GOALI: Dynamics of Reacting Jets in Cross-Flow

燃气轮机发电厂是陆上发电和空气呼吸飞机推进的主要推动因素。这些发电厂由几个部件组成，其核心是燃烧器。在燃烧室中，为了有效地燃烧和冷却燃烧室部件，需要空气和燃料的快速混合。这一关键特征构成了利用横流喷射结构的流体动力学优势。在这种配置中，射流沿垂直于横流的方向喷射，从而产生可用于上述应用的复杂流体力学特性。因此，对这个项目的广泛关注是流体力学和横向喷流结构的燃烧的基本物理。了解这些物理学对于为美国航空航天和发电工业设计下一代清洁高效的燃气轮机至关重要。拟议工作的具体目标是提高对横流中反应射流动力学的理解。横流中的射流是一个重要的基本问题，它包括高应变流动中的部分预混火焰传播、非预混火焰的自燃、边缘火焰的传播以及反应流动中的流体动力稳定性。这是一个重要的正则问题，其中流动的化学动力学和流体动力稳定性是紧密耦合的。这个项目将集中在两个主要推动力上。第一个推力将解决放热和动力学对拓扑和流体动力稳定性的影响问题。特别是，它将解决以下问题：在非反应流动中形成的基本拓扑流图是否保持不变，可能需要进行一些量化调整，或者是否以及何时会出现根本上新的流动动力学。第二个推力将涉及火焰稳定进程。重点阐述了火焰传播和自燃在高温横流中对火焰稳定和蔓延的作用。这项工作将利用一套高帧频的高频平面激光诊断。此外，研究团队还将利用各种校园项目来促进STEM教育和外联活动。

Gas turbine power plants are a major enabler for both land-based power generation and air-breathing aircraft propulsion. These power plants consist of several components, at the heart of which is the combustor. In a combustor, rapid mixing of air and fuel is required for efficient combustion and cooling of combustor parts. This critical feature constitutes the use of the fluid dynamic benefits of a jet-in-crossflow configuration. In this configuration, a jet is injected in a perpendicular direction to a crossflow, resulting in complex fluid mechanic characteristics that can be leveraged for the above applications. Thus, the broad focus on this project is the fundamental physics in the fluid mechanics and combustion of a jet-in-crossflow configuration. Understanding these physics is critical to the design of the next generation clean and efficient gas turbines for the U.S. aerospace and power generation industries.The specific objective of the proposed work is to improve the understanding of the dynamics of reacting jets in crossflow. Jets in crossflow are an important fundamental problem that incorporates partially premixed flame propagation in highly strained flows, non-premixed flame autoignition, edge flame propagation, and hydrodynamic stability in reacting flows. It is an important canonical problem where chemical kinetics and hydrodynamic stability of the flow are tightly coupled. This project will focus on two major thrusts. The first thrust will address the question of the impacts of exothermicity and kinetics on the topology and hydrodynamic stability. In particular it will address the question of whether the basic topological flow picture that has been developed in non-reacting flows remain, perhaps with some quantitative adjustments, or whether and when fundamentally new flow dynamics emerge. The second thrust will address flame stabilization processes. This focuses on elucidating the relative roles of flame propagation and autoignition on flame stabilization and spreading in high temperature crossflows. This work will utilize a suite of high frequency planar laser diagnostics at high frame rates. In addition, the research team will also leverage various on-campus programs to promote STEM education and outreach activities.