Research at the Combustion Division of the
Center for Energy Research,
UCSD
Our research encompasses significant efforts in mathematical theory,
numerical analysis and computation, laboratory experimentation and
natural observation. On the applications side, CER addresses
important societal problems such as the efficient use and production
of energy, the design and propulsion of airborne and waterborne
vehicles, water quality and reclamation technology, aspects of
materials processing, including self-propagating high-temperature
synthesis, as well as practical uses of catalysis. CER emphasizes
fundamental research in its disciplines, application of basic
knowledge to address the needs of society and education of students
through their involvement in the research and its applications. The
value of research grants currently in effect exceeds one million
dollars annually, with funding from the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), various branches of the Department of Defense
(DOD), the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Science
Foundation (NSF).
Energy Research
Important studies have included energy conservation for home and
industrial use, evaluations of advanced fossil-fuel technologies such
as coal gasification and liquefaction, oil recovery from heavy oil
sources, tar sands and oil shale; developments of advanced fuel cells,
and investigations of geothermal and renewable energy sources.
Recent investigations have dealt with model developments and
environmental-impact assessments for municipal-waste incinerators,
studies on diagnostics of pollutant outputs, aspects of the designs of
passively safe nuclear reactors, such as degradation of graphite by
reactions with low concentrations of water or air, and prospects for
the utilization of fuel-cell technologies.
Combustion Research
Current fundamental studies in combustion involve theory and
experimentation on structures of hydrocarbon-air premixed flames and
diffusion flames, including experimental measurements, supercomputer
computations with full chemical-kinetic mechanisms and development of
asymptotic methods for reduced chemical kinetics.
Applications relate to aerospace-plane propulsion, to efficient power
production by fossil fuels and to minimization of pollutant emissions
from combustion chambers. The research is addressing problems of
combustion in Diesel engines, in gas turbines and in rocket
propulsion, including emissions of oxides of nitrogen from flames,
combustion instabilities in liquid-propellant rocket motors and
efficient and clean combustion of fuels sprays.
Research Facilities
The CER combustion research facilities include three gas-chromatographic systems
for measurements of concentrations of stable chemical species, a
laser-Doppler velocimeter for velocity measurements in reacting flows,
an argonion laser system for measurement of particle sizes and number
densities by Mie scattering and a phase-Doppler particle analyzer for
measurements of fuel sprays. Laser spectroscopic capabilities include
Rayleigh, Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy using pulsed lasers with
advanced detection systems for both one-dimensional and
two-dimensional imaging. In addition, there is a laminar coflow
diffusion-flame apparatus and a number of counterflow combustion
systems for measurement of diffusion-flame, premixed-flame, fuel-spray
and catalytic-combustion processes. Computer systems for computation
of flame structures with full chemistry and for extraction of
histories of droplet and flame diameters from video or photographic
records are available. Droplet-trajectory and droplet-combustion
facilities with photographic recording are in place, and a
turbulent-jet flame apparatus is under construction, as is a
solid-propellant combustion facility and a high-pressure combustion
chamber.
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