Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering

Paper Competition

Abstracts

Learn about student research related to the field of engineering

Denver J. Haycock, BYU
Flame Merging Correlations for Vertically- and Horizontally-separated Buoyant Flames

Flame merging occurs when multiple flames interact to create a single larger flame. This phenomenon occurs on scales ranging from matchsticks to massive forest fires, and is still not perfectly understood. The multiple leaves and small branches in varying orientations and geometries found in shrubs create complex interactions of individual flames and a complex flame growth pattern. A better understanding of flame merging can lead to improved understanding of the spread of flames in wildfires, especially when considering shrubs as fuel sources. Experiments were performed using lab-scale buoyant flames to correlate the effect of separation distance between fuel sources on flame merging. Additionally, other flame parameters, including flame height, area, and width, were measured and correlated to separation distance. The experiments were conducted using two or three ceramic felt pads soaked in liquid n-heptane as fuel sources, which allowed for a relatively constant flame during testing. Although horizontal separation of flames has been studied in the literature, this study tested both vertical and horizontal separation of fuel sources. Correlations that were developed account for both horizontal and vertical separation.

Kyle Primavera, BYU
Rapid formation of methemoglobin via nitric oxide delivery for potential use as an MRI contrast agent

Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography is a vital tool for evaluating vascular pathology. However, concerns about the limitations and safety of gadolinium-based contrast agents have led to interest in alternative agents. Methemoglobin (MetHb) increases the T1-weighted signal intensity of the magnetic resonance image of blood and might provide a safe and effective intravascular contrasting effect. MetHb can be transiently produced by the reaction of nitric oxide (NO) gas with oxyhemoglobin and is naturally converted back to hemoglobin in a ferrous state by cytochrome b5 reductase. Since rapid production of metHb via NO to achieve a contrasting effect has not been studied, we evaluated the effectiveness of producing metHb via NO delivery to blood flowing through a hollow-fiber module and into a reservoir. MetHb production occurred immediately within the module and >90% conversion occurred in the reservoir within 10 minutes. MetHb remained stable for the length of the study when NO delivery was removed following metHb formation. There was good agreement between kinetic and transport modeling predictions for metHb production and our experimental results. This work shows that NO delivery to blood is a promising platform to rapidly increase metHb and provide an alternative intravascular contrasting effect for magnetic resonance angiography.

Josh Bedwell, BYU
Sootlib: a library for modeling soot formation in combustion.

Combustion accounts for over 80% of the world’s energy use and developing methods to simulate combustion systems is important for the design and characterization of many engineering processes. One key aspect of combustion is soot formation. Soot is a pollutant, a health hazard, and indicates process inefficiencies. Soot is also responsible for a significant fraction of radiative heat transfer from flames. We are developing a new library for simulating the behavior of soot in a flame, utilizing object-oriented design, software design patterns, and testing and functionality driven development. This was accomplished using C++ and CMake. The use of these design patterns has led to a library which is modular, intuitive, and readily usable.We discuss the development of this library and show the initial simulations of soot formation in laminar premixed flames with comparisons to experimental data.Authors: Josh Bedwell, Victoria Stevens, David Lignell

Nathan Passey, BYU
Hydrogen Isotope Oxidation Reactivity

Tritium combustion properties figure prominently in design and safety analysis of nuclear reactors. The radiation hazards, costs, and permitting associated with tritium present significant barriers to determining the properties. Sound theories that reproduce measured deuterium data based on hydrogen data and the atomic mass difference between hydrogen and deuterium should predict tritium properties based on hydrogen and deuterium data. However, these theories do not account for the radioactive nature of tritium and are therefore incomplete. Our research seeks to develop a method whereby the true combustion kinetics of tritium can be accurately quantified. Significant theoretical work, along with the development of an apparatus capable of measuring flame propagation speed, autoignition temperature and flammability limits, has been done to this end.