Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Writer: Becky Stines
news@utsi.edu
This 46th Joint Propulsion Conference held in Nashville from July
25-28, 2010 encompassed the following professional societies:
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), American
Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Society of Automobile
Engineers (SAE), and the American Society of Electrical Engineers
(ASEE).
This event marked an all-time high for UTSI’s participation at a
single international conference, thus setting a new record for both
faculty and graduate student performance. UTSI presented a total of
20 papers, including a sixteen-paper contribution from Prof.
Majdalani’s group, three papers from Prof. Moeller’s group, and one
paper from Emeritus Prof. Flandro’s group.
The conference was a venue for UTSI to present research endeavors in
several propulsion-related areas such as: Modeling Mach Number and
Temperature Distributions in Supersonic Nozzle Flow; Pressure
Blowdown and Sideloads in Rockets; Analytical Methodologies for
Hypersonic Propulsion; Evaluation of CFD Codes for Hypersonic Flow
Modeling; Compressible Hart-McClure Flow in Simulated Rockets;
Beltramian Vortex Motions in Liquid Rocket Engines; Bidirectional
Vortex Chambers with Arbitrary Endwall Velocity; Compressible Flows
in Planar Rocket Configurations; Axial Waves in Rockets with
Arbitrary Crossflow Velocity; Boundary Layer Treatment of Rockets
with Wall Regression; MACH2 Simulations of Micro-laser Ablation
Plasma Thrusters; MACH2 Simulations of Exothermic Propellants in a
Micro-laser Ablation Plasma Thruster; Thrust Stand for Vertically
Oriented Electric Propulsion Performance Evaluation; and Effects of
Unsteady Heat Release on Liquid Rocket Combustion Instability.
Presenters were Professors Joe Majdalani and Trevor Moeller, and
Graduate Research Assistants Georges and Michel Akiki, Josh
Batterson, Brian Maicke, Tina Rice, and Richard Joel Thompson.
Brian Maicke showed exceptional performance and valiant effort as he
presented seven high quality research articles. Of those, he served
as first author on five and second author on two. His work
encompassed high speed propulsion topics such as: nozzle flow
modeling, internal compressible flow, and hypersonic flow analysis.
Brian also presented two papers at the 40th Fluid Dynamics
Conference held June 28 – July 1, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois,
bringing his total contributions to 8 conference presentations. Dr.
Majdalani believes this to be a new record for a graduate student
from any institution at an international conference.
Josh Batterson presented a three-part paper series that focused on
the core and sidewall boundary layers of both linear and nonlinear
cyclonic flowfields in vortex-fired liquid rocket engines (Parts
1-2). He analyzed in Part 3 the behavior of cyclonic motions in the
presence of multiple flow reversals. He plans on studying the
hydrodynamic instability of such flows and their impact on thrust
performance and flight worthiness.
Georges Akiki, after two semesters at UTSI, presented a study that
involved a new exact Euler solution for the mean flow of a
bidirectional vortex with realistic inlet and outlet velocity
profiles. The importance of his work stands in the generalization
from which other studies could be recovered as special cases. He
plans on analyzing cases where fuel is injected at the headwall
while conducting a CFD simulation of the vortex engine.
Michel Akiki presented a semi-analytical formulation of the
compressible flowfield in solid rocket motors. His solution is
general enough to capture any type of correlation between the
chamber pressure and the mass flux distribution along the propellant
surface. In his work, he incorporates different wall injection
profiles. In future work, he plans on investigating additional
burning rate correlations such as those associated with erosive
burning.
Richard Joel Thompson presented two papers detailing laser-materials
interactions in two micro-laser ablation thruster configurations,
along with predicted improvements in thruster performance over a
conventional design. Professor Moeller presented the development of
a unique electric propulsion thrust stand for high-power thrusters.
Tina Rice gave an excellent presentation of the initial results of
her groundbreaking Ph.D. research into the interaction between
combustion chemical kinetics and acoustic fields, as it relates to
liquid rocket combustion instability. By isolating the combustion
chemistry from the other physical processes in an engine, such as
propellant injection and atomization, Ms. Rice is providing the
insight needed to determine how much of combustion instability is
due to combustion and how much is due to other factors.
Professor Majdalani delivered five presentations and an oral report
to the Hybrid Rocket Technical Committee. Joe notes these papers
will soon become available at the AIAA website. Contact him via
email (maji@utsi) or telephone (931-393-7280) for further
information.
Participants received compliments and tips from various program
managers and session chairs. This feedback most likely will lead to
studies and collaborative initiatives extending and enhancing the
articles presented.
Dr. Robert Moore, CEO for the Space Institute said “Joe, Trevor and
their students are to be commended for not only the quantity of
papers presented, but the quality is unsurpassed. I feel honored to
work with such high caliber faculty the Space Institute employs.
Needless to say, our students study and research in an environment
which offers instruction from world class faculty and quality
resources.”
First row LTR: Prof. Joe Majdalani, Georges and Michel Akiki, and
Prof. Trevor Moeller.
Second row LTR: Brian Maicke, Josh Batterson, and Joel Thompson.
Photo by Laura Horton.
