The objective of this dissertation was to investigate physical characteristics of high speed gas-liquid interfaces for the cases of subsonic, transonic, and supersonic gas jets submerged underwater and the transient development of an underwater projectile reaching the supercavitating state. These studies are motivated by the need to understand the basic physics associated with a novel submersible missile launcher termed the Water Piercing Missile Launcher (WPML). This dissertation presents the first study of high speed round and rectangular gas jets submerged underwater utilizing a global optical measurement technique. This technique allows quantitative measurement of the entire gas jet and the interfacial motion. Experimental results indicate that the penetration of the gas jets into a quiescent liquid is strongly influenced by the injection mass flow and the nozzle geometry. In contrast, the oscillations of the interface are influenced by the injection Mach number. The transition from a momentum driven to a buoyant jet is determined using a characteristic length scale that appears to be in good agreement with experimental observations. Moreover, the unsteadiness of the interface appears to be governed by both Kevin-Helmholtz and Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities. This dissertation also contains the first study of a projectile accelerating to reach the supercavitating state. Experimental results show that the transient development of the supercavity is governed by the formation of a vortex ring. Nuclei are shed from the forebody of the accelerating projectile and are entrained in the vortex ring core where they are subjected to low pressure and subsequently expand rapidly. A characteristic time scale for this supercavity development is presented. / Ph. D.

Within this study, the presented material has the objective of providing insight and design characteristics for gas jet nozzles that experimentalists and researchers should consider when utilizing this experimental method. Firstly, this study introduces the developing history and necessity for gas jet experiments and its well-known drawbacks, eventually leading to recent studies and founded knowledge regarding the nozzle geometry dependence on the flow field. The simulation methodology of this study will be presented where the discretization of the computational domain, selection of the flow physics model, and overall design of the nozzle geometry is explained and justified. The flow field data from these simulations will then be presented and compared against various analytical relations taken from literature to analyze differences among the different datasets. Finally, interpretation and discussion of the results will lead to design recommendations, reasoning, and optimization of gas jet nozzles that experimentalists should consider when deciding to incorporate the gas jet nozzle within their experiments.

Cluster mass fraction is an elusive quantity to measure, calculate or estimate accurately for pulsed supersonic gas jets typical of intense laser experiments. The optimization of this parameter is critical for transient phase-matched harmonic generation in an ionized cluster jet at high laser intensity. We present an in-depth study of a rapid, noninvasive, single-shot optical method of determining cluster mass fraction f_c(r,t) at specified positions r within, and at time t after opening the valve of, a high-pressure pulsed supersonic gas jet. A ∼ 2 mJ fs pump pulse ionizes the monomers, causing an immediate drop in the jet’s refractive index n_jet proportional to monomer density, while simultaneously initiating hydrodynamic expansion of the clusters. The latter leads to a second drop in n_jet that is proportional to cluster density and is delayed by ∼ 1 ps. A temporally stretched probe pulse measures the 2-step index evolution in a single shot by frequency domain holography, enabling recovery of f_c. We present the theory behind recovery of f_c in detail. We also present extensive measurements of spatio-temporal profiles f_c(r, t) of cluster mass fraction in a high-pressure supersonic argon jet for various values of backing pressure P, and reservoir temperature T. / text

Current stoichiometric spark-ignited engine technologies require costly catalytic converters for reductions in tailpipe emissions. Load control is achieved by using a throttle, which is a leading contributor to reductions in efficiency. Spark-ignited lean burn natural gas engines have been proven to be more efficient and emit fewer pollutants than their stoichiometric counterparts. Load reduction in these engines can be achieved by regulating the air/fuel ratio of the intake charge thereby reducing the efficiency penalties inherent to throttling. Partially stratified charge (PSC) can provide further reductions in emissions and improvements in efficiency by extending the lean limit of operation. PSC is achieved by the ignition of a small quantity of natural gas in the vicinity of the spark plug. This creates an easily ignitable mixture at the spark plug electrodes, thereby providing a high energy ignition source for the ultra-lean bulk charge. Stratified charge engine operation using direct injection (DI) has been proposed as a method of bridging the throttleless load reduction gap between idle and ultra-lean conditions. A previous study was conducted to determine if PSC can provide a high-energy ignition source in a direct injected stratified charge engine. Difficulties with igniting the PSC injections in an air-only bulk charge were encountered. This study focuses on a fundamental Schlieren image-based analysis of PSC combustion. Natural gas was injected through a modified spark plug located in an optically accessible combustion bomb. The relationships between PSC injection timing, fuel supply pressure and spark timing were investigated. Spark timing is defined as the duration between commanded start of injection and the time of spark. As the fuel supply pressure was increased, the minimum spark timing that lead to successful combustion also increased. The largest spark timing window that led to successful combustion was determined to be 80 ms wide at an injection fuel supply pressure of 300 psi. The amount of unburned natural gas increased with increasing spark timing. A cold flow study of the PSC injection system was also conducted. The PSC injection solenoid was found to have a consistent average injection delay of 1.95 ms. The slope of the linear response region of observed injection duration to commanded injection duration was 8.4. Due to plenum effects, the average observed injection duration of the entire PSC system was an order of magnitude longer than the commanded injection duration and was found to vary significantly with fuel supply pressure.

Current stoichiometric spark-ignited engine technologies require costly catalytic converters for reductions in tailpipe emissions. Load control is achieved by using a throttle, which is a leading contributor to reductions in efficiency. Spark-ignited lean burn natural gas engines have been proven to be more efficient and emit fewer pollutants than their stoichiometric counterparts. Load reduction in these engines can be achieved by regulating the air/fuel ratio of the intake charge thereby reducing the efficiency penalties inherent to throttling. Partially stratified charge (PSC) can provide further reductions in emissions and improvements in efficiency by extending the lean limit of operation. PSC is achieved by the ignition of a small quantity of natural gas in the vicinity of the spark plug. This creates an easily ignitable mixture at the spark plug electrodes, thereby providing a high energy ignition source for the ultra-lean bulk charge. Stratified charge engine operation using direct injection (DI) has been proposed as a method of bridging the throttleless load reduction gap between idle and ultra-lean conditions. A previous study was conducted to determine if PSC can provide a high-energy ignition source in a direct injected stratified charge engine. Difficulties with igniting the PSC injections in an air-only bulk charge were encountered. This study focuses on a fundamental Schlieren image-based analysis of PSC combustion. Natural gas was injected through a modified spark plug located in an optically accessible combustion bomb. The relationships between PSC injection timing, fuel supply pressure and spark timing were investigated. Spark timing is defined as the duration between commanded start of injection and the time of spark. As the fuel supply pressure was increased, the minimum spark timing that lead to successful combustion also increased. The largest spark timing window that led to successful combustion was determined to be 80 ms wide at an injection fuel supply pressure of 300 psi. The amount of unburned natural gas increased with increasing spark timing. A cold flow study of the PSC injection system was also conducted. The PSC injection solenoid was found to have a consistent average injection delay of 1.95 ms. The slope of the linear response region of observed injection duration to commanded injection duration was 8.4. Due to plenum effects, the average observed injection duration of the entire PSC system was an order of magnitude longer than the commanded injection duration and was found to vary significantly with fuel supply pressure.

Current stoichiometric spark-ignited engine technologies require costly catalytic converters for reductions in tailpipe emissions. Load control is achieved by using a throttle, which is a leading contributor to reductions in efficiency. Spark-ignited lean burn natural gas engines have been proven to be more efficient and emit fewer pollutants than their stoichiometric counterparts. Load reduction in these engines can be achieved by regulating the air/fuel ratio of the intake charge thereby reducing the efficiency penalties inherent to throttling. Partially stratified charge (PSC) can provide further reductions in emissions and improvements in efficiency by extending the lean limit of operation. PSC is achieved by the ignition of a small quantity of natural gas in the vicinity of the spark plug. This creates an easily ignitable mixture at the spark plug electrodes, thereby providing a high energy ignition source for the ultra-lean bulk charge. Stratified charge engine operation using direct injection (DI) has been proposed as a method of bridging the throttleless load reduction gap between idle and ultra-lean conditions. A previous study was conducted to determine if PSC can provide a high-energy ignition source in a direct injected stratified charge engine. Difficulties with igniting the PSC injections in an air-only bulk charge were encountered. This study focuses on a fundamental Schlieren image-based analysis of PSC combustion. Natural gas was injected through a modified spark plug located in an optically accessible combustion bomb. The relationships between PSC injection timing, fuel supply pressure and spark timing were investigated. Spark timing is defined as the duration between commanded start of injection and the time of spark. As the fuel supply pressure was increased, the minimum spark timing that lead to successful combustion also increased. The largest spark timing window that led to successful combustion was determined to be 80 ms wide at an injection fuel supply pressure of 300 psi. The amount of unburned natural gas increased with increasing spark timing. A cold flow study of the PSC injection system was also conducted. The PSC injection solenoid was found to have a consistent average injection delay of 1.95 ms. The slope of the linear response region of observed injection duration to commanded injection duration was 8.4. Due to plenum effects, the average observed injection duration of the entire PSC system was an order of magnitude longer than the commanded injection duration and was found to vary significantly with fuel supply pressure. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Mechanical Engineering, Department of / Graduate

Slopping in BOS-processes poses many problems, most significantly to work environmentand process effectiveness. Due to the current weaknesses in slopping prediction systems afoaming slag suppression system with immediate effect is needed to prevent slopping.This project aims primarily to be a proof of concept for pressurized oxygen gas blowing as amean of foam steady-state height suppression to prevent slopping and secondarily toappreciate the viability of this concept economically.Five nozzles were designed and used to blow pressurized air onto foam made of silicon oil, atdifferent air flows. It was then determined which nozzle was the most effective by comparingheight difference with airflow. The airflow was compared to a life scale scenario to determinethe real flow rate which was used to determine economic viability.Results show that a nozzle with a circular small hole is the most effective nozzle requiring20 [ln min-1] to reduce the foam height by 69.6%. The real flow to achieve this would be0.605 [m3 s-1], however due to the cold models limitations this is not the true value. Theslopping suppression technique shows promise as a concept both economically andpractically. / Överkok i BOF-processen skapar många problem, mest i arbetsmiljön och minskar så väl produktionens effektivitet som takt. Eftersom de kontrollsystem som finns att tillgå idag     har vissa begränsningar så behövs det ett system för att motverka skumtillväxt med direkt inverkan för att hindra överkokning.Det här projektet ämnar huvudsakligen till att bevisa att ett pålagt flöde av syrgas kan trycka ned det skummande slaggets höjd och på så sätt förhindra överkokning och sekundärt till att bedöma konceptets ekonomiska rimlighet. Fem  munstycken designades  och användes till  att  blåsa tryckluft, med olika flöden, på skum bestående av   silikonolja.   Effektiviteten   hos   munstyckena   utvärderades   genom  att jämföra höjdskillnaden mot det pålagda luftflödet. Luftflödet jämnfördes sedan mot ett scenario i industriell skala och det verkliga luftflödet kunde därefter beräknas. Med detta  som  bakgrund gjordes en ekonomisk analys. Resultat visar att munstycket med ett litet cirkulärt håll är mest effektivt då det krävdes ett flöde på 20 [ln min-1] för att reducera skumhöjden med 69,6%. Det verkliga flödet beräknades till 0,605 [m3 s-1], men eftersom den kalla modellen har vissa begränsningar så är detta värde inte  sant.  Den  här  tekniken  för   att  förhindra   överkokning  ser   lovande   utbåde  ur  ett   ekonomiskt men också ur ett praktiskt perspektiv.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Ignitability and the ignition delay time of a combustible mixture in a long combustion chamber, ignited by a hot combustion torch jet generated in a pre-chamber was investigated experimentally in relation to application as a viable igniter method for wave rotor combustors. Methane-air, ethylene-air, and propane-air in varying equivalence ratios were investigated as the combustible mixture in the combustion chamber. The effects of variation in the torch jet fuel, initial equivalence ratio in the pre-chamber, and nozzle geometry on the ignitability and the ignition delay time of combustible mixtures were observed and analyzed. The single-channel wave-rotor combustion rig at Combustion and Propulsion Research Laboratory at the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis was used for this study. High-speed video imaging techniques to observe the ignition and flame propagation in the combustion chamber and fast-response pressure transducers to measure the dynamic pressure fluctuations in the combustion chambers were used in the current study. The present work explains how the experimental procedure and preliminary testing was carried out in order to conduct the necessary testing to find the ignitability and ignition delay time of a combustible mixture. Ignitability of methane, ethylene, and propane were much broader in range compared to conventional spark ignitable lean and rich limit equivalence ratios. The methane and propane ignition lean limits were similar to radical activated ignition lean limits found in previous studies of the same fuels. Ethylene exhibited the widest range in equivalence ratios from 0.4 to 2.4, while methane had the narrowest ranging from equivalence ratio 0.4 to 1.4. The ignition delay studies indicated both chemical kinetics and mixing between the combustion torch jet and the combustible mixture were critical. The mixing phenomena dominated chemical kinetics; unlike in ignition delay studies conducted using shock heated ignition techniques. Ethylene-air mixtures had the shortest ignition delay times ~1 ms for lean but near-stoichiometric mixtures. Methane and propane indicated similar ignition delay time characteristics with lean near-stoichiometric mixtures. The fuel-air equivalence ratio which was used to generate the combustion torch jet and the torch jet nozzle geometry had a direct influence over the ignition delay time in the main chamber combustible mixture. The slightly rich fuel-air ratios used to generate the combustion torch jet had the lowest delay times in igniting the main chamber fuel-air mixtures.

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Le présent manuscrit de thèse présente l'étude de différents phénomènes dans un convertisseur d?acier, grâce au développement de deux modèles distincts. Le premier modèle décrit la cavité produite à la surface libre du bain de métal par l'impact du jet d'oxygène supersonique. Il est basé sur le découpage du domaine de calcul en deux régions. Les effets de compressibilité du gaz sont pris en compte uniquement dans la région du jet où la vitesse est élevée, alors que partout ailleurs, le gaz est considéré comme incompressible. La méthode Volume Of Fluid (VOF) est utilisée pour suivre la déformation de la surface libre du bain. Les résultats de simulations sont présentés pour des systèmes bi- et triphasés et comparés à des données expérimentales obtenues dans diverses maquettes froides. L'influence sur la taille et la forme de la cavité de différents paramètres (parmi lesquels les conditions aux limites en sortie de la lance d'injection, le schéma d'advection de la méthode VOF et le modèle de turbulence) est étudiée. Le modèle est ensuite utilisé pour simuler l'interaction entre un jet supersonique d'oxygène et la surface libre d'un bain d'acier liquide dans un convertisseur de taille pilote. Le second modèle se focalise sur l'écoulement du gaz, le transfert de chaleur et la réaction de postcombustion dans la phase gazeuse au-dessus du bain de métal. Il utilise l'algorithme Simple Chemical Reaction Scheme pour décrire le transport des espèces chimiques, et prend en compte l'absorption d'oxygène dans le bain et les transferts thermiques par rayonnement. Les prédictions numériques sont en assez bon accord avec les mesures recueillies dans une expérience de laboratoire et dans un four à l'échelle pilote / The present thesis treats different phenomena taking place in a steelmaking converter through the development of two separate models. The first model describes the cavity produced at the free surface of the metal bath by the high speed impinging oxygen jet. It is based on a zonal approach, where gas compressibility effects are taken into account only in the high velocity jet region while elsewhere the gas is treated as incompressible. The Volume Of Fluid (VOF) method is employed to follow the deformation of the bath free surface. Calculations are presented for two- and three-phase systems and compared against experimental data obtained in various cold model experiments. The influence on the size and shape of the cavity of various parameters (including the jet inlet boundary conditions, the VOF advection scheme and the turbulence modelling) is studied. Next, the model is used to simulate the interaction of a supersonic oxygen jet with the surface of a liquid steel bath in a pilot-scale converter. The second model concentrates on fluid flow, heat transfer and the post-combustion reaction in the gas phase above the metal bath. It uses the Simple Chemical Reaction Scheme approach to describe the transport of the chemical species and takes into account the consumption of oxygen by the bath and thermal radiative transfer. The numerical predictions are in reasonable agreement with measurements collected in a laboratory experiment and in a pilot-scale furnace