CFD Study of NO_x Emissions in a Model Commercial Aircraft Engine Combustor

Air worthiness requirements of the aircraft engine emission bring new challenges to the combustor research and design. With the motivation to design high performance and clean combustor, computational fluid dynamics （CFD） is utilized as the powerful design approach. In this paper, Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes （RANS） equations of reactive two-phase flow in an experimental low emission combustor is performed. The numerical approach uses an implicit compressible gas solver together with a Lagrangian liquid-phase tracking method and the extended coherent flamelet model for turbulence-combustion interaction. The NOx formation is modeled by the concept of post-processing, which resolves the NOx transport equation with the assumption of frozen temperature distribution. Both turbulence-combustion interaction model and NOx formation model are firstly evaluated by the comparison of experimental data published in open literature of a lean direct injection （LDI） combustor. The test rig studied in this paper is called low emission stirred swirl （LESS） combustor, which is a two-stage model combustor, fueled with liquid kerosene （RP-3） and designed by Beihang University （BUAA）. The main stage of LESS combustor employs the principle of lean prevaporized and premixed （LPP） concept to reduce pollutant, and the pilot stage depends on a diffusion flame for flame stabili-zation. Detailed numerical results including species distribution, turbulence performance and burning performance are qualita-tively and quantitatively evaluated. Numerical prediction of NOx emission shows a good agreement with test data at both idle condition and full power condition of LESS combustor. Preliminary results of the flame structure are shown in this paper. The flame stabilization mechanism and NOx reduction effort are also discussed with in-depth analysis.

Vibration control on shells through theoretical and numerical analysis

A theoretical and numerical study has been performed on an air film dumper attached to a plate structure. Combined with the analysis by Fox and Whittorg a damping model of the air fiim damper has been developed. A complex stiffness was introduced to represent the air pressure in the damper cavity. The stain energy and dissipated energy were integrated from the real part and imaginary part of the complex stiffness to determine the stiffness and damping. The response of the plate with the air film damper was considered by treating the air film as multiple discrete damping-stiffness elements using ANSYS.

Research into Configuration and Flow of Wall Oil Film in Bearing Chamber Based on Droplet Size Distribution

The lubrication design and heat transfer determination of bearing chambers in aeroengine require a sufficient understanding of the oil droplet-film interaction and physical characteristic in an oil/air two-phase flow state. The analyses of oil droplet movement, mass and momentum transfer during the impingement of droplet/wall, as well as wall oil film thickness and flow velocity are very important for the bearing chamber lubrication and heat transfer calculation. An integrated model in combination with droplet movement, droplet/wall impact and film flow analysis is put forward initially based on the consideration of droplet size distribution. The model makes a contribution to provide more practical and feasible technical approach, which is not only for the study of droplet-film interaction and physical behavior in bearing chambers with oil/air two-phase flow phenomena, but also useful for an insight into the essence of physical course through droplet movement and deposition, film formation and flow. The influences of chamber geometries and operating conditions on droplet deposition mass and momentum transfer, and wall film thickness and velocity distribution are discussed. The feasibility of the method by theoretical analysis is also verified by the ex- isting experimental data. The current work is conducive to expose the physical behavior of wall oil film configuration and flow in bearing chamber, and also significant for bearing chamber lubrication and heat transfer study under oil/air two-phase flow conditions.

Dynamic analysis of C/C composite finger seal

A seal device as an important component of aeroengines has decisive influence on per- formance, reliability, and working life of aeroengines. With the development of aeroengines, demands on the performance characteristics of seal devices are made strictly. Finger seal as a novel kind of sealing device, recently attracts more and more attentions in academic circles and engineer- ing fields at home and abroad. Research on finger seals has been extensively developed, especially on leakage and wear performances under dynamic conditions. However, it is a pity that the work on finger seals has been limited with a single approach that is improving the performance by structural optimization; in addition, the technology of dynamic analysis on finger seals is weak. Aiming at the problems mentioned above, a distributed mass equivalent dynamic model of finger seals considering the coupling effect of overlaid laminates is established in the present paper, the dynamic perfor- mance of 2.5 dimension C/C composite finger seal is analyzed with the model, and then the effects of fiber bundle density and fiber bundle preparation direction on finger seal＇s dynamic performance are discussed, as well as compared with those of Co-based alloy finger seal. The current work is about dynamic analysis of finger seals and application of C/C composite in this paper may have much academic significance and many engineering values for improving research level of finger seal dynamics and exploring feasibility of C/C composite being used for finger seals.

Experimental investigation of a Portevin-Le Chatelier band in Ni–Co-based superalloys in relation toγ’precipitates at 500℃

The macroscopically localized deformation behaviors of Ni–Co-based superalloys with differentγ’precipitate content were investigated at 500?C and 1×10-4 s-1 via an in situ method namely,digital image correlation(DIC).The DIC results showed that the serrated flow of the stress–strain curves was accompanied by localized deformation of the specimens.The fracture morphology was characterized mainly by transgranular fracture with numerous dimples in the lowγ’content alloy,and intergranular fracture with large fracture section in the highγ’content alloy.The Portevin–Le Chatelier(PLC)effect occurred in the investigated Ni–Co-based superalloys.Furthermore,the localized deformation of the highγ’content alloy was more severe than that of the lowγ’content alloy,and the band width was slightly larger.Moreover,for the first-time ever,a special propagation feature,namely±60?zigzag bands characterized by head-to-tail connections,was observed in the highγ’content alloy.

Experimental research in rotating wedge-shaped cooling channel with multiple non-equant holes lateral inlet

The heat transfer in a novel smooth wedge-shaped cooling channel with lateral ejection of turbine blade trailing edge is experimentally investigated in both non-rotating and rotating cases.Beside the conventional inlet at the bottom of the channel, an extra coolant injection from 8 lateral non-equant holes is introduced to improve the overall heat transfer. The total mass flow rate ratio（lateral mass flow rate/total mass flow rate） varies from 0 to 1.0. The major inlet Reynolds number and rotation number respectively vary from 10000 to 20000 and from 0 to 1.16. Experimental results show that the lateral inlet decreases local bulk temperature and increases local heat transfer at the middle and the top of the static channel. In rotating cases, the lateral inlet notably improves the heat transfer at the high-radius half channel and compensates the negative effects induced by the rotation. Both intensity and uniformity of heat transfer inside the channel are enhanced while flow resistance decreases with proper mass flow rate ratio of coolant from two inlets. The most satisfactory total mass flow rate ratio is around 2/3. This new structural style of cooling channel has huge potential and provides new direction of heat transfer of turbine blade trailing edge.

Influence of alloy element partitioning on strength of primary α phase in Ti-6Al-4V alloy

The partitioning effect of Al（α-phase stabilizer） and V elements（β-phase stabilizer） on strength of the primary α phases in the α/β Ti-6 Al-4 V alloy with the bimodal microstructure was investigated.It was found that partitioning of Al and V elements took place in the Ti-6 Al-4 V alloy during the recrystallization process,leading to the variation of the content of Al and V elements in the primary α phases with changing the volume fraction of the primary α phase.Nanoindentation tests reveal a general trend that the strength of the primary α phases increases with decreasing the volume fraction of the primary α phases,and such trend is independent on the loading direction relative to the c-axis of the α phase.The enhanced strength is attributed to the increase of the content of Al element in the primary α phase,but it is not dominated evidently by the change of the V content.The solid solution strengthening contributed from both the elastic strain introduced by the solute atoms and the variation of the density of states was estimated theoretically.

Microstructure Dependent Fatigue Cracking Resistance of Ti-6.5Al-3.5Mo-1.5Zr-0.3Si Alloy

Fatigue cracking behavior from a notch was investigated at room temperature for Ti-6.SAI-3.5Mo-1.5Zr- 0.3Si （TClI） alloys with four different microstructures obtained at different cooling rates from the β transus temperature. It was found that the alloy with lamellar structures consisting of α/β lamellae or acicular α＇ martensite laths had a higher fatigue crack initiation threshold from the notch, while the bimodal structure with coarse a grain had a lower fatigue cracking resistance. The alloy with α/β lamellar structure showed a higher fatigue crack growth resistance. The length scales of the microstructures were characterized to correlate with fatigue cracking behavior. Fatigue cracking mechanism related to microstructures was discussed.

Geometrical Scale-Sensitive Fatigue Properties of Ti-6.5Al-3.5Mo-1.5Zr-0.3Si Alloys With α/β Lamellar Microstructures

Fatigue properties of the Ti-6.5Al-3.5Mo-1.5Zr-0.3Si alloy sheets containing different numbers of α/β Widmansttten colonies in the thickness direction of the sheets were investigated by tensionetension fatigue testing. It is found that fatigue properties of the Ti alloy either in low- or high-stress amplitude regimes become more sensitive to the sheet thickness of the Ti alloy as the sheet thickness is comparable to the length scale of the Widmansttten colonies. The basic mechanism of such length scale-sensitive fatigue properties in the Ti alloy was elucidated.

Precessing motion in stratified radial swirl flow

Vortex/flame interaction is an important mechanism for unsteady combustion in a swirl combustion system. Technology of low emission stirred swirl （TeLESS）, which is characterized with stratified swirl flow, has been developed in Beihang University to reduce NOx emission. However, large-scale flow structure would be induced in strong swirl flow. Experiments and computational fluid dynamics （CFD） simulation were carried out to investigate the unsteady flow feature and its mechanism in TeLESS combustor. Hotwire was firstly applied to testing the unsteady flow feature and a distinct mode with 2244 Hz oscillation frequency occurred at the pilot swirl outlet. The flow mode amplitude decayed convectively. Large eddy simulation （LES） was then applied to predicting this flow mode and know about its mechanism. The deviation of mode prediction compared with hotwire test was 0.8%. The spiral isobaric structure in pilot flow passage indicates that precessing vortex core （PVC） existed. The velocity spectrum and phase lag analysis suggest that the periodic movement at the pilot outlet was dominated by precessing movement. Negative tangen- tial momentum gradient reflects that the swirl flow was unstable. Another phenomenon was found out that the PVC movement was intermittently rotated alon~ the symmetric axis.

Experimental and numerical simulation of bird-strike performance of lattice-material-infilled curved plate

The anti-bird-strike performance of a lattice-material-infilled curved plate is investigated herein.Since automatically filling the curved structure by classical lattice material filling methods will cause a large number of manufacturing defects,a space-dependent lattice material filling method for the curved plate is firstly proposed in this paper Next,using a face-centered cubic lattice,a lattice-material-infilled test piece with a hollow ratio of 40.8%is built.The test pieces are manufactured via additive manufacturing using titanium alloy.In bird-strike experimental tests,the test pieces are crashed against gelatin birds at an impact velocity of 200 m/s.Dynamic strain gauges are used to record the crash history and the results are discussed.Furthermore,a numerical analysis to simulate the bird-strike experiment is performed.The results from the experimental tests and numerical simulation agree well.This work shows that the lattice-material-infilled curved plate yields promising bird-strike resistance.Therefore,lattice-infilled materials are feasible for protecting aerospace components against bird-strike as well as for reducing the component weight.

An approach for machining distortion measurements and evaluation of thin-walled blades with small datum

Inspection techniques for aero-engine blades are a hot topic in industry. Since these blades have a sculptured surface and a small datum, measurement results may deviate from an actual position. There are few proper approaches compensating for non-uniform distribution errors that are within specified tolerance ranges. This study aimed to develop a meshing structure measuring approach for the distortion of blades via non-contact optical 3D scanning. A rough measurement and a registration procedure are initially adopted to rectify the coordinate system of a blade, which avoids the initial coordinate system errors caused by the small datum. A measurement path with meshing structure is then unfolded on the blade surface. For non-uniform distribution errors, the meshing structure measurement is more visual and clear than the traditional constant height curves method. All measuring points take only 7 min to complete, and the distribution of error is directly and accurately presented by the meshing structure. This study provides a basis for future research on distortion control and error compensation.

Cutting force prediction for circular end milling process

A deduced cutting force prediction model for circular end milling process is presented in this paper. Traditional researches on cutting force model usually focus on linear milling process which does not meet other cutting conditions, especially for circular milling process. This paper presents an improved cutting force model for circular end milling process based on the typical linear milling force model. The curvature effects of tool path on chip thickness as well as entry and exit angles are analyzed, and the cutting force model of linear milling process is then corrected to fit circular end milling processes. Instantaneous cutting forces during circular end milling process are predicted according to the proposed model. The deduced cutting force model can be used for both linear and circular end milling processes. Finally, circular end milling experiments with constant and variable radial depth were carried out to verify the availability of the proposed method. Experiment results show that measured results and simulated results corresponds well with each other.

Development of Microstructure and Texture Heterogeneities during Static Annealing of Ti-6.5Al-3.5Mo-1.5Zr-0.3Si Alloy Preformed by Hot Working

The effect of annealing temperature on the development of microstructure and texture in an c~＋/3 titanium alloy Ti-6.5AI-3.SMo-l.5Zr-0.3Si （TCll） preformed by hot working was investigated with the aid of electron back-scattered diffraction and X-ray diffraction measurements. It is shown that considerable microstructure and texture heterogeneities were developed in the cross-section of the hot-worked rod due to the non-uniform deformation. Subsequent annealing at 940 ℃ and 990 ℃ led to homogeneous microstructures with globular a grains, whereas a typical lamellar ca＋β microstructure was obtained after annealing at 1040 ℃. In the latter case, the Burgers orientation relationship was well preserved between the two phases in a single colony. The a lamellar within a given colony depicted similar crystallographic orientations and the boundary a grains shared the orientation of one of the neighboring c~ lamellar. In contrast, subsequent annealing had very limited effect on the main features of the textures, indicating strong inheritance of the texture heterogeneity in annealing. It is thus crucial to control the hot working process in order to achieve a high level of texture homogeneity in the final parts.

On Temperature and Strain Rate Dependent Strain Localization Behavior in Ti-6.5Al-3.5Mo-1.5Zr-0.3Si Alloy

Deformation behaviors of Ti-6.5Al-3.5Mo-1.5Zr-0.3Si alloys with α/β lamellar structure were investigated systematically at different temperatures from room temperature to 950 ~C and different strain rates. Results reveal that when the deformation temperature is higher than a critical temperature of 600℃, an evident transition of deformation behavior from localized shear banding to α/β lamella kinking, flow softening and temperature/strain rate-dependent peak flow stress occurred in the alloy. The critical conditions for the occurrence of internal cracking and strain localization behavior associated with temperature and strain rate were determined.