Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-1996

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Mechanical Engineering

Major Professor

Majid Keyhani

Committee Members

R. V. Arimilli, M. Milligan

Abstract

A test facility was constructed for measurement of thermal response of decomposing polymers exposed to initial heating rates up to 250 °C/sec and maximum temperatures exceeding 2000 °C. Eight experimental runs were performed with the facility on blocks of carbon-phenolic FM-5055. During these experiments, temperature and heating rates at various locations in the block, the aggregate mass loss, and "char" depth were found. A boundary condition for the heated surface was also measured to allow for numerical predictions of the experiments. The results of these experiments are discussed and are presented as a database with which numerical codes may be verified. Numerical predictions were made for these experiments using PEACH, a two-dimensional finite-difference code, and comparisons were drawn. The mass loss and char depth are shown to be under-predicted in all of the experiments. The temperature is shown to have poor agreement at locations in the block exposed to high heating rates (close to the heated surface) and good agreement at locations exposed to low heating rates (far from the heated surface). It is suggested that the part of the code modeling the kinetics of the pyrolysis process be re-evaluated.

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