Re: Shuttles and Jose

[Les Schaffer <schaffer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Actually I did mean internal combustion, as in cars and so on, not
> rocket engines. Among the experiments that were carried on the
> Columbia, and for which a lot of data was sent down at the time they
> were carried out, were several having to do with figuring out how to
> make combustion more efficient how to eliminate soot, etc.

there is a straightforward reason for doing internal combustion (IC)
engine experiments in space.

IC engine propulsion depends on propagating a flame front thru a
flammable air fuel mixture. when gases heat up, they tend to expand
and get lighter, and this buoyancy forces come into play complicating
the dynamics of the gas mixture.

so one way to understand thd fluid mechanics of such combustion
processes is to turn off the bouyant forces by making gravity force
zero. that allows one to simplify the problem and factor out one set
of effects from another.

of course, if you look at the US EPA budget for 2004 (i posted this
elsewhere), you'll see its budget drop like a balloon under Bushky. so
much for caring about soot processes in IC engines. but it makes the
shuttle look good.

les schaffer



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