Project Description

Advancing research in high-speed flight directly addresses (the ever-increasing) concerns regarding the competitiveness of our national defense resources in the international landscape. The proposed project specifically tackles the problem of hypersonic boundary layer transition to turbulence by adopting an interdisciplinary approach requiring not only knowledge of computational and experimental aerodynamics, but also materials science and acoustics. The successful candidate will be expected to design material surfaces that are not only suitable for flight but that can also achieve aerodynamic control of the boundary layer. The proposed research will leverage state-of-the-art experimental facilities at Purdue, such as the Boeing/AFOSR Mach 6 Quiet Tunnel (BAM6QT) and well as advanced multi-fidelity simulations tools for predicting transitional and turbulent hypersonic boundary layers. The candidate will have the opportunity to collaborate with active hypersonic wind tunnel researchers in the design of experiments to test the efficacy of the designed materials, as well as materials groups to advance fabrication technology.

Start Date 

June 1, 2020

Postdoc Qualifications 

The ideal candidate should hold a Ph.D. degree in computational and/or experimental methods in high-speed aerodynamics, and have an interest in diversifying his/her scientific portfolio by interacting with specialists in materials science, vibrations and acoustics. Candidates with an interest in pursuing cutting edge work in hypersonic vehicle design, including defense and spaceflight applications, are especially highly sought.

Co-advisors 

Prof. Carlo Scalo
scalo@purdue.edu
School of Mechanical Engineering
https://engineering.purdue.edu/~scalo/

Prof. Joe Jewell
jsjewell@purdue.edu
School of Aeronautics and Astronautics
http://www.joejewell.com

Collaborator 

Prof. Erica Corral
elcorral@email.arizona.edu
University of Arizona
University Distinguished Scholar in Materials Science and Engineering 
Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering 
Associate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering 
Associate Professor, BIO5 Institute

References 

Steven P. Schneider. “Effects of High-Speed Tunnel Noise on Laminar-Turbulent Transition.”Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 38, No. 3 (2001), pp. 323-333

Carlo Scalo, Julien Bodart and Sanjiva K. Lele, Compressible Channel Flow with Impedance Boundary Conditions, Physics of Fluids, 2015, Vol. 27, 035107.

J.S. Jewell and R.L. Kimmel. "Boundary Layer Stability Analysis for Stetson's Mach 6 Blunt Cone Experiments." Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 54, No. 1 (2017), pp. 258-265.

Victor Sousa, Danish Patel, Jean-Baptiste Chapelier, Viola Wartemann, Alex Wagner, and Carlo Scalo, Numerical Investigation of Second Mode Attenuation over Carbon/Carbon Surfaces on a Sharp Slender Cone, Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, 2019, Vol. 56, No. 2, pp. 319-332.

P. Paredes, M.M. Choudhari, F. Li, J.S. Jewell, R.L. Kimmel, E.C. Marineau and G. Grossir. "Nosetip Bluntness Effects on Transition at Hypersonic Speeds." Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Vol. 56, No. 2 (2019), pp. 369-387.