The effects of an industrial gas turbine’s Exhaust Collector Box (ECB) geometry on static pressure recovery and total pressure loss were investigated in this study experimentally and computationally. This study aims to further understand how exit boundary conditions affect the performance of a diffuser system as well as the accuracy of industry standard computational models. A design of experiments approach was taken using a Box-Behnken design method for investigating three geometric parameters of the ECB. In this investigation, the exhaust diffuser remained constant through each test, with only the ECB being varied. A system performance analysis was conducted for each geometry using the total pressure loss and static pressure recovery from the diffuser inlet to the ECB exit. Velocity and total pressure profiles obtained with a hotwire anemometer and Kiel probe at the exit of the diffuser and at the exit of the ECB are also presented in this study. A total of 13 different ECB geometries are investigated at a Reynolds number of 60,000. Results obtained from these experimental tests are used to investigate the accuracy of a 3-dimensional RANS with realizable k-ε turbulence model from the commercial software package Star-CCM+. The study confirms the existence of strong counter-rotating helical vortices within the ECB which significantly affect the flow within the diffuser. Evidence of a strong recirculation zone within the ECB was found to force separation within the exhaust diffuser which imposed a circumferentially asymmetric pressure field at the inlet of the diffuser. Increasing the ECB width proved to decrease the magnitude of this effect, increasing the diffuser protrusion reduced this effect to a lesser degree. The combined effect of increasing the ECB Length and Width increased the expansion area ratio, proving to increase the system pressure recovery iv by as much as 19% over the nominal case. Additionally, the realizable k-ε turbulence model was able to accurately rank all 13 cases in order by performance; however the predicted magnitudes of the pressure recovery and total pressure loss were poor for the cases with strong vortices. For the large volume cases with weak vortices, the CFD was able to accurately represent the total pressure loss of the system within 5%.

A subsonic wind tunnel facility was designed and built to test and optimize various diffuser-collector box geometries at the one-twelfth scale.  The facility was designed to run continuously at an inlet Mach number of 0.42 and an inlet hydraulic diameter Reynolds number of 340,000. Different combinations of diffusers, hubs, and exhaust collector boxes were designed and evaluated for overall optimum performance. Both 3-hole and 5-hole probes were traversed into the flow to generate multiple diffuser inlet and collector exit performance profile plots. Surface oil flow visualization was performed to gain an understanding of the complex 3D flow structures inside the diffuser-collector subsystem. The cutback radial hardware was found to increase the subsystem pressure recovery by over 10% from baseline resulting in an approximate 1% increase in gas turbine power output. / Master of Science

A study of exhaust gas composition at various engine speeds, loads, and cooling water temperatures was made on an International Harvester UD-6 Diesel Engine. Simultaneously, smoke density was measured with a smokemeter, the principle of which was based on the obstruction of light. Exhaust gases were analyzed with a Fisher Precision Gas Analyzer. The components analyzed were carbon dioxide, oxygen, illuminants, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and methane. The results of this study have led the investigators to the following conclusions. 1. The exhaust gas composition was chiefly a function of fuel-air ratio. 2. The effect of cooling water temperature on exhaust gas composition was not conclusive over the range of temperature investigated. (120 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit) 3. The so-called “chilling of direct oxidation reactions” were experienced at maximum brake horsepower check. 4. Smoke density increased with an increase in fuel-air ratio at ratios above .04. The cooling temperature effect was negligible. 5. There was a relationship between smoke density and free, or unburned carbon in the exhaust. 6. A higher precision method of gas analysis would be required for any study of the mechanics of combustion inside the combustion chamber. / Master of Science

For an engine running at a constant speed, both exhaust and intake processes are periodic in nature. This inspires the muffler designer to go for the much easier and faster frequency domain modeling. But analogous to electrical filter, as per Thevenin’s theorem, the acoustic filter or muffler requires prior knowledge of the load-independent source characteristics (acoustic pressure and internal impedance), corresponding to the open circuit voltage and internal impedance of an electrical source. Studies have shown that it is not feasible to evaluate these source characteristics making use of either the direct measurement method or the indirect evaluation method. Hence, prediction of the radiated exhaust or intake noise has been subject to trial and error. Making use of the fact that pressure perturbation in a duct is a superposition of the forward moving wave and the reflected wave, a simple hybrid approach has been proposed making use of an interrelationship between progressive wave variables of the linear acoustic theory and Riemann variables of the method of characteristics. Neglecting the effect of nonlinearities, reflection of the forward moving wave has been duly incorporated at the exhaust valve. The reflection co-efficient of the system downstream of the exhaust valve has been calculated by means of the transfer matrix method at each of the several harmonics of the engine firing frequency. This simplified approach can predict exhaust noise with or without muffler for a naturally aspirated, single cylinder engine. However, this proves to be inadequate in predicting the exhaust noise of multi-cylinder engines. Thus, estimation of radiated noise has met only limited success in this approach. Strictly speaking, unique source characteristics do not exist for an IC engine because of the associated non-linearity of the time-varying source. Yet, a designer would like to know the un-muffled noise level in order to assess the required insertion loss of a suitable muffler. As far as the analysis and design of a muffler is concerned, the linear frequency-domain analysis by means of the transfer matrix approach is most convenient and time saving. Therefore, from a practical point of view, it is very desirable to be able to evaluate source characteristics, even if grossly approximate. If somehow it were possible to parameterize the source characteristics of an engine in terms of basic engine parameters, then it would be possible to evaluate the un-muffled noise before a design is taken up as a first approximation. This aspect has been investigated in detail in this work. A finite-volume CFD (one dimensional) model has been used in conjunction with the two-load or multi-load method to evaluate the source characteristics at a point just downstream of the exhaust manifold for the exhaust system, and upstream of the air filter (dirty side) in the case of the intake system. These source characteristics have been extracted from the pressure time history calculated at that point using the electro-acoustic analogy. Systematic parametric studies have yielded approximate empirical expressions for the source characteristics of an engine in terms of the basic engine parameters like engine RPM, capacity (swept volume or displacement), air-fuel ratio, and the number of cylinders. The effect of other parameters has been found to be relatively insignificant. Unlike exhaust noise, the intake system noise of an automobile cannot be measured because of the proximity of the engine at the point of measurement. Besides, the intake side is associated with turbocharger (booster), intercooler, cooling fan, etc., which will make the measurement of the intake noise erroneous. From the noise radiation point of view, intake noise used to be considered to be a minor source of noise as compared to the exhaust noise. Therefore, very little has been done or reported on prediction of the intake noise as compared to the exhaust noise. But nowadays, with efficient exhaust mufflers, the un-muffled intake noise has become a contributing factor to the passenger compartment noise level as a luxury decisive factor. Therefore, in this investigation both the intake and the exhaust side source characteristics have been found out for the compression ignition as well as the spark ignition engines. Besides, in the case of compression ignition engines, typical turbocharged as well as naturally aspirated engines have been considered. One of the inputs to the time-domain simulation is the intake valve and exhaust valve lift histories as functions of crank angle. It is very cumbersome and time-consuming to measure and feed these data into the program. Sometimes, this data is not available or cannot be determined easily. So, a generalized formula for the valve lift has been developed by observing the valve lift curves of various engines. The maximum exhaust valve lift has been expressed as a function of the swept volume of the cylinder. This formulation is not intended for designing a cam profile; it is for the purpose of determining approximate thermodynamic quantities to help a muffler designer for an initial estimation. It has also been observed during the investigation that from the acoustic point of view, sometimes it is better to open the exhaust valve a little earlier, but very slowly and smoothly, and keep it open for a longer time. Although the exact source characteristics for an automobile engine cannot be determined precisely, yet the values of source characteristics calculated using this methodology have been shown to be reasonably good for approximate prediction of the un-muffled noise as well as insertion loss of a given muffler. The resultant empirical expressions for the source characteristics enable the potential user to make use of the frequency-domain cum-transfer matrix approach throughout; the time consuming time-domain simulation of the engine exhaust source is no longer necessary. Predictions of the un-muffled sound pressure level of automotive engines have been corroborated against measured values as the well as the full scale time-domain predictions making use of a finite-volume software.

One major aspect of environmental pollution affecting human life and climate is air pollution. The harmful pollutants in the air include mostly hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides as well as soot and other particulate matter. These pollutants result in several damaging effects on environment and living beings which include acid rain, photochemical smog, global warming and various health hazards in human beings even cancer. Major contribution of these pollutants is from man-made sources such as industrial and automotive emissions that employ fossil fuels. In our country, diesel constitutes more than 40% of the fossil fuel consumption. Studies show that diesel engine emissions contribute to 80% of nitrogen oxides amongst other air pollutants. In the context of stringent emission regulations being implemented all over the world, exhaust emission control, in general and nitrogen oxide emission in particular, is gaining significant importance. A review of recent literature indicates the significance and popularity of electrical discharge based non thermal plasma for exhaust cleaning applications in general, and NOx cleaning in particular. While the existing pre-combustion and catalyst based post-combustion nitrogen oxides (NOx) abatement techniques have inherent disadvantages owing to short shelf life, saturated engine modifications, cost concerns etc., the electrical discharge based non- thermal plasma techniques offer certain advantages in terms of cost and life factors. Several non-thermal plasma techniques viz., pulsed plasma, surface plasma, dielectric barrier discharge plasma etc., have been studied under different laboratory conditions. Interestingly, due to the high oxidizing environment that prevails in the discharge plasma zone, complete reduction of NOx by the plasma alone is becoming a challenging task. This has led the researchers to utilize additional processing techniques in cascade with discharge plasma. This additional gas cleaning technique may involve the use of adsorbents, catalysts or some other secondary treatment for eliminating the nitrogen oxides produced due to oxidizing reactions in the plasma chamber. One such additive can be an adsorbent, which can be commercially obtained or prepared from industrial wastes. In this thesis the adsorption properties of two industrial wastes were explored for the first time in conjunction with discharge plasma. The synergistic effect of plasma combined with an adsorbent shows promising results in NOx removal thus offering an effective solution to two environmental issues namely air pollution and open waste dumping. While the plasma, generally, refers to direct plasma treatment of exhaust, it can also be used for generation of ozone in a separate reactor which can subsequently be injected into the exhaust stream resulting in indirect plasma treatment. The current work focuses on both direct and indirect dielectric barrier discharge plasma treatment for NOx reduction in diesel engine exhaust cascaded with either oyster shells, a mariculture waste or lignite ash from lignite coal fired plant. Instead of conventional petro-diesel, biodiesel produced from the seeds of pongamia pinnata is used as the fuel. This biofuel, on one hand, causes considerable reduction in volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, soot, oil mist etc., but on the other hand may have higher concentrations of nitrogen oxides, an aspect that has motivated us to take up the research work envisaged in this thesis. It was observed in the laboratory environment that for a given power, both direct and indirect plasma treatments have resulted in NOx removal to the tune of 85 to 95% when cascaded with the adsorbents studied.

On-road remote sensing has the ability to operate in real-time, and under real world conditions, making it an ideal candidate for detecting gross polluters on major freeways and thoroughfares. In this study, remote sensing was employed to detect carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), and nitrogen oxide (NO). On-road remote sensing data taken from measurements performed in six states, (Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Texas, and Utah) were cleaned and analyzed. Data mining and exploration were first undertaken in order to search for relationships among variables such as make, year, engine type, vehicle weight, and location. Descriptive statistics were obtained for the three pollutants of interest. The data were found to have non-normal distributions. Applied transformations were ineffective, and nonparametric tests were applied. Due to the extremely large sample size of the dataset (508,617 records), nonparametric tests resulted in "p" values that demonstrated "significance." The general linear model was selected due to its ability to handle data with non-normal distributions. The general linear model was run on each pollutant with output producing descriptive statistics, profile plots, between-subjects effects, and estimated marginal means. Due to insufficient data within certain cells, results were not obtained for gross vehicle weight and engine type. The "year" variable was not directly analyzed in the GLM because "year" was employed in a weighted least squares transformation. "Year" was found to be a source of heteroscedasticity; and therefore, the basis of a least-squares transformation. Grouped-years were analyzed using medians, and the results were displayed graphically. Based on the GLM results and descriptives, Japanese vehicles typically had the lowest CO, HC, and NO emissions, while American vehicles ranked high for the three. Illinois, ranked lowest for CO, while Texas ranked highest. Illinois and Colorado were lowest for HC emissions, while Utah and California were highest. For NO, Colorado ranked highest with Texas and Arizona, lowest.

ITC/USA 2006 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Second Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 23-26, 2006 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / This paper discusses the effect of vehicle exhaust plasma/plume on the ability to receive telemetered data via an S-band RF link. The data presented herein were captured during the launch of the STARS FT-04-1 on February 23, 2006 from Kodiak Launch Center, Kodiak, Alaska using Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation’s (AADC) Range Safety and Telemetry System (RSTS), designed and integrated by Honeywell.

ITC/USA 2005 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-First Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 24-27, 2005 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / This paper discusses the effect of vehicle exhaust plasma/plume on the ability to receive telemetered data via an S-band RF link. The data discussed herein was captured during the launch of the STARS IFT-14 on February 13, 2005 from Kodiak Launch Center, Kodiak, Alaska using Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation’s (AADC) Range Safety and Telemetry System (RSTS), designed and integrated by Honeywell.

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Realisation of the depletable nature of fossil fuel has increased the need for its optimal use. Increasing global pressure to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and other harmful gases that affect the chemical cycles or destroy the greenhouse gases in the tropospheric ozone, has attracted a increased worldwide concern. Waste heat recovery devices have been around for more than 50 years and researches and scientists have been very much involved in identifying the correct type of systems to meet the requireme?ts of industries and mankind more efficiently. Waste heat can be identified in the form of unburned but combustible fuel, sensible heat discharges in drain water, and latent and sensible heat discharge in exhaust gases. In this project the feasibility of a small scale waste heat recovery system has been investigated. Sets of preliminary investigations were performed to evaluate the amount of waste heat that can be extracted from the exhaust gases of typical diesel powered truck engines. A waste heat recovery unit was designed, implemented and evaluated through simulation and experimental investigations. Preliminary calculations were performed usmg the readings presented by Koorts (1998) for a typical 6-litre diesel engine. The calculations showed that it is possible to extract about 77kW of waste heat from the exhaust gases from such an engine. A simple Rankine cycle was then investigated to be operated on the waste heat recovered. The optimal parameters for such a Rankine cycle was determined using a spreadsheet program and was found to be an optimal pressure of 800kPa with a temperature of 227.2°C and a water mass flow rate of 0.0015kgls as the working fluid. For such a Rankine cycle, based on the efficiencies of commercially available pumps, turbines and heat exchangers it was found that it is possible to extract 2782kW of power per unit mass flow rate of water. The next stage of the project was designing and implementing an exhaust gas pipe network from the engine test cells at the Centre for Automotive Engineering (CAE) located on the ground floor to the Energy Systems Laboratory (ESL) at the first floor. This pipe network was equipped with a valve system that can be operated from the ESL and allows the selection of the route of the exhaust gases and two bellows to compensate for thermal expansion. A continuous combustion unit was also linked to the exhaust gas supply pipes as an alternative source of exhaust gases. The waste heat exchanger designed and selected was purchased and linked into the exhaust gas stream after calibration tests were carried out on the same in the wind tunnel. The water supply and a steam separator were then connected to the waste heat exchanger. In the final experimental stage of the project, two sets of tests were carried out. The first set of tests was performed using exhaust gases from the continuous combustion unit and the second using exhaust gases from the internal combustion engines in CAE. Superheated steam was obtained in both cases indicating the possibility of operating a turbine with the dry steam generated. With exhaust gases originating from the continuous combustion unit, an air fuel ratio of9.14:1 was used and exhaust gases at a temperature of 540°C were obtained with an air inflow of 1400kglh and a fuel consumption rate of7.11 kg/h. The exhaust gases degraded to 360°C at the waste heat recovery inlet due to losses through the bare pipes. 11.12kW of energy was extracted from the exhaust gases to the water stream with an efficiency of 98%. With the exhaust gases from the 10-litre diesel internal combustion engine, an exhaust gas flow rate of O.22kgls was used and with a heat transfer efficiency of 89%, 18.5kW of power was extracted at the waste heat recovery unit. This represents a 4.9% of the thermal content of the fuel used. A rate of energy production balance on the internal combustion engine showed that 34% is lost in exhaust gases and 29% in coolant and other losses while only 37% is used produced as shaft power. The results obtained therefore show that there is ample room for further investigation for the use afwaste heat in exhaust gases of typical diesel engines. It can therefore be concluded that the aims of the project that were to set up a testing facility and an exhaust gas pipe network and evaluation of a small scale waste heat recovery apparatus were achieved. The tests performed can still be optimised with more waste heat removal from the exhaust gases of typical diesel truck engines and hence better recovery of waste heat and a reduction of fuel consumption. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Met die besef van die kwynende beskikbaarheid van fosielbrandstof het die behoefte vir die optimale benutting van die brandstof toegeneem. Toenemende globale druk om die emissies van groenhuis gasse en ander gevaarlike gasse wat chemiese siklusse beïnvloed in die troposfeer te verrniner, geniet wêreldwye aandag. Oorskotenergie-toestelle is alreeds beskikbaar die afgelope 50 jaar en navorsers en wetenskaplikes was tot op hede betrokke met die identifisering van die korrekte tipe sisteme om meer effektief aan die industrie en samelewing se behoeftes te voldoen. Oorskotenergie bestaan uit onder andere onverbrande maar brandbare brandstof, voelbare warmte in dreinwater, en latente en voelbare warmte in uitlaatgasse. In hierdie projek word die lewensvatbaarheid van 'n kleinskaal oorskotenergie herwinningsisteem ondersoek. Voorlopige ondersoeke was gedoen om die hoeveelheid oorskotenergie te bepaal wat herwin kan word uit die uitlaatgasse van 'n tipiese 6 liter vragmotor dieselenjin. 'n oorskotenergie herwinningseenheid was ontwerp, geïmplimenteer en ge-evalueer deur similasies en eksperimentele ondersoeke. Voorlopige berekeninge was uitgevoer op data wat deur Koorts (1998) saamgestel is vir 'n tipiese vragmotor dieselenjin. Die berekeninge toon dat dit moontlik is om ongeveer 77kW oorskotenergie van die uitlaatgasse van so enjin te onttrek. Die moontlikheid was toe ondersoek om die herwinne energie te gebruik om 'n eenvoudige Rankine siklus aan te dryf. Die optimale parameters vir die Rankine siklus was bereken deur van 'n sigblad program gebruik te maak en dit was gevind dat die optimale druk is 800kPa, die optimale temperatuur is 227.2°C teen 'n water massa vloeitempo van 0.0015kg/s. Vir so 'n Rankine siklus, gebaseer op die effektiwiteit van kommersiële beskikbare pompe, turbines en warmteruilers, was dit gevind dat dit moontlik is om 2782kW drywing per eenheidsmassa vloeitempo van water, te onttrek. Die volgende stadium van die projek was die ontwerp en implimentering van 'n uitlaatgas pypnetwerk vanaf die toetsselle van die Centre for Automotive Engineering (CAE) op die grondvloer na die Energy Systems Laboratory (ESL) op die eerste vloer. Die pypnetwerk was toegerus gewees met 'n kleptstelsel wat vanaf ESL bedryf kan word en wat dit moontlik maak om die roete van die uitlaatgasse te beheer. Twee samedrukbare koppelstukke was ook ingesluit in die lang reguit pypseksie om vir termiese uitsetting te kompenseer. 'n Aaneenlopende verbrandingseenheid was ook gekoppel met die uitlaatgasse toevoerpype as 'n alternatiewe bron van uitlaatgasse. Die oorskotenergie warmteruiier wat ontwerp en geselekteer was, was aangekoop en opgekoppel met die uitlaatgas-stroom nadat kalibrasie toetse op die warmteruiier gedoen was in 'n windtonnel. Die watertoevoer en 'n stoomskeier was gekoppel aan die oorskotenergie warmteruiler. Twee toetse was uitgevoer in die finale eksperimentele stadium van die projek. Die eerste stel toetse was uitgevoer deur gebruik te maak van die uitlaatgasse van die aaneenlopende verbrandingseenheid en met die tweede toets is van die uitlaatgasse van die interne verbrandingsenjins van CAE gebruik gemaak. Oorverhitte stoom was verkry in beide gevalle en wys dus dat daar 'n moontlikheid is om 'n turbine met droë stoom aan te dryf. 'n Lug tot brandstof verhouding van 9.14 : 1 was gebruik gewees in die aaneenlopende verbrandingseenheid om uitlaatgasse te verskaf teen 540°C. Die massavloeitempo van die lug was 1400kg/h en die brandstof 7.11kg/h. Die uitlaatgasse se temperatuur het afgeneem tot 360°C tot voor die oorskotenergie herwinningseenheid as gevolg van hitteverliese vanaf die ongeïsoleerde pypnetwerk. 11.12kW energy was onttrek vanaf die uitlaatgasse en oorgedra aan die waterstroom met 'n effektiwiteit van 98%. Die 10 liter diesel interne verbrandingsenjin het uitlaatgas gelewer met 'n massa vloeitempo van O.22kg/s. 18.5kW energie was herwin gewees met 'n effektiwiteit van 89%. Dit verteenwoording 4.9% van die termiese inhoud van die brandstof gebruik. 'n Energie balans op die interne verbrandingsenjin het getoon dat 34% energie gaan verlore in die uitlaatgasse, 29% word aan die verkoelingsmiddeloorgedra en 37% is bruikbare meganiese drywing. Die resultate wat verkry is, wys daarop dat daar nog groot ruimte is vir verdere ondersoeke in die gebruik van oorskotenergie in uitlaatgasse van tipiese vragmotor dieselenjins. Die gevolgtrekking kan dus gemaak word dat die doelwitte van die projek naamlik die opstel van 'n toetsfasiliteit, installering van 'n uitlaatgasse pypnetwerk en die toets van a kleinskaalse oorskotenergie herwinningseenheid, bereik was. Die toetse wat uitgevoer was kan nog ge-optimeer word om meer energie te herwin vanaf die uitlaatgasse van 'n tipiese vragmotor dieselenjin om sodoende beter brandstofverbruik te bewerkstellig.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 21, 2002 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / This paper discusses the effect of vehicle exhaust plasma/plume on the ability to receive telemetered data via an S-band RF link. The data discussed herein was captured during the launch of the QRLV-2 (Quick Reaction Launch Vehicle) on April 24, 2002 from Kodiak Launch Center, Kodiak, Alaska using Honeywell’s BMRST (Ballistic Missile Range Safety Technology) system.