Page 15 - ASME HT FE ICNMM 2016 Program

Plenary Sessions

engineering, was named Dean of UCLA's Henry Samueli School of PLENARY TITLE: COMBUSTION OF BIO AND
Engineering & Applied Science in March 2003. Born in India, Dhir received SURROGATE FUELS: A HOT SUBJECT WITH
his Bachelor of Science degree from Punjab Engineering College in COOL FLAMES (HEAT TRANSFER)
Chandigarh, India, and his Master of Technology degree from the Indian
DATE/TIME: WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 8:30 AM – 10:10 AM
Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India. He received his Ph.D. from the
University of Kentucky. Dhir joined the faculty at UCLA in 1974 and served Room: Regency BC
in a number of leadership roles before his appointment as Dean. In 2006, Presenter:
he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering – among the
highest honors awarded to engineers – for his work in boiling heat C. Thomas Avedisian, Cornell University
transfer and nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics and safety. Dhir received
the 2004 Max Jakob Memorial Award of ASME and AIChE and was
selected to deliver the Thurston Lecture of ASME in 2008. He is a fellow
of ASME and the American Nuclear Society. In 2004, he was selected as
an inductee into the University of Kentucky’s Engineering Hall of Distinc-
Session Description:
tion. He has also received the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
The dwindling supplies of petroleum-based liquid fuels have generated
(ASME) Heat Transfer Memorial Award in the Science category and the
renewed interest in alternative energy systems. Even after petroleum fuels
Donald Q. Kern award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers
are gone (e.g., within a hundred years according to some estimates) there
(AIChE). He is recipient of the Technical Achievement Award of the
will continue to be a demand for liquid fuels that may be filled in part by
Thermal Hydraulics Division of the American Nuclear Society. Twice he
fuels derived from non-food feedstocks (e.g., algae, camelina, soybean,
has received the Best Paper Award for papers published in ASME Journal
etc.). Developing the understanding of such fuels in the complex
of Heat Transfer. He received an honorary Ph.D. in Engineering from
environment of a combustion engine is difficult owing to the turbulent and
University of Kentucky, Lexington and a Lifetime Achievement Award at
swirling flow field, the multicomponent nature of real fuels, and the
the ICCES conference. He is also an honorary member of ASME and
interactive effects among droplets in a spray that are present. Approach-
received the 75th Anniversary Medal from the Heat Transfer Division of
es that reduce the complexity of the fuel burning process while maintain-
ASME. He was recognized in 2013 as Educator of the Year by the
ing relevance are attractive. This consideration is addressed in two ways.
Engineering Council. Dhir served as senior technical editor for the
Firstly, droplets represent the sub-grid scale of sprays and maintain many
American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Journal of Heat Transfer from
processes found in sprays including moving boundary effects, phase
2000 to 2005. Prior to being named senior technical editor, he also
equilibrium, combustion chemistry, transient liquid and gas transport, and
served as the Journal's associate editor. He is a former assistant editor of
radiation. Secondly, blends of a few miscible components - surrogate fuels
Applied Mechanics Review. He has served on the advisory boards of
- may still incorporate the combustion physics of complex transportation
several other journals. Recently Dhir completed his service to the National
fuels comprised of hundreds of miscible species. A particularly attractive
Research Council’s Steering Committee on the “Decadal Survey on
burning configuration is that of a one-dimensional droplet flame that arises
Biological and Physical Sciences in Space.” He currently serves on the
when external convective effects are removed. Such flames are well
National Research Council’s Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board
positioned to reveal the complex thermo/chemical processes intrinsic to
and the National Academy of Science’s Committee on Lessons Learned
combustion of liquid fuels, including the influence of droplet size and fuel
from the Fukushima Nuclear Accident for Improving Safety and Security of
type on burning and formation of particulates, and to provide data for
U.S. Nuclear Plants including Spent Fuel Pools. Dr. Dhir leads the Boiling
validating detailed numerical models of droplet burning that are a
Heat Transfer Lab, which has conducted pioneering work in fundamental
stepping stone to a direct numerical simulation capability of spray
and applied sciences involving boiling, an efficient process of heat
combustion in engines.
removal. Currently the lab is involved in the study of flow boiling, mi-
cro-gravity boiling, and nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics. Since 1999 a In this presentation, the droplet burning characteristics of several real
team of researchers led by Dhir has been taking part in a NASA research fuels (jet, diesel, gasoline), biofuels (e.g., derived from algae, camelina and
program to examine the effects of microgravity on boiling. The activity tallow), and surrogate fuels are discussed that show the influence of
culminated with an experiment aboard the International Space Station. droplet size and fuel composition on combustion, as well as the unique
More than forty PhD students and forty MS students have graduated sooting dynamics found in the one-dimensional droplet flame configura-
under Dhir's supervision. He is author or co-author of over 325 papers tion. The influence of blending real fuels with biofuels and alcohols (e.g.,
published in archival journals and proceedings of conferences. algae/diesel, butanol/gasoline mixtures) shows in some cases the
potential for the blend to be a 'drop-in' replacement of the real fuel. An
interesting effect of varying droplet diameter is discussed in which flame
extinction promoted by radiative losses is followed by a transition to a
combustion regime characterized by flame temperatures which are
substantially lower ("cool" flames) than the hot flames typical of steady
burning. Some results of detailed numerical modeling of the droplet
burning process are presented, and the value of scale analysis to predict
the influence of flame temperature on burning rate and droplet diameter is 15
demonstrated.