| Aerothermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics |
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Research is presently being conducted in nonequilibrium and rarefied gas flows, turbulence control, shock-boundary layer interactions, thermal and glow-discharge plasmas, turbulent mixing/combustion, nonlinear flow interactions, and advanced optical diagnostics and sensors. Facilities include Mach 2 and Mach 5 blowdown wind tunnels, a 1.25-second low-gravity drop tower, 5’ x 7’ low-speed wind tunnel, 15” by 20” water channel, laser sensor laboratory, combustion facilities, plasma engineering laboratory, and extensive laser and camera systems for advanced flow diagnostics. The excellent computational facilities include a variety of workstations and access to high-performance computers. Area FacultyArea Coordinator: Goldstein, David Clemens, Noel |
Research Spotlight: Laxminarayan Raja
Dr. Raja Investigates Plasma Propulsion for Space Vehicles of the Future
If Dr. Laxminarayan Raja has his way, the same kinds of devices that light up our laptop screens and the fluorescent bulbs in our classrooms will propel our rockets as well.
"In science fiction movies, you see this nice luminous jet plume that comes out the back of space ships," Dr. Raja said. "That's a plasma propulsion device." And plasma propulsion could increase the efficiency of our flight vehicles several fold if the same energy that illuminates our plasma televisions can be harnessed to drive rocket fuel.
