Analysis of Coolant-flow Requirements for an Improved, Internal-strut-supported, Air-cooled Turbine-rotor Blade

An analytical evaluation of a new typ An analytical evaluation of a new type of air-cooled turbine-rotor-blade design, based on the principle of submerging the load-carrying element in cooling air within a thin high-temperature sheel, indicates that this principle of blade design permits the load carrying element to be operated at considerably lower temperature than that of the enveloping shell. Comparison with an air-cooled shell-supported air-cooled blade has greater potentiality to withstand increased stresses that can be anticipated in future engines

Preliminary analysis of effects of air cooling turbine blades on turbojet-engine performance

The effects of turbine-blade cooling on engine performance were analytically investigated for a turbojet engine in which cooling air is bled from the engine compressor. The analysis was made for a constant turbine-inlet temperature and a range of altitudes to determine the minimum cooling requirements to permit substitution of nonstrategic materials in turbine blading. The results indicate that, for a constant inlet temperature, air cooling of the turbine blades increases the specific fuel consumption and decreases the thrust of the engine. The highest possible cooling effectiveness is desirable to minimize coolant weight flow and its effects on engine performance

Examining the power supplied to Earth's dynamo by magnesium precipitation and radiogenic heat production

We examine magnesium and potassium solubility in liquid Fe mixtures, representative of Earth's core composition, in equilibrium with liquid silicate mixtures representative of an early magma ocean. Our study is based on the calculation of the chemical potentials of MgO and K2O in both phases, using density functional theory. For MgO, we also study stability against precipitation of the solid phase. We use thermal evolution models of the core and mantle to assess whether either radiogenic heating from 40K decay or Mg precipitation from the liquid core can resolve the new core paradox by powering the geodynamo prior to inner core formation. Our results for K show that concentrations in the core are likely to be small and the effect of 40K decay on the thermal evolution of the core is minimal, making it incapable of sustaining the early geodynamo alone. Our results also predict small concentrations of Mg in the core which might be sufficient to power the geodynamo prior to inner core formation, depending on the process by which it is transported across the core mantle boundary

Development of a Hydrologic Modeling System for the Dry Valley Catchment

The natural geology and topography of Putnam and surrounding counties have created a drainage system reliant on karst features such as sinkholes and caves. One limiting feature of such a system is the potential for greater flow demand than the capacity of these often-narrow swallets and cave openings, which can lead to increased flooding scenarios. Within Putnam County, the Dry Valley Watershed southeast of Cookeville, Tennessee, which spans roughly 7580 acres, experienced massive flash flooding due to this effect in July of 2015. The objective of this study is to explore the karst drainage flooding problem in the Dry Valley area and develop a HEC-HMS model to simulate the 10-year, 50-year, 100-year and 500-year floods for this region while also analyzing previous storm events. To achieve this objective, the project team collected survey and meteorological data and imported these data into the ArcGIS and HEC-HMS models to develop basin and meteorological models using Soil Conservation Service (SCS) Technical Release 55 (TR-55) methods in order to force HEC-HMS solutions for the various expected flood recurrence intervals. These solutions were used to estimate potential storm runoff hydrographs at points of interest within the study region, and potential engineering solutions were explored to aid in ameliorating the flooding situation within this watershed