Pictured above is a detonation wave propagating to the left inside our racetrack RDE. Deflagration ahead and behind the wave is observed.
Gas Turbine Combustion Instabilities
The DISCo facility is used to understand combustion instabilities. A high-power green pulsed laser is used for PIV measurements of the flow field.
Laser absorption spectroscopy is used to obtain measurements of temperature and water vapor in the combustion products of a methane-air operated McKenna Burner.
With high Mach number comes low residence times in the combustion chamber. Efficient mixing and flame holding at these speeds is critical.
Understanding the shock dynamics inside the isolator of a dual mode ramjet is a key challenge to achieving hypersonic speeds with an airbreathing engine.
Rocket Propulsion
A single element rocket is operated and imaged using OH PLIF.