Mission and Vision
The Combustion and Propulsion for Aviation Research Center (C-PARC) aims at innovating national and global initiatives to spearhead research and development for future zero-emission aircraft. C-PARC’s convergent research approach will integrate disruptive computational tools based on a novel flow decomposition with hydrogen-based aircraft design to substantially increase efficiencies and meet the nation’s zero emissions goal by 2050. C-PARC will contribute leading research on future zero-emission aircraft and prepare the next-generation workforce for CO2-free aviation deployment. US and international partnerships are currently being developed. The overarching focus is on use-inspired research, which engages end users early in the design process and emphasizes solutions to issues of significant national and societal impact. To do so, C-PARC will facilitate strong integration across disciplines so that a new framework for clean aircraft emerges as well as a paradigm shift is developed for study of flow turbulence with the novel flow decomposition introduced. To support research at C-PARC, a set of four facets are integrated and consists of theoretical work, computations, experiments, and design.
Goals
The goals are to establish fundamental knowledge for hydrogen (H2) combustion in flow regimes where limited or no studies exist as of today, as well as develop relevant technological components, and recommend steps to retrofit existing aircraft configuration, which is one of the most plausible CO2-free future aviation goals. C-PARC will deliver breakthrough technological and scientific advances with experiments and computational tool development based on a novel flowfield decomposition to 1) design an advanced propulsion system for clean commercial aircraft and 2) transform foundational and scientific understanding of turbulence in reacting flows. C-PARC will produce critical scientific advancement and technological innovations focused on hydrogen combustion and the propulsion system. The center will also work on a system-level baseline aircraft configuration design for the underlying technological components that can be shared, tested, optimized, and adapted by industrial partners toward commercialization. Research will include swirled premixed flame stabilization with 100% hydrogen content, cryogenic supercritical flow regimes for hydrogen/air flows, O2/Air separation process investigation as well as molecular and atomic quantification of combustion species in those novel flow regimes to meet both technological advances and design requirements.
