BEFAST lab: Braun's Engineering Factory for Advanced Supersonic Technologies (Dr. James Braun)

BEFAST’s research interests include novel supersonic propulsion concepts for airbreathing and aerospace applications, through wind tunnel experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The team is actively working on rotating detonation technology, multi-phase modeling, and bladeless power extraction technology.

Spray and Engine Diagnostics Laboratory and High-Pressure Combustion Laboratory (Dr. Tiegang Fang)

The objective of research activities in Dr. Fang’s research labs is to investigate fundamental multiphase/reactive fluid mechanics involved in engine combustion, liquid breakup and atomization, and droplet interaction with complex surfaces, and to promote technology innovation in clean energy and power, forensic sciences, disease prevention, etc. The research activities mainly include high-pressure combustion for both spark-ignition and compression-ignition engines using constant volume combustion chambers (CVCC) and optical engines, liquid breakup and spray atomization for various applications, single droplet interactions with various surfaces of different fluids, including blood for forensic sciences, and laser-assisted material synthesis. Major research equipment includes Nd:YAG high-power lasers, CO2 Lasers, dye lasers, high-speed cameras, ICCD cameras, Malvern SprayTec particle analyzer, ultra-high pressure fuel injection system, single droplet generation system, high-pressure pre-burn type CVCC, high-pressure pre-heated CVCC, optical diesel engine, optical direct injection spark-ignition engine, and small engine test cells, etc. These research activities were supported by NSF, ARO, DOJ-NIJ, CDC, DOE, USDA, NC-DOT and industrial sponsors.

The photographs to the right show 1) the pre-burn constant volume combustion chamber, 2) the preheated constant volume combustion chamber, and 3) the optical direct injection spark ignition engine.

Hassan High Speed Wind Tunnel Lab and the Turbulent Shear Flows Lab a (Dr. Venkatraman Narayanaswamy)

1. Hassan High Speed Wind Tunnel Lab: High-speed aerodynamics and propulsion research spanning subsonic through hypersonic speed range. Examples include shock train dynamics in high-efficiency engine inlets, aeroelasticity, and metasurfaces for aerodynamic applications.

2. Turbulent Shear Flow Lab: Home to the solid fuel ramjet test rig and a wide range of combustion diagnostic facilities, this lab helps support combustion modeling through benchmarking datasets at ramjet operation conditions and probes the details of turbulence/chemistry interactions in solid fuel and multiphase combustion.

The Energy Systems Laboratory (Dr. Alexei Saviliev)

Flame Nanomaterial Synthesis; Combustion in Heterogeneous Media; Excess Enthalpy Flames, Oxy-fuel Combustion; Energy systems; Non-thermal Plasmas for Pollution Control and Fuel Reforming

Centennial Campus

Visits: Wednesday (1-3 pm)

The Thermal Protection Laboratory (Dr. Roger Barker)

The fire test chamber is equipped with the PyroMan™ system. PyroMan™ is a fully instrumented, life-sized manikin used to evaluate the performance of thermal protective clothing. This is a highly sophisticated instrument that creates a realistic simulation of a flash fire condition and analyzes the response of manikin heat sensors to predict the potential tissue burn damage to the wearer of military, first responder, or industrial workwear.