Dedicated students, distinguished colleagues and dear friends,

Happy Friday!

How do you test the structural integrity of a space vehicle that travels at 3,800 miles per hour? How do you heat a component to over 3,000 degrees to simulate the heat of atmospheric reentry? What do you use to then pick up the component after it is heated?

Extreme engineering, where materials and systems are tested under structural and thermal loadings well beyond everyday life is, well, everyday life here at S&T for many of our faculty, students and researchers. To highlight just a few, consider our Aerodynamics Research Laboratory, where Dr. Davide Viganò and his able team of researchers and graduate students focus on “fundamental investigations of mixing in supersonic flows, vortex dynamics, compressible turbulence, and applications to hypersonic air-breathing propulsion.” Did you get that? Well, I learned that it means experimental and mathematical studies here on Earth of the adverse, extreme conditions a vehicle will experience during high-speed atmospheric flight and reentry. To do that, with research funding from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Viganò has designed, built and implemented a new supersonic wind tunnel to study and help improve the design and development of hypersonic travel.

“When people think of turbulence, they often focus on its downsides,” he says. “However, turbulence can also be beneficial. To travel at speeds over five times the speed of sound, engineers must understand how the swirling and chaotic fluidic motions can be used to mix fluids most effectively. This project will focus on how we can harness turbulence to develop better hypersonic engines.” The immediate beneficiaries here and now? Our students who are conducting best-in-class research. 

At a much smaller physical scale, another mechanical and aerospace department colleague of Dr. Viganò, Dr. Zhi Liang and his team of students, are running experiments and developing models to study microdroplets of fuelranging from a few micrometers to 50 micrometers in size. Supported by a research grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Dr. Liang’s team conducts research to better understand how advanced propulsion systems, such as scramjets and rocket engines operate in harsh environments of extremely high pressure and high temperature.

In another super hot research area, Dr. William Fahrenholtz and his colleagues are working to better understand and “generate new fundamental knowledge of thermal conductivity in complex materials at high temperatures.” Supported by the Department of Defense, the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) grant brings together researchers from several universities to conduct research on materials “subjected to temperatures encountered in extreme environments such as those associated with hypersonic flight, atmospheric reentry, rocket propulsion, concentrated solar power and nuclear power generation.” In addition to new discoveries, “we will train the next generation of researchers to work on materials for extreme environments, while also addressing a long-standing problem for DOD.”

In another ongoing research work, Dr. Greg Hilmas and his students, in collaboration with General Electric and Clemson University, are working to “develop new and better ceramic materials” for hypersonic vehicles to withstand extreme temperatures at extreme speeds and then cool down quickly without breaking.

Robust aerospace systems offer opportunities for researchers to conduct fundamental and application-driven, solution-inspired research. I, for one, can only imagine space flight and long for the day when space travel becomes as routine as cross-continental flights are today. After all, it wasn’t long ago that a trans-Atlantic flight, carrying hundreds of passengers in comfort, miles above Earth and in sub-zero temperatures was unimaginable.
 
Extreme engineering of today could and will become commonplace practices of tomorrow when you and I will share a ride in the “no-fly-zone” of the mesosphere. Thanks to engineers who dream big and work to make those dreams become reality.

Warmly,

-Mo.
 
Share your thoughts!

Read previous Friday morning messages.

Check out the latest news from S&T:

• Once-hidden gems now sparkling at Missouri S&T Mineral Museum
• Missouri S&T and community members unite through Rolla LOOP
• See the St. Pat’s Schedule

Mohammad Dehghani, PhD
Chancellor
mo@mst.edu | 573-341-4116

206 Parker Hall, 300 West 13th Street, Rolla, MO 65409-0910
chancellor.mst.edu