MULTI-HASE FLOWMETER FOR SUPERCRITICAL FUEL SYSTEMS

High heat sink fuel systems for advanced gas turbine engines are expected to involve fuel temperatures that vary over a broad range, including temperatures that could exceed 600 F. This is expected to produce flows that may be single-phase liquid or a two-phase mixture of liquid and vapor. Handling, monitoring, and controlling such flows is far more complicated than in single-phase flows at conventional temperatures, necessitating the development of special flow instrumentation. In the proposed program, we will pursue the development of an advanced flow measurement system that combines ultrasonic transit-time flow measurement for single-phase conditions with a Foster-Miller technology that uses the irregular dynamics of a sensor signal to determine both the liquid and vapor flows in two-phase flow conditions. The dynamical analysis method will use either active or passive measurements using the same ultrasonic transducers that are used for the single-phase transit-time measurement.Phase I will demonstrate the feasibility of the program concept through laboratory testing of the active and passive sensing approaches in fuel-air flows at room temperature. Based on the results obtained, Phase II will pursue the advanced development of a real-time instrument suitable for demonstration and use in high heat sink fuel systems.