News

04/23: EPL awarded DoD DURIP grant for equipment purchase

EPL has been awarded a DURIP grant for equipment purchase to support ongoing research on molten particle adhesion on turbine blade surfaces funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The DURIP grant titled, "Laser surface profilometer and infra-red camera for in-situ studies of surface deposition in high-enthalpy, particle-laden flows" will fund purchase of equipment to conduct in-situ, transient studies of particle driven erosion and deposition on hot sections of turbine blades in the multi-phase, hot-cascade experiment at LSU.

12/22: Faculty research grant - Phase 3 award

EPL is part of a group led by Prof. Suniti Karunatillake from LSU-Geology that was awarded a two-year $250K award to advance concepts for a MARS mission called Gangotri to be pitched to NASA. Scope of work includes identifying key science data return and mission design concepts for a NASA Discovery or NASA New Frontiers class mission. A 17-member team involves 4 NASA centers, 1 national lab, 1 European space center, and 2 space companies.

12/22: NSF CAREER award!

We have received the prestigious NSF CAREER award for a project titled, "CAREER: Towards Understanding and Control of Particle-Laden Flows Impacting Material Surfaces". The five-year, $534,082 award will fund research and education initiatives driven by fundamental and applied research on surface-impinging, particle-laden gas flows operating at low- and high- speed and temperature conditions.

10/22: Busy year for EPL with 6 journal paper publications!

2022 has been a highly productive year for EPL with 6 journal papers published and 1 currently under review. Publications include those in AIAA J. Propulsion & Power, Int. J. Multiphase Flow, Int. J. Thermophysics, ASME J. Gas Turbines and Power, Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, and Int. J. Molecular Sciences! Congratulations all and amazing work!

10/22: Connor defends his MS thesis!

Connor Becnel successfully defended his MS thesis work on TDLAS-based measurements in a hybrid rocket combustor. Congratulations Connor! 

09/22: EPL secures DOE funding to study sustainable aviation fuels

EPL has been awarded a 3 year, $1.14 M award by the Department of Energy to study sustainable aviation fuels. The title of the project is "A small volume, property measurement-based, pre-screening approach for sustainable aviation fuels enabled by functional relationship development using multi-fidelity machine learning algorithms". The official DOE announcement can be found here: DOE link

News item on CoE website: CoE news

A big thanks to all Co-PI's (Dr. Owoyele, Dr. Schoegl, Dr. Boldor) and DOE National Lab collaborators (NREL, ANL)!

09/22: Varun completes his general exam

Varun Viswamithra successfully completed his PhD general exam. Congratulations Varun!

05/22: ONR award

The EPL has received an award from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) on a project titled, "Molten particle adhesion study in a multiphase turbine test rig".  

03/22: EPL researchers present work at Eastern states combustion institute meeting in Orlando, FL

Several EPL researchers (Varun, Mohana, Connor, and James) presented their research at the Eastern States Combustion Institute meeting held at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, FL. Good job everyone!

03/22: Darren update

Darren Dehesa is joining Boeing as a Manufacturing Engineer to work on the NASA SLS project. He will be working at the Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans. Congratulations Darren!

10/21: Wanjun defends her PhD thesis!

Wanjun Dang successfully defended her PhD thesis becoming the first PhD graduate from EPL. Congratulations Wanjun ! and thank you very much to her PhD committee for their guidance and support.

08/21: Wanjun's paper accepted in Atomization and Sprays

A paper by Wanjun Dang (lead author) on temperature effects on droplet oscillation decay has been published in the journal "Atomization and Sprays".

10/20: Darren successfully defends his MS thesis!

Darren Dehesa successfully defended his MS thesis. Thank you to the thesis committee. Good job Darren! 

09/20: LaSPACE NASA EPSCoR REA award

The EPL has received a Research Enhancement Award from LaSPACE to investigate high-speed particle-laden jets simulating rocket plume impingement. EPL will collaborate with NASA JPL to conduct the investigation and generate data relevant to plume-surface interaction.

07/20: LaSPACE GSRA Award

James Leung from EPL has been awarded the LaSPACE Graduate Student Research Assistantship (GSRA) award to further his graduate school studies and research.

04/20: Wanjun’s work accepted for publication in Measurement Science & Technology

A journal paper from Wanjun’s work on fuel viscosity and surface tension measurements has been accepted for publication in Measurement Science and Technology.

08/19: EPL researchers to present at AIAA Propulsion & Energy Forum in Indianapolis

Our group has four presentations at this meeting:

  • Wanjun Dang: AIAA-2019-4447: Small-volume, High-throughput Techniques for Fuel Physical Property Measurements
  • Darren Dehesa: AIAA-2019-4303: Modeling of Hybrid-Electric Powertrain for Unmanned Aerial Systems
  • Shyam Menon: AIAA-2019-4223: Characterization of spray structures formed during water injection into a free supersonic air jet
  • Mohana Gurunathan: AIAA-2019-4415: Numerical Simulation of Combustion in a Hybrid Rocket with Liquefying Fuels

08/19: Hansen’s work accepted for publication in Experiments in Fluids

A journal paper from Hansen’s work on water injection into supersonic crossflow has been accepted for publication in Experiments in Fluids.

06/19: James Leung joins the lab

James Leung is a Ph.D. student who will be working on droplet behavior in high-speed flows. He received his BS and MS degrees from Michigan State University. Welcome James!

06/19: LaSPACE GSRA Award

Darren Dehesa from EPL has been awarded the LaSPACE Graduate Student Research Assistantship (GSRA) award to further his graduate school studies and research.

01/19: NASA EPSCoR RAP award

A NASA EPSCoR RAP award to the Energy and Propulsion Laboratory will pursue the development of a 3D-printed liquid fuel injection system for low-NOx gas turbine combustors. This work will involve collaboration with NASA Glenn to design the injection system and develop laser diagnostics to evaluate the performance of the system.

01/19: Varun Viswamithra joins the lab

Varun Viswamithra is a Ph.D. student who will be working on a novel liquid fuel injection system for gas turbine combustors. He received his BS degree from Visvesvaraya Technological Institute in Belgaum, India and an MS degree from the University of Texas-Arlington. Welcome Varun!

11/18: Dr. Menon to present at APS DFD meeting in Atlanta

Dr. Menon will be traveling to the APS DFD meeting in Atlanta, GA on Nov. 18-20. Dr. Menon will present on water injection into a free supersonic jet as well as on utilization of droplet oscillations to measure fluid physical properties on behalf of Hansen and Wanjun respectively.

10/18: Hansen successfully defends MS thesis!

Hansen Jones, the first graduate student from EPL has successfully defended his MS thesis. He now goes on to do great things at SpaceX!! Congrats Hansen!!

08/18: AFRL (Air Force Research Laboratory) award

The Energy and Propulsion Laboratory has received funding from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to conduct research on hybrid powertrains for small unmanned air systems (UAS). This is a two-year award for the lab with co-investigators from Southern University in Baton Rouge and Oregon State University

08/18: Darren Dehesa joins the lab

Darren Dehesa is a Master’s student who will be working on hybrid powertrain development for unmanned air vehicles. He is a graduate of the MIE department at LSU from Spring 2018. Welcome Darren!

7/18: EPL to present research at 14th ICLASS meeting in Chicago

Hansen Jones, Wanjun Dang, and Dr. Menon will be traveling to the 14th 14TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LIQUID ATOMIZATION & SPRAY SYSTEMS meeting in Chicago, IL on July. 22-26. Hansen Jones will present his paper titled, “Investigation Of Water Jet Breakup Behavior In Crossflow With A Supersonic Air Jet” and Wanjun Dang will present her paper titled, “Evaporation Of Single Droplets Of Multicomponent Liquid Fuel Blends At Elevated Temperatures”.

Hansen also received a travel award from ICLASS to attend the conference. Wanjun received a travel award from the graduate school to attend the conference.

7/18: EPL to present research at AIAA Propulsion and Energy meeting

Hansen Jones and Dr. Menon will be traveling to the AIAA Propulsion and Energy meeting in Cincinnati, OH on July 9-11. Hansen Jones will present our paper titled, “Investigation of water jet breakup by supersonic rocket exhaust “.

Hansen received a travel award from the graduate school to attend the conference.

04/18: Hansen wins award for best graduate student presentation

Hansen Jones won the award for the best graduate student presentation at the annual Graduate Student Conference held by the MIE department. Congratulations Hansen!

11/17: EPL researchers to present at APS DFD meeting in Denver

Hansen Jones, Wei Zhao, and Dr. Menon will be traveling to the APS DFD meeting in Denver, CO on Nov. 19-21. Hansen Jones will present on rocket plume diagnostics and Dr. Menon will present on fuel droplet generation on behalf of Wanjun and Wei.

Hansen and Wei received travel awards from APS. In addition Wei also received an LSU Discover award to support travel expenses to the conference.

10/17: Dr. Menon to talk at Air Force Research Laboratory

Dr. Menon will be presenting work on small engines for UAV applications at the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH.

08/17: Wanjun Dang joins the lab

Wanjun Dang is a Ph.D. student who will be working on fuel droplet generation using a piezo-electric droplet generator. She will be also working on modeling the process with an aim to extract physical properties of unknown fuels.

07/17: LaSPACE GSRA Award

Hansen Jones from EPL has been awarded the LaSPACE Graduate Student Research Assistantship (GSRA) award to further his graduate school studies and research.

05/17: LaSPACE NASA EPSCoR REA award

The EPL has received a Research Enhancement Award from LaSPACE to develop non-intrusive temperature diagnostics for a rocket exhaust plume using tunable laser diodes. EPL will collaborate with NASA Marshall and Stennis Space Centers to develop the technique and provide measurement data for code validation.

01/17: Hansen Jones joins the lab

Hansen Jones is pursuing an MS degree and doing his research on rocket engines.

01/17: DOE-OPTIMA award

Insert The Energy and Propulsion Laboratory will share in a Department of Energy award to develop a micro-liter fuel testing apparatus for screening next generation fuels (DOE announcement).

12/16: NASA EPSCoR RAP award

A NASA EPSCoR RAP award to the Energy and Propulsion Laboratory will utilize experimental methods to investigate the exhaust plume of a rocket engine. This work will involve collaboration with Stennis Space Center to develop and validate simulation codes for ground-based rocket testing facilities.

08/16: Dr. Menon joins MIE at LSU

Dr. Menon joins MIE at LSU. Energy and Propulsion Laboratory is launched at LSU.