8/27/2017 Research Areas - School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering - Cornell Engineering

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Combustion

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Combustion involves the complex interactions of multiple competing chemical and physical processes.  Cornell faculty work with students and postdocs on a
variety of approaches to understanding combustion, developing new thermochemical processes, and improving the ability to predict combustion characteristics
and emissions.   Analytical and computational methods include direct numerical simulation (DNS) and large-eddy simulation (LES), probability density
function (PDF) methods, dimension-reduction and tabulation methodologies for combustion chemistry. Experimental approaches include particle imaging
velocimetry, high speed photography, extractive analytical techniques such as Fourier-transform Infrared spectrometry, and in­situ laser diagnostics.  The
research includes novel methods for producing biochar, development of novel fire suppressants, studies relevant to gas turbine combustion and hypersonic
propulsion, application of droplet combustion to development of surrogate fuels, and developing new types of chemical conversion processes based on film
boiling.

Combustion is likely to continue as the dominant energy conversion technology for at least the next century, and as such its efficiency and emissions have
important impacts on global resources, environmental quality, and climate change.  Thermochemical processing also plays a key role in new technologies such
as biomass-based fuels and carbon sequestration.

Current Research Topics:

Turbulent reacting flows: Collins, Desjardins, Pope

Combustion Chemistry: Fisher, Pepiot, Pope
Biomass Energy: Avedisian, Desjardins, Fisher, Pepiot, Zhang   
Computational methods: Desjardins, Pope
Complex practical fuels: Avedisian, Fisher, Pepiot, Pope
Environmental Impact of combustion-generated pollutants: Zhang

Selected Recent Publications and Grants:

New article: Characterization of Extinction/Reignition Events in Turbulent Premixed Counterflow Flames using Strain-Rate Analysis

Article:  Tirunagari, RR; Pope, SB; “Characterization of Extinction/Re...

New article: The Combustion of iso-octane Droplets with Initial Diameters from 0.5 to 5 mm: Effects on burning rate and flame extinction

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8/27/2017 Research Areas - School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering - Cornell Engineering
Article:  Xu, YH; Hicks, MC; Avedisian, CT; “The Combustion of iso-oct...

New article: Combustion Characteristics of Primary Reference Fuel (PRF) Droplets: Single stage high temperature combustion to multistage “Cool Flame”
behavior

Article:  Farouk, T. I.; Xu, Y.; Avedisian, C. T.; Dryer, F. L.; “Comb...

New article: Effects of Molecular Transport in LES/PDF of Piloted Turbulent Dimethyl Ether/Air Jet Flames

Article:  You, JP; Yang, Y; Pope, SB; “Effects of Molecular Transport ...

New article: A Novel Atom Tracking Algorithm for the Analysis of Complex Chemical Kinetic Networks

Article:  Laurent, C; Frewin, CJ; Pepiot, P; “A Novel Atom Tracking Algorit...

New article: LES/PDF for Premixed Combustion in the DNS Limit

Article:  Tirunagari, RR; Pope, SB; “LES/PDF for Premixed Combustion in the...

New article: Comprehensive Study of Initial Diameter Effects and Other Observations on Convection-Free Droplet Combustion in the Standard Atmosphere for
n-heptane, n-octane, and n-decan

Article: Liu, YC; Xu, YH; Hicks, MC; Avedisian, CT; “Comprehensive Study of Init...

New article: Combustion Characteristics of Butanol Isomers in Multiphase Droplet Configurations

Article:  Liu, YC; Alam, FE; Xu, YH; Dryer, FL; Avedisian, T; Farouk, TI; (...

New grant: Eager: Establishing a Novel Computational Framework to Investigate the Role of Chemical Kinetics in Chemical Looping Combustion

Perrine Pepiot was recently awarded a grant through the National Science Foundat...

New article: A Component Library Framework for Deriving Kinetic Mechanisms for Multi-component Fuel Surrogates: Application for jet fuel surrogates

Article:  Narayanaswamy, K; Pitsch, H; Pepiot, P; (2016)  “A Component...

Research Area Faculty

  Name Department Contact

Avedisian, C. Thomas Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 193 Grumman Hall

Professor 607 592-7915
cta2@cornell.edu

Desjardins, Olivier Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 305 Upson Hall

Associate Professor 607 255-4100
olivier.desjardins@cornell.edu

Fisher, Elizabeth M. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 315 Upson Hall

Associate Professor 607 255-8309
EMF4@cornell.edu

Louge, Michel Yves Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 351 Upson Hall
Professor 607 255-4193
myl3@cornell.edu

Zhang, Max Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 345 Upson Hall

Associate Professor 607 254-5402
KZ33@cornell.edu

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