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Figure 1: LAS mirror arrangement demonstrating the challenge with accurate alignment and the need for inventive solutions.
At Vasu Labs, I am an undergraduate research assistant under Diego Ruiz, Ramees Rahman, and Subith Vasu in the shock tube lab. Our research focuses on the combustion kinetics and mechanisms of HTPB. The results of our research will contribute to a complete database that will allow for accurate modeling of HTPB combustion and regression in solid fuel grains, particularly in Solid Fuel Ramjets (SFRJ).
Utilizing methods such as WMS and the very novel dual comb spectroscopy, our team can achieve time resolved, high fidelity absorption and mole fraction data on several species at once during a shock induced combustion of an HTPB based solid fuel.
By far my favorite aspect of my time here has been learning and excecuting fluid system SOPs and procedures. I have been tasked with filling and vacuuming the shock tube, creating mixtures, handling toxic fluids, and ensuring proper data aquisition in our LabView VI.
Figure 2: Absorption feature of CO on filled shock tube, confirming function of our WMS arrangement.
I developed a beam-alignment approach using two off-axis parabolic mirrors to focus the beam onto a 0.01 mm² detector area, with the aim of improving the transmitted signal by achieving the smallest possible focal diameter. Using Beer-Lamberts Law, we can take our raw data and transform it into information about how the combustion and pyrolysis of HTPB progresses with time.
Major Skills Utilized:
Major Skills Utilized:
Mid-IR absorption spectroscopy
Python post-processing
Fluid systems processes and operation
Fluid system manufacturing (compressing fittings, manifold construction, leak maintenance, etc.)
Laser alignment using near field – far field concepts
Literature review
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