Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combustion does not always result in fire, because a flame is only visible when substances undergoing combustion vaporize, but when it does, a flame is a characteristic indicator of the reaction. While activation energy must be supplied to initiate combustion, the heat from a flame may provide enough energy to make the reaction self-sustaining.
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
A combustor is a component or area of a gas turbine, ramjet, or scramjet engine where combustion takes place. It is also known as a burner, burner can, combustion chamber or flame holder. In a gas turbine engine, the combustor or combustion chamber is fed high-pressure air by the compression system. The combustor then heats this air at constant pressure as the fuel/air mix burns. As it burns the fuel/air mix heats and rapidly expands. The burned mix is exhausted from the combustor through the nozzle guide vanes to the turbine. In the case of a ramjet or scramjet engines, the exhaust is directly fed out through the nozzle.
Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) is a form of internal combustion in which well-mixed fuel and oxidizer are compressed to the point of auto-ignition. As in other forms of combustion, this exothermic reaction produces heat that can be transformed into work in a heat engine.
Arthur Henry Lefebvre was a British scientist and an innovative leader in the science and engineering of fuel sprays and combustion in gas turbines.
Dame Ann Patricia Dowling is a British mechanical engineer who researches combustion, acoustics and vibration, focusing on efficient, low-emission combustion and reduced road vehicle and aircraft noise. Dowling is a Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and from 2009 to 2014 she was Head of the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge, where she was the first female professor in 1993. She was President of the Royal Academy of Engineering from 2014 to 2019, the Academy's first female president.
Wei ShyyJP is an aerospace engineer who served as the 4th President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) from 2018 to 2022 with his acting presidency starting from 1 February 2018. He also holds a concurrent appointment as Chair Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. He first joined HKUST in August 2010 as Provost.
The Aeronautical/Astronautical Research Laboratory (AARL) is an aerospace engineering research facility operated by Ohio State University. It is the principal research facility of the College of Engineering's Department of Aerospace and Astronautical Engineering. It is located on the grounds of Ohio State University Airport, in Columbus, Ohio.
Peter Gray FRS was Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Leeds and subsequently Master of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
Theodosios Alexander is an American academic, engineer and author. He has served as faculty and in academic administration in four universities, in the UK and USA, following the award of four graduate degrees from MIT, and work in engineering industry.
The Humphrey pump is a large internal combustion gas-fuelled liquid-piston pump. They were used for large-scale water supply projects. They were only popular for a short time, from around 1910 to the outbreak of World War I, but they continued in service for a long period afterwards, some lasting into the 1970s.
Elaine Surick Oran is an American physical scientist and is considered a world authority on numerical methods for large-scale simulation of physical systems. She has pioneered computational technology to solve complex reactive flow problems, unifying concepts from science, mathematics, engineering, and computer science in a new methodology. An incredibly diverse range of phenomena can be modeled and better understood using her techniques for numerical simulation of fluid flows, ranging from the tightly grouped movements of fish in Earth's oceans to the explosions of far-flung supernovae in space. Her work has contributed significantly to the advancement of the engineering profession.
The RD-0110 is a rocket engine burning liquid oxygen and kerosene in a gas generator combustion cycle. It has four fixed nozzles and the output of the gas generator is directed to four secondary vernier nozzles to supply vector control of the stage. It has an extensive flight history with its initial versions having flown more than 57 years ago.
Joseph Majdalani is an Lebanese-American professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He began his career at Marquette University, before serving as both the Jack D. Whitfield Professor of High Speed Flows and Arnold Chair of Excellence at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. He then served as the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council Endowed Professor and Chair, and is currently the Hugh and Loeda Francis Chair of Excellence in Aerospace Engineering at Auburn University.
Combustion instabilities are physical phenomena occurring in a reacting flow in which some perturbations, even very small ones, grow and then become large enough to alter the features of the flow in some particular way.
Ashwani K. Gupta is a British-American engineer and educator with research focus on combustion, fuels, fuel reforming, advanced diagnostics, High Temperature Air Combustion, and high-intensity distributed combustion, green combustion turbine, micro-combustion, and air pollution. He is an Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland. Gupta is also Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland and Director of Combustion Laboratory. He is also an Affiliate Professor at Institute of Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland which is part of the University of Maryland College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences.
The Department of Mechanical Engineering is responsible for teaching and research in mechanical engineering at Imperial College London, occupying the City & Guilds Building at the South Kensington campus. The department has around 45 faculty members, 600 undergraduates, and 250 postgraduate students. The department ranks 8th in the QS World University Rankings's 2018 table.
Anuradha M. Annaswamy is a computer scientist noted for her research on adaptive control theory and smart grids. Since 1996, she has worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Currently, Annaswamy is a senior research scientist at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and directs the Active Adaptive Control Laboratory.
Thierry Poinsot, born 22 March 1958, is a French researcher, research director at the CNRS, researcher at the Institute of Fluid Mechanics in Toulouse, scientific advisor at CERFACS and senior research fellow at Stanford University. He has been a member of the French Academy of sciences since 2019.
Reda R. Mankbadi is the founding Dean of the Engineering College at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He is a former NASA senior scientist at NASA's Glenn Research Center and a Fellow of the NASA Lewis Research Academy. Mankbadi has published over 150 scientific papers.
