some engines, and for some phenomena, the neglect of turbulent fluctuations may lead to predictions of acceptable engineering accuracy, but that a proper turbulent combustion model is needed for more reliable results. © 2014 Taylor & Francis.

Effect of Anode Floating Voltage and its Applications in Characterizing Silicon Drift Detectors

Anode floating voltage is predicted and investigated for silicon drift detectors (SDDs) with an active area of 5 mm(2) fabricated by a double-side parallel technology. It is demonstrated that the anode floating voltage increases with the increasing inner ring voltage, and is almost unchanged with the external ring voltage. The anode floating voltage will not be affected by the back electrode biased voltage until it reaches the full-depleted voltage (-50 V) of the SDD. Theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the anode floating voltage is equal to the sum of the inner ring voltage and the built-in potential between the p(+) inner ring and the n(+) anode. A fast checking method before detector encapsulation is proposed by employing the anode floating voltage along with checking the leakage current, potential distribution and drift properties.

Design, simulation and testing of large area silicon drift detectors and detector array for X-ray spectroscopy

Large area (25 mm(2)) silicon drift detectors and detector arrays (5x5) have been designed, simulated, and fabricated for X-ray spectroscopy. On the anode side, the hexagonal drift detector was designed with self-biasing spiral cathode rings (p(+)) of fixed resistance between rings and with a grounded guard anode to separate surface current from the anode current. Two designs have been used for the P-side: symmetric self-biasing spiral cathode rings (p(+)) and a uniform backside p(+) implant. Only 3 to 5 electrodes are needed to bias the detector plus an anode for signal collection. With graded electrical potential, a sub-nanoamper anode current, and a very small anode capacitance, an initial FWHM of 1.3 keV, without optimization of all parameters, has been obtained for 5.9 keV Fe-55 X-ray at RT using a uniform backside detector.

Design, simulation and testing of large area silicon drift detectors and detector array for X-ray spectroscopy

Large area (25 mm(2)) silicon drift detectors and detector arrays (5x5) have been designed, simulated, and fabricated for X-ray spectroscopy. On the anode side, the hexagonal drift detector was designed with self-biasing spiral cathode rings (p(+)) of fixed resistance between rings and with a grounded guard anode to separate surface current from the anode current. Two designs have been used for the P-side: symmetric self-biasing spiral cathode rings (p(+)) and a uniform backside p(+) implant. Only 3 to 5 electrodes are needed to bias the detector plus an anode for signal collection. With graded electrical potential, a sub-nanoamper anode current, and a very small anode capacitance, an initial FWHM of 1.3 keV, without optimization of all parameters, has been obtained for 5.9 keV Fe-55 X-ray at RT using a uniform backside detector.

Synchronism of Holocene East Asian monsoon variations and North Atlantic drift-ice tracers (vol 65；pg 443；2006)

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