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Previous self-similarity analysis models for turbulent jet flames (TJF) have inherent limitations in the flame tip location and velocity prediction based on experimental data. A novel model (BP-TJF) to predict the propagation process of subsonic and supersonic TJF is proposed by combining developed self-similarity analysis modeling and back propagation neural network (BPNN). The BP-TJF model is trained from three datasets of initial temperature, initial pressure, and oxygen content. The results show that the pressure difference prediction error was only 0.46 % for subsonic jets and 5 % for supersonic jets. The overall correlation coefficients (R) and mean squared errors (MSE) range from 0.95–0.97 and 0.01–0.1, respectively. The model optimized by genetic algorithm (GA) significantly improved the prediction stability. However, there is scope for improvement in the overpressure peak prediction. Due to the small-scale datasets and parameter errors of self-similar model for jet propagation, the model cannot provide real-time feedback on the interaction between the shock wave and the flame front. Jet tip locations and velocities obtained from the BP-TJF model and experiments are generally consistent in magnitude and overall trends. Without considering the flame structure, the prediction framework developed in this paper can calculate the jet tip propagation characteristics with little difference from experiments and CFD, which is a great advantage, especially in the calculation of subsonic jets.

Nowadays, the noise pollution of internal combustion engines is a very important factor influencing human health and is the main noise source of urban environmental noise. Additionally, the main source of gasoline engine noise consists of combustion noise in the cylinder, where the combustion noise is influenced by the combustion processes within the combustion chamber, especially the cyclic variation in the engine combustion. Thus, the inter-relationship between engine noise, cyclic variation and combustion is of great interest to be explored. Moreover, despite the environmental advantages of clean energy, the impact of different fuels on the internal combustion engine’s noise emissions cannot be ignored. As a result, in this work, three blends were prepared and used as test fuels, namely pure gasoline (E0), 10% hydrous ethanol (E10W) and 20% hydrous ethanol (E20W) by volume, accompanied by engine operating at a steady speed of 2000 r/min under various loads. The experimental results show that lower engine noise was observed for both E10W and E20W compared to E0. Upon the addition of hydrous ethanol, the peak in-cylinder pressure increased while the maximum pressure rise rate ((dp/dφ)max) decreased at the low and medium loads. Furthermore, the coefficients of variation in indicated mean effective pressure (COVimep) and COV(dp/dφ)max for the two blended fuels were higher than those for pure gasoline. Compared with those of E20W, E10W has lower COVimep and COV(dp/dφ)max at low and medium loads. The (dp/dφ)max and noise emission have a positive relation when the engine is fueled with the hydrous ethanol–gasoline blends, whereas the cyclic variation parameters vary in the opposite direction of the noise emission level for all the blend mixtures. Moreover, (dp/dφ)max has an essential effect on the combustion noise from a gasoline engine.

The exhaust noise, performance and emission characteristics of a gasoline engine fuelled by hydrous ethanol gasoline with 10%, 20% hydrous ethanol by volume (E10W and E20W) and pure gasoline (E0) were experimentally investigated. The tests were performed at full load and different engine speeds varying from 1500 rpm to 5000 rpm. The results showed that compared with E0, E10W and E20W had much lower exhaust noise at low engine speeds. With the increase of engine speed, E0 showed an advantage in low exhaust noise. However, engine fuelled with three fuels displayed comparable noise emissions at high speed. In addition, better thermal efficiency, significantly decreased CO and HC emissions were achieved by hydrous ethanol gasoline at all tested operating conditions. However, significant NOx emission and slight BSFC were observed for E10W and E20W. Compared with E20W, E10W showed decreased BSFC, HC and NOx emissions with the increase of engine speed, while CO emission was only slightly increased. Hydrous ethanol gasoline was capable of realizing comparable torque and power with E0 at all operating conditions. From the results above, hydrous ethanol gasoline could be considered as a promising alternative for SI engine. What's more, E10W exhibits enhanced performance. Keywords: Exhaust noise, Performance characteristics, Emission characteristics, Hydrous ethanol content, Spark ignition engine

The near-wall flame structure and pollutant emissions of the laminar premixed biogas-hydrogen impinging flame were simulated with a detailed chemical mechanism. The spatial distributions of the temperature, critical species, and pollutant emissions near the wall of the laminar premixed biogas–hydrogen impinging flame were obtained and investigated quantitatively. The results show that the cold wall can influence the premixed combustion process in the flame front, which is close to the wall but does not touch the wall, and results in the obviously declined concentrations of OH, H, and O radicals in the premixed combustion zone. After flame quenching, a high CO concentration can be observed near the wall at equivalence ratios (φ) of both 0.8 and 1.2. Compared with that at φ = 1.0, more unburned fuel is allowed to pass through the quenching zone and generate CO after flame quenching near the wall thanks to the suppressed fuel consumption rate near the wall and the excess fuel in the unburned gases at φ = 0.8 and 1.2, respectively. By isolating the formation routes of NO production, it is found that the fast-rising trend of NO concentration near the wall in the post flame region at φ = 0.8 is attributed to the NO transportation from the NNH route primarily, while the prompt NO production accounts for more than 90% of NO generation in the wall vicinity at φ = 1.2. It is thus known that, thanks to the effectively increased surface-to-volume ratio, the premixed combustion process in the downsized chamber will be affected more easily by the amplified cooling effects of the cold wall, which will contribute to the declined combustion efficiency, increased CO emission, and improved prompt NO production.

Experiments were carried out to investigate the heat transfer and pollutants emission characteristics of a slot LPG premixed flame array impinging normally onto a flat plate. The effects of jet-to-jet spacing (S/de), nozzle-to-plate distance (H/de), and jet Reynolds number (Re) on the heat flux and emission index of CO, CO2, and NOx/NO2 were examined. In addition, the thermal and emission characteristics between slot jets and circular jets were compared under identical experimental conditions. The results show that the more uniform heat flux distribution and higher total heat flux can be obtained at moderate jet-to-jet spacing, large jet-to-plate distance, and higher Reynolds number. EICO emissions can be influenced by the combined effects of jet-to-jet spacing, jet-to-plate distance, and higher Reynolds number. For the sake of the better combustion efficiency and lower EICO emission, the moderate jet-to-jet spacing (S/de = 2.5), larger jet-to-plate distance (H/de = 4), and relatively higher Reynolds number (Re = 1500) are preferred for the slot jet flame array. Furthermore, it is found that there exists a trade-off between the EICO and EINOx of the slot LPG flame array. Compared with multiple circular flame jets, multiple slot flames jets have the higher area-averaged heat flux due to the larger heating area and more uniform heat flux distribution, while the higher EICO emission and lower EINOx emission are due to the greater jet interaction suppressing the air entrainment. Thus, it is known that the slot flame array has a better heating performance but relatively higher pollutant emissions than the circular flame array.

In this study, a double concentric burner burning methane with an annular coaxially-flowing oxidizer was adopted to operate the diffusion flame in lifted flame regime. The effects of coaxial-flow velocity, coaxial-flow composition variation through total and partial replacement of N2, and coaxial-flow oxygen enrichment were experimentally investigated in terms of the resultant changes in the flame stability, and thermal and emission characteristics. Consistent with the triple flame theory, the current stability tests show a linear increase in flame lift height with increasing coaxial-flow velocity and the blowout of lifted flames occurred at constant flame tip height. Replacement of N2 by CO2 in the coaxial-flow deteriorated the flame stability by significantly reducing the threshold coaxial-flow velocity. Due to combustion enhancement that is caused by oxygen enrichment, the threshold coaxial-flow velocity increased and this increase is more significant for the N2-diluted flame than CO2-diluted. Two of the most important NOx formation mechanisms, Zeldovich and Fenimore, were analyzed under the relatively low temperature flame conditions, generally below 1300 °C in this study. Results show that NOx is principally produced via the Fenimore mechanism for both N2- and CO2-diluted flames. NOx productions can be significantly affected by coaxial-flow composition and coaxial-flow velocity. An increase in the velocity of N2-diluted coaxial-flow increases NOx emissions, while a reverse trend occurred, as N2 in the coaxial-flow was replaced or partially replaced by CO2, which is ascribed to the strong combustion-resisting behavior of CO2. For all cases, CO emissions vary in the opposite direction of NOx emissions. Due to the strong thermal and chemical effects of CO2 on combustion in comparison to N2, total or partial replacement of N2 by CO2 results in a steep increase in CO emissions.

It is of great significance to predict the energy performance of centrifugal pumps for the improvement of the pump design. However, the complex internal flow always affects the performance prediction of centrifugal pumps, particularly under low-flow operating conditions. Relying on the data-fitting method, a multi-condition performance prediction method for centrifugal pumps is proposed, where the performance relationship is incorporated into the particle swarm optimization algorithm, and the prediction model is optimized by automatically meeting the performance constraints. Compared with the experimental results, the performance under multiple operating conditions is well predicted by introducing performance constraints with the mean absolute relative error (MARE) for the head, power and efficiency of 0.85%, 1.53%,1.15%, respectively. By comparing the extreme gradient boosting and support vector regression models, the support vector regression is more suitable for the prediction of performance curves. Finally, by introducing performance constraints, the proposed model demonstrates a dramatic decrease in the head, power and efficiency of MARE by 98.64%, 82.06%, and 85.33%, respectively, when compared with the BP neural network.

We report a direct conversion solid-state neutron detection device fabricated by combining the large neutron capture cross-section of 10B with the charge trapping attributes of sub-2 nm Pt nanoparticles (Pt NPs) in MOSCAP structures. The 10B embedded polystyrene based neutron conversion layer also serves as the dielectric layer. Neutron sensing is achieved through carrier generation within the active 10B based dielectric layer and subsequent transfer to the embedded Pt NP layers, resulting in a significant change of the device's flat-band voltage upon ex-situ characterization. Both single and dual Pt NP layer embedded architectures, with varying electron addition energies, were tested within this study. While dual-layer Pt NPs embedded direct conversion devices with higher electron addition energy are shown to successfully capture charges generated through energetic reaction product upon neutron capture, the single Pt NP layer embedded device structure with lower electron addition energy displays signs of charge loss attributable to direct tunneling in the ex-situ capacitance–voltage measurement. Although only ex-situ detector operation is demonstrated within the realms of this study, sensitive in-situ neutron detectors and ultra-stable ex-situ dosimeters may be achievable utilizing a similar structure by fine-tuning the Pt NP size and the number of Pt NP layers in the device. Keywords: Neutron detection, Sub-2 nm Pt nanoparticles, 10B enriched dielectrics, Direct conversion, MOSCAP, Coulomb blockade