Propellant Combustion Lab

Activities include experimental, analytical, and computational studies of solid propellant combustion and flame radiation. Experimental techniques include laser-recoil measurements of energetic materials combustion, flame spectroscopy, and optical properties. The objective is to develop a fundamental understanding of combustion of energetic materials and to integrate knowledge from the fields of chemistry, heat and mass transfer, and fluid mechanics in the development of the next generation of solid propellants. Dynamic experiments and simulations are emphasized with the view that, since a burning solid is a dynamic system, time-dependent behavior offers a significant opportunity for developing understanding of the fundamental mechanisms over steady state conditions alone.

Director

• M. Quinn Brewster