Steven Collicott

Steven Collicott

1991 - Professor

Degrees

B. S., University of Michigan, Aerospace Engineering, 1983, magna cum laude
M. S., Stanford University, Aeronautics & Astronautics, 1984
Ph.D., Stanford University, Aeronautics & Astronautics, 1991

Contact

701 W. Stadium Ave.
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2045
Office: ARMS 2039
Office Phone: (765) 494-2339
Office Fax: (765) 494-0307

Interests

Experimental fluid mechanics
Low-gravity fluid dynamics
Optical diagnostics
Applied optics

Awards and Major Appointments

Inducted into Purdue University’s “Book of Great Teachers,” August 28, 2008
Presented the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 'Special Service Citation,' March 1997
Associate Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Research Areas

Low-gravity fluid dynamics and capillary fluid physics are the focus of two-phase fluids research. A collaborative aero-elastic study of failures of High-Mast Lighting Towers is underway, led by Professor Connor in Purdue’s School of Civil Engineering. Sprays and internal flows in spray systems plus oil-air flows in turbine engines remain of interest too.

Capillary effects dominate liquid positioning in the weightless portions of spaceflight and in small-scale two-phase fluids systems on Earth. Beginning with work in support of the Gravity Probe-B satellite in 1993, Professor Collicott has become the leading expert in the use of the capillary fluids statics code, Surface Evolver, for both research and real-world engineering in two-phase fluids problems. Research includes designing the “Vane-Gap” experiments for the Capillary Fluids Experiment (CFE) presently in the second set of tests in orbit in the International Space Station, exploring the existence and stability of water droplets in lung passages, designing and building a three-dimensional critical wetting experiment - one of the first experiments to fly on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, and many others. Engineering solutions that have grown from research include the best on-orbit propellant-gauging service available for satellites and presently available for owners and operators of satellites.

Novel spray control and spray formation methods have grown from research, started by an NSF-Career Award, that probes the internal flow with specialized optics to uncover the physics of cavitation. Small-scale non-equilibrium unsteady cavitation exists, the behavior of which can not presently be predicted to any useful extent. Coordination with Professor Heister's simulations with pseudo-density models for non-equilibrium cavitating flows has been crucial to understanding the internal flow fields.

Hypersonic boundary layer transition is a critical event on high speed flight vehicles, including the Space Shuttle during re-entry. Sporadic collaborations with Professor Schneider's experiments involve both an optical perturber and optical diagnostics. The perturber has been developed and is in regular use. High-sensitivity, high bandwidth Laser Differential Interferometry is being applied to detect and measure instability waves in millimeter and thinner boundary layers in flows at speeds in excess of one-half of a kilometer per second.

Publications

J. E. Portillo, S. H. Collicott, and G. A. Blaisdell, Physics of Fluids, "Measurements of axial instability waves in the near exit region of a high speed liquid jet" V. 23, 124105 (2011); doi: 10.1063/1.3671733

Robert Manning, Steven Collicott, and Robert Finn, "Occlusion criteria in tubes under transverse body forces", Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2011, doi:10.1017/jfm.2011.230

K. Tseng and Steven H. Collicott, “Demonstration of a Fluidic Spray Control Orifice,” Journal of Propulsion and Power, Accepted Dec. 10, 2010.

Steven H. Collicott and Y. Chen, “Studies of the Wetting of Gaps in Weightlessness,” Microgravity Science and Technology, 22, Number 4, Pages 487-498, 2010.

M. M. Weislogel, R. Jenson, Y. Chen, Steven H. Collicott, J. Klatte, and M. Dreyer. “The capillary flow experiments aboard the International Space Station: Status”. Acta Astronautica. 65:861-869, 2009

B. Yendler, Steven H. Collicott, T. A. Martin, "Thermal Gauging and Rebalancing of Propellant in Multiple Tank Satellites," Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 44, No. 4, pp. 878-883, July-August 2007.

Steven H. Collicott, "Example Impact of Nonuniform Acceleration Fields on Liquids in Spacecraft," Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 44, No. 3, pp. 725-727, May-June 2007.

T. R. Salyer, Steven H. Collicott, S. P. Schneider, "Characterizing Laser-Generated Hot Spots for Receptivity Studies," AIAA Journal, Vol. 44, No. 12, pp. 2871-2878, December, 2006.

H. Li and Steven H. Collicott, "Visualization of Cavitation in High Pressure Diesel Fuel Injector Orifices," Atomization and Sprays, Vol. 16, No. 8, pp. 875-886, December 2006.

T. J. Hoverman and Steven H. Collicott, "Inexpensive Air-Assist Atomization from 80,000 Orifices," Atomization and Sprays, Vol. 16, No. 7, pp. 737-748, 2006.

L. A. Slobozhanin, J. I. D. Alexander, Steven H. Collicott, and S. R. Gonzalez, "Capillary pressure of a liquid in a layer of close-packed uniform spheres," Physics of Fluids, 18, No. 8, 15 pages, August 2006.

Steven H. Collicott, W. G. Lindsley, D. G. Frazer, "Zero-Gravity Liquid-Vapor Interfaces in Circular Cylinders," Physics of Fluids, 18, No. 8, 8 pages, August 2006.

Y. Chen and Steven H. Collicott, "Study of Wetting in an Asymmetrical Vane-Wall Gap in Propellant Tanks," AIAA Journal, 44, No. 4, pp. 859-867, April 2006.

Conference Proceedings, Presentations, Invited Lectures

"Capillary Fluid Physics in Zero-Gravity," Steven H. Collicott, 41st AIAA Fluid Dynamics Conference and Exhibit , Honolulu, Hawaii, June 27-30, 2012. AIAA-2011-4046. 12 pages.

"Suborbital Research and Education Mission Training Standards", Erika Wagner, Alan Stern, Dan Durda, Mark Shelhamer, Josh Colwell, Michael Summers, Steven Collicott, Next-Gen Sub-orbital Researchers Conference, Palo Alto, CA, Feb 27-29, 2012.

"Preparing Sub-orbital Research and Technology Payloads", Steven H. Collicott, Next-Gen Sub-orbital Researchers Conference, Palo Alto, CA, Feb 27-29, 2012.

Poster Presentation - "Updates on the Purdue Sub-Orbital Student Experiment Program", Steven H. Collicott, Next-Gen Sub-orbital Researchers Conference, Palo Alto, CA, Feb 27-29, 2012.

Session Chair - "REM-Spaceport Interfaces," Next-Gen Sub-orbital Researchers Conference, Palo Alto, CA, Feb 27-29, 2012.

"Activities of the Sub-Orbital Applications Researchers Group (SARG) of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF)", S. H. Collicott; A. Stern; J. Gedmark, 50th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Nashville, TN, Jan. 9-12, 2012.

Session Chair - "Updates on Commercial Sub-Orbital Flights," 50th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Nashville, TN, Jan. 9-12, 2012.

Poster Presentation - "Manipulation of Internal Flows for Spray Creation," Steven H. Collicott, Frontiers of Liquid Atomization, IIT-Madras, Chennai, India, Dec. 19, 2011.

Poster Presentation - "Capillary Fluids Topics in Channels", CPIASR International Collaboration Forum, Purdue University, Oct. 11-13, 2011.

"Zero-gravity Fluid Dynamics: Spaceflight Versus Research," Steven H. Collicott, Space-X Inc., Hawthorne, CA., August, 2011.

Steven H. Collicott and R. E. Manning, “Capillary Stability in Tilted Square Cylinders,” 48th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Orlando, Florida, January 4-7, 2010. AIAA-2010-1483.

R. E. Manning and Steven H. Collicott, “Liquid Plugs in Rectangular Channels Under a Transverse Gravity Field,” 48th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Orlando, Florida, January 4-7, 2010. AIAA-2010-1476.

Steven H. Collicott and L. Sharp, “Capillary Fluids Design for an Experiment for Next-Gen Suborbital Flight,” Next-Gen Sub-Orbital Researchers Conference, Boulder, CO, February, 2010.

Steven H. Collicott and R. E. Manning, “Armadillo Aerospace and Purdue University Student Experiment Program,” Next-Gen Sub-Orbital researchers Conference, Boulder, CO, February, 2010.

Steven H. Collicott and L. Sharp, “Three-dimensional Critical Wetting Experiment for Next-Gen Suborbital Flight,” Drop Tower Days 2010 in COSPAR, Bremen, Germany. July 2010.

Steven H. Collicott and J. Ocampo, “Update on the Purdue University 2-second Drop Tower,” Drop Tower Days 2010 in COSPAR, Bremen, Germany. July 2010.

G. Hanuschak, Steven H. Collicott, D. Maclise, and M. Skidmore, “A TOP-LEVEL SUMMARY OF MICROGRAVITY RESEARCH WHICH WOULD BENEFIT FROM COMMERCIAL REUSABLE SUBORBITAL PLATFORMS AND WHAT THE NASA COMMERCIAL REUSABLE SUBORBITAL RESEARCH (CRUSR) EFFORT IS DOING TO HELP,” 61st International Astronautical Congress, Prague, CZ, 2010. IAC-10-A2.3.12.

M. M. Weislogel, Y. Chen, Steven H. Collicott, C. T. Bunnell, R. D. Green, D. Y. Bohman, "More Handheld Fluid Interface Experiments for the International Space Station (CFE-2)," 47th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, Orlando, January 5-8, 2009. AIAA-2009-0615.

Steven H. Collicott and R. E. Manning, "Capillary Stability in Tilted Circular Cylinders," 47th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, Orlando, Florida, January. 5-8, 2009. AIAA-2009-1149.

Steven H. Collicott, "Microgravity Fluid Dynamics Experiments," Human-tended Sub-orbital Workshop, San Francisco, December 15, 2008.

J. Jaron and Steven H. Collicott, "Two-Phase Static Capillary Phenomena in Flattened Tubes," 46th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, Reno, Nevada, Jan. 7-10, 2008. AIAA-2008-0826.

Y. Chen, R. Jenson, M. Weislogel, S. Collicott, "Capillary Wetting Analysis of the CFE-Vane Gap Geometry," 46th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, Reno, Nevada, Jan. 7-10, 2008. AIAA-2008-0817.

S. Rodkey, S. D. Heister, and Steven H. Collicott, "Physics of Gas Turbine Engine Bearing Chambers," 43rd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, Cincinnati, OH, July 2007. AIAA-2007-5033.

Steven H. Collicott, "Impact of Non-uniform Acceleration Fields on Future Spacecraft with Large Tanks," 43rd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, Cincinnati, OH, July 2007. AIAA-2007-5554.

J. P. Braun and Steven H. Collicott, "Zero-Gravity Stability Solutions of Droplets in a Bent Circular Cylinder," 43rd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, Cincinnati, OH, July 2007. AIAA-2007-5517.

Invited Presentation, "Real-life and Research in Zero-Gravity Fluid Dynamics," IX International Symposium of Physics, Technológico de Monterrey, Feb. 15-17, 2007, Monterrey, Mexico.

Invited plenary lecture: "Computing Capillary-Dominated Fluid States and Stabilities," World Scientific and Engineering Academy and Society (WSEAS), 4th International Conference on Fluid Mechanics, Gold Coast, Australia. January 17-19, 2007.

J. Jaron and Steven H. Collicott, "Static Two-Phase Solutions in non-Circular Cylinders in Zero Gravity," Drop Tower Days 2006, Toki-shi and Tskuba, Japan. October 30-November 1, 2006.

K. Tseng and Steven H. Collicott, "Internal Flows in Fluidic Spray Control," 36th AIAA Fluid Dynamics Conference and Exhibit, San Francisco, California, June 5-8, 2006. AIAA-2006-3731.

K. Tseng and Steven H. Collicott, "Internal Flows in Fluidic Spray Control," Institute for Liquid Atomization and Spray Sciences-Americas 2006, Toronto, Canada. May 2006.

Steven H. Collicott and H. Li, "True-scale True-Pressure Internal Flow Visualization for Diesel Injectors", 2006 SAE World Congress, Detroit, MI. April 3-7, 2006.

Steven H. Collicott, "Bubbles and Droplets in Tubing in Reduced Gravity," Earth and Space 2006 Conference — The 10th International Conference on "Engineering, Construction and Operations in Challenging Environments", American Society of Civil Engineers. Houston, TX, March 5-8, 2006.

Steven H. Collicott and J. P. Braun, "Stability of Droplets and Bubbles in a Bent Tube," 44th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Reno, NV, January 2006, AIAA-2006-732.

Steven H. Collicott and E. Rodriguez, "Mass Center Anomalies from Asymmetric Propellant Positions in Spacecraft," 44th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Reno, NV, January 2006, AIAA-2006-934.

R. E. Manning, Jr. and Steven H. Collicott, "Bubble Penetration through a Single Layer Sphere Bed," 44th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Reno, NV, January 2006, AIAA-2006-736.
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