2011 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC). June 5-8, 2011, Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans, LA, USA

Enligt forskning har riktig natur och bilder av natur en avstressande effekt på människor i sjukhusmiljö. Stenpartier byggs ofta för att simulera naturliga förhållanden och kan upplevas som en tredimensionell landskapsmålning som förändras med årstidens växlingar. Syftet med denna studie är att komma fram till en gestaltningsskiss med hjälp av sten och stenpartiväxter. Gestaltningen tänkta plats är utanför Gävle sjukhus. Fokus har lagts på stenpartiets uppbyggnad, växternas krav och anpassningen till sjukhusmiljön. För att ta reda på ett stenpartis uppbyggnad och stenpartiväxters krav på växtmiljö har både en litteraturstudie och platsbesök med intervjuer gjorts. Litteraturen är sökt via LIBRIS. Platsbesöken är gjorda i två svenska botaniska trädgårdar där personer med expertkunskaper i ämnet intervjuats. För att få gestaltningens utformning att passa in i en sjukhusmiljö är en litteraturstudie gjord. Litteraturstudien undersöker vad som bör undvikas och vad som rekommenderas. Litteraturen är sökt i databasen Discovery med sökorden hospital and art. För att ta reda på platsens fysiska förutsättningar har en platsobservation gjorts. Ett stenparti som liknar naturen passar bra in i sjukhusmiljön med tanke på att bilder av natur ger positiva känslor. Fördelen med stenpartiet är att bilden av natur blir verklig och kan upplevas av fler sinnen. Om stenpartiet inte sköts blir effekten motsatt. Skötseln är som mest intensiv de första åren men avtar då växterna väl etablerat sig. För att reducera framtida skötselbehov bör växter väljas efter klimatet och platsens förutsättningar. Detta resulterade i att många inhemska växter passade bra till gestaltningsförslaget. I en orolig sjukhusmiljö kan inhemska växter få människor att känna sig hemma. Viktigt är också att välja mattbildande växter som hindrar ogräs från att etablera sig. Erfarenhet av växter, anläggning och skötsel är avgörande om ett stenparti ska kunna bli till bilden av natur.

The staged combustion aft-injected hybrid (SCAIH) rocket motor is a promising design for the future of hybrid rocket propulsion. Advances in computational fluid dynamics and scientific computing have made computational modelling an effective tool in design and development. The focus of this thesis is the numerical modelling of the SCAIH rocket motor in a turbulent combustion, high-speed, reactive flow accounting for solid soot transport and radiative heat transfer. The SCAIH motor has a shear coaxial injector with liquid oxygen injected centrally at sub-critical conditions: 150K, 150m/s (Mach≈0.9), and a gas-generator gas-solid mixture of one-third carbon soot by mass injected in the annual opening at 1175K, and 460m/s (Mach≈0.6). Flow conditions in the near injector region and the flame anchoring mechanism are of particular interest. Overall, the flow is shown to exhibit instabilities and the flame is shown to anchor directly on the injector faceplate with temperatures in excess of 2700K.

The staged combustion aft-injected hybrid (SCAIH) rocket motor is a promising design for the future of hybrid rocket propulsion. Advances in computational fluid dynamics and scientific computing have made computational modelling an effective tool in design and development. The focus of this thesis is the numerical modelling of the SCAIH rocket motor in a turbulent combustion, high-speed, reactive flow accounting for solid soot transport and radiative heat transfer. The SCAIH motor has a shear coaxial injector with liquid oxygen injected centrally at sub-critical conditions: 150K, 150m/s (Mach≈0.9), and a gas-generator gas-solid mixture of one-third carbon soot by mass injected in the annual opening at 1175K, and 460m/s (Mach≈0.6). Flow conditions in the near injector region and the flame anchoring mechanism are of particular interest. Overall, the flow is shown to exhibit instabilities and the flame is shown to anchor directly on the injector faceplate with temperatures in excess of 2700K.

Solid propellant rocket motors are the most widely used propulsion systems for military applications that require high thrust to weight ratio for relatively short time intervals. Very wide range of magnitude and duration of the thrust can be obtained from solid propellant rocket motors by making some small changes at the design of the rocket motor. The most effective of these design criteria is the geometry of the solid propellant grain. So the most important step in designing the solid propellant rocket motor is determination of the geometry of the solid propellant grain. The performance prediction of the solid rocket motor can be achieved easily if the burnback steps of the rocket motor are known. In this study, grain burnback analysis for some 3-D grain geometries is investigated. The method used is solid modeling of the propellant grain for some predefined intervals of burnback. In this method, the initial grain geometry is modeled parametrically using commercial software. For every burn step, the parameters are adapted. So the new grain geometry for every burnback step is modeled. By analyzing these geometries, burn area change of the grain geometry is obtained. Using this data and internal ballistics parameters, the performance of the solid propellant rocket motor is achieved. To verify the outputs obtained from this study, rocket motor tests are performed. The results obtained from this study shows that, the procedure that was developed, can be successfully used for the preliminary design of a solid propellant rocket motor where a lot of different geometries are examined.

Thesis (M.App.Sc.) - Carleton University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 194-202). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

La propulsion hybride utilise classiquement un comburant liquide (ou gazeux) injecté dans une chambre de combustion qui contient le carburant à l'état solide. La flamme de diffusion, qui apparait à la rencontre des deux flux de matière, est autoentretenue par la pyrolyse du carburant consécutive à l’apport de chaleur produite par la combustion. Afin d'améliorer les performances de ce type de propulsion, il est nécessaire de bien comprendre le couplage physicochimique des phénomènes. Le couple d'ergols polyéthylène/mélange gazeux dioxygène et diazote a été choisi pour cette étude. Les caractéristiques du polyéthylène ont été déterminées par des analyses physicochimiques, elles permettent de mettre en évidence un effet de la pression et de la nature de l'atmosphère sur la composition des produits de pyrolyse. Un banc d'essais de combustion avec une instrumentation a permis de caractériser le comportement du polyéthylène en situation réelle. Les données acquises ont été analysées afin d'obtenir des grandeurs physiques pertinentes à comparer avec des résultats de simulations. Pour effectuer des simulations de chambre de combustion de propulseur hybride, le développement d'un modèle numérique instationnaire et bidimensionnel a débuté. De nombreux cas test "académiques" sont présentés et ont confirmés la bonne implémentation des méthodes numériques de résolution et des équations physiques et chimiques. Cependant, lors des simulations de la chambre de combustion complète, une divergence de pression est apparue dont les causes ont été activement recherchées. / The hybrid space propulsion classically employs a liquid (or gaseous) oxidizer injected into the combustion chamber which contains the solid reducer. The diffusion flame, which appears at the confluence of the oxidizer and reducer mater fluxes, is auto-entertained by the fuel pyrolysis piloted by the heat which is provided to it by the combustion. In order to increase performances of this propulsion system, it is necessary to well understand the coupling effect of the physical and chemical phenomena. The propellants couple polyethylene/gaseous oxygen and nitrogen mixture has been chosen for this study. Properties of the polyethylene have been determined by several chemical analyses, showing that there are a pressure and atmosphere nature effects on the pyrolysis chemical composition. A test bench with instrumentation allowed to characterize the behavior of the polyethylene in real situation. Data acquired have been analyzed in order to obtain physical variables relevant for comparing the numerical simulations results. To undertake simulation of the combustion chamber of hybrid rocket, a new numerical model has been developed. Numerous "academic" test cases are presented and confirmed a good implementation of the numerical method and of the physical and chemical models. Nevertheless, during simulations of hybrid combustion chamber, a pressure divergence has appeared thus causes have been actively investigated.

The advantages of Topology Optimization (TO) are realized to a large extent due to the manufacturing freedom that Additive Manufacturing (AM) offer, compared to more conventional manufacturing methods. AM has the advantage of manufacturing shallow and complex structures previously not possible, and consequently opens up a whole new design spectrum. This thesis investigates the possibilities of using Topology Optimization as a tool to find stronger and lighter designs for the inlet turbine manifold in the rocket engine demonstrator Prometheus. The manifold is optimized by giving it more mass, subjecting it to load cases and pushing the topology optimization to make the manifold meet the weight requirement without exceeding the yield strength. Result validation indicates that the pressure and thermal loadings are the most prominent. The current topology optimization tools in ANSYS do not support optimization due to thermal features and thus optimization in the presented work has only been able to consider static structural loads. Nevertheless, it is possible to optimize the manifold due to static structural loads and achieve a manifold which satisfies the weight requirement. However, optimization tools due to thermal loading would be a desirable feature in the future.

Orientador: Fernando de Azevedo Silva / Banca: João Zangrandi Filho / Banca: Silvana Aparecida Barbosa / Resumo: A utilização de imagens digitais para extrair informações de objetos tem sido uma solução amplamente empregada em pesquisas científicas e em processos industriais. A contínua redução nos preços de equipamentos, a facilidade do uso de softwares e a simples integração com recursos de informática tem feito que muitos processos migrem para esta solução mais ágil, confiável e econômica. A indústria aeroespacial, que possui uma cadeia de produção não contínua e exige a avaliação de todos os seus componentes para obtenção de um nível de confiança elevado, encontra no emprego do processamento digital de imagens uma solução versátil e eficaz para análise das características de cada componente. Neste trabalho é apresentado um programa, desenvolvido em LabVIEW™, para medição dos sprays cônicos de jatos de injetores de motor foguete utilizando um sistema de processamento digital de imagens para sua análise. São apresentadas também as metodologias até então utilizadas para efetuar este tipo de medida. Os sprays dos jatos são desenvolvidos na saída do injetor, são exibidos visualmente durante o teste hidráulico a frio e tem influência direta no desempenho do motor foguete. A utilização desta nova ferramenta permitiu a realização desta medida de forma automática, com o fornecimento da incerteza de medição em níveis de confiança pré-estabelecido e mostrou-se ser mais exata e precisa que as metodologias anteriores / Abstract: The usage of digital images to extract information from objects has been a solution widely used in scientific research and in industrial processes. The continued reduction in prices of equipment, the facility of software manipulation and the simple integration with computing resources has done many processes to migrate to this more flexible, reliable and economical solution. The aerospace industry, which has a chain of production that is not continuous and requires the evaluation of all its components to obtain a high confidence level, finds in the usage of digital image processing a versatile and effective solution for analysis of the characteristics of each component . This paper presents a program developed in LabVIEW™, to measure the rocket engine conic spray jet by using a digital image processing system for analysis. It is also presented the methodologies previously used to perform this type of measurement. The jet sprays are developed at the exit of the injector, are displayed visually during the cold hydraulic test and it has directly influences on the performance of the rocket engines. The usage of this new tool allowed us to make the measurement automatically with the supply of uncertainty together with a pre-established confidence level and it proved to be more accurate and precise than previous methodologies / Mestre

Cette thèse présente une étude des instabilités haute-fréquence dans les moteurs-fusées. Ce phénomène, qui a posé de nombreux problèmes dans les programmes de développement de moteur, est abordé de trois façons complémentaires : expérimentalement, théoriquement et numériquement. Premièrement, des expériences sont menées afin d’identifier les principaux processus et d’apporter les mécanismes ayant lieu lorsque le moteur devient instable. Pour parvenir à ce stade, un nouveau modulateur (VHAM), capable de créer des ondes acoustiques représentatives de ce qui se produit dans un moteur réel, est conçu et caractérisé. La deuxième partie concerne l’analyse théorique. Deux modèles (FAME, SDM) sont développés en suivant les principales conclusions de la campagne expérimentale : les oscillations de dégagement de chaleur sont dues au mouvement transverse des flammes, et le phénomène est déclenché lorsque des gouttelettes deviennent suffisamment petites pour être convectées par le champ acoustique. En utilisant ces modèles comme base de référence, un code numérique (STAHF) est présenté. Son but est de rendre compte des mécanismes déjà identifiés pour un coût de calcul faible. Il est ensuite montré qu’il peut être utilisé pour étudier des moteurs-fusées grandeur nature. La LES compressible est choisie pour étudier l’interaction entre l’acoustique et la combustion numériquement. Un nouveau modèle de combustion pour flammes non-prémélangées basé sur une hypothèse de chimie infiniment rapide est présenté et validé sur une flamme bien documentée (H3). Il est ensuite utilisé pour étudier l’interaction entre une onde acoustique transverse et la flamme H3. Une comparaison entre le terme source de Rayleigh calculé à partir de la simulation et celui prédit par le modèle théorique FAME est finalement menée. / This thesis presents a study of high frequency instabilities in rocket engines. This issue, which has plagued many engine development programs, is approached by three complementary viewpoints: experimental, theoretical, and numerical. First, experiments are carried out to identify the main processes involved and bring forth mechanisms taking place when an engine becomes unstable. To achieve this stage, a new modulator (the VHAM), capable of creating acoustic waves representative of what occurs in an actual engine, is designed and characterized. The second part of this thesis concern theoretical analysis. Two models are developed following the main conclusions of the experimental campaign: heat release oscillations are due to the transverse flames’ motion, and the phenomenon is triggered when droplets become small enough to be convected by the acoustic field. Using these models as a baseline, a numerical code (STAHF) is presented. Its purpose is to account for mechanisms identified previously for little computational cost. This code is validated on particularly responding situations observed during experiments. It is then shown that it can be used to study real scale rocket engines. The third point of view adopted to address the problem is numerical simulation. Full compressible LES is chosen to study the interaction between acoustics and combustion. A new combustion model for non-premixed flames with infinitely fast chemistry is presented and validated on a well documented flame (H3). It is then used to study the interaction between a transverse acoustic wave and the H3 flame. A comparison between the Rayleigh source term computed from the simulation and the one predicted by the theoretical model FAME is conducted eventually.