Mechanical Engineering Faculty, Students, and Shock Tube Laboratory Featured in Department of Energy 2014 Stewardship Science Academic Programs Annual Report

Shock interaction with multiphase matter: unraveling the puzzles

The shock tube laboratory at the University of New Mexico was established in 2008 with the main goal to study shock interaction with multiphase media, and has been sponsored by NNSA since 2010. The shock interaction problem has attracted considerable recent attention because of its multiple applications – from bioweapons defeat to astrophysics. Of specific interest in weapons physics is the behavior of the fluid instability at interfaces between gases and fluids of different densities as they mix and become turbulent after impact by a shock wave. Here it is important not just to understand what and why is happening in the flow, but to provide high-quality quantitative data that can serve as a validation benchmark for hydrocodes – data that will challenge the accuracy of numerical modeling over a wide range of spatial scales and as a function of time. This in turn entails a challenge to experimentalists – accurate diagnostic techniques must be developed to provide the necessary wealth of relevant quantitative data.

The research group is led by Professors Peter Vorobieff and Randy Truman. Two students have earned their Master of Science degrees, and two have been awarded doctorates. In 2014-2015, we anticipate graduation of four more MS Students and one PhD student. We actively engage and recruit talented undergraduates into the research group, drawing strength from the diversity of the UNM student body. It is noteworthy that the graduates of the program have a 100% record of successful entry into the high-tech workforce, including CFD companies and national laboratories. The group also benefits from collaboration with national laboratories (especially Los Alamos National Lab) and local high-tech companies, including Applied Research Associates (ARA) – the company that develops and maintains the SHAMRC hydrocode for the US government.

2013 International Competition

Congratulations to the 2013 UNM Formula Society of Automotive Engineers team!  The 2013 team took the program to the highest level achieved by any team in the program’s 14-year
history. The team finished 12th in the international competition in Lincoln Nebraska, out of
80 registered entries from around the world.   Although the 2012 team finished in 10th place, the 2013 team scored the most points that UNM has ever scored. The UNM team finished 7th in design and 9th in marketing presentation. The 7th place finish in design was the best finish ever for a UNM team. The team also finished 14th in acceleration event, 17th in the skid pad
event, and 15th in the autocross event. Completing the 22-lap endurance run in 12th
place assured the team a high finish.

Dr. Chris Hall appointed department Chairman

In August 2011, Professor Hall was appointed Department Chair of Mechanical Engineering at University of New Mexico. He served as the Department Head of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech from 2006 – 2011. Prior to joining Virginia Tech, he served in the USAF as an electronics technician, as a satellite systems engineer at the “Blue Cube” at Onizuka Air Force Base in Sunnyvale, California, and as a professor of spacecraft dynamics, control, and design at the Air Force Institute of Technology. He joined the faculty at Virginia Tech in 1997, where he focused on developing new space-related opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. He is a Fellow of the American Astronautical Society, an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a member of the American Society of Engineering Education. He is past Chair of the AIAA Astrodynamics Technical Committee and has served on the AAS Space Flight Mechanics Committee. He has served as Associate Editor and Book Review Editor of the AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Associate Editor of the AAS Journal of the Astronautical Sciences, and Associate Editor of the journal Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy. Professor Hall has advised 11 Ph.D. students and more than 40 M.S. students. Several of these former students are senior field grade officers in the U.S. Air Force; one is a NASA Astronaut; and several are dynamics and control experts at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Professor Hall is currently advising three Ph.D. students. Dr. Hall has published more than 100 technical papers on various subjects in dynamics and control. He earned his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering at Auburn University, M.S. in Systems Engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology, and Ph.D. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics at Cornell University.