Experimental Study and CFD Analysis of Fuel Cavitation
Abstract
The purpose of this action is to provide FY24 CR3 funds, in the amount of $300K, for a new start Grant award with The Pennsylvania State University; GRANT#13981962.--A 36-month program is offered to pursue research activities related to physics exploration and modeling of cavitation in jet enginefuels. The objectives of the research are to: 1) advance understanding of unresolved fuel cavitation physics issues, and 2) developand validate a new class of two-phase CFD models that capture the unique and complex physics that arise in these systems. This project will advance the ability of the USN to execute first-principles based modern cavitation CFD to the fuel-system arena. The proposed research is a joint experimental and modeling effort. An important thrust of the proposed effort is that we address the significant differences in physics between fuel mixture cavitation and water cavitation. These differences include more complex vaporization and condensation processes (i.e., temperature and mass fraction dependent), dominant non-condensable processes (including air and non-gaseous impurities), salient bubble dynamics effects, compressible mixturestate relations, and unique surface and homogenous nucleation processes. Professors Robert Kunz at Penn State University (PSU) and Flint Thomas at Notre Dame (ND) will serve as co-Principal Investigators of the project and will lead computational and experimental elements of the research. Other key personnel on the project include Professor Aswin Gnanaskandan at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and Dr. Jules Lindau at The Penn State Applied Research Laboratory.Approved for Public Release.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 11, 2024
- Source ID
- N000142412291
Entities
People
- Robert Francis Kunz
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- Pennsylvania State University
- United States Navy