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"Ricci, Daniele"
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From Siena to Nubia : Alessandro Ricci in Egypt and Sudan, 1817-22
A medical practitioner and draftsman, Alessandro Ricci was born in Siena, Italy, at the end of the eighteenth century. He traveled extensively throughout Egypt and Sudan between 1817 and 1822. During his stay, he worked as an epigraphist for Giovanni B. Belzoni in the tomb of Seti I and later entered into the service of British consul general Henry Salt and English explorer William John Bankes, on whose behalf he visited and documented Siwa (1820), Sinai (1820), and Nubia (1818-19 and 1821-22). Ricci also became the physician to Ibrahim Pasha's Upper Egypt expedition and achieved fame for daringly saving the life of Pasha during the military campaign that led to Egypt's conquest of Sudan in 1821-22. Upon his return to Italy, Ricci wrote a long account of all his journeys and reworked a series of ninety plates into striking form, yet failed to publish either. In 2009, Daniele Salvoldi identified a complete typewritten copy of Ricci?s Travels in the National Archives of Egypt in Cairo. Drawings intended to accompany the text as plates were tracked down in different locations in Italy and the United Kingdom. This is the English-translated critical edition, with notes and introductory chapters, of Ricci's travel account.
Book
Research through co-design
Research Through Design (RTD) needs to reconsider the meaning of “designing” in the research process of “through design.” We propose Research Through Co-design (RTC) as a new application of Control System Theory (CST) that includes a research problem assigned to a co-design process in RTD. It embeds the participatory paradigm through collaborative design practice and makes the research a collaborative process for learning from all the participants. To sustain the RTC theory, we present a cognitive model of RTC. It is a “model for” – rather than a “model of” – describing how the co-design, as a neural network process, works through its nodes’ collaboration to find co-designed solutions and the research answer. Diversity increases as non-experts and non-designers with different backgrounds participate. This is valuable for the RTC learning system. The discussions highlight the possibility of considering (i) the RTC model as useful for describing a robust RTD process through CST; (ii) RTC as a cognitive model for explaining the value of co-design in research processes; and (iii) RTC as a strategy for applying the participative paradigm in formal research. Finally, new insights and implications are highlighted, including using RTC as a predictive tool through artificial intelligence.
Journal Article
Thermal Behaviour of the Cooling Jacket Belonging to a Liquid Oxygen/Liquid Methane Rocket Engine Demonstrator in the Operation Box
The cooling jackets of liquid rocket engines are composed of narrow passages surrounding the thrust chambers and ensure the reliable operation of the engine. Critical conditions may also be encountered, since the cooling jackets of cryogenic engines, such as those using LOX/LCH4 propellants, are based on a regenerative strategy, where the fuel is used as a refrigerant. Consequently, deterioration modes near where pseudocritical conditions are reached or low heat transfer coefficients where the fuel becomes a vapour and must therefore be managed. The verification of the cooling jacket behaviour to consolidate the design solutions in all the extreme points of the operating box represents a very important phase. The present paper discusses the full characterization of the HYPROB (HYdrocarbon PROpulsion test Bench Program) first unit of the final demonstrator, (DEMO-0A), by considering the working points within the limits of the operating box and comparisons with the nominal conditions are given. In this way, a full understanding of the cooling system behaviour, affecting the working of the entire thrust chamber, is accomplished. Moreover, the design strategy and choices have been confirmed, since the verifications also include potentially even more extreme conditions with respect to the nominal ones. The investigation has been numerically performed and supported the thermo-structural analyses accomplished before the final firing campaign, completed in December 2022. Since little information is available in the literature on LOX/LCH4 engines, suggestions are given as to the organization of the numerical simulations, which support the design of such rocket engine cooling systems.
Journal Article
The Technical Hypothesis of a Missile Engine Conversion and Upgrade for More Sustainable Orbital Deployments
The conversion of legacy missile engines into space propulsion systems represents a strategic opportunity to accelerate Europe’s access to orbit while advancing sustainability and circular-economy goals. Rather than discarding decommissioned hardware, repurposing missile propulsion can reduce development timelines, retain valuable materials, and leverage proven architectures for new applications. This perspective outlines the potential of the Soviet-era Isayev S2.720 engine as a representative case, drawing on historical precedents of missile-to-launcher conversions worldwide. A three-pillar methodology is proposed to frame such efforts: (i) the adoption of cleaner propellants such as LOX–LCH4 in place of toxic hypergolics; (ii) remanufacturing and upgrading of key subsystems through additive manufacturing, AI-assisted inspection, and digital twin modelling; and (iii) validation supported by dedicated testing, life-cycle assessment (LCA), and life-cycle costing (LCC). Beyond the technical aspects, the paper discusses retrofit applicability, cost considerations, and the role of standardization in enabling future certification. By positioning the S2.720 as a model, this study highlights the broader strategic value of adapting decommissioned propulsion systems for modern orbital use, providing insight into how Europe might integrate legacy assets into a more sustainable and resilient space transportation framework.
Journal Article
Numerical Investigation on the Thermal Behaviour of a LOx/LCH4 Demonstrator Cooling System
Reliability of liquid rocket engines is strictly connected with the successful operation of cooling jackets, able to sustain the impressive operative conditions in terms of huge thermal and mechanical loads, generated in thrust chambers. Cryogenic fuels, like methane or hydrogen, are often used as coolants and they may behave as transcritical fluids flowing in the jackets: after injection in a liquid state, a phase pseudo-change occurs along the chamber because of the heat released by combustion gases and coolants exiting as a vapour. Thus, in the development of such subsystems, important issues are focused on numerical methodologies adopted to simulate the fluid thermal behaviour inside the jackets, design procedures as well as manufacturing and technological process topics. The present paper includes the numerical thermal analyses regarding the cooling jacket belonging to the liquid oxygen/liquid methane demonstrator, realized in the framework of the HYPROB (HYdrocarbon PROpulsion test Bench) program. Numerical results considering the nominal operating conditions of cooling jackets in the methane-fuelled mode and the water-fed one are included in the case of the application of electrodeposition process for manufacturing. A comparison with a similar cooling jacket, realized through the conventional brazing process, is addressed to underline the benefits of the application of electrodeposition technology.
Journal Article
A Numerical Analysis on Nanofluid Mixed Convection in Triangular Cross-Sectioned Ducts Heated by a Uniform Heat Flux
In this paper, results obtained by the numerical investigation on laminar mixed convection in triangular ducts, filled with nanofluids, are presented in order to evaluate the fluid dynamic and thermal features of the considered geometry by considering Al2O3/water based nanofluids. The system is heated by a constant and uniform heat flux also along the perimeter of the triangular duct section in H2 mode as thermal boundary condition and the single-phase model has been assigned for a Reynolds number value equal to 100. Results are given for different nanoparticle volume concentrations and Richardson number values ranging from 0% to 5% and from 0 to 5, respectively. Results, presented for the fully developed regime flow, show the enhancement of average convective heat transfer coefficients values for increasing values of Richardson number and particle fractions. However, wall shear stress and required pumping power profiles increase as expected. The PEC analysis showed that the use of nanofluids in mixed convection seems slightly convenient. It should be underlined that, at the moment, experimental data are not available to compare the numerical proposed model for mixed convection in horizontal triangular ducts with nanofluids.
Journal Article
Urban Furniture Design Strategies to Build Healthy and Inclusive Neighborhoods
Several guidelines provided by the World Health Organization as well as frameworks in the scientific literature suggest focusing on the built environment, i.e., indoor and outdoor spaces, including urban furniture, for promoting public health as it acts as a promoter of healthy lifestyles. The paper presents part of the results emerged from the HNH research project, which addresses the topic of neighborhood health at a systemic transdisciplinary and trans-scalar level of the project (macro-, meso-, up to micro-level). In particular, the results at the micro-scale of the urban furniture design are presented, which are related to the following research questions: (i) what are the strategic design requirements of street furniture for a healthy neighborhood and (ii) what are the micro-scale design scenarios for orienting the choices of the public administration in the creation of a healthy neighborhood. Through the use of a conceptual framework developed in the research, as a tool both to measure the quality of the built environment and to develop participatory design activities and co-design workshops, the research arrives at the categorization of urban furniture into domains, sub-domains, and related products categories, for each of which design strategies and scenarios are defined. The results highlight the potential and importance of urban furniture design in promoting a healthy built environment, underlining the strategic role of tangible products as healthy touchpoints to promote healthy lifestyles.
Journal Article
Transcritical Behavior of Methane in the Cooling Jacket of a Liquid-Oxygen/Liquid-Methane Rocket-Engine Demonstrator
The successful design of a liquid rocket engine is strictly linked to the development of efficient cooling systems, able to dissipate huge thermal loads coming from the combustion in the thrust chamber. Generally, cooling architectures are based on regenerative strategies, adopting fuels as coolants; and on cooling jackets, including several narrow axial channels allocated around the thrust chambers. Moreover, since cryogenic fuels are used, as in the case of oxygen/methane-based liquid rocket engines, the refrigerant is injected in liquid phase at supercritical pressure conditions and heated by the thermal load coming from the combustion chamber, which tends to experience transcritical conditions until behaving as a supercritical vapor before exiting the cooling jacket. The comprehension of fluid behavior inside the cooling jackets of liquid-oxygen/methane rocket engines as a function of different operative conditions represents not only a current topic but a critical issue for the development of future propulsion systems. Hence, the current manuscript discusses the results concerning the cooling jacket equipping the liquid-oxygen/liquid-methane demonstrator, designed and manufactured within the scope of HYPROB-NEW Italian Project. In particular, numerical results considering the nominal operating conditions and the influence of variables, such as the inlet temperature and pressure values of refrigerant as well as mass-flow rate, are shown to discuss the fluid transcritical behavior inside the cooling channels and give indications on the numerical methodologies, supporting the design of liquid-oxygen/liquid-methane rocket-engine cooling systems. Validation has been accomplished by means of experimental results obtained through a specific test article, provided with a cooling channel, characterized by dimensions representative of HYPROB DEMO-0A regenerative combustion chamber.
Journal Article
Numerical Analysis of Water Forced Convection in Channels with Differently Shaped Transverse Ribs
Heat transfer enhancement technology has the aim of developing more efficient systems as demanded in many applications. An available passive method is represented by the employ of rough surfaces. Transversal turbulators enhance the heat transfer rate by reducing the thermal resistance near surfaces, because of the improved local turbulence; on the other hand, higher losses are expected. In this paper, a numerical investigation is carried out on turbulent water forced convection in a ribbed channel. Its external walls are heated by a constant heat flux. Several arrangements of ribs in terms of height, width, and shape are analyzed. The aim is to find the optimal configuration in terms of high heat transfer coefficients and low losses. The maximum average Nusselt numbers are evaluated for dimensionless pitches of 6, 8, and 10 according to the shape while the maximum friction factors are in the range of pitches from 8 to 10.
Journal Article
Numerical Investigation on Mixed Convection in Triangular Cross-Section Ducts with Nanofluids
Convective heat transfer can be enhanced passively by changing flow geometry and boundary conditions or by improving the thermal conductivity of the working fluid, for example, introducing suspended small solid nanoparticles. In this paper, a numerical investigation on laminar mixed convection in a water-Al 2 O 3 -based nanofluid, flowing in a triangular cross-sectioned duct, is presented. The duct walls are assumed at uniform temperature, and the single-phase model has been employed in order to analyze the nanofluid behaviour. The hydraulic diameter is equal to 0.01 m. A fluid flow with different values of Richardson number and nanoparticle volume fractions has been considered. Results show the increase of average convective heat transfer coefficient and Nusselt number for increasing values of Richardson number and particle concentration. However, also wall shear stress and required pumping power profiles grow significantly.
Journal Article