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Dr. Antonio Ficarella
Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Via Per Arnesano, I-73100 Lecce, Italy

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0 Combustion
0 Energy Systems
0 Fluid machinery
0 Propulsive systems
0 Applied fluid dynamics

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Propulsive systems

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Journal article
Published: 08 August 2021 in Acta Astronautica
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The present work discusses an experimental investigation of the flow into a silicon-based vaporizing liquid microthruster equipped with sensing capabilities and low-power on-channel secondary heaters. The sensing capabilities (resistance temperature detectors and capacitive void fraction sensors) are used to investigate the flow instability and to evaluate its performances. The device has a sandwich structure composed of a silicon substrate and a glass substrate. This last one allows optical access into the device. The main heating of the propellant is provided using a platinum resistive heater placed on the bottom of the silicon layer. By varying the electrical power supplied to the main heater at fixed mass flow rate, three flow regimes have been observed and investigated: fully liquid flow, two-phase flow, and fully vaporized flow. Their dynamics have been captured through high-speed micro-flow visualizations under rough vacuum conditions (about 29 kPa). Furthermore, the expansion of the exhaust vapor plume exiting from the micronozzle has been analyzed via Schlieren visualizations. Results highlighted the occurrence of a cyclic flow behavior during the two-phase flow regime. In contrast, the flow exhibits the presence of both liquid and vapor phases at the micronozzle exit. Once the fully vaporized flow regime is established, the two-phase flow dynamics into the inlet chamber become more stable with complete filling and more uniform distribution of the flow at the microchannels entrance. Schlieren imaging captured the increase of the exhaust plume spreading half-angle when moving from ambient condition towards rough vacuum.

ACS Style

D. Fontanarosa; L. Francioso; M.G. De Giorgi; C. De Pascali; A. Ficarella; M.R. Vetrano. Flow regime characterization of a silicon-based vaporizing liquid microthruster. Acta Astronautica 2021, 1 .

AMA Style

D. Fontanarosa, L. Francioso, M.G. De Giorgi, C. De Pascali, A. Ficarella, M.R. Vetrano. Flow regime characterization of a silicon-based vaporizing liquid microthruster. Acta Astronautica. 2021; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

D. Fontanarosa; L. Francioso; M.G. De Giorgi; C. De Pascali; A. Ficarella; M.R. Vetrano. 2021. "Flow regime characterization of a silicon-based vaporizing liquid microthruster." Acta Astronautica , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 29 July 2021 in Aerospace
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One of the most important parts of a turboshaft engine, which has a direct impact on the performance of the engine and, as a result, on the performance of the propulsion system, is the engine fuel control system. The traditional engine control system is a sensor-based control method, which uses measurable parameters to control engine performance. In this context, engine component degradation leads to a change in the relationship between the measurable parameters and the engine performance parameters, and thus an increase of control errors. In this work, a nonlinear model predictive control method for turboshaft direct fuel control is implemented to improve engine response ability also in presence of degraded conditions. The control objective of the proposed model is the prediction of the specific fuel consumption directly instead of the measurable parameters. In this way is possible decentralize controller functions and realize an intelligent engine with the development of a distributed control system. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) are widely used as data-driven models for modelling of complex systems such as aeroengine performance. In this paper, two Nonlinear Autoregressive Neural Networks have been trained to predict the specific fuel consumption for several transient flight maneuvers. The data used for the ANN predictions have been estimated through the Gas Turbine Simulation Program. In particular the first ANN predicts the state variables based on flight conditions and the second one predicts the performance parameter based on the previous predicted variables. The results show a good approximation of the studied variables also in degraded conditions.

ACS Style

Maria De Giorgi; Luciano Strafella; Antonio Ficarella. Neural Nonlinear Autoregressive Model with Exogenous Input (NARX) for Turboshaft Aeroengine Fuel Control Unit Model. Aerospace 2021, 8, 206 .

AMA Style

Maria De Giorgi, Luciano Strafella, Antonio Ficarella. Neural Nonlinear Autoregressive Model with Exogenous Input (NARX) for Turboshaft Aeroengine Fuel Control Unit Model. Aerospace. 2021; 8 (8):206.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maria De Giorgi; Luciano Strafella; Antonio Ficarella. 2021. "Neural Nonlinear Autoregressive Model with Exogenous Input (NARX) for Turboshaft Aeroengine Fuel Control Unit Model." Aerospace 8, no. 8: 206.

Journal article
Published: 23 June 2021 in Applied Sciences
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The present work investigates the impact of steady micro-jet blowing on the performance of a planar micro-nozzle designed for both liquid micro-thrusters and nitrogen cold-gas micro-resistojets. Two micro-injectors have been placed into the divergent region along the sidewalls, injecting a secondary flow of propellant perpendicularly to the wall where they have been located. The micro-jet actuator configuration is characterized by the dimensionless momentum coefficient cμ. The best performance improvement is retrieved at the maximum cμ for both water vapor (Δ%T,jet = +22.6% and Δ%Isp,Tjet = +2.9% at cμ = 0.168) and nitrogen gaseous flows (Δ%T,jet = +36.1% and Δ%Isp,Tjet = +9.1% at cμ = 0.297). The fields of the Mach number and the Schlieren computations, in combination with the streamline visualization, reveal the formation of two vortical structures in the proximity of secondary jets, which energize the core flow and enhance the expansion process downstream secondary jets. The compressible momentum thickness along the width-wise direction θxy in presence of secondary injection reduces as a function of cμ. In particular, it becomes smaller than the one computed for the baseline configuration at cμ > 0.1, decreasing up to about and -57% for the water vapor flow at cμ = 0.168, and -64% for the nitrogen gaseous flow at cμ = 0.297.

ACS Style

Donato Fontanarosa; Maria De Giorgi; Antonio Ficarella. Thrust Augmentation of Micro-Resistojets by Steady Micro-Jet Blowing into Planar Micro-Nozzle. Applied Sciences 2021, 11, 5821 .

AMA Style

Donato Fontanarosa, Maria De Giorgi, Antonio Ficarella. Thrust Augmentation of Micro-Resistojets by Steady Micro-Jet Blowing into Planar Micro-Nozzle. Applied Sciences. 2021; 11 (13):5821.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Donato Fontanarosa; Maria De Giorgi; Antonio Ficarella. 2021. "Thrust Augmentation of Micro-Resistojets by Steady Micro-Jet Blowing into Planar Micro-Nozzle." Applied Sciences 11, no. 13: 5821.

Journal article
Published: 26 March 2021 in Aerospace Science and Technology
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This study addresses the optimization of the energy flows in a Hybrid Electric Helicopter for air-taxi operation in order to minimize the fuel consumption on four typical missions (defined in terms of power and altitude profiles) and contemporarily allowing electric back-up operation at any time during the mission. The proposed parallel hybrid electric powertrain includes a turboshaft engine, two electric machines, a lithium ion battery and all necessary control systems. The powertrain is modeled with an empirical but comprehensive approach in order to make possible the combination with numerical optimization algorithms. In particular, the battery is modeled with an electric equivalent circuit model that includes the effect of battery aging. The fuel consumption of the turboshaft engines is calculated with a mathematical function of power request, altitude and Mach number whose coefficients are fitted by means of comparison with the commercial code Gas-turbine Simulation Program (GSP). The optimization of the energy management of the hybrid powertrain is performed in two steps. The first one was the application of Dynamic Programming in order to obtain the optimal usage of the battery for a given mission (target values) and to provide insights into how to develop a suitable on-line optimizer to be applied during the real operation of the rotorcraft. For this second step analysis, the authors developed a version of the Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy opportunely adapted to the specific case of an aerial vehicle with turboshaft engine, in particular taking in to account the desired state of charge and the actual state of health of the battery. After an off-line optimization of its parameters with a multi-objective approach, the on-line optimizer guaranteed results similar to the target values and allowed a reduction of the fuel burn ranging between 10% and 22% with respect to using only the thermal engine to power the rotor shaft and without any need to adapt the parameters in case of aged battery.

ACS Style

Teresa Donateo; Claudia Lucia De Pascalis; Luciano Strafella; Antonio Ficarella. Off-line and on-line optimization of the energy management strategy in a Hybrid Electric Helicopter for urban air-mobility. Aerospace Science and Technology 2021, 113, 106677 .

AMA Style

Teresa Donateo, Claudia Lucia De Pascalis, Luciano Strafella, Antonio Ficarella. Off-line and on-line optimization of the energy management strategy in a Hybrid Electric Helicopter for urban air-mobility. Aerospace Science and Technology. 2021; 113 ():106677.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Teresa Donateo; Claudia Lucia De Pascalis; Luciano Strafella; Antonio Ficarella. 2021. "Off-line and on-line optimization of the energy management strategy in a Hybrid Electric Helicopter for urban air-mobility." Aerospace Science and Technology 113, no. : 106677.

Journal article
Published: 05 August 2020 in Journal of Fluids Engineering
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A preliminary two-dimensional (2D) numerical investigation of the active control of unsteady cavitation by means of one single synthetic jet actuator (SJA) is presented. The investigation involves the cloud-cavitating flow of water around a NACA 0015 hydrofoil with an angle of attack of 8-deg and ambient conditions. The SJA locates on the suction side at a distance of 16% of the chord from the leading edge; it has been modeled by means of a user-defined velocity boundary conditions based on a sinusoidal waveform. A Eulerian homogeneous mixture model has been used, coupled with an extended Schnerr–Sauer cavitation model and a volume of fluid interface tracking method. As first, a sensitivity analysis allowed to evaluate the influence of the main control parameters, namely, the momentum coefficient Cμ, the dimensionless frequency F+, and the jet angle αjet. As a result, the best performing SJA configuration was retrieved at Cμ=0.0002, F+=0.309, and αjet=90 deg, which led to a reduction of both the average vapor content and the average torsional load in the measure of 34.6% and 17.8%. The analysis of the coupled dynamics between vapor cavity–vorticity and their proper orthogonal decomposition (POD)-based modal structures highlighted the benefit of the SJA lies in preventing the growth of a thick sheet cavity, which causes the development of the highly cavitating cloud dynamics after the cavity breakup. This is mainly due to an additional vorticity close to the hydrofoil surface just downstream the SJA, as well as a local pressure modification close the SJA during the blowing stroke.

ACS Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi; Donato Fontanarosa; Antonio Ficarella. Active Control of Unsteady Cavitating Flows Over Hydrofoil. Journal of Fluids Engineering 2020, 142, 1 .

AMA Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi, Donato Fontanarosa, Antonio Ficarella. Active Control of Unsteady Cavitating Flows Over Hydrofoil. Journal of Fluids Engineering. 2020; 142 (11):1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi; Donato Fontanarosa; Antonio Ficarella. 2020. "Active Control of Unsteady Cavitating Flows Over Hydrofoil." Journal of Fluids Engineering 142, no. 11: 1.

Journal article
Published: 23 July 2020 in Extreme Mechanics Letters
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In this paper we employ genetic algorithms in order to theoretically design a range of phononic media that can act to prevent or ensure antiplane elastic wave propagation over a specific range of low frequencies, with each case corresponding to a specific pre-stress level. The medium described consists of an array of cylindrical annuli embedded inside an elastic matrix. The annuli are considered as capable of large strain and their constitutive response is described by the popular Mooney–Rivlin strain energy function. The simple nature of the medium described is an alternative approach to topology optimization in phononic media, which although useful, often gives rise to complex phase distributions inside a composite material, leading to more complicated manufacturing requirements.

ACS Style

Riccardo De Pascalis; Teresa Donateo; Antonio Ficarella; William J. Parnell. Optimal design of phononic media through genetic algorithm-informed pre-stress for the control of antiplane wave propagation. Extreme Mechanics Letters 2020, 40, 100896 .

AMA Style

Riccardo De Pascalis, Teresa Donateo, Antonio Ficarella, William J. Parnell. Optimal design of phononic media through genetic algorithm-informed pre-stress for the control of antiplane wave propagation. Extreme Mechanics Letters. 2020; 40 ():100896.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Riccardo De Pascalis; Teresa Donateo; Antonio Ficarella; William J. Parnell. 2020. "Optimal design of phononic media through genetic algorithm-informed pre-stress for the control of antiplane wave propagation." Extreme Mechanics Letters 40, no. : 100896.

Journal article
Published: 13 May 2020 in Aerospace
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The interest in electric and hybrid electric power systems for aircraft and rotorcraft has been increasing significantly in recent years. However, advanced simulation tools still need to be developed to exploit the potentiality and address the complexity of these systems. The goal of this investigation is to propose a modeling approach for the degradation of the battery performance during its aging, and to use such model to quantify the fuel economy and operability of a hybrid electric helicopter both in normal AirTaxi operation and in the case of engine failure. The proposed method is based on experimental data for lithium batteries retrieved in the literature. The battery model is included in a comprehensive simulation tool where the turboshaft engine and the electric machine are simulated with a simple but thorough approach that takes into account the part-load behavior of both energy converters. The present investigation also proposes and compares different strategies for the use of the battery during the AirTaxi mission showing that it is possible to reduce fuel consumption up to 11% when the battery is at the beginning of its life. When the battery comes close to its end of life, it is necessary to use an energy management strategy which ensures a sustainment of its state of charge at the expenses of a lower fuel saving.

ACS Style

Teresa Donateo; Antonio Ficarella. A Modeling Approach for the Effect of Battery Aging on the Performance of a Hybrid Electric Rotorcraft for Urban Air-Mobility. Aerospace 2020, 7, 56 .

AMA Style

Teresa Donateo, Antonio Ficarella. A Modeling Approach for the Effect of Battery Aging on the Performance of a Hybrid Electric Rotorcraft for Urban Air-Mobility. Aerospace. 2020; 7 (5):56.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Teresa Donateo; Antonio Ficarella. 2020. "A Modeling Approach for the Effect of Battery Aging on the Performance of a Hybrid Electric Rotorcraft for Urban Air-Mobility." Aerospace 7, no. 5: 56.

Journal article
Published: 20 March 2020 in Energies
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The present work focuses on the impact of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuators (PAs) on non-premixed lifted flame stabilization in a methane CH4-air Bunsen burner. Two coaxial DBD-PA configurations are considered. They are composed of a copper corona, installed on the outer surface of a quartz tube and powered with a high voltage sinusoidal signal, and a grounded needle installed along the burner axis. The two configurations differ in the standoff distance value, which indicates the positioning of the high frequency/high voltage (HV) electrode’s upper edge with respect to the needle tip. Experimental results highlight that flame reattachment is obtained at a lower dissipated power when using a negative standoff distance (i.e., placing the needle upstream with respect to the corona). At 11 kV peak-to-peak voltage and 20 kHz frequency, plasma actuation allowed for reattaching the flame with a very low dissipated power (of about 0.05 W). Numerical simulations of the electrostatic field confirmed that this negative standoff configuration has a beneficial effect on the momentum sources, which oppose the flow and show that the highest electric field extends into the inner quartz tube, as confirmed by experimental visualization close to the needle tip. The modeling predicted an increase in the gas temperature of about 21.8 °C and a slight modification of the fuel composition at the burner exit. This impacts the flame speed with a 10% increase close to the stoichiometric conditions with respect to the clean configuration.

ACS Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi; Antonio Ficarella; Donato Fontanarosa; Elisa Pescini; Antonio Suma. Investigation of the Effects of Plasma Discharges on Methane Decomposition for Combustion Enhancement of a Lean Flame. Energies 2020, 13, 1452 .

AMA Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi, Antonio Ficarella, Donato Fontanarosa, Elisa Pescini, Antonio Suma. Investigation of the Effects of Plasma Discharges on Methane Decomposition for Combustion Enhancement of a Lean Flame. Energies. 2020; 13 (6):1452.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi; Antonio Ficarella; Donato Fontanarosa; Elisa Pescini; Antonio Suma. 2020. "Investigation of the Effects of Plasma Discharges on Methane Decomposition for Combustion Enhancement of a Lean Flame." Energies 13, no. 6: 1452.

Journal article
Published: 29 January 2020 in Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power
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This work aimed to investigate cavitating flows of water, liquid hydrogen, and nitrogen on hydrofoils numerically, using the open source code openfoam. The Eulerian homogeneous mixture approach has been used, consisting in a mass transfer model, which is based on the combination of a two-phase incompressible unsteady solver with a volume of fluid interface tracking method. Thermal effects have been introduced by means of the activation of energy equation and latent heat source terms plus convective heat source term. The dependency of the saturation conditions to the temperature has been defined using Antoine-like equations. An extended Schnerr–Sauer model based on the classical nucleation theory (CNT) has been implemented for the computation of the interfacial mass transfer rates. In order to investigate the nucleation effects, an extension of the CNT has been considered by coupling the population balance equation (PBE)/extended quadrature-based method of moments with the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, which has been defined in combination with a transport equation for the nuclei density. Results showed that nucleation determined a nonuniform field of nuclei density so as to produce a reduction of the temperature drop inside the vapor bubbles, as well as a warmed wake downstream the vapor cavity. Unsteady computations also revealed an influence of the nucleation on the dynamics of the vapor cavity and the bubble detachment.

ACS Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi; Antonio Ficarella; Donato Fontanarosa. Numerical Investigation of Nonisothermal Cavitating Flows on Hydrofoils by Means of an Extended Schnerr–Sauer Model Coupled With a Nucleation Model. Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power 2020, 142, 1 .

AMA Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi, Antonio Ficarella, Donato Fontanarosa. Numerical Investigation of Nonisothermal Cavitating Flows on Hydrofoils by Means of an Extended Schnerr–Sauer Model Coupled With a Nucleation Model. Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power. 2020; 142 (4):1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi; Antonio Ficarella; Donato Fontanarosa. 2020. "Numerical Investigation of Nonisothermal Cavitating Flows on Hydrofoils by Means of an Extended Schnerr–Sauer Model Coupled With a Nucleation Model." Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power 142, no. 4: 1.

Journal article
Published: 28 December 2019 in Energy
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Although many studies have concerned effect of different kind of biodiesel fuel on engine, there are no information about the comparison between different biodiesels in a comprehensive study and with consideration of pilot injection and EGR system. Therefore, the aim of this study is to have a comprehensive investigation of the effect of pilot injection timing and EGR system, as common ways to reduce engine emissions, on engine combustion, emissions and performance while using of different kind of the biodiesel. The brassica, cardoon, coffee, waste cooking oil biodiesels and standard diesel fuels were evaluated fuels. However, the results of the study depicted that different characteristics of the considered fuels had changed the engine response to variation of injection strategy and EGR application. The maximum reduction of combustion duration compare to diesel fuel (17.7%) was related to coffee biodiesel. Moreover, Coffee biodiesel has lowest pressure rise rate. On the other hand, cardoon had shortest ignition delay and highest combustion temperature. In addition, maximum retardation of combustion position was for brassica biodiesel fuel (19.07%). Although the NOx emission has decreased due to application of EGR (up to 86%) and pilot injection (up to 29.3%), high EGR rate in high IMEP has changed the combustion quality due to sewer changes in the combustion quality. In this condition, CO and THC emission increased severely. Higher viscosity and lower oxygen content of the coffee and cardoon biodiesel than diesel fuel decreased combustion quality and caused the higher THC, CO and soot emissions and lower NOx emissions than brassica and WCO biodiesel fuels in higher EGR rates and IMEPs. It can be stated that pilot injection and EGR are two parameters which are effective significantly on the engine characteristics and the adjusting of these parameters should be done properly specially according to the used fuel properties.

ACS Style

Farzad Jaliliantabar; Barat Ghobadian; Antonio Paolo Carlucci; Gholamhassan Najafi; Rizalman Mamat; Antonio Ficarella; Luciano Strafella; Angelo Santino; Stefania De Domenico. A comprehensive study on the effect of pilot injection, EGR rate, IMEP and biodiesel characteristics on a CRDI diesel engine. Energy 2019, 194, 116860 .

AMA Style

Farzad Jaliliantabar, Barat Ghobadian, Antonio Paolo Carlucci, Gholamhassan Najafi, Rizalman Mamat, Antonio Ficarella, Luciano Strafella, Angelo Santino, Stefania De Domenico. A comprehensive study on the effect of pilot injection, EGR rate, IMEP and biodiesel characteristics on a CRDI diesel engine. Energy. 2019; 194 ():116860.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Farzad Jaliliantabar; Barat Ghobadian; Antonio Paolo Carlucci; Gholamhassan Najafi; Rizalman Mamat; Antonio Ficarella; Luciano Strafella; Angelo Santino; Stefania De Domenico. 2019. "A comprehensive study on the effect of pilot injection, EGR rate, IMEP and biodiesel characteristics on a CRDI diesel engine." Energy 194, no. : 116860.

Editorial
Published: 27 December 2019 in Applied Sciences
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Active flow control (AFC) is a fast-growing, multi-disciplinary science and technology for energy and propulsive systems

ACS Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi; Antonio Ficarella. Special Issue “Active Flow Control Technologies for Energy and Propulsive Systems”. Applied Sciences 2019, 10, 221 .

AMA Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi, Antonio Ficarella. Special Issue “Active Flow Control Technologies for Energy and Propulsive Systems”. Applied Sciences. 2019; 10 (1):221.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi; Antonio Ficarella. 2019. "Special Issue “Active Flow Control Technologies for Energy and Propulsive Systems”." Applied Sciences 10, no. 1: 221.

Conference paper
Published: 17 December 2019 in SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MATERIAL SCIENCE, SMART STRUCTURES AND APPLICATIONS: ICMSS-2019
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Due to the stringent emission requirements for a more sustainable transport, the efforts of the scientific community have gone into research and development of eco-friendly fuels for aeroengines. Water emulsified fuels represents a promising solution. In this regard, the present work provides two main contributions. First, an experimental investigation of the effects of the addition of water into jet-A1 fuel has been carried out on a 300-kW liquid-fueled swirling combustor. Direct measurements of both exhaust temperature and pollutant emissions, defined the diagnostics setup. Several water concentrations have been tested at different fuel/air ratios and under lean conditions, and the impact of each fuel composition has been evaluated on emissions reduction and combustor efficiency. Results pointed out the nitrogen oxides (NOx) reduction in combination with the lowering of the exhaust gas temperature, which coupled with losses in the combustion and in the overall thermal efficiencies. Despite this, the energy losses became negligible when water content in Jet-A1 was limited to 2.5% by mass, which still ensured the benefit in terms of NOx reduction in the measure of about 11% at Φ = 0.36 up to 27.4% at Φ = 0.18. Further increase of the water content to 5% at fixed Φ = 0.36, as well as going to a leaner condition (Φ = 0.18) at fixed water content of 2.5%, strongly impacted on the thermal efficiency which reduced to about 25.4% and 41.2%, respectively. Based on the thermal efficiency losses estimated through experimental results, a gas path analysis was performed by implementing a gas turbine model. This allowed to predict the impact of the water addition into Jet-A1 on the performance of the military turbojet Rolls-Royce VIPER 632-43. Both sea level take-off and cruise flight conditions have been analyzed. Numerical predictions confirmed the experimental finding of the NOx reduction in proportion to the reduction of the peak combustion temperature. In addition, the turbojet engine model figured out an increase of the thrust specific fuel consumption (TSFC) of about 6.7% and 22% for 2.5% and 5% of water in Jet-A1 respectively during sea level take-off. Its value rose to 8.0% and 26.7%, respectively, when under cruise conditions. Water addition decreased the engine thrust in proportion to the percent increment of the TSFC.

ACS Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi; Giuseppe Ciccarella; Antonio Ficarella; Donato Fontanarosa; Elisa Pescini. Effect of jet-A1 emulsified fuel on aero-engine performance and emissions. SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MATERIAL SCIENCE, SMART STRUCTURES AND APPLICATIONS: ICMSS-2019 2019, 2191, 020058 .

AMA Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi, Giuseppe Ciccarella, Antonio Ficarella, Donato Fontanarosa, Elisa Pescini. Effect of jet-A1 emulsified fuel on aero-engine performance and emissions. SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MATERIAL SCIENCE, SMART STRUCTURES AND APPLICATIONS: ICMSS-2019. 2019; 2191 (1):020058.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi; Giuseppe Ciccarella; Antonio Ficarella; Donato Fontanarosa; Elisa Pescini. 2019. "Effect of jet-A1 emulsified fuel on aero-engine performance and emissions." SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MATERIAL SCIENCE, SMART STRUCTURES AND APPLICATIONS: ICMSS-2019 2191, no. 1: 020058.

Journal article
Published: 12 December 2019 in Applied Energy
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The present work provides an experimental investigation of the use of water emulsified fuels to control the combustion performance and reduce nitrogen oxides emissions into a Jet-A1 fueled gas turbine combustor. Experiments have been carried out using a test rig equipped with a 300-kW liquid-fueled swirling burner. Several fuel-to-air ratios have been tested in combination with various water concentrations. Measurements of exhaust emissions have been performed. Furthermore, high-speed cameras in visible and ultraviolet spectral ranges, have been used. The snapshot Proper Orthogonal Decomposition of the flame images of both broadband emission and hydroxyl radical chemiluminescence has allowed to detect the most relevant flame structures, in combination with the modal frequency spectra. Results figured out that, the addition of water in the fuels led to lower combustion temperature and consequently to lower thermal nitrogen oxides than the case of neat fuel. On the other hand, the thermal efficiency significantly dropped in presence of high-water content (5% H2O) and ultra-lean conditions, while it remained acceptable at 2.5% H2O and fuel rich conditions. Furthermore, under the near-lean blowout condition, the flame becomes very unstable and flame oscillations take place in the axial direction. This combines with the increase in the relative energy of the first Proper Orthogonal Decomposition modes. Finally, the phase space analysis of modes 1–2 of the hydroxyl radical chemiluminescence emission defined a criterion for the detection of the establishment of the flame instability, which corresponds to phase angles ranging between -π/6 and π/6.

ACS Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi; Donato Fontanarosa; Antonio Ficarella; Elisa Pescini. Effects on performance, combustion and pollutants of water emulsified fuel in an aeroengine combustor. Applied Energy 2019, 260, 114263 .

AMA Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi, Donato Fontanarosa, Antonio Ficarella, Elisa Pescini. Effects on performance, combustion and pollutants of water emulsified fuel in an aeroengine combustor. Applied Energy. 2019; 260 ():114263.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi; Donato Fontanarosa; Antonio Ficarella; Elisa Pescini. 2019. "Effects on performance, combustion and pollutants of water emulsified fuel in an aeroengine combustor." Applied Energy 260, no. : 114263.

Journal article
Published: 24 September 2019 in Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power
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The aim of this work is the experimental investigation of the effects of the addition of water and urea into jet fuels, on the reduction of nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions and eventually improvement of the lean flame stability in aeroengine combustors. Experiments have been carried out using a 300-kW liquid-fueled swirling combustor. Various urea and/or water concentrations have been tested at the same fuel/air ratio. In order to study the flame behavior, noninvasive optical diagnostic techniques, as charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras in different spectral ranges (visible and UV ranges, with different optical filters), have been adopted to analyze the shape and the brightness of the flame structure. Measurements of exhaust emissions (NOx, SO2, carbon monoxide (CO), CO2, and O2) have also been performed in order to evaluate the impact of emulsification on the entire combustion process. Finally, the thermal efficiency losses with respect to the neat jet test case were also analyzed for each emulsified fuel condition.

ACS Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi; Elisa Pescini; Stefano Campilongo; Giuseppe Ciccarella; Donato Fontanarosa; Antonio Ficarella. Effects of Emulsified Fuel on the Performance and Emission Characteristics of Aeroengine Combustors. Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power 2019, 141, 1 .

AMA Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi, Elisa Pescini, Stefano Campilongo, Giuseppe Ciccarella, Donato Fontanarosa, Antonio Ficarella. Effects of Emulsified Fuel on the Performance and Emission Characteristics of Aeroengine Combustors. Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power. 2019; 141 (10):1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi; Elisa Pescini; Stefano Campilongo; Giuseppe Ciccarella; Donato Fontanarosa; Antonio Ficarella. 2019. "Effects of Emulsified Fuel on the Performance and Emission Characteristics of Aeroengine Combustors." Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power 141, no. 10: 1.

Journal article
Published: 29 March 2019 in International Journal of Multiphase Flow
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The present work is aimed at the numerical spatio-temporal characterization of the unsteady cavitating flow structures on a hydrofoil by means of Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) techniques. Three different cavitation regimes have been investigated: bubble cavitation, cloud cavitation and supercavitation. The homogeneous mixture approach has been used, in combination with an extended Schnerr-Sauer cavitation model. The accuracy of the numerical predictions has been improved by means of the implementation of a Density Correction Model of the turbulent viscosity, and a simplified Population Balance Modeling (PBM) which solved the spatial distribution and the temporal evolution of the nuclei. In particular, the PBM has led to a reduction of the intensity of the evaporation inside the vapor cavities and a consequent condensation enhancement at the cavity closure and in the wake downstream. This phenomenon mainly impacted on the vapor cavity dynamics during supercavition by facilitating the formation of the re-entrant jet and the vapor cavity detachment. Also, during supercavitation the nuclei density nb exhibited maximum variations of about 35.6% with respect to the inlet nuclei density. As the cavitation number increased, both the intensity and the extension of oscillations significantly reduced, and in bubble cavitation regime nb fluctuated at amplitudes of about 10% of the inlet nuclei density. The characterization of the cavitation regimes revealed that the bubble cavitation regime had a more stable and periodic dynamics highlighted by a higher hydrodynamic efficiency and a reduced root mean square of the lift force. The cloud cavitation and the supercavitation exhibited a more violent bubble detachment which caused stronger oscillations of the vapor cavity as well as the pressure upstream. This was retrieved in an increase of the average drag coefficient of about the 38% due to the presence of vapor cloud transported downstream, which promoted the surge of the flow. The vorticity analysis underlined that the formation of the re-entrant jet and the bubble detachment were promoted by the baroclinic vorticity, while the dilatation vorticity drove the dynamics of the detached clouds, governed by the phase change phenomena. The FFT analysis of the dynamics of the vapor cavity and the pressure upstream led to the detection of the most representative frequencies and Strouhal numbers of each cavitation regimes, in particular (fs=16.6Hz, St=0.355) for bubble cavitation, (fs=10.74Hz, St=0.358) for cloud cavitation, and (fs=8.79Hz, St=0.300) during supercavitation. The POD analysis allowed for the detection of the most relevant cavitating structures, in relation to the vapor cavity fluctuations and their frequency content. Furthermore, the FFT analysis of the temporal eigenfunctions demonstrated that the first POD mode of the liquid volume fraction described the overall unsteady behavior previously detected. Instead, high order POD modes revealed frequency values well above the overall ones of the main flow previously detected.

ACS Style

M.G. De Giorgi; D. Fontanarosa; A. Ficarella. Characterization of unsteady cavitating flow regimes around a hydrofoil, based on an extended Schnerr–Sauer model coupled with a nucleation model. International Journal of Multiphase Flow 2019, 115, 158 -180.

AMA Style

M.G. De Giorgi, D. Fontanarosa, A. Ficarella. Characterization of unsteady cavitating flow regimes around a hydrofoil, based on an extended Schnerr–Sauer model coupled with a nucleation model. International Journal of Multiphase Flow. 2019; 115 ():158-180.

Chicago/Turabian Style

M.G. De Giorgi; D. Fontanarosa; A. Ficarella. 2019. "Characterization of unsteady cavitating flow regimes around a hydrofoil, based on an extended Schnerr–Sauer model coupled with a nucleation model." International Journal of Multiphase Flow 115, no. : 158-180.

Journal article
Published: 06 March 2019 in Aerospace
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The interest in electric and hybrid electric power system has been increasing, in recent times, due to the benefits of this technology, such as high power-to-weight ratio, reliability, compactness, quietness, and, above all, elimination of local pollutant emissions. One of the key factors of these technologies is the possibility to exploit the synergy between powertrain, structure, and mission. This investigation addresses this topic by applying multi-objective optimization to two test cases — a fixed-wing, tail-sitter, Vertical Take-off and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTOL-UAV), and a Medium-Altitude Long-Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MALE-UAV). Cruise time and payload weight were selected as goals for the first optimization problem, while fuel consumption and electric endurance were selected for the second one. The optimizations were performed with Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II) and S-Metric Selection Evolutionary Multiobjective Algorithm (SMS-EMOA), by taking several constraints into account. The VTOL-UAV optimization was performed, at different levels (structure only, power system only, structure and power system together). To better underline the synergic effect of electrification, the potential benefit of structural integration and multi-functionalization was also addressed. The optimization of the MALE-UAV was performed at two different levels (power system only, power system, and mission profile together), to explore the synergic effect of hybridization. Results showed that large improvements could be obtained, either in the first test case when, both, the powertrain design and the aircraft structure were considered, and in the optimization of the hybrid electric UAV, where the optimization of the aircraft flight path gave a strong contribution to the overall performances.

ACS Style

Teresa Donateo; Claudia Lucia De Pascalis; Antonio Ficarella. Synergy Effects in Electric and Hybrid Electric Aircraft. Aerospace 2019, 6, 32 .

AMA Style

Teresa Donateo, Claudia Lucia De Pascalis, Antonio Ficarella. Synergy Effects in Electric and Hybrid Electric Aircraft. Aerospace. 2019; 6 (3):32.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Teresa Donateo; Claudia Lucia De Pascalis; Antonio Ficarella. 2019. "Synergy Effects in Electric and Hybrid Electric Aircraft." Aerospace 6, no. 3: 32.

Journal article
Published: 18 January 2019 in Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose and develop artificially intelligent methodologies to discover degradation trends through the detection of engine’s status. The objective is to predict these trends by studying their effects on the engine measurable parameters. Design/methodology/approach The method is based on the implementation of an artificial neural network (ANN) trained with well-known cases referred to real conditions, able to recognize degradation because of two main gas turbine engine deterioration effects: erosion and fouling. Three different scenarios are considered: compressor fouling, turbine erosion and presence of both degraded conditions. The work consists of three parts: the first one contains the mathematical model of real jet engine in healthy and degraded conditions, the second step is the optimization of ANN for engine performance prediction and the last part deals with the application of ANN for prediction of engine fault. Findings This study shows that the proposed diagnostic approach has good potential to provide valuable estimation of engine status. Practical implications Knowledge of the true state of the engine is important to assess its performance capability to meet the operational and maintenance requirements and costs. Originality/value The main advantage is that the engine performance data for model validation were obtained from real flight conditions of the engine VIPER 632-43.

ACS Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi; Antonio Ficarella; Laura De Carlo. Jet engine degradation prognostic using artificial neural networks. Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology 2019, 92, 296 -303.

AMA Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi, Antonio Ficarella, Laura De Carlo. Jet engine degradation prognostic using artificial neural networks. Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology. 2019; 92 (3):296-303.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi; Antonio Ficarella; Laura De Carlo. 2019. "Jet engine degradation prognostic using artificial neural networks." Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology 92, no. 3: 296-303.

Conference paper
Published: 21 November 2018 in MATEC Web of Conferences
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This study aims at investigating the synergy between powertrain and structure within the design process of a fixed-wing tail-sitter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The UAV is equipped with a pure-electric power system and has vertical take-off and landing capabilities (VTOL). The problem is addressed by running a contemporary optimization of the parameters of both the powertrain and the UAV’s structure, in order to maximize electric endurance and payload weight through the usage of a performant multi-objective evolutionary algorithm named SMS-EMOA. Three different designs are selected, discussed and compared with literature results on the same UAV to quantify the increase of payload and cruise time that can be obtained by exploiting the synergy between structure and powertrain. The potentiality of furtherly improving payload through the usage of multi-functional panels, while keeping the same endurance, is also quantified and compared with the technologies proposed in literature.

ACS Style

Teresa Donateo; Claudia Lucia De Pascalis; Antonio Ficarella. Electric Aircraft: Exploiting the Synergy between Powertrain, Energy Management and Structure. MATEC Web of Conferences 2018, 233, 00026 .

AMA Style

Teresa Donateo, Claudia Lucia De Pascalis, Antonio Ficarella. Electric Aircraft: Exploiting the Synergy between Powertrain, Energy Management and Structure. MATEC Web of Conferences. 2018; 233 ():00026.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Teresa Donateo; Claudia Lucia De Pascalis; Antonio Ficarella. 2018. "Electric Aircraft: Exploiting the Synergy between Powertrain, Energy Management and Structure." MATEC Web of Conferences 233, no. : 00026.

Conference paper
Published: 21 November 2018 in MATEC Web of Conferences
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In this paper an integrated heath monitoring platform is proposed and developed for performance analysis and degradation diagnostics of gas turbine engines. In a first approach the numerical tool is able to predict engine measurable data from flight data, in order to create a dataset of expected values. Then, in the case of a mismatch between expected values and measured data coming from a real engine, a second part of the tool can be activated to detect the component under degradation. In order to evaluate the performance prediction artificial neural networks (ANN) have been implemented. The tool is able to recognize the degradation due to compressor fouling and turbine erosion. Synthetic data generation has been carried out to show how the degradation effects can affect the engine performance. The used data have been generated with a model based on gas path analysis. The training of the model is focused on components deterioration due to a combination of fouling and erosion. Different scenarios have been compared in order to carry out a sensitivity analysis and to choose the best parameters for the network input and output. Obviously the knowledge of the real engine health status can be crucial for maintenance and fleet management decisions.

ACS Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi; Stefano Campilongo; Antonio Ficarella. Development of a real time intelligent health monitoring platform for aero-engine. MATEC Web of Conferences 2018, 233, 00007 .

AMA Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi, Stefano Campilongo, Antonio Ficarella. Development of a real time intelligent health monitoring platform for aero-engine. MATEC Web of Conferences. 2018; 233 ():00007.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maria Grazia De Giorgi; Stefano Campilongo; Antonio Ficarella. 2018. "Development of a real time intelligent health monitoring platform for aero-engine." MATEC Web of Conferences 233, no. : 00007.

Chapter
Published: 04 November 2018 in Applications of Paleoenvironmental Techniques in Estuarine Studies
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The interest in methane is lately increased due to power-to-gas technologies, through which green electricity in excess could be used to produce easily storable gaseous fuels. Among engines for methane exploitation, dual-fuel piston engine is a very efficient and low-impact solution. Their operation, still limited by high hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide emissions at low loads and knock at high loads, is characterized by many parameters. Besides the ones well recognized in the literature, like pilot quantity and substitution rate, other parameters, like engine volumetric compression ratio, intake charge conditions, pilot injection pressure and timing, engine load and speed, and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), showed an impact on engine performance and emissions. This work first describes the results of a full factorial DoE in which the effects of compression ratio, intake charge pressure (ICP), pilot injection timing and pressure, and methane flow rate effect are evaluated and discussed on combustion development, engine performance, and pollutant emission levels at the exhaust. Through analysis of variance (ANOVA), the first- and second-order effects were also quantified. Moreover, the factor variation ranges leading the engine to operate in or close to HCCI combustion, i.e., guaranteeing a high conversion efficiency and low emission levels at the same time, were sought and highlighted. This suggested that not only very advanced but also retarded injection timings, combined with high ICP, determine very low levels of nitrogen oxides and maximum pressure rise rate, with little or no penalty on engine efficiency and emission levels.

ACS Style

A. P. Carlucci; A. Ficarella; D. Laforgia; L. Strafella. Design and Calibration Strategies for Improving HCCI Combustion in Dual-Fuel Diesel–Methane Engines. Applications of Paleoenvironmental Techniques in Estuarine Studies 2018, 267 -296.

AMA Style

A. P. Carlucci, A. Ficarella, D. Laforgia, L. Strafella. Design and Calibration Strategies for Improving HCCI Combustion in Dual-Fuel Diesel–Methane Engines. Applications of Paleoenvironmental Techniques in Estuarine Studies. 2018; ():267-296.

Chicago/Turabian Style

A. P. Carlucci; A. Ficarella; D. Laforgia; L. Strafella. 2018. "Design and Calibration Strategies for Improving HCCI Combustion in Dual-Fuel Diesel–Methane Engines." Applications of Paleoenvironmental Techniques in Estuarine Studies , no. : 267-296.