Enhanced Reaction Chemistry In Air Force Relevant Supercritical Fluid Combustion Systems
Abstract
Advanced propulsion devices induce at least one of the thrust generating reactants to pass through its critical regime, resulting in transcritical fluid behavior. In Air Force propulsion devices, rocket engines in particular, the complex operating conditions of the engines necessarily place the fuel, oxidizer and their mixtures at various times in the transcritical, subcritical, and supercritical fluid state. More predictable, enhanced performance in these devices may be possible by exploiting enhancements in solvation and chemical reactivity in transcritical temperature and pressure regimes on top of the thermo-physical transcritical effects currently under study, for example at Edwards Air Force Base. Previously, chemists and chemical engineers observed enhanced solvation, solvent/solute interactions, and chemical reactivity in very dilute concentrations of solutes in solvents where the critical point properties were dominated by the properties of the solvent. Propulsion combustion environments are far from dilute in fuel and oxidizer and often operate at temperatures much higher than the critical temperature. However, mixtures of large hydrocarbon kerosene fuels with lighter gases such as oxygen, raise the possibility for transcritical behavior at higher temperature conditions than previously explored. The rapidly changing chemical composition of the fuel, oxidizer, and products complicates the understanding of critical phenomena but can push transcritical regions to temperatures suitable for chemical reactions. This is the primary motivation of this proposal.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 12, 2021
- Source ID
- FA95502010332
Entities
People
- Kenneth Brezinsky
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign