Development of a metal-powder fuel for a novel in-space propulsion technology

该研究项目寻求使用计算流体动力学中的工具来预测雾化金属粉末的燃烧行为，以开发一种新的空间推进技术。预测模型将使概念验证的开发成为可能，并加快哥伦比亚德将这项技术推向市场的开发时间。作为这项工作的一部分，将解决三个科学挑战：(1)湍流中微颗粒和纳米颗粒的注入和分散预测；(2)纳米热媒反应产生的热释放；(3)气雾化、铁气雾化颗粒的感应加热。这些悬而未决的科学问题是该发动机技术开发的核心。为了解决这些科学问题，我们将扩展现有计算工具的开发，以解决这些多物理和多尺度问题所涉及的额外物理问题。解决这些问题的方法是：(I)确定基本的物理机制(例如，气雾化颗粒的湍流传输)；(Ii)使用或开发一个适当保真度的数学模型，以捕捉所确定的物理(燃烧机制、感应加热等)；(Iii)模拟具有代表性的装置，以描述所需的工程特征(例如，纳米颗粒的混合、喷射系统等)；以及(Iv)后处理，推断和理解所产生的结果。从第(4)步中将收集到对技术开发有用的工程见解。

The research project seeks to use tools in computational fluids dynamics to predict the behaviour of aerosolized metal powder combustion for the development of a novel in-space propulsion technology. The predictive modelling will enable the development of a proof of concept and accelerate Columbiad's development time to bring this technology to market. Three scientific challenges will be addressed as part of this work: (1) injection and dispersion prediction of micro- and nanoparticles in turbulent flows; (2) heat release due to nanothermite reaction; (3) induction heating of aerosolized, ferrous aerosolized particles. These unresolved scientific issues lie at the heart of the technological development for this engine. To address these scientific questions, we will be extending the development of our existing computational tools to account for the additional physics involved in these multi-physics and multi-scale problems. The methodology to tackle these problems is the (i) identification of the underlying physical mechanism (e.g. turbulent transport of aerosolized particles); (ii) use or development a mathematical model, with appropriate fidelity, to capture the identified physics (combustion mechanism, induction heating etc.); (iii) simulation of a representative setup to characterize the desired engineering features (e.g. mixing of nanoparticles, injection system etc.); and, (iv) post-process, infer and understand the results generated. The engineering insight useful to the technology development will be gleaned from step (iv).