GLTRS--Glenn
TITLE AND SUBTITLE:
Experimental and Computational Analysis of Unidirectional Flow Through Stirling Engine Heater Head

AUTHOR(S):
Scott D. Wilson, Rodger W. Dyson, Roy C. Tew, and Rikako Demko

REPORT DATE:
April 2006

FUNDING NUMBERS:
WBS-22-972-20-01

PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES):
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field
Cleveland, Ohio 44135-3191

PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER:
E-15491

SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES):
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Washington, DC 20546-0001

REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED:
Technical Memorandum

SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY REPORT NUMBER:
NASA TM-2006-214246
AIAA-2005-5539

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES:
Prepared for the Third International Energy Conversion Engineering Conference sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, San Francisco, California, August 15-18, 2006. Scott D. Wilson and Rikako Demko, Sest, Inc., 18000 Jefferson Park, Suite 104, Middleburg Heights, Ohio 44135; Rodger W. Dyson and Roy C. Tew, NASA Glenn Research Center. Responsible person, Scott D. Wilson, organization code RPT, 216-433-6681.

ABSTRACT:
A high efficiency Stirling Radioisotope Generator (SRG) is being developed for possible use in long-duration space science missions. NASA's advanced technology goals for next generation Stirling convertors include increasing the Carnot efficiency and percent of Carnot efficiency. To help achieve these goals, a multi-dimensional Computational FluidDynamics (CFD) code is being developed to numerically model unsteady fluid flow and heat transfer phenomena of the oscillating working gas inside Stirling convertors. In the absence of transient pressure drop data for the zero meanoscillating multi-dimensional flows present in the Technology Demonstration Convertors on test at NASA Glenn Research Center, unidirectional flow pressure drop test data is used to compare against 2D and 3D computational solutions. This study focuses on tracking pressure drop and mass flow rate data for unidirectional flow though a Stirling heater head using a commercial CFD code (CFD-ACE). The commercial CFD code uses a porous-media model which is dependent on permeability and the inertial coefficient present in the linear and nonlinear terms of the Darcy-Forchheimer equation. Permeability and inertial coefficient were calculated from unidirectional flow test data. CFD simulations of theunidirectional flow test were validated using the porous-media model input parameters which increased simulation accuracy by 14 percent on average.

SUBJECT TERMS:
Computational fluid dynamics; Thermodynamics; Stirling engines; Fluid dynamics; Power conversion; Energy loss; Pressure drop testing; Regenerator

NUMBER OF PAGES:
19

PDF AVAILABLE FROM URL:
2006/TM-2006-214246.pdf ( 871 KB )
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