Professor Ö.L. Gülder  University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies 4925 Dufferin St., Ontario, Canada M3H 5T6 Phone:   +1-416-667-7721 Fax:       +1-416-667-7799          Email:     ogulder (at_sign) utias.utoronto.ca Web:      Click Here

Combustion and Propulsion Group

Dr. Gülder joined UTIAS in November 2001 and has been setting up an experimental and computational research program in combustion and propulsion. Before coming to UTIAS, he worked at the National Research Council Canada as head of the Combustion Research Laboratory. His research has been in the field of turbulent combustion, premixed flame propagation, soot formation in combustion, development and use of experimental optical diagnostics in combustion systems, combustion in gas turbines and reciprocating engines, and alternative transportation fuels. He is the author and coauthor of more than 200 papers in these areas. He served on the editorial boards of Combustion and Flame, International Journal of Engine Research, and International Journal of Thermal Sciences. He is on the Board of Directors of the Combustion Institute, and he was the Chair of the Canadian Section of the Combustion Institute from 1991 to 2001.

Combustion is a key element of many of modern society's critical technologies. Combustion accounts for approximately 85 percent of the world's energy usage and is vital to our current way of life. Spacecraft and aircraft propulsion, electric power production, home heating, ground transportation, and materials processing all use combustion to convert chemical energy to thermal energy or propulsive force. Combustion is a complex interaction of fluid dynamics, heat and mass transfer, thermodynamics, and chemical kinetics. Combustion is also one of the main contributors of carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere as well as particulates and oxides of nitrogen. The main objective of the research conducted by the group is to understand the underpinnings of turbulent combustion and pollutant formation in order to provide improved tools for better design and operation of combustion devices with the ultimate aim of contributing to the development of environmentally friendly aircraft – one of the long term objectives of UTIAS.

The Combustion and Propulsion group’s experimental facilities include several generic burners for laminar and turbulent flames, a high-pressure combustion chamber capable of 100 atm; a unique set up for jet fuel oxidative thermal stability research, and various optical and laser-based combustion and flow field diagnostics such as Rayleigh scattering, soot emission spectroscopy, laser-induced incandescence, two-line atomic fluorescence, particle image velocimetry. The group’s recent accomplishments include (a) revealing the flame front structure in turbulent combustion, and (b) pressure dependence of soot formation in gaseous flames.

Current research activities of the Combustion and Propulsion group focus on (a) soot and particulate formation in liquid and gaseous fuel flames at elevated pressures (such as in gas turbine engines); (b) dynamics and structure of premixed turbulent flames; (c) structure of laminar diffusion flames in microgravity and at reduced pressures; (d) thermal oxidative stability of aviation fuels; (e) laser-induced incandescence technique for soot and particulate diagnostics. These experimental studies are complemented by high-fidelity numerical simulations in collaboration with CFD and Propulsion Group (Prof. Groth). Combustion and Propulsion Group have been collaborating with national and international groups in some of these subject areas.

Current funding of the Combustion and Propulsion Group comes from Canadian Space Agency, AUTO 21 National Centres of Excellence, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and Pratt and Whitney Canada.