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Evaluating archaeobotanical data from over 3.9 million seeds and 124,300 charcoal fragments across 330 archaeological site phases in Southwest Asia, we reconstruct the history of olive and grape cultivation spanning a period of 6,000 years. Combining charcoal and seed data enables investigation into both the production and consumption of olive and grape. The earliest indication for olive and grape cultivation appears in the southern Levant around ca. 5000 BC and 4th millennium BC respectively, although cultivation may have been practiced prior to these dates. Olive and grape cultivation in Southwest Asia was regionally concentrated within the Levant until 600 BC, although there were periodic pushes to the East. Several indications for climate influencing the history of olive and grape cultivation were found, as well as a correlation between periods of high population density and high proportions of olive and grape remains in archaeological sites. While temporal uncertainty prevents a detailed understanding of the causal mechanisms behind these correlations, we suggest that long distance trade in olives, grapes and their associated products was integral to the economic, social, and demographic trajectories of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the first study where a single variable sweep of SN is conducted to assess its impact on lean blowout limits (LBO) in a liquid-fueled lean direct injection (LDI) combustor. This study uses a scaled NASA SV-LDI (Swirl Venturi--Lean Direct Injection) hardware and is concerned with the impact of swirl number on the lean blow-out limit of a single-element LDI system at atmospheric pressure. The swirl numbers (SN) were varied from 0.31 to 0.66 using continuously variable active swirl number control system that was developed in-house. It is shown that the minimum operating equivalence ratio is a linearly increasing function of swirl number. While previous literature agrees with the positive slope for this correlation, past work has suggested that the LBO limit is proportional to the swirler vane angle which is shown to be untrue for LDI systems. By actively varying the swirl number, it is proven that LBO is proportional to SN, and it is well known that SN is not proportional to swirler vane angle. Increased SN reduces LBO margin because the better-mixed, high swirl dilutes locally rich pockets of fuel-air mixture in a globally lean flow. In addition to a baseline venturi, which was scaled from NASA's geometry, two other venturis were tested. A low-pressure loss venturi with a large throat diameter showed poor blow-out performance whereas a parabolically profiled venturi improved LBO over the baseline for the same swirl number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lean premixed (LPM) combustion systems are susceptible to thermoacoustic instability, which occurs when acoustic pressure oscillations are in phase with the unsteady heat release rates. Porous media has inherent acoustic damping properties and has been shown to mitigate thermoacoustic instability; however, theoretical models for predicting thermoacoustic instability with porous media do not exist. In the present study, a one-dimensional (1D) model has been developed for the linear stability analysis of the longitudinal modes for a series of constant cross-sectional area ducts with porous media using a n-Tau flame transfer function (FTF). By studying the linear regime, the prediction of acoustic growth rates and subsequently the stability of the system is possible. A transfer matrix approach is used to solve for acoustic perturbations of pressure and velocity, stability growth rate, and frequency shift without and with porous media. The Galerkin approximation is used to approximate the stability growth rate and frequency shift, and it is compared to the numerical solution of the governing equations. Porous media is modeled using the following properties: porosity, flow resistivity, effective bulk modulus, and structure factor. The properties of porous media are systematically varied to determine the impact on the eigenfrequencies and stability growth rates. Porous media is shown to increase the stability domain for a range of time delays (Tau) compared to similar cases without porous media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, ring-shaped porous inserts made from high-strength, temperature-resistant ceramic materials are utilized within the combustor to passively reduce noise and thermo-acoustic instabilities in lean direct injection (LDI) combustion. Inserts of 85% porosity; pore density of 18 pores per cm; and converging, diverging, and hyperbolic configurations are considered. Kerosene fuel atomized by an air-blast fuel injector is introduced in the swirl-stabilized combustor operated at atmospheric pressure. For a fixed equivalence ratio, emissions and acoustics measurements are obtained at different heat release rates and atomizing air to liquid mass ratios. Results show negligible effects of porous inserts on NOx and CO emissions at the combustor exit. Porous inserts are, however, very effective in suppressing both noise and thermo-acoustic instabilities for a range of operating conditions. The measured trends in acoustic absorption are predicted using a simplified thin-layer model of the porous material, and an important flow mechanism to explain the observed trends is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combustion noise and thermo-acoustic instabilities are of primary importance in highly critical applications such as rocket propulsion systems, power generation, and jet propulsion engines. Mechanisms for combustion instabilities are extremely complex because they often involve interactions among several different physical phenomena such as unsteady flame propagation leading to unsteady flow field, acoustic wave propagation, natural and forced hydrodynamic instabilities, etc. In the past, we have utilized porous inert media (PIM) to mitigate combustion noise and thermo-acoustic instabilities in both lean premixed (LPM) and lean direct injection (LDI) combustion systems. While these studies demonstrated the efficacy of the PIM concept to mitigate noise and thermoacoustic instabilities, the actual mechanisms involved have not been understood. The present study utilizes time-resolved particle image velocimetry (PIV) to measure the turbulent flow field in a nonreacting swirl-stabilized combustor without and with PIM. Although the flow field inside the annulus of the PIM cannot be observed, measurements immediately downstream of the PIM provide insight into the turbulent structures. Results are analyzed using the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method and show that the PIM alters the flow field in an advantageous manner by modifying the turbulence structures and eliminating the corner recirculation zones and precessing vortex core (PVC), which would ultimately affect the acoustic behavior in a favorable manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]