CAREER: Control of Acoustic Instabilities in Large Combustors
| Category | Publications |
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| Abstract | This report describes the synergistic interactions that took place in summer 2008 between a team of investigators led by J. Majdalani from the University of Tennessee and a team of researchers at Peking University (PKU). This technical exchange was focused in the areas of acoustic wave propagation, unsteady fluid dynamics, and analytical methods for nonlinear problems. The value of the trip exceeded the researchers' expectations from both academic and cultural perspectives. Academically, it led to rich and fruitful exchanges that have spurred on new collaborations and opened up new avenues for research, not only with the team from PKU, but also with Prof. Liao's team who joined the group from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The academic program included weekly research discussions, 18 presentations by the US team, 10 presentations by the PKU team, and two short courses that were offered by the US team to a broad audience at PKU. Among the scientific outcomes, four scientific articles have emerged in addition to two joint proposals and a Memorandum of Understanding (draft) between UTK and PKU. The research articles have included a valuable extension to Kelvin's minimum energy theorem that is applicable to fluid domains with open boundaries, and to studies that involve the Homotopy Analysis Method (HAM) developed by Prof. Shijun Liao for the treatment of nonlinear problems in injection driven chambers. The homotopy-based method proved to be invaluable to J. Majdalani's CAREER topic in which nonlinear mechanisms are paramount. The extension to Kelvin's theorem was hinted at by Professor J. Z. Wu. Its development alone would have justified the trip to Beijing. The investigators also discussed and produced a draft of a proposal that was later completed and submitted to NSF. A second proposal was also initiated during these discussions. Culturally, the US team greatly benefited from the hospitality extended to them by their gracious hosts. Related activities materialized in the form of outings and dinners that included both faculty and students. Members of the team were invited to partake in several extra curricular events organized by the host institution in addition to 5 sight-seeing tours that introduced them to the classical attractions in Beijing. Through these activities, the US team gained deeper appreciation for the broad history, daily wisdom, and laudable work ethics associated with the Chinese social etiquette. In fact, the participants left with the same conviction that Saint Augustine once held, specifically that "The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." |
| Contributor | Mourad Ouzzani
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| Bio | Joseph C. Majdalani received his PhD degree from the University of Utah, Department of Mechanical Engineering, in 1995. Between 1997 and 2003 he served as an Assistant and then Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Marquette University, Milwaukee. He then joined the Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering Department at the University of Tennessee in Fall 2003. Dr. Majdalani's research devotes itself to the theoretical and numerical modeling of injection and swirl induced flow fields. He is a strong proponent of sound physical and mathematical modeling at the foundation of investigative analysis. His interests span several disciplines that entail unsteady fluid dynamics, thermo-acoustic instability theory, engine core flow modeling, particle mean flow interactions, singular perturbations, electronics cooling, and swirl induced heat transfer. He is also keen on problems connected with peristaltic and bifurcating biological flows. Dr. Majdalani received the 1998 College of Engineering Research Award in addition to the 1999 and 2000 Outstanding Teaching Awards from Marquette University. Subsequently, he received NASA's 2002 and 2003 Faculty Research Infrastructure Awards, the 2002 Higher Education Incentive Award and, from the National Science Foundation, the CAREER Award in 2003. In the Aerospace category, he received the 2007 Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award from SAE International, and the H. H. Arnold Award administered by the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics in conjunction with the Air Force for "outstanding personal contributions to the advancement of compressible flow theory and rocket internal ballistics." He is presently a Fellow of ASME, appointed Member of the External Advisory Board, Center for Simulation of Advanced Rockets, University of Illinois, and designated AIAA Chair of Education and Technical Expert in Analytic Approaches to Hybrid Rocket Flowfields.
Tony Saad is a doctoral candidate in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Tennessee, working with Dr. Majdalani. His undergraduate degree is also in Mechanical Engineering from Notre Dame University, where he graduated second in his class. His work involves the formulation of innovative core flow models in an injection driven chamber. Mr. Saad was the recipient of the Lloyd Crawford Fellowship both in 2005 and 2007. He also received the UTSI Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant award in 2007. He has co-authored 5 journal and 8 conference papers since 2005. |
| Credits | CMMI 0353518 |
| Cite this work | Researchers should cite this work as follows: Joseph Majdalani, "CAREER: Control of Acoustic Instabilities in Large Combustors", Trip report presented at the NSF IREE 2008 Grantees Conference, May 2008, Washington, D.C. |
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