The Center for Aeromechanics Research (CAR) at The University of Texas at Austin has received a $1.3 million grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) through its new initiative that aims to approach fluid mechanics from a more fundamental level.
This Air Force illustration depicts the X-51A Waverider
scramjet vehicle in hypersonic flight during its May 26,
2010 test. Professor Philip Varghese's team will be working
on improving scramjet engine performance in vehicles
such as this one with funding from the Air Force Office of
Scientific Research. Photo credit: United States Air Force
Aerospace engineering Professor Philip L. Varghese, director and principal investigator of CAR, says the main objective of the research work is to test a new concept: Can we use non-equilibrium chemistry to control the performance of complex reacting flows? If successful, this technique could be used to improve the performance of scramjet engines, advanced jet engines, or even in the synthesis of new materials.
Specifically, the team will be examining whether exciting molecular vibrations affects both chemical reaction rates as well as turbulent flows. It is well known that these excited molecular vibrations affect chemical reaction rates, but more research needs to be done to understand the details; whether they affect turbulent flows is still a very open question.
The multidisciplinary research team is made up of engineers and computational chemists who will combine their research results from both disciplines. Co-investigators include Professor Noel Clemens and Associate Professor Venkat Raman, both of the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, and Dr. Chris Simmons of the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin. Associate Professor Wesley Allen of Chemistry at the University of Georgia (UGA) will also be working on the project. In addition, three to four UT graduate students and one UGA graduate student will be involved in the research.
Read more on the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics' website.
