Current Projects
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Photograph showing the flame and burned gas trajectories of two JA2 propellant strands (6.35-mm in diameter) burning in close proximity |
Research topics include:
1) supersonic combustion of solid fuels with boron particles and high energy binders;
2) real-time X-ray diagnostics of the combustion and fracture processes of very high burning rate (VHBR) propellants, programmed splitting stick (PSS) propellants, and low vulnerability ammunition (LOVA) propellants;
3) thermochemical erosion of high-temperature ablative materials under the direct impact of rocket plume jets in vertical launching systems;
4) convective ignition of solid propellants in high-temperature streams of gas mixtures generated from a shock tube;
5) hot fragment conductive ignition of LOVA propellants simulating hazards introduced by spall fragments;
6) turbulent mixing and combustion of fuel-rich streams of reaction products from sustained and transversely injected ram air streams in the combustors of solid-propellant ducted rockets;
7) combustion of single-perforated stick propellant bundles in simulated guns;
8) coupled flame spreading, combustion, and fracture processes in the combustion of unslotted stick propellants;
9) erosive burning of gun and rocket propellants, with applications to high-performance gun and rocket motor design;
10) granular propellant bed combustion, with application to gun ballistics;
11) flame spreading in and combustion of solid-propellant cracks and debonds, including the effects of deformation, with application to propulsion hazards;
12) ignition of solid propellants under rapid pressurization;
13) aerothermochemical erosion of graphite rocket nozzles by high-temperature combustion products from rocket motors;
14) strand burning of propellants under broad ranges of pressures and temperatures as well as steady-state combustion mechanisms of various propellants using advanced diagnostic instruments;
15) liquid jet breakup and structure of dense sprays;
16) plume characteristic studies of pyrotechnics and propellants using FT-IR;
17) cryogenic combustion processes of liquid propellants;
18) pyrolysis, ignition, and combustion mechanisms of solid fuels under radiative energy fluxes;
19) ignition of nitramine based composite propellants by the CO 2 laser;
20) ignition and combustion mechanisms of various solid propellants under different external energy fluxes,
21) combustion behavior of high-energy liquid fuels;
22) break-up mechanisms of co-axial and impinging liquid jets;
23) supercritical combustion of LOX with hydrogen;
24) flame spreading and heat transfer processes in fin-slot regions of solid rocket motors;
25) regression behavior of propellant disks and rods;
26) Shock-induced conductive ignition of solid propellants;
27) chemical reaction mechanisms and flame structures of nitramine based solid propellants;
28) ignition and combustion processes of boron particles;
29) solid fuel decomposition and boundary layer combustion processes of hybrid rocket motors;
30) flame spreading processes over Mg/PTFE/Mg foils;
31) ignition and flame spreading phenomena of aluminum sheets under convective stream of GOX or LOX; and
32) combustion behavior of airbag propellants. Many of these studies include both experimental and theoretical aspects.