Fluid Mechanics of Combustion Symposium Issue

Abstract

Perhaps one of the most significant of recent changes in the career of the fluid dynamicist is the expansion of his activity into diverse fields of application. In years past, his efforts were concentrated in such obvious areas as the design and conceptual development of turbomachiner y, vehicle aerodynamics, and fluid conveying systems. However, the change in this situation is obvious when one considers the recent contributions of bioengineers to the knowledge of the functioning of the cardio­ vascular circulatory system or the inroads made in the field of logic and control systems by fluidic devices. Most of the tech­ nology applied in developing these concepts was not new to the fluids engineer but rather was matured and applied because the necessary social and technical environment had evolved. Another such area of development is the field of combustion related fluid dynamics. Combustion has been traditionally a part of the science of thermochemistry, but, at the same time, an empirical art in design, involving cut and try methods and drawing heavily from prior experience and evolutionary knowhow. As a consequence, the combustion process was considered at one time to be well under control when these devices were adjusted to the conditions where so called clean burning was observed. Recent demands for the conservation of fuels and the association of atmospheric pollution with undesirable byproducts of combustion or the products of inefficient combustion has forced a reassessment of the state of the art and a search for means to improve the combustion process. When one examines the sequence of events occurring in any combustion process, be it in a furnace, a gas turbine combustor, a reciprocating engine, or any other device, it is apparent that fluid mechanics plays a critical part. The initial atomization and dispersion of fuel, stabilization and propagation of flames, the enhancement of mixing and stirring of the reacting species, all heretofore estab­ lished by empiricism become areas of increasing concern for the fluids engineer.