Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering News

Mechanical Engineering – Engineering Mechanics Graduate Seminar: October 25, 2012; 4:00 – 5:00 p.m., Room 112, ME-EM Building

Professor Robert J. Santoro, the George L. Guillet Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University

Robert J. Santoro, George L. Guillet Professor of Mechanical Engineering, received his Ph.D. degree in physics from Boston College in 1975. He then joined the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University as a research engineer. In 1978, he joined the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology) in Washington, D.C., where he remained until 1986. At NBS, Dr. Santoro developed research efforts in the areas of particle formation in flames, laser tomography, and spray combustion research. In 1986 he joined the Pennsylvania State University as an associate professor of mechanical engineering and was promoted to full professor in 1990. In 1994, Dr. Santoro was appointed to the position of Director of the Propulsion Engineering Research Center and promoted to Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering in 2000. In 2003 Dr. Santoro was named as the George L. Guillet Professor of Mechanical Engineering and elected a Fellow of the ASME. In 1985 he was awarded the U.S. Department of Commerce Silver Medal for his research in soot particle formation. Dr. Santoro is also active in the AIAA, ASME and Combustion Institute where he has organized numerous sessions for national meetings. He serves as an Associate Editor for Combustion, Science and Technology and is on the editorial advisory board of the Progress in Energy and Combustion Science. His research interests include studies of rocket propulsion, rocket-based combined cycle engines, combustion of coal-based fuel, soot formation in flames, liquid spray combustion, laser diagnostics, gas turbine combustion, combustion instability, and chemical kinetics.

Title: Soot formation studies using JP-8 and JP-8 surrogate fuels

Design methodologies for practical combustion systems using Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) tools have been a focus for fundamental and applied research for at least three decades. One of the challenges faced in developing CFD design tools lies in how to simulate the chemical kinetics of practical fuels that contain hundreds components. Consequently, development of surrogate fuels containing a small number of components that replicate the combustion of practical fuels is an active research topic. Recently, a team of researchers from Princeton University, University of Connecticut, University of Illinois at Chicago and Penn State University completed a five year study to develop a methodology for making a surrogate fuel to simulate the combustion of the current fuel used by the U.S. Air Force, JP-8. This methodology relies on matching four parameters: H/C ratio, molecular weight, derived cetane number and sooting threshold index of the practical fuel. The composition of the surrogate fuel includes several families of hydrocarbon compounds: n-alkanes, branched-chain alkanes, cycloalkanes and aromatics. Concurrently, chemical kinetic models that include oxidation chemistry for the surrogate components were developed by some of the team members. In this talk, the emphasis will be on the work done at Penn State to simulate the sooting characteristics of the surrogate fuels. In addition, the basis for the selection of four parameters used to identify suitable surrogate components and results from the chemical kinetic modeling studies will be presented.

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Mechanical Engineering – Engineering Mechanics Graduate Seminar: October 18, 2012; 4:00 – 5:00 p.m., Room 112, ME-EM Building
Dr. Arnold Lumsdaine, Fusion Energy Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Dr. Lumsdaine currently works as the Senior Research and Development Engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the Fusion Energy Division. He serves in a lead engineering and project management role for the design and analysis of a variety of components related to fusion energy research projects at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Dr. Lumsdaine received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He has served as an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee, an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, Texas, and was the Research and Development Manager for the Nanomechanics Operations of Agilent Technologies and MTS Nano Instruments. He has over 40 publications in the fields of fusion technology, nanomechanics, smart structures, design optimization and vibration damping.

Title: Making a Star on Earth – the Future of Fusion Energy

Abstract
Nuclear fusion is the primary source of energy in the universe, powering all active stars including our sun. The realization of commercially viable fusion power would essentially end the current societal problems of energy supply (greenhouse gas emission, release of other pollutants, fuel importation from hostile nations, non-renewable supply, storage of long-term radioactive waste, risk of runaway reaction or meltdown, risk of proliferation of nuclear materials). But the promise of achieving power from a controlled fusion reaction has thus far been elusive. The ITER magnetic fusion device, currently under construction in Cadarache, France, is the largest scientific experiment ever undertaken, and promises to produce 500 megawatts of output power and only 50 megawatts to operate.

This presentation will review:
– the basic concepts in magnetic confinement fusion (“what is it?”);
– the challenges in worldwide energy supply (“why do we need it?”);
– the history of magnetic confinement fusion and the status of the ITER experiment (“where are we now?”);
– the major issues that remain to be solved to achieve commercial fusion power, and the role that engineers will play in solving these issues (“what’s next, and what can I do about it?”).

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Mechanical Engineering – Engineering Mechanics Graduate Seminar: October 11, 2012; 4:00 – 5:00 p.m., Room 112, ME-EM Building
Dr. Alexander Yarin, University of Illinois Chicago, Multiscale Mechanics and Nanotechnology Laboratory 

Professor Alexander L. Yarin received his PhD in 1980, his DSc (Habilitation) in 1989. He was a Senior Research Associate at The Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow from (1977-1990). In 1990 he became a Professor at the Technion-Israel Institute of
Technology and is currently with the University of Illinois at Chicago. Since 2008, Dr. Yarin has been a Fellow of the Center for Smart Interfaces at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany.

Professor Yarin is the author of 2 books, 10 book chapters, approximately 210 research papers, and 5 patents. He is one of the three co-Editors of “Springer Handbook of Experimental Fluid Mechanics” (2007) and an Associate Editor of the journal “Experiments in Fluids”.

Title: From Electrospinning
to Thermal Management in Microelectronics, from Co-Electrospinning to Nanofluidics

Abstract

In the first part, a novel method of enhancement of drop and spray cooling for microelectronic, optical and radiological elements and server rooms, which require extremely high heat fluxes, is discussed. The key idea of the method is to cover the heat transfer surfaces with electrospun nonwoven polymer or metal-plated “thorny devil” nanofiber mats. The experiments revealed that drop impacts on nanotextured surfaces of nanofiber mats produce spreading similar to that on the impermeable surfaces. However, at the end of the spreading stage the contact line is pinned and drop receding is prevented. All the mats appeared to be dynamically permeable for coolant drops. The enhanced efficiency of drop cooling in the presence of nanofiber mats observed experimentally results from full elimination of receding and bouncing of the drops, characteristic of the current spray cooling technology. Therefore, the drops evaporate completely, and the large cooling potential associated with the latent heat of evaporation is more fully exploited. This is paradoxical: the best cooling can be provided by a “furry overcoat”! Using this approach very high cooling rates of about 1 kW/cm2 were achieved and the anti-Leidenfrost effect was discovered.

In the second part, carbon nanotubes are synthesized and self-assembled via co-electrospinning, emulsion electrospinning, or template electrospinning and subsequent carbonization. Then, controlled flows through macroscopically long (~1cm) carbon nanotubes are demonstrated. It is shown that a higher flow rate of liquid in a bi-layer gas-liquid system can be achieved as compared to the case when the same liquid flows through the same tube subjected to the same pressure drop and occupies the whole bore. This means that it is possible to release more liquid than predicted by the Poiseuille law, even though in the bi-layer flow liquid does not occupy the whole crosssection.
This paradoxical result is related to the fact, that the less viscous gas layer can flow much faster than the underlying liquid layer and entrain the latter via a significant shear stress. This quasi-giant-slip phenomenon occurs in relatively large nanotubes (of the order of 500 nm dia.) where the no-slip condition holds with sufficient accuracy.
This phenomenon can be beneficial in reverse osmosis systems. In addition, parallel bundles of these carbon nanotubes are used as nanoreactors to polymerize sufficiently monodisperse thermo-responsive nanoparticles of the order of 400 nm dia. at the rate of 107 particles per sec. Nanoparticles of this size are therapeutically beneficial and can be used as drug carriers. Controlled release from them modulated by temperature variation was demonstrated.

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Mechanical Engineering – Engineering Mechanics Graduate Seminar: October 4, 2012; 4:00 – 5:00 p.m., Room 112, ME-EM Building

Marie Cleveland. Worldwide Corporate Account Manager,
FedEx

This year, Marie won the Five Star Award, FedEx’s highest award within the entire FedEx organization. Currently, Marie’s position is a Worldwide Corporate Account Manager responsible for 6 accounts bringing in about $60 million in revenue per year to FedEx. She has broad international experience, having traveled in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, and has expertise in cultural issues associated with international business. In 2010, she won the highest sales award called the President’s Club. Prior to this award, she won Corporate Account Executive of the Year and has been the recipient of both the Ambassador’s Club Award, Largest Corporate Account Close Award and the elusive Wall of Fame Award. Before moving into corporate sales, Marie has been recognized several times as “Account Representative of the Year” and was also the “Administrative Region of the Year” winner. She has been with FedEx for 24 years.

Marie graduated from Michigan Tech in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration co-oping with GM for most of her student career. Marie is currently serving as Vice President of the Michigan Tech Chicago Chapter Alumni Association. She serves as a volunteer working in the Chicago area to recruit students for Michigan Tech. Marie is also an Alumni Association Gold Carpet and Life Member, a member of the Michigan Tech Presidential Council of Alumnae and the McNair Society.

She is huge on giving back and is active in her community as treasurer for her neighborhood, volunteering at church and is president of the North County Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans which was able to assist in raising about $900,000 for the local community last year.

Title: Promote your Work with a Powerful Presentation

-Gain skills to make your presentation even better
-How to capture your audience’s attention
-What to do when you get off track in a presentation
-Tips for a smooth presentation on and off the screen

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Mechanical Engineering – Engineering Mechanics Graduate Seminar: September 27, 2012; 4:00 – 5:00 p.m., Room 112, ME-EM Building

Dr. Waruna D. Kulatilaka, Spectral Energies, LLC, Dayton, OH
Air Force Research Laboratory, Propulsion Directorate, WPAFB, OH

Dr. Waruna D Kulatilaka is a Research Scientist at and Spectral Energies, LLC working for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Over the years, he has made outstanding contribution towards the advancement of non-intrusive laser-based diagnostics for propulsion systems, using the stateof- the-art ultrafast lasers as well as fiber optic diagnostic systems. Some examples include, femtosecond coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (fs- CARS) and femtosecond two-photon laser-induced fluorescence (fs-TPLIF) for high-repetition-rate one- and two-dimensional imaging of temperature and species concentration in reacting flows and plasmas and numerous fiberbased diagnostic developments using nanosecond and picosecond pulse duration lasers. Such measurement tools are already providing unprecedented levels of experimental data critical for validating complex turbulent combustion models, facilitating improved combustion efficiency and reduced pollutant formation in propulsion and power generation applications. He has published over 30 peer-reviewed journal articles as well as over 100 presentations and posters in national and international conferences along with a numerous of invited talks. Dr. Kulatilaka holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and has extensive involvement in the Combustion Research Facility at the Sandia National Laboratories including his postdoctoral research work. He is an Associate Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), member of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Optical Society of America (OSA), Combustion Institute (CI), and Society for Applied Spectroscopy (SAS). He was awarded the 2012 Outstanding Technical Contribution Award from the Dayton Section of the ASME.

Title: Fiber-Based Optical Diagnostics for Real-World Applications

Advances in nonintrusive laser-based diagnostic tools have had tremendous impact on our understanding of the fundamental physical and chemical characteristics of reacting flows such as flames and plasmas. However, application of such diagnostic methods in practical combustion devices, for example gas turbine combustors, are rather infrequent because of limited optical access as well as performance limitations of traditional laser systems. In recent years, our research group has made significant advances in developing optical-fiber-based linear and nonlinear optical diagnostic techniques such as particle-image velocimetry (PIV), laser-induced fluorescence (LIF), and coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS). We exploit the fibercoupled point and planar imaging of temperature and key reaction species using laser sources in the repetition rate range 10–10,000 Hz. The effects of delivering intense visible and ultraviolet laser beams through long optical fibers are investigated, and the system improvements for allfiber- coupled CARS and planar LIF (PLIF) imaging systems are discussed. Furthermore, our research efforts extend to developing pulse-burst laser sources, which have the potential of extending data-acquisition bandwidths to the megahertz (MHz) regime for highly dynamic flow systems. Development of such fiber-based imaging systems and next-generation pulse-burst laser sources constitutes a major step in transitioning laser diagnostic tools from research laboratories to reacting flow facilities of practical interest.

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Mechanical Engineering – Engineering Mechanics Graduate Seminar: September 20, 2012; 4:00 – 5:00 p.m., Room 112, ME-EM Building

Professor Todd Murphey. Mechanical Engineering and Physical Therapy and Human Movement Science Northwestern University

Todd Murphey is an Associate professor of Mechanical Engineering
at Northwestern University, with a secondary appointment in Physical
Therapy and Human Movement Science. He received an undergraduate degree in mathematics from the University of Arizona and a Ph.D. in Control and Dynamical Systems from the California Institute of Technology. His a recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER award. His research interests include computational methods in dynamics and control and design of embedded systems.

Title: Control Synthesis for Discrete Mechanical Systems

Mechanical systems are typically nonlinear and constrained and are often under actuated with many degrees of freedom. Moreover, the choice of numerical methods for simulation can have a dramatic impact on control synthesis, particularly for high degree-of-freedom systems. Integrated methods that are specifically applicable to mechanical systems, such as variation integrators, can make simulation much more stable at the cost of making control synthesis less intuitive. This talk highlights our recent work on software automation of control synthesis for mechanical systems, including the use of discrete mechanical system representations for nonlinear controller and estimator design. I will discuss animatronics marionettes and walking robots as example applications. The talk will end with a discussion
of the role that mechanical design plays in controlling impacting mechanical systems.

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