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Multi-Physics Modeling for Future Propulsion and Power Systems: high-pressure phase separation and plasma assisted ignition

Event Type
Seminar/Symposium
Sponsor
Mechanical Science and Engineering
Location
4100 Sidney Lu Mechanical Engineering Building
Date
Nov 1, 2022   4:00 pm  
Speaker
Professor Suo Yang, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Contact
Amy Rumsey
E-Mail
rumsey@illinois.edu
Phone
217-300-4310
Views
104
Originating Calendar
MechSE Seminars

Abstract

In the development of advanced propulsion and power systems, the growing concerns about emissions & efficiency and the pursuit of high speeds have pushed the systems to operate at extreme conditions. These conditions and the corresponding technical solutions often introduce more physics, which brings new challenges to modeling and simulation. In this presentation, I will talk about two examples of such multi-physics modeling from our recent works: (1) Advanced gas turbines and detonation engines operate at high pressures for high power density and efficiency. At such conditions, the injected multicomponent liquid propellants and fuel-air mixtures often go through transcritical phase change. We developed a CFD framework based on the first-principle vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) theory to accurately predict high-pressure phase change, and demonstrated that phase separation can be triggered by either mixing or expansion waves. (2) Plasma assisted combustion (PAC) is a promising technology to enable ignition and stable combustion either at extreme conditions (e.g., high-speed flows in scramjets) or using low-reactivity fuels (e.g., carbon-free ammonia). We developed a series of 0D-3D CFD solvers to model PAC with different levels of fidelity. Using our solvers, we figured out why plasma can surprisingly reduce the NOx emission of ammonia combustion and investigated how turbulence and pulsing frequency affect plasma assisted ignition performance.

 About the Speaker

Dr. Suo Yang is the Richard & Barbara Nelson Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. During 2017-2018, Dr. Yang was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University. He received Ph.D. (2017) and M.S. (2014) degrees in Aerospace Engineering, and another M.S. degree in Computational Science & Engineering (2015), all from Georgia Institute of Technology. He received a B.S. degree in Mathematics & Applied Mathematics from Zhejiang University in 2011. Dr. Yang’s research focuses on the modeling and simulation of laminar and turbulent reacting flows, including combustion, plasma, particulate & multiphase flows, and hypersonics. He has been authored for more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and referred conference papers, in which he received Editor's Pick and Featured Article awards from Physics

Host: Professor Tonghun Lee

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