Flash Point and Chemical Composition of Aviation Kerosene (Jet A)

The relationship between chemical composition, flash point, and ignition energy was examined for eight samples of aviation kerosene (Jet A) with flash points between 29°C (84°F) and 74°C (165°F). We report the results of liquid characterization by two different laboratories. We use the results of headspace gas chromatography carried out by Woodrow and Seiber to characterize the vapor composition at liquid mass loading fractions of 3 and 400 kg/m^3. The composition data were analyzed to obtain analytical representations of vapor pressure and average molar mass as a function of temperature for each flash point fuel. The relationship between composition and flash point is examined by using two prediction methods. The first method is based on the notion of a critical value of fuel-air mass ratio at the flammability limit. The second method is based on Le Chatelier's rule for flammability limits. Both methods show a reasonable correlation between measured and predicted flash point. The relationship between flash point and ignition temperature threshold at a fixed spark ignition energy was examined for four fuels. A linear correlation was obtained for an ignition energy of 0.3 J. The effect of fuel weathering was examined by determining the flashpoints of seven fuel samples obtained from flight tests. The flash point increased about 8°C for fuel that had been exposed to 5 take-off, cruise, and landing cycles

Complementary algorithms for graphs and percolation

A pair of complementary algorithms are presented. One of the pair is a fast method for connecting graphs with an edge. The other is a fast method for removing edges from a graph. Both algorithms employ the same tree based graph representation and so, in concert, can arbitrarily modify any graph. Since the clusters of a percolation model may be described as simple connected graphs, an efficient Monte Carlo scheme can be constructed that uses the algorithms to sweep the occupation probability back and forth between two turning points. This approach concentrates computational sampling time within a region of interest. A high precision value of pc = 0.59274603(9) was thus obtained, by Mersenne twister, for the two dimensional square site percolation threshold.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, poster version presented at statphys23 (2007

Hydrogen turbine power conversion system assessment

A three part technical study was conducted whereby parametric technical and economic feasibility data were developed on several power conversion systems suitable for the generation of central station electric power through the combustion of hydrogen and the use of the resulting heat energy in turbogenerator equipment. The study assessed potential applications of hydrogen-fueled power conversion systems and identified the three most promising candidates: (1) Ericsson Cycle, (2) gas turbine, and (3) direct steam injection system for fossil fuel as well as nuclear powerplants. A technical and economic evaluation was performed on the three systems from which the direct injection system (fossil fuel only) was selected for a preliminary conceptual design of an integrated hydrogen-fired power conversion system

Studies in a transonic rotor aerodynamics and noise facility

The design, construction and testing of a transonic rotor aerodynamics and noise facility was undertaken, using a rotating arm blade element support technique. This approach provides a research capability intermediate between that of a stationary element in a moving flow and that of a complete rotating blade system, and permits the acoustic properties of blade tip elements to be studied in isolation. This approach is an inexpensive means of obtaining data at high subsonic and transonic tip speeds on the effect of variations in tip geometry. The facility may be suitable for research on broad band noise and discrete noise in addition to high-speed noise. Initial tests were conducted over the Mach number range 0.3 to 0.93 and confirmed the adequacy of the acoustic treatment used in the facility to avoid reflection from the enclosure

Avoidance maneuevers selected while viewing cockpit traffic displays

Ten airline pilots rates the collision danger of air traffic presented on cockpit displays of traffic information while they monitored simulated departures from Denver. They selected avoidance maneuvers when necessary for separation. Most evasive maneuvers were turns rather than vertical maneuvers. Evasive maneuvers chosen for encounters with low or moderate collision danger were generally toward the intruding aircraft. This tendency lessened as the perceived threat level increased. In the highest threst situations pilots turned toward the intruder only at chance levels. Intruders coming from positions in front of the pilot's own ship were more frequently avoided by turns toward than when intruders approached laterally or from behind. Some of the implications of the pilots' turning-toward tendencies are discussed with respect to automatic collision avoidance systems and coordination of avoidance maneuvers of conflicting aircraft

Synchronization transition of heterogeneously coupled oscillators on scale-free networks

We investigate the synchronization transition of the modified Kuramoto model where the oscillators form a scale-free network with degree exponent $\lambda$. An oscillator of degree $k_i$ is coupled to its neighboring oscillators with asymmetric and degree-dependent coupling in the form of \couplingcoeff k_i^{\eta-1}. By invoking the mean-field approach, we determine the synchronization transition point $J_c$, which is zero (finite) when $\eta > \lambda-2$ ($\eta < \lambda-2$). We find eight different synchronization transition behaviors depending on the values of $\eta$ and $\lambda$, and derive the critical exponents associated with the order parameter and the finite-size scaling in each case. The synchronization transition is also studied from the perspective of cluster formation of synchronized vertices. The cluster-size distribution and the largest cluster size as a function of the system size are derived for each case using the generating function technique. Our analytic results are confirmed by numerical simulations.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures and two table