The Tennessee Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
presents a luncheon meeting
Friday, November 9th, 11:30-12:45, at UTSI, Room H-111 (map attached)
With a presentation by Dr. Joseph Majdalani
“Recent Advances in Modeling Swirl Augmented Propulsion”
Lunch will consist of a mini buffet with the following items: meat loaf with special sauce, cheesy chicken
pasta, mashed potatoes, green beans, and salad. The cost is $9.00 per person payable at the door. Please
RSVP by 4:00 pm, Monday, November 5th to Dustin Crider, dustin.crider@arnold.af.mil, 931-454-3457.
ABSTRACT
This talk will focus on the effective use of swirl in a variety of applications involving high-energy producing devices and
propulsive systems such as the Vortex Injection Hybrid Rocket Engine (VIHRE), the self-cooled Vortex Combustion Cold
Wall Chamber (VCCWC), the Vortex-Swept Hybrid Rocket Engine, the Liquid Detonation Pulse Engine, etc. Our discussion
will extend to the modeling of high-speed compressible motions as well as atmospheric flows, such as tornadoes, hurricanes,
waterspouts, etc. Special emphasis will be placed on modeling the VCCWC, a LOX-propane vortex-driven thrust engine that
incorporates the fundamental features of a cyclone. The resulting bidirectional/bipolar vortex confines chemical reactions and
hot combustion products to its core region, where the gaseous mixtures remain completely surrounded by an outer layer of
freshly injected, low-temperature oxidizer. Naturally, the film-cooling effect that accompanies the oxidizer stream reduces
thermal loading and overall engine weight. Furthermore, the spiraling motion of the reactants increases both mixing and fuel
residence time to the extent of promoting higher combustion efficiency. The bidirectional vortex concept was first
implemented in cyclone separators and later applied to hybrid and liquid thrust engines. Several recent breakthroughs in
describing the observed helical behavior will be overviewed, and these will include new classes of complex-lamellar and
Beltramian motions for vortex engine flowfields with arbitrary headwall injection. The talk will conclude with recent stability
analyses that can accurately predict vorticoacoustic waveforms in a given combustor, and these will confirm the role of swirl as
a stabilizing flow agent.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
JOSEPH C. (JOE) MAJDALANI, PHD, PE
H.H. ARNOLD CHAIR OF EXCELLENCE IN ADVANCED PROPULSION
PROFESSOR
DEPT. OF MECHANICAL, AEROSPACE AND BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE SPACE INSTITUTE
Dr. Majdalani received his PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Utah in 1995. Between 1997 and
2003, he served as Assistant and then Associate Professor with tenure in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at
Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI. In 2002, he received an NSF CAREER Award and joined the University of Tennessee
Space Institute, serving as the Jack D. Whitfield Professor of High Speed Flows. In 2007, he was appointed H. H. Arnold
Chair of Excellence in Advanced Propulsion.
Dr. Majdalani’s research devotes itself to the theoretical and computational modeling of internal flow fields associated with
energy and propulsion systems including injection and swirl-driven combustion chambers. His interests span thermo-acoustic
instabilities, engine internal flowfields, vorticity dynamics, and singular perturbation theory. His research activities since 1997
have materialized in over 220 publications in journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings. His work on core flow
modeling of liquid, solid, and hybrid rocket engines has led to the discovery of new solutions to describe cyclonic motions in
self-cooled liquid and hybrid thrust engines, centrifuges, hurricanes, and other injection-driven flowfields. Recently, his work
on compressible gas motions has required the development of a new framework for solving multi-dimensional high-speed
flow problems.
Dr. Majdalani is presently a Fellow of ASME, Associate Fellow of AIAA, Associate Editor of the International Journal of
Energetic Materials and Chemical Propulsion (Begell House), AIAA Instructor for two short courses, and Chair of Education
within the AIAA Hybrid Rocket Technical Committee.
MAPS TO UTSI