Scientists at Samara University have created the world’s largest combustion research facility, which will help in the development of environmentally-friendly engines. According to the university’s press service, the facility has been developed since 2017 at the international scientific laboratory “Physics and Chemistry of Combustion” as part of the government mega-grant.
“Our facility has a number of unique features and with its help, it will be possible to investigate and simulate not only the processes occurring in the combustion chambers of gas turbine engines but also chemical reactions typical for near-stellar space and molecular clouds,” the Head of the Laboratory, Professor at Florida International University (Miami, USA) Alexander Mebel, said.
It is noted that a separate hall was allocated for the components of the installation and additional equipment in the laboratory, the dimensions of the vacuum chamber for experiments are approximately two metres long and one and a half in height. Now the equipment is being calibrated and the preparations for the first experiments have begun.
“The size in this case certainly matters, because due to the large volume, the selectivity and sensitivity of the determination of reaction products significantly increases. Therefore, it will be possible to make more accurate combustion process models that will allow us to predict, in particular, how an exact engine will work under specific conditions, and what needs to be done to increase the efficiency of fuel combustion and reduce harmful emissions,” the Professor said.
According to him, the uniqueness of the Samara facility is also that it allows measuring the rates of chemical reactions and creating kinetic models of combustion. In the future, the installation can be easily upgraded and applied to studying other sides of the process as well.
Ru-Main, 29.10.2021
Source: RIA Novosti
