Characterization of an Experimental Referee Broadened Specification (ERBS) aviation turbine fuel and ERBS fuel blends

Characterization data and comparisons of these data are presented for three individual lots of a research test fuel designated as an Experimental Referee Broadened Specification (ERBS) aviation turbine fuel. This research fuel, which is a blend of kerosene and hydrotreated catalytic gas oil, is a representation of a kerojet fuel with broadened properties. To lower the hydrogen content of the ERBS fuel, a blending stock, composed of xylene bottoms and hydrotreated catalytic gas oil, was developed and employed to produce two different ERBS fuel blends. The ERBS fuel blends and the blending stock were also characterized and the results for the blends are compared to those of the original ERBS fuel. The characterization results indicate that with the exception of the freezing point for ERBS lot 2, which was slightly high, the three lots, produced over a 2 year period, met all general fuel requirements. However, although the properties of the fuels were found to be fairly consistent, there were differences in composition. Similarly, all major requirements for the ERBS fuel blends were met or closely approached, and the properties of the blended fuels were found to generally reflect those expected for the proportions of ERBS fuel and blending stock used in their production

FTIR analysis of aviation fuel deposits

Five modes of operation of the Nicolet 7199 Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer have been evaluated for application in analysis of the chemical structure of accelerated storage/thermal deposits produced by jet fuels. Using primarily the absorption and emission modes, the effects of fuel type, stress temperature, stress time, type of spiking agent, spiking agent concentration, fuel flow, and post-depositional treatment on the chemical nature of fuel deposits have been determined

Initial characterization of an Experimental Referee Broadened-Specification (ERBS) aviation turbine fuel

Characterization data and a hydrocarbon compositional analysis are presented for a research test fuel designated as an experimental referee broadened-specification aviation turbine fuel. This research fuel, which is a special blend of kerosene and hydrotreated catalytic gas oil, is a hypothetical representation of a future fuel should it become necessary to broaden current kerojet specifications. It is used as a reference fuel in research investigations into the effects of fuel property variations on the performance and durability of jet aircraft components, including combustors and fuel systems

Toward a First-Principles Calculation of Electroweak Box Diagrams

We derive a Feynman-Hellmann theorem relating the second-order nucleon energy shift resulting from the introduction of periodic source terms of electromagnetic and isovector axial currents to the parity-odd nucleon structure function $F_3^N$. It is a crucial ingredient in the theoretical study of the $\gamma W$ and $\gamma Z$ box diagrams that are known to suffer from large hadronic uncertainties. We demonstrate that for a given $Q^2$, one only needs to compute a small number of energy shifts in order to obtain the required inputs for the box diagrams. Future lattice calculations based on this approach may shed new light on various topics in precision physics including the refined determination of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements and the weak mixing angle.Comment: Version to appear in PR

Rapid estimation of concentration of aromatic classes in middistillate fuels by high-performance liquid chromatography

An high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method to estimate four aromatic classes in middistillate fuels is presented. Average refractive indices are used in a correlation to obtain the concentrations of each of the aromatic classes from HPLC data. The aromatic class concentrations can be obtained in about 15 min when the concentration of the aromatic group is known. Seven fuels with a wide range of compositions were used to test the method. Relative errors in the concentration of the two major aromatic classes were not over 10 percent. Absolute errors of the minor classes were all less than 0.3 percent. The data show that errors in group-type analyses using sulfuric acid derived standards are greater for fuels containing high concentrations of polycyclic aromatics. Corrections are based on the change in refractive index of the aromatic fraction which can occur when sulfuric acid and the fuel react. These corrections improved both the precision and the accuracy of the group-type results

Group-type hydrocarbon standards for high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of middistillate fuels

A new high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for group-type analysis of middistillate fuels is described. It uses a refractive index detector and standards that are prepared by reacting a portion of the fuel sample with sulfuric acid. A complete analysis of a middistillate fuel for saturates and aromatics (including the preparation of the standard) requires about 15 min if standards for several fuels are prepared simultaneously. From model fuel studies, the method was found to be accurate to within 0.4 vol% saturates or aromatics, and provides a precision of + or - 0.4 vol%. Olefin determinations require an additional 15 min of analysis time. However, this determination is needed only for those fuels displaying a significant olefin response at 200 nm (obtained routinely during the saturated/aromatics analysis procedure). The olefin determination uses the responses of the olefins and the corresponding saturates, as well as the average value of their refractive index sensitivity ratios (1.1). Studied indicated that, although the relative error in the olefins result could reach 10 percent by using this average sensitivity ratio, it was 5 percent for the fuels used in this study. Olefin concentrations as low as 0.1 vol% have been determined using this method

High-temperature electronics

To meet the needs of the aerospace propulsion and space power communities, the high temperature electronics program at the Lewis Research Center is developing silicon carbide (SiC) as a high temperature semiconductor material. This program supports a major element of the Center's mission - to perform basic and developmental research aimed at improving aerospace propulsion systems. Research is focused on developing the crystal growth, characterization, and device fabrication technologies necessary to produce a family of SiC devices

High performance liquid chromatographic hydrocarbon group-type analyses of mid-distillates employing fuel-derived fractions as standards

Two high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) methods have been developed for the determination of saturates, olefins and aromatics in petroleum and shale derived mid-distillate fuels. In one method the fuel to be analyzed is reacted with sulfuric acid, to remove a substantial portion of the aromatics, which provides a reacted fuel fraction for use in group type quantitation. The second involves the removal of a substantial portion of the saturates fraction from the HPLC system to permit the determination of olefin concentrations as low as 0.3 volume percent, and to improve the accuracy and precision of olefins determinations. Each method was evaluated using model compound mixtures and real fuel samples

Phenomenology of The Left-Right Twin Higgs Model

The twin Higgs mechanism has recently been proposed to solve the little hierarchy problem. We study the implementation of the twin Higgs mechanism in left-right models. At TeV scale, heavy quark and gauge bosons appear, with rich collider phenomenology. In addition, there are extra Higgses, some of which couple to both the Standard Model fermion sector and the gauge sector, while others couple to the gauge bosons only. We present the particle spectrum, and study the general features of the collider phenomenology of this class of model at the Large Hadron Collider.Comment: 41 pages, version appears in PR

Fuels characterization studies

Current analytical techniques used in the characterization of broadened properties fuels are briefly described. Included are liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. High performance liquid chromatographic ground-type methods development is being approached from several directions, including aromatic fraction standards development and the elimination of standards through removal or partial removal of the alkene and aromatic fractions or through the use of whole fuel refractive index values. More sensitive methods for alkene determinations using an ultraviolet-visible detector are also being pursued. Some of the more successful gas chromatographic physical property determinations for petroleum derived fuels are the distillation curve (simulated distillation), heat of combustion, hydrogen content, API gravity, viscosity, flash point, and (to a lesser extent) freezing point