Sensitivity Analyses of NOx Formation in Micro-Pilot Ignited Natural Gas Engines

Author(s):  
Huateng Yang ◽  
S. R. Krishnan ◽  
K. K. Srinivasan ◽  
K. Clark Midkiff

A sensitivity analysis of NOx formation in micro-pilot ignited natural gas dual fuel engines is performed based on a phenomenological combustion model. The model’s NOx formation mechanism incorporates a super-extended Zel’dovich mechanism (up to 43 reactions). The sensitivity analysis compares the contribution of each major reaction to NOx formation, and identifies the rate controlling NOx formation reactions. The formation rates for reactions involving NOx are also investigated to reveal the primary NOx formation paths. Results show that there are two main NOx formation paths both in the packets zone and the burned zone. The rate limiting reactions for the packets zone are identified as: O+N2=NO+NN2+HO2=NO+HNO Rate limiting reactions for the burned zone are: N2O+M=N2+O+MN2+HO2=NO+HNO Since the aforementioned reaction significantly influence the net NOx prediction, it is important that the corresponding reaction rates be determined fairly accurately. Finally, because the quasi-steady-state assumption is commonly used for certain species in NOx modeling, a transient relative error is estimated to evaluate its use. The relative error in NOx prediction with and without this assumption is of the order of 2 percent. Clearly, sensitivity analysis can provide valuable insight into understanding the possible NOx formation pathways in engines and improve the status of current prediction tools to obtain better estimates.

2006 ◽  
Vol 129 (1) ◽  
pp. 261-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huateng Yang ◽  
S. R. Krishnan ◽  
K. K. Srinivasan ◽  
K. C. Midkiff

A sensitivity analysis of NOx formation in pilot-ignited natural gas dual fuel engines is performed based on a phenomenological combustion model. The NOx formation mechanism employed in this study incorporates a super-extended Zel’dovich mechanism (up to 43 reactions). The sensitivity analysis compares the contribution of each major reaction to NOx formation, and identifies the rate-controlling NOx formation reactions in different high-temperature regions—the burning pilot spray, the premixed flame associated with the gaseous fuel-air mixture, and the burned combustion products. The formation rates for reactions involving NOx are also investigated to reveal the primary NOx formation paths. Results show two main NOx formation paths both in the pilot spray (also called the packets zone) and the burned zone. The rate-limiting reactions for the packets zone are O+N2=NO+N and N2+HO2=NO+HNO. Rate-limiting reactions for the burned zone are N2O+M=N2+O+M and N2+HO2=NO+HNO. Since the aforementioned reactions significantly influence the net NOx prediction, it is important that the corresponding reaction rates be determined accurately. Finally, because the quasi-steady-state assumption is commonly used for certain species in NOx modeling, a transient relative error is estimated to evaluate the validity of the assumption. The relative error in NOx prediction with and without the use of the steady-state assumption is small, of the order of 2%. This work also confirms that sensitivity analysis can provide valuable insight into the possible NOx formation pathways in engines and improve the ability of current prediction tools to obtain more reliable predictions.


Author(s):  
Jon P. McDonald ◽  
Arthur M. Mellor

Semi–empirical characteristic time models (CTMs) for NOx emissions index (EI) and lean blowoff are used in the design of an inlet condition matrix for measurement of NOxEI from a lean premixed combustor. Such models relate either NOxEI or the weak extinction limit to times representing relevant physical and chemical processes in the combustor. Lean premixed (LP) natural gas/air combustion is considered for the following conditions: inlet temperature, 300–800 K; combustor pressure, 1–30 atm; and equivalence ratio, 0.5–0.7. The NOx model is used to determine combinations of inlet conditions corresponding to greatest NOx sensitivity. A dependence of NOx emissions on pressure is included in the model. Emissions of oxides of nitrogen are found to he most sensitive to variations in inlet temperature and combustor pressure, in the 560–800 K and 20–30 atm ranges, respectively, while sensitivity to variations in equivalence ratio is substantial over the entire range considered. Thus it is found that operating conditions for high thermal efficiency in LP turbine combustors conflict with the goal of lowering NOx emissions, a result consistent with thermal NOx from conventional, diffusion flame combustors. A lean blowoff model is used to estimate the lowest equivalence ratio at which a flame can he held, as well as to determine whether a flame can be stabilised at the operating conditions suggested by the NOx sensitivity analysis. The results suggest a nominal lower limit on equivalence ratio of 0.4, and that a flame can be held for most of the combinations of inlet conditions suggested by the NOx sensitivity analysis. Autoignition of the fuel/air mixture is also considered in relation to the location and/or design of the premixing system. The current NOx CTM is applied to LP natural gas fired data from the literature. A model modification, thought to better represent the fluid mechanics relevant to LP NOx formation, is applied, and its implications discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. ii105-ii105
Author(s):  
Alexander Hulsbergen ◽  
Asad Lak ◽  
Yu Tung Lo ◽  
Nayan Lamba ◽  
Steven Nagtegaal ◽  
...  

Abstract INTRODUCTION In several cancers treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), a remarkable association between the occurrence of immune-related adverse events (irAEs) and superior oncological outcomes has been reported. This effect has hitherto not been reported in the brain. This study aimed to investigate the relation between irAEs and outcomes in brain metastases (BM) patients treated with both local treatment to the brain (LT; i.e. surgery and/or radiation) and ICIs. METHODS This study is a retrospective cohort analysis of patients treated for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) BMs in a tertiary institution in Boston, MA. Outcomes of interest were overall survival (OS) and intracranial progression-free survival (IC-PFS), measured from the time of LT. Sensitivity analyses were performed to account for immortal time bias (i.e., patients who live longer receive more cycles of ICIs and thus have more opportunity to develop an irAE). RESULTS A total of 184 patients were included; 62 (33.7%) were treated with neurosurgical resection and 122 (66.3%) with upfront brain radiation. irAEs occurred in 62 patients (33.7%). After adjusting for lung-Graded Prognostic Assessment, type of LT, type of ICI, newly diagnosed vs. recurrent BM, BM size and number, targetable mutations, and smoking status, irAEs were strongly associated with better OS (HR 0.33, 95% CI 0.19 – 0.58, p < 0.0001) and IC-PFS (HR 0.41; 95% CI 0.26 – 0.65; p = 0.0001). Landmark analysis including only patients who received more than 3 cycles of ICI (n = 133) demonstrated similar results for OS and IC-PFS, as did sensitivity analysis adjusting for the number of cycles administered (HR range 0.36 – 0.51, all p-values < 0.02). CONCLUSIONS After adjusting for known prognostic factors, irAEs strongly predict superior outcomes after LT in NSCLC BM patients. Sensitivity analysis suggests that this is unlikely due to immortal time bias.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah R. Doran ◽  
Theo Renaud ◽  
Gioia Falcone ◽  
Lehua Pan ◽  
Patrick G. Verdin

AbstractAlternative (unconventional) deep geothermal designs are needed to provide a secure and efficient geothermal energy supply. An in-depth sensitivity analysis was investigated considering a deep borehole closed-loop heat exchanger (DBHE) to overcome the current limitations of deep EGS. A T2Well/EOS1 model previously calibrated on an experimental DBHE in Hawaii was adapted to the current NWG 55-29 well at the Newberry volcano site in Central Oregon. A sensitivity analysis was carried out, including parameters such as the working fluid mass flow rate, the casing and cement thermal properties, and the wellbore radii dimensions. The results conclude the highest energy flow rate to be 1.5 MW, after an annulus radii increase and an imposed mass flow rate of 5 kg/s. At 3 kg/s, the DBHE yielded an energy flow rate a factor of 3.5 lower than the NWG 55-29 conventional design. Despite this loss, the sensitivity analysis allows an assessment of the key thermodynamics within the wellbore and provides a valuable insight into how heat is lost/gained throughout the system. This analysis was performed under the assumption of subcritical conditions, and could aid the development of unconventional designs within future EGS work like the Newberry Deep Drilling Project (NDDP). Requirements for further software development are briefly discussed, which would facilitate the modelling of unconventional geothermal wells in supercritical systems to support EGS projects that could extend to deeper depths.


Author(s):  
Amin Hosseini ◽  
Touraj Taghikhany ◽  
Milad Jahangiri

In the past few years, many studies have proved the efficiency of Simple Adaptive Control (SAC) in mitigating earthquakes’ damages to building structures. Nevertheless, the weighting matrices of this controller should be selected after a large number of sensitivity analyses. This step is time-consuming and it will not necessarily yield a controller with optimum performance. In the current study, an innovative method is introduced to tuning the SAC’s weighting matrices, which dispenses with excessive sensitivity analysis. In this regard, we try to define an optimization problem using intelligent evolutionary algorithm and utilized control indices in an objective function. The efficiency of the introduced method is investigated in 6-story building structure equipped with magnetorheological dampers under different seismic actions with and without uncertainty in the model of the proposed structure. The results indicate that the controller designed by the introduced method has a desirable performance under different conditions of uncertainty in the model. Furthermore, it improves the seismic performance of structure as compared to controllers designed through sensitivity analysis.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 4084
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Bongini ◽  
Rosa Anna Mastromauro ◽  
Daniele Sgrò ◽  
Fabrizio Malvaldi

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plants are commonly island-operated weak grids where the interaction of high-power Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) with the Turbine-Generator (TG) units might cause Sub-Synchronous Torsional Interaction (SSTI) phenomena. SSTI phenomena can lead the LNG plant to instability conditions. Each LNG plant configuration is characterized by a risk level, which is considered high when the electrical damping at the TG Torsional Natural Frequencies (TNFs) is negative. Starting from a real case study, a detailed electromechanical model of an LNG plant is presented. The model is comprehensive of the control system of the power conversion stage and of the TG unit. Sensitivity analysis, performed on control system parameters, allows one to detect the parameters that impact the electrical damping and the stability of the overall LNG plant. A complete simulation platform is developed. Experimental results are carried out on a real LNG plant considering four different configurations. The theoretical model and the simulation platform allow one to estimate the electrical damping and the results are confirmed by the experimental validation. It is demonstrated that fine tuning of the power conversion stage control parameters can reduce the risk related to torsional instability.


Author(s):  
André Perpignan V. de Campos ◽  
Fernando L. Sacomano Filho ◽  
Guenther C. Krieger Filho

Gas turbines are reliable energy conversion systems since they are able to operate with variable fuels and independently from seasonal natural changes. Within that reality, micro gas turbines have been increasing the importance of its usage on the onsite generation. Comparatively, less research has been done, leaving more room for improvements in this class of gas turbines. Focusing on the study of a flexible micro turbine set, this work is part of the development of a low cost electric generation micro turbine, which is capable of burning natural gas, LPG and ethanol. It is composed of an originally automotive turbocompressor, a combustion chamber specifically designed for this application, as well as a single stage axial power turbine. The combustion chamber is a reversed flow type and has a swirl stabilized combustor. This paper is dedicated to the diagnosis of the natural gas combustion in this chamber using computational fluid dynamics techniques compared to measured experimental data of temperature inside the combustion chamber. The study emphasizes the near inner wall temperature, turbine inlet temperature and dilution holes effectiveness. The calculation was conducted with the Reynolds Stress turbulence model coupled with the conventional β-PDF equilibrium along with mixture fraction transport combustion model. Thermal radiation was also considered. Reasonable agreement between experimental data and computational simulations was achieved, providing confidence on the phenomena observed on the simulations, which enabled the design improvement suggestions and analysis included in this work.


2004 ◽  
Vol 124 (5) ◽  
pp. 475-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Ehnes ◽  
Ian C. Forster ◽  
Katja Kohler ◽  
Andrea Bacconi ◽  
Gerti Stange ◽  
...  

The putative first intracellular and third extracellular linkers are known to play important roles in defining the transport properties of the type IIa Na+-coupled phosphate cotransporter (Kohler, K., I.C. Forster, G. Stange, J. Biber, and H. Murer. 2002b. J. Gen. Physiol. 120:693–705). To investigate whether other stretches that link predicted transmembrane domains are also involved, the substituted cysteine accessibility method (SCAM) was applied to sites in the predicted first and fourth extracellular linkers (ECL-1 and ECL-4). Mutants based on the wild-type (WT) backbone, with substituted novel cysteines, were expressed in Xenopus oocytes, and their function was assayed by isotope uptake and electrophysiology. Functionally important sites were identified in both linkers by exposing cells to membrane permeant and impermeant methanethiosulfonate (MTS) reagents. The cysteine modification reaction rates for sites in ECL-1 were faster than those in ECL-4, which suggested that the latter were less accessible from the extracellular medium. Generally, a finite cotransport activity remained at the end of the modification reaction. The change in activity was due to altered voltage-dependent kinetics of the Pi-dependent current. For example, cys substitution at Gly-134 in ECL-1 resulted in rate-limiting, voltage-independent cotransport activity for V ≤ −80 mV, whereas the WT exhibited a linear voltage dependency. After cys modification, this mutant displayed a supralinear voltage dependency in the same voltage range. The opposite behavior was documented for cys substitution at Met-533 in ECL-4. Modification of cysteines at two other sites in ECL-1 (Ile-136 and Phe-137) also resulted in supralinear voltage dependencies for hyperpolarizing potentials. Taken together, these findings suggest that ECL-1 and ECL-4 may not directly form part of the transport pathway, but specific sites in these linkers can interact directly or indirectly with parts of NaPi-IIa that undergo voltage-dependent conformational changes and thereby influence the voltage dependency of cotransport.


Author(s):  
Orlando Ugarte ◽  
Suresh Menon ◽  
Wayne Rattigan ◽  
Paul Winstanley ◽  
Priyank Saxena ◽  
...  

Abstract In recent years, there is a growing interest in blending hydrogen with natural gas fuels to produce low carbon electricity. It is important to evaluate the safety of gas turbine packages under these conditions, such as late-light off and flameout scenarios. However, the assessment of the safety risks by performing experiments in full-scale exhaust ducts is a very expensive and, potentially, risky endeavor. Computational simulations using a high fidelity CFD model provide a cost-effective way of assessing the safety risk. In this study, a computational model is implemented to perform three dimensional, compressible and unsteady simulations of reacting flows in a gas turbine exhaust duct. Computational results were validated against data obtained at the simulated conditions in a representative geometry. Due to the enormous size of the geometry, special attention was given to the discretization of the computational domain and the combustion model. Results show that CFD model predicts main features of the pressure rise driven by the combustion process. The peak pressures obtained computationally and experimentally differed in 20%. This difference increased up to 45% by reducing the preheated inflow conditions. The effects of rig geometry and flow conditions on the accuracy of the CFD model are discussed.


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