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CURRENT RESEARCH
There are few basic area of active research going on currently.
By Topics
Sensors and Actuators
Dynamics Resonant Shear Stress Sensor
The measurement of fluctuating shear stress is one of the great unsolved instrumentation problems in fluid mechanics. Although shear stress measurement techniques have been investigated for more than 100 years by some of the most prominent fluid mechanics and instrumentation experts, the measurement of mean shear stress remains difficult, and rigorously calibrated sensors capable of measurements of fluctuating wall shear stress over a wide range of frequency and amplitude do not exist. The goal of the present study is to explore an entirely new class of wall shear stress sensor. This sensor employs a novel dynamic-resonant sensing approach categorically different from that of the previously existing sensors. The dynamic-resonant sensor was run under open and closed-loop control in flat plate and channel flow test facility. The computational tools are also used in order to understand the behavior of the senor. This project is a challenging work which idea can be extended to other applications.
Oscillating Fence Actuator
Soon to be updated
New generations of reusable launch vehicles (RLV's) are designed, based on the lifting body concept. They have large base area compared to the conventional aircraft design for various reasons, for example in X-33 these large base area is to accommodate the linear aerospike. Total drag experienced by the body in a flow field can be broadly categorized in two types : viscous and pressure drag. Viscous drag arises due to the shear stress at the body surface, and pressure drag is due to the pressure gradient around the body caused by the fluid flowing over the body. In new generation of RLV's large base area causes highly separated flowing the base region thereby contributing significantly to the overall pressure drag. This increase in the pressure drag adversely effects overall vehicle performance and makes autonomous un-powered (since most of the fuel is consumed during the launch and while in orbit) reentry and landing task difficult. During reentry phase of the important parameters governing the flight characteristics are glide slope angle, decent velocity, and range. Hoerner[1] correlated large set of independent data for several bluff bodies and showed that there is a particular trend between viscous fore body drag and base drag, that there is trend of decreasing total drag with increase in viscous fore-body drag. This relationship between total drag and viscous fore-body drag show us an ideal operating point where total drag is minimum on the body. This minimum total drag can be achieved by manipulating the viscous fore-body drag.
Flutter is a dangerous vibrant phenomenon that severely restricts the performance envelope of airborne vehicles, such as, combat aircrafts with stores, UAVs, and cruise missiles. Caused by aerodynamic forces, flutter can significantly lower the maximum available speed for aircrafts and other airborne vehicles. Methods that have been used in the past (electro-hydraulics, smart structures etc.) to suppress flutter demand high structural strength, high energy and some of them require high maintenance. This work concentrates on flutter control using an active flow control technique that requires comparatively very low power and acts by manipulating the pressure distribution and therefore the forces acting on an airfoil.
Swirling Jet
Soon to be updated
Wind Turbine Inflow
Soon to be updated
By Sponsors
Air Force Office of Scientific Research
NERL (National Energy Research Labs)
DOD (Deparment of Defense)
NSF (National Science Foundation