This thesis details an in investigation of two problems arising during the testing of a jet engine in a test cell, namely the formation and ingestion of vortices and the generation and propagation of infrasound. Investigation involved the use of computational fluid dynamic as well as analytical tools. The author extended the work of previous researchers by investigating the effect when a suction inlet in surrounded by four walls, (as it is in a test cell). A previously suspected but not documented small region of unsteady vortex was discovered to lie between the steady vortex and no vortex regions. The preferential attachment of the vortex, when formed, to a particular surface was investigated and a low velocity region near that surface has been proven as a possible cause. A cell bypass ratio > 90% was found to be necessary to avoid the formation of vortices in typical situations. Parametric studies (conducted cetaris paribus) on four different geometries and flow parameters were also conducted to determine how they affected the vortex formation threshold. Boundary layer thickness on the vortex attachment surface, upstream vorticity, size of suction inlet was found to have a direct relationship with probability of vortex formation whereas Reynolds number of flow was found to have an inverse relationship. Three hypotheses regarding the generation and propagation of infrasound in test cells were analysed. The first hypothesis states that the fluctuating of flow within the test cell led to a periodic fluctuation of pressure. The second hypothesis predicts a change in flow conditions can leads to a change in the acoustic reflection characteristics of the blast basket perforates. The final hypothesis proposes that changing engine location and size of augmenter, can lead to a reduction in the slip velocity between the engine exhaust jet and the cell bypass flow thus reducing the engine jet noise. The first hypothesis has been disproved using CFD techniques, although the results are as yet inconclusive. The second and third hypotheses have been proven to be potentially feasible techniques to be employed in the future. The changes proposed in the final hypothesis are shown to reduce the engine jet noise by up to 5 dB.

In the automotive industry engines are regularly tested and evaluated by running them for a prolonged time under controlled conditions; environmental conditions, engine load, and drive cycle. These tests are performed in an engine test cell; a computer controlled environment with mechanical fittings and sensors to facilitate the testing of an engine. Our goal was to develop a software suite that provides a distributed graphical interface to the data acquisition and control systems of an engine cell. As we found existing systems to be inadequate in providing a distributed interface, we designed and developed a light weight flexible software suite to remotely, over a network, observe and control the parameters in an engine cell. We used the Fast Light Toolkit (FLTK) GUI library, with networking sockets and process threads to establish the software architecture of the engine test system. Through use of process threads, the client architecture divides tasks into network data sending and receiving, local channel synchronization, and interface operation. Networking sockets used in network data sending and receiving facilitate synchronization of each clients' channel storage and host's channel data. The FLTK GUI library produces visual interactive components of the interface for invoking interactions. Distributed interfacing allows display and modification of the engine cell's operation remotely in locations where relocating an engine cell is not feasible. These locations, such as demonstrations to distant clients and meeting rooms, display the current status of the engine cell through its interfaces without requiring migration of the engine cell to the specified rooms. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

This master thesis is part of a bigger project issued by AVL with the purpose to design a high pressure compression ignition fuel system for their single cylinder test cell at their facility in Södertälje. Typically compression-ignition fuel tests are being run within an operating pressure range of 500-2400 bar, but this system has to be able to run with pressures up to 3500 bar. The project was intended to be carried out by two participants where this master thesis covers the evaluation of how fuel consumption rates shall be measured in the system described above as well as how the fuel shall be conditioned. The selected concept for measuring fuel consumption rate was based on measuring the mass flow on the low-pressure side of the system with a Coriolis flowmeter. The chosen temperature sensor for monitoring the temperature on the high-pressure side was a K-type thermocouple which would be directly connected to the fuel rail in the system. A bleeder was selected on the basis that it had been used in one of AVL's old test cells. A heat exchanger could not be chosen. However a rough estimation of the capacity needed for a heat exchanger was calculated for future reference. The methodology used to develop a concept was based on the engineering project process taught to students at Karlstad University. First a project plan was made followed by a solution-independently expressed product specification including a specification of requirements and QFD-matrix. Several concepts were generated for measuring the fuel consumption by evaluating different measuring principles, available components, possible positions of the components within the system and combinations with different fuel supply concepts. Less extensive methods were used for the remaining tasks in the detailed engineering phase of the project. The concepts were compared using Pugh's analysis and a concept was selected in collaboration with AVL. The majority of the objectives for this master thesis could be successfully carried out. The documentation and drawings requested by the client, manufacturing of the system, implementation and validation into the test cell could not be done due to lack of time. This, along with the selection of a heat exchanger and low-pressure thermocouple was left for future work.