In Washington D.C., NREL reported that in a project supported by the DOE, a cross-disciplinary research team is gathering meticulous fuel chemistry data to equip the industry with an ultra-detailed SAF combustion simulation. Powered by supercomputers, the “virtual jet engine” can predict how SAF performs during flight and provide insights on how to tune it to maximize its safety and performance. The simulations will be validated with data captured in combustion test cells at General Electric and Georgia Institute of Technology, NREL said. If successful, the SAF research platform, built using a suite of custom modeling tools called Pele in collaboration with NREL’s Computational Science Center, may help industry avoid costly surprises when seeking approval for new SAFs from ASTM International. If NREL could simulate SAF combustion tests, companies could determine if new fuels meet requirements before investing millions of dollars to produce large volumes for ASTM engine tests.
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