ENDING THE THERMOSTAT WARS, SAVING ENERGY Thirteen percent of energy usage in the United States can be attributed to heating, ventilating, and air conditioning buildings. This also accounts for about 13 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
L
ast year, Professor H. Ezzat Khalifa and his team of researchers answered a call from ARPA-E to address this problem and were awarded $3.2 million from the Department of Energy and $319,000 from NYSTAR to develop a self-contained, micro-environmental control unit, smaller than a computer desktop tower, that can cool or heat the air in proximity to employees’ work stations. This will allow the building’s thermostat to be raised in the summer and lowered in the winter. Recently, NYSERDA awarded an additional $400,000 to develop a version of the system for electric demand reduction in New York City on hot summer days.
With your help, there is no limit what your Department can achieve. Please consider giving online at eng-cs.syr.edu/givenow.
Department of
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
H
owever, there isn’t currently a fundamental understanding of how air flows through these more complex geometries. This gap in knowledge needs to be closed to expand aerospace engineers’ ability to develop next-generation airplanes for the U.S. Air Force.
When patients undergo traditional knee replacement surgery, the bone and cartilage that make up their knee joint are replaced with one built with metal, plastic, and polymers.
A
long with their natural joint, patients lose a certain quality of life. Despite significant advances in artificial joints, Professor Michelle Blum sees a distinct need for better solutions and has made repairing knee joints a primary focus of her research.
We share these accomplishments with you because you are a part of us. As an alumnus or a friend of this Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, you have contributed to our shared success by your very association. A great many of you have also generously helped fund the endeavors highlighted within this newsletter.
VISIT US ON FACEBOOK @ENGINEERINGSU @ENGINEERINGSU CONNECT WITH US ENG-CS.SYR.EDU
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
Unlike the circular nozzles of traditional jet engines, modern aircraft like the F-117 and F-35 feature nozzles with different shapes and configurations to fit the airframe and improve the aircraft’s performance, adaptive control, fuel efficiency, and cooling for thermal management.
FAKE A KNEE—STUDENTS DEVELOP ONE-OF-A-KIND DEVICE
YOUR DEPARTMENT, YOUR COLLEGE, YOUR SUCCESS
PAID
Syracuse University College of Engineering and Computer Science Syracuse, NY 13244-1240
Professors Mark Glauser and Jacques Lewalle were awarded a $303,896 grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to continue to address this deficiency by studying fundamental turbulence mechanisms in multi-stream complex nozzle configurations that are of interest to the Air Force. The ultimate goal is to gain a better understanding of flow in advanced air vehicle designs and to lay groundwork for intelligent flow control and more efficient aircraft.
In cooling mode, the system freezes a phase-change material at night and releases the stored cooling as a breeze of 72-degree air when the desk is occupied. In heating mode, the system draws heat from the phase-change material and uses a heat pump to boosts the temperature of its blown air to 95 degrees. If adopted by an entire office, the system could save more than 20 percent of the total energy provided for heating and cooling.
Gifts from donors like you contribute to classroom upgrades like the Sandra and Avi Nash Collaborative Classroom used by professors like Professor John Dannenhoffer to innovate engineering education. They pay for state-of-the-art laboratory equipment needed to conduct groundbreaking research like Professor Maroo’s. Gifts provide students like Riley Gourde with educational experiences that simply could not exist without our donors’ steadfast commitment.
UNCOVERING FUNDAMENTALS OF JET PROPULSION AND NOISE
NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE
She called upon students Ryan Olson ’14, G’16 and Gabriel Smolnycki ’17 to develop a custom piece of equipment to test biomimetic materials that may one day be used to patch cartilage damage. The result is the 6-Axis CNC Biotribometer—a simulator capable of mimicking the complex motion of a walking gait cycle of the human knee. It is able to quantify the friction response and wear rate of natural and synthetic material and collect wear particles for further analysis. A novel feature of the device is its ability to operate in a simulated in-vivo environment where joint capsule
CLEANER COMBUSTION THROUGH LASER IGNITION Despite big improvements to engine technology over the years, ignition methods have remained the same.
temperature, relative humidity, and atmospheric conditions can be regulated. This makes it possible to also test scaffolds with living cells in the device.
I
n Professor Benjamin Akih-Kumgeh’s lab, researchers use a focused laser beam for ignition at very low fuel proportions. This is difficult to achieve using a spark plug and could provide cleaner combustion. Laser ignition also introduces the ability to ignite various kinds of fuels, including gasoline, biofuels, and natural gas. In a recent study, researchers compared laser ignition of methane to that of renewable biogas to determine the minimum energy required for ignition and observe how unsuccessful ignition may occur in each case. They were able to link variations in required laser energy under different mixture proportions to the prevailing pressures, temperatures, and focusing optics. One day, this technology could be used in electric power generation and even in vehicles. By exploring the use of renewable biofuel, improving fuel efficiency, and reducing emissions, the team demonstrates that combustion has a place in sustainability that many people don’t realize.
USING NANOTECHNOLOGY TO COOL TOMORROW’S TECH All electronics heat up when they are operating. The more work they do, the hotter they get, and that can diminish their performance significantly.
R
apid and efficient cooling is going to be required to make faster and smaller next-generation computer chips and energy conversion devices possible.
One way to cool them is with boiling—currently the most effective way to remove heat from a surface. Unfortunately, it has its limitations. In boiling, heat removal tops off at 100 to 300 watts per square centimeter of area. While substantial, this is still not enough for next-generation devices where cooling rates of more than 1,000 watts per square centimeter are desired. Professor Shalabh Maroo has been awarded a $500,000 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant to investigate the fundamental physics associated with
SPRING 2016
nanoscale meniscus evaporation and passive liquid flow to remove large amounts of heat from small surfaces in very short amounts of time. His research aims to prevent boiling with use of nanotechnology to achieve nanoscale evaporation, which can remove 10 times as much heat as boiling. Eventually, this knowledge could be applied to next-generation heat exchangers for thermal management of electronics and renewable energy technologies, such as concentrated solar photovoltaic cells.
TEACHING DRONES TO STAY ON TARGET
A FUEL CELL IN EVERY HOME
NEW FACULTY
When the power goes out in our homes, many people only have the option of waiting until it comes back on.
A
s we begin living in a world where drones are used for everything from delivering packages to monitoring the health of a remote forested area, there needs to be a way to ensure that drones, regardless of whether they can access a signal, can find their way.
B
To be built with the support of Millennium Engineering, this 1,200-square-foot, walled-in area will allow Sanyal to test different scenarios. Rather than programming a route for the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), Sanyal and his team will provide them with waypoints to reach and program the vehicles to autonomously navigate around obstacles and avoid collisions to a destination using only onboard sensors. The facility will be large enough to test single UAVs, teams of UAVs, and possibly even unmanned ground vehicles that communicate with UAVs.
Hamid Dalir Associate Professor Ph.D. Tokyo Institute of Technology
Michael Roppo Assistant Professor of Practice Ph.D. Northwestern University
Amit K. Sanyal Associate Professor Ph.D. University of Michigan
Research focus: Aircraft structural design, multi-disciplinary design optimization, development of aerospace design tools, structural analysis, and composite and nanotechnology in aerospace.
Research focus: Fluid flow stability, free surface flows, asymptotics and bifurcation of flows, numerical optimal control, and robotics.
Research focus: Nonlinear dynamics, geometric control, nonlinear estimation, geometric mechanics, aerospace control, and mobile robots.
In the Combustion and Energy Research (COMER) lab, Professor Jeongmin Ahn and his graduate students are developing just such a solution. By working to integrate flame-assisted fuel cells (FFCs) into fuel-fired furnaces or boilers already present in many homes, they aim to transform home furnaces into FFC combined heating and micro power systems. In their lab, Ahn’s team is integrating FFCs with furnace burners in a modified setup to allow staged combustion. They are analyzing the fuel cell’s performance and its ability to undergo extensive thermal cycling. In addition, they will complete a market analysis and economic assessment of applications for the technology.
RESEARCH AREAS
24 507 # of Faculty
ut what if we were able to transform existing home heating systems into micro power systems that generate both heat and electricity? Such a technology could have benefits that extend beyond emergency situations. It would keep the lights on during power outages, while simultaneously offsetting up to 20 percent of residential electrical power loads.
Professor Amit Sanyal is exploring how drones can operate in GPS-denied environments and under real-life conditions such as wind and rain. And, he will have an exciting new facility at the Syracuse Center of Excellence to complete his research.
FACTS AND STATS
# of Undergraduate Students
67 43
# of Master’s Students
# of Ph.D. Students
Aerodynamics and Propulsion
Design and Optimization
Energy Conversion and Heat Transfer
Energy Efficiency and Environmental Systems
Energy Sources, Conversion, and Conservation
Manufacturing and Engineering Systems
Fluid Mechanics
Smart Materials for Health Care
Solid Mechanics and Materials
Degrees Awarded May 2014–2015
102 Undergraduate
112 Graduate
Their research, funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, will ultimately provide resilience to the heating and power infrastructure of current buildings.
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT Erika Rodriguez, G’08, G’12 Erika Rodriguez, a two-time alumna of the College, is researching and characterizing thermal protection systems material performance during re-entry at NASA’s Ames Research Center. She attended the Orion EFT-1 launch at Kennedy Space Center and had the task of extracting material from the heat shield flown on the Orion to study its material response post-flight. “The incredible network and support I had during my five years at Syracuse University’s College of Mechanical and Aerospace
MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERING
Engineering were invaluable. I gained lifetime mentors that have coached me to excel in my professional career at NASA Ames. My academic career at Syracuse University laid the foundation for my understanding of material science and helped me to develop extensive knowledge and experience in research and development of novel materials for practical applications.”
Roger Schmidt Traugott Distinguished Professor Ph.D. University of Minnesota
Teng Zhang Assistant Professor Ph.D. Brown University
National Academy of Engineering Member Research focus: Green data centers, energy sources, conversion, and conservation.
Research focus: Solid mechanics, mechanics and multi-physics of soft materials, nano-mechanics, and bio-inspired design.
The addition of five new faculty members in the past year has expanded our department’s course offerings and expertise in aerodynamics and propulsion, solid and fluid dynamics, and sustainable technology.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
Riley Gourde ’16
Professor Melissa Green A childhood interest in marine biology coupled with an introduction to fluid mechanics during graduate school led Professor Melissa Green to devote her research to experimental fluid dynamics. She has a fascination with biologically inspired fluid problems, such as fish propelling themselves through water. In fact, her research contributes to an Office of Naval Research program that aims to create underwater vessels that mimic, and even improve upon, the movement of underwater wildlife.
In this and other applications, including the dynamics of flame propagating through turbulent flow, Green explores the organization of fluid motion in coherent structures and tries to understand fluid phenomena by characterizing the behavior of these structures. To do this, she uses an approach called Lagrangian coherent structures. Green applies this method to both experimental data from a simple flapping panel experiment and large-scale simulation of turbulent reacting flow.
Riley Gourde is still putting the final touches on his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering, but he’s already applying his knowledge to improve sustainability for the manufacturing industry in New York State. Since his junior year he has been an energy analyst for the Syracuse University Industrial Assessment Center. Gourde and his teammates conduct energy audits in manufacturing facilities to decrease their energy usage and increase their efficiency. “I have had a rewarding educational experience at SU. Working at the IAC has helped me improve skills such as time management
and creative problem solving which have helped me excel in my program,“ says Gourde. In addition, he attributes his academic success to his work ethic and the strong relationships he has formed with faculty and peers in the IAC. One such connection has led to Gourde continuing his education at SU this fall, where he will pursue a master’s degree in energy systems engineering under the tutelage of Professor H. Ezzat Khalifa.
ENDING THE THERMOSTAT WARS, SAVING ENERGY Thirteen percent of energy usage in the United States can be attributed to heating, ventilating, and air conditioning buildings. This also accounts for about 13 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
L
ast year, Professor H. Ezzat Khalifa and his team of researchers answered a call from ARPA-E to address this problem and were awarded $3.2 million from the Department of Energy and $319,000 from NYSTAR to develop a self-contained, micro-environmental control unit, smaller than a computer desktop tower, that can cool or heat the air in proximity to employees’ work stations. This will allow the building’s thermostat to be raised in the summer and lowered in the winter. Recently, NYSERDA awarded an additional $400,000 to develop a version of the system for electric demand reduction in New York City on hot summer days.
With your help, there is no limit what your Department can achieve. Please consider giving online at eng-cs.syr.edu/givenow.
Department of
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
H
owever, there isn’t currently a fundamental understanding of how air flows through these more complex geometries. This gap in knowledge needs to be closed to expand aerospace engineers’ ability to develop next-generation airplanes for the U.S. Air Force.
When patients undergo traditional knee replacement surgery, the bone and cartilage that make up their knee joint are replaced with one built with metal, plastic, and polymers.
A
long with their natural joint, patients lose a certain quality of life. Despite significant advances in artificial joints, Professor Michelle Blum sees a distinct need for better solutions and has made repairing knee joints a primary focus of her research.
We share these accomplishments with you because you are a part of us. As an alumnus or a friend of this Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, you have contributed to our shared success by your very association. A great many of you have also generously helped fund the endeavors highlighted within this newsletter.
VISIT US ON FACEBOOK @ENGINEERINGSU @ENGINEERINGSU CONNECT WITH US ENG-CS.SYR.EDU
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
Unlike the circular nozzles of traditional jet engines, modern aircraft like the F-117 and F-35 feature nozzles with different shapes and configurations to fit the airframe and improve the aircraft’s performance, adaptive control, fuel efficiency, and cooling for thermal management.
FAKE A KNEE—STUDENTS DEVELOP ONE-OF-A-KIND DEVICE
YOUR DEPARTMENT, YOUR COLLEGE, YOUR SUCCESS
PAID
Syracuse University College of Engineering and Computer Science Syracuse, NY 13244-1240
Professors Mark Glauser and Jacques Lewalle were awarded a $303,896 grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to continue to address this deficiency by studying fundamental turbulence mechanisms in multi-stream complex nozzle configurations that are of interest to the Air Force. The ultimate goal is to gain a better understanding of flow in advanced air vehicle designs and to lay groundwork for intelligent flow control and more efficient aircraft.
In cooling mode, the system freezes a phase-change material at night and releases the stored cooling as a breeze of 72-degree air when the desk is occupied. In heating mode, the system draws heat from the phase-change material and uses a heat pump to boosts the temperature of its blown air to 95 degrees. If adopted by an entire office, the system could save more than 20 percent of the total energy provided for heating and cooling.
Gifts from donors like you contribute to classroom upgrades like the Sandra and Avi Nash Collaborative Classroom used by professors like Professor John Dannenhoffer to innovate engineering education. They pay for state-of-the-art laboratory equipment needed to conduct groundbreaking research like Professor Maroo’s. Gifts provide students like Riley Gourde with educational experiences that simply could not exist without our donors’ steadfast commitment.
UNCOVERING FUNDAMENTALS OF JET PROPULSION AND NOISE
NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE
She called upon students Ryan Olson ’14, G’16 and Gabriel Smolnycki ’17 to develop a custom piece of equipment to test biomimetic materials that may one day be used to patch cartilage damage. The result is the 6-Axis CNC Biotribometer—a simulator capable of mimicking the complex motion of a walking gait cycle of the human knee. It is able to quantify the friction response and wear rate of natural and synthetic material and collect wear particles for further analysis. A novel feature of the device is its ability to operate in a simulated in-vivo environment where joint capsule
CLEANER COMBUSTION THROUGH LASER IGNITION Despite big improvements to engine technology over the years, ignition methods have remained the same.
temperature, relative humidity, and atmospheric conditions can be regulated. This makes it possible to also test scaffolds with living cells in the device.
I
n Professor Benjamin Akih-Kumgeh’s lab, researchers use a focused laser beam for ignition at very low fuel proportions. This is difficult to achieve using a spark plug and could provide cleaner combustion. Laser ignition also introduces the ability to ignite various kinds of fuels, including gasoline, biofuels, and natural gas. In a recent study, researchers compared laser ignition of methane to that of renewable biogas to determine the minimum energy required for ignition and observe how unsuccessful ignition may occur in each case. They were able to link variations in required laser energy under different mixture proportions to the prevailing pressures, temperatures, and focusing optics. One day, this technology could be used in electric power generation and even in vehicles. By exploring the use of renewable biofuel, improving fuel efficiency, and reducing emissions, the team demonstrates that combustion has a place in sustainability that many people don’t realize.
USING NANOTECHNOLOGY TO COOL TOMORROW’S TECH All electronics heat up when they are operating. The more work they do, the hotter they get, and that can diminish their performance significantly.
R
apid and efficient cooling is going to be required to make faster and smaller next-generation computer chips and energy conversion devices possible.
One way to cool them is with boiling—currently the most effective way to remove heat from a surface. Unfortunately, it has its limitations. In boiling, heat removal tops off at 100 to 300 watts per square centimeter of area. While substantial, this is still not enough for next-generation devices where cooling rates of more than 1,000 watts per square centimeter are desired. Professor Shalabh Maroo has been awarded a $500,000 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant to investigate the fundamental physics associated with
SPRING 2016
nanoscale meniscus evaporation and passive liquid flow to remove large amounts of heat from small surfaces in very short amounts of time. His research aims to prevent boiling with use of nanotechnology to achieve nanoscale evaporation, which can remove 10 times as much heat as boiling. Eventually, this knowledge could be applied to next-generation heat exchangers for thermal management of electronics and renewable energy technologies, such as concentrated solar photovoltaic cells.
TEACHING DRONES TO STAY ON TARGET
A FUEL CELL IN EVERY HOME
NEW FACULTY
When the power goes out in our homes, many people only have the option of waiting until it comes back on.
A
s we begin living in a world where drones are used for everything from delivering packages to monitoring the health of a remote forested area, there needs to be a way to ensure that drones, regardless of whether they can access a signal, can find their way.
B
To be built with the support of Millennium Engineering, this 1,200-square-foot, walled-in area will allow Sanyal to test different scenarios. Rather than programming a route for the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), Sanyal and his team will provide them with waypoints to reach and program the vehicles to autonomously navigate around obstacles and avoid collisions to a destination using only onboard sensors. The facility will be large enough to test single UAVs, teams of UAVs, and possibly even unmanned ground vehicles that communicate with UAVs.
Hamid Dalir Associate Professor Ph.D. Tokyo Institute of Technology
Michael Roppo Assistant Professor of Practice Ph.D. Northwestern University
Amit K. Sanyal Associate Professor Ph.D. University of Michigan
Research focus: Aircraft structural design, multi-disciplinary design optimization, development of aerospace design tools, structural analysis, and composite and nanotechnology in aerospace.
Research focus: Fluid flow stability, free surface flows, asymptotics and bifurcation of flows, numerical optimal control, and robotics.
Research focus: Nonlinear dynamics, geometric control, nonlinear estimation, geometric mechanics, aerospace control, and mobile robots.
In the Combustion and Energy Research (COMER) lab, Professor Jeongmin Ahn and his graduate students are developing just such a solution. By working to integrate flame-assisted fuel cells (FFCs) into fuel-fired furnaces or boilers already present in many homes, they aim to transform home furnaces into FFC combined heating and micro power systems. In their lab, Ahn’s team is integrating FFCs with furnace burners in a modified setup to allow staged combustion. They are analyzing the fuel cell’s performance and its ability to undergo extensive thermal cycling. In addition, they will complete a market analysis and economic assessment of applications for the technology.
RESEARCH AREAS
24 507 # of Faculty
ut what if we were able to transform existing home heating systems into micro power systems that generate both heat and electricity? Such a technology could have benefits that extend beyond emergency situations. It would keep the lights on during power outages, while simultaneously offsetting up to 20 percent of residential electrical power loads.
Professor Amit Sanyal is exploring how drones can operate in GPS-denied environments and under real-life conditions such as wind and rain. And, he will have an exciting new facility at the Syracuse Center of Excellence to complete his research.
FACTS AND STATS
# of Undergraduate Students
67 43
# of Master’s Students
# of Ph.D. Students
Aerodynamics and Propulsion
Design and Optimization
Energy Conversion and Heat Transfer
Energy Efficiency and Environmental Systems
Energy Sources, Conversion, and Conservation
Manufacturing and Engineering Systems
Fluid Mechanics
Smart Materials for Health Care
Solid Mechanics and Materials
Degrees Awarded May 2014–2015
102 Undergraduate
112 Graduate
Their research, funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, will ultimately provide resilience to the heating and power infrastructure of current buildings.
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT Erika Rodriguez, G’08, G’12 Erika Rodriguez, a two-time alumna of the College, is researching and characterizing thermal protection systems material performance during re-entry at NASA’s Ames Research Center. She attended the Orion EFT-1 launch at Kennedy Space Center and had the task of extracting material from the heat shield flown on the Orion to study its material response post-flight. “The incredible network and support I had during my five years at Syracuse University’s College of Mechanical and Aerospace
MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERING
Engineering were invaluable. I gained lifetime mentors that have coached me to excel in my professional career at NASA Ames. My academic career at Syracuse University laid the foundation for my understanding of material science and helped me to develop extensive knowledge and experience in research and development of novel materials for practical applications.”
Roger Schmidt Traugott Distinguished Professor Ph.D. University of Minnesota
Teng Zhang Assistant Professor Ph.D. Brown University
National Academy of Engineering Member Research focus: Green data centers, energy sources, conversion, and conservation.
Research focus: Solid mechanics, mechanics and multi-physics of soft materials, nano-mechanics, and bio-inspired design.
The addition of five new faculty members in the past year has expanded our department’s course offerings and expertise in aerodynamics and propulsion, solid and fluid dynamics, and sustainable technology.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
Riley Gourde ’16
Professor Melissa Green A childhood interest in marine biology coupled with an introduction to fluid mechanics during graduate school led Professor Melissa Green to devote her research to experimental fluid dynamics. She has a fascination with biologically inspired fluid problems, such as fish propelling themselves through water. In fact, her research contributes to an Office of Naval Research program that aims to create underwater vessels that mimic, and even improve upon, the movement of underwater wildlife.
In this and other applications, including the dynamics of flame propagating through turbulent flow, Green explores the organization of fluid motion in coherent structures and tries to understand fluid phenomena by characterizing the behavior of these structures. To do this, she uses an approach called Lagrangian coherent structures. Green applies this method to both experimental data from a simple flapping panel experiment and large-scale simulation of turbulent reacting flow.
Riley Gourde is still putting the final touches on his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering, but he’s already applying his knowledge to improve sustainability for the manufacturing industry in New York State. Since his junior year he has been an energy analyst for the Syracuse University Industrial Assessment Center. Gourde and his teammates conduct energy audits in manufacturing facilities to decrease their energy usage and increase their efficiency. “I have had a rewarding educational experience at SU. Working at the IAC has helped me improve skills such as time management
and creative problem solving which have helped me excel in my program,“ says Gourde. In addition, he attributes his academic success to his work ethic and the strong relationships he has formed with faculty and peers in the IAC. One such connection has led to Gourde continuing his education at SU this fall, where he will pursue a master’s degree in energy systems engineering under the tutelage of Professor H. Ezzat Khalifa.
ENDING THE THERMOSTAT WARS, SAVING ENERGY Thirteen percent of energy usage in the United States can be attributed to heating, ventilating, and air conditioning buildings. This also accounts for about 13 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
L
ast year, Professor H. Ezzat Khalifa and his team of researchers answered a call from ARPA-E to address this problem and were awarded $3.2 million from the Department of Energy and $319,000 from NYSTAR to develop a self-contained, micro-environmental control unit, smaller than a computer desktop tower, that can cool or heat the air in proximity to employees’ work stations. This will allow the building’s thermostat to be raised in the summer and lowered in the winter. Recently, NYSERDA awarded an additional $400,000 to develop a version of the system for electric demand reduction in New York City on hot summer days.
With your help, there is no limit what your Department can achieve. Please consider giving online at eng-cs.syr.edu/givenow.
Department of
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
H
owever, there isn’t currently a fundamental understanding of how air flows through these more complex geometries. This gap in knowledge needs to be closed to expand aerospace engineers’ ability to develop next-generation airplanes for the U.S. Air Force.
When patients undergo traditional knee replacement surgery, the bone and cartilage that make up their knee joint are replaced with one built with metal, plastic, and polymers.
A
long with their natural joint, patients lose a certain quality of life. Despite significant advances in artificial joints, Professor Michelle Blum sees a distinct need for better solutions and has made repairing knee joints a primary focus of her research.
We share these accomplishments with you because you are a part of us. As an alumnus or a friend of this Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, you have contributed to our shared success by your very association. A great many of you have also generously helped fund the endeavors highlighted within this newsletter.
VISIT US ON FACEBOOK @ENGINEERINGSU @ENGINEERINGSU CONNECT WITH US ENG-CS.SYR.EDU
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
Unlike the circular nozzles of traditional jet engines, modern aircraft like the F-117 and F-35 feature nozzles with different shapes and configurations to fit the airframe and improve the aircraft’s performance, adaptive control, fuel efficiency, and cooling for thermal management.
FAKE A KNEE—STUDENTS DEVELOP ONE-OF-A-KIND DEVICE
YOUR DEPARTMENT, YOUR COLLEGE, YOUR SUCCESS
PAID
Syracuse University College of Engineering and Computer Science Syracuse, NY 13244-1240
Professors Mark Glauser and Jacques Lewalle were awarded a $303,896 grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to continue to address this deficiency by studying fundamental turbulence mechanisms in multi-stream complex nozzle configurations that are of interest to the Air Force. The ultimate goal is to gain a better understanding of flow in advanced air vehicle designs and to lay groundwork for intelligent flow control and more efficient aircraft.
In cooling mode, the system freezes a phase-change material at night and releases the stored cooling as a breeze of 72-degree air when the desk is occupied. In heating mode, the system draws heat from the phase-change material and uses a heat pump to boosts the temperature of its blown air to 95 degrees. If adopted by an entire office, the system could save more than 20 percent of the total energy provided for heating and cooling.
Gifts from donors like you contribute to classroom upgrades like the Sandra and Avi Nash Collaborative Classroom used by professors like Professor John Dannenhoffer to innovate engineering education. They pay for state-of-the-art laboratory equipment needed to conduct groundbreaking research like Professor Maroo’s. Gifts provide students like Riley Gourde with educational experiences that simply could not exist without our donors’ steadfast commitment.
UNCOVERING FUNDAMENTALS OF JET PROPULSION AND NOISE
NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE
She called upon students Ryan Olson ’14, G’16 and Gabriel Smolnycki ’17 to develop a custom piece of equipment to test biomimetic materials that may one day be used to patch cartilage damage. The result is the 6-Axis CNC Biotribometer—a simulator capable of mimicking the complex motion of a walking gait cycle of the human knee. It is able to quantify the friction response and wear rate of natural and synthetic material and collect wear particles for further analysis. A novel feature of the device is its ability to operate in a simulated in-vivo environment where joint capsule
CLEANER COMBUSTION THROUGH LASER IGNITION Despite big improvements to engine technology over the years, ignition methods have remained the same.
temperature, relative humidity, and atmospheric conditions can be regulated. This makes it possible to also test scaffolds with living cells in the device.
I
n Professor Benjamin Akih-Kumgeh’s lab, researchers use a focused laser beam for ignition at very low fuel proportions. This is difficult to achieve using a spark plug and could provide cleaner combustion. Laser ignition also introduces the ability to ignite various kinds of fuels, including gasoline, biofuels, and natural gas. In a recent study, researchers compared laser ignition of methane to that of renewable biogas to determine the minimum energy required for ignition and observe how unsuccessful ignition may occur in each case. They were able to link variations in required laser energy under different mixture proportions to the prevailing pressures, temperatures, and focusing optics. One day, this technology could be used in electric power generation and even in vehicles. By exploring the use of renewable biofuel, improving fuel efficiency, and reducing emissions, the team demonstrates that combustion has a place in sustainability that many people don’t realize.
USING NANOTECHNOLOGY TO COOL TOMORROW’S TECH All electronics heat up when they are operating. The more work they do, the hotter they get, and that can diminish their performance significantly.
R
apid and efficient cooling is going to be required to make faster and smaller next-generation computer chips and energy conversion devices possible.
One way to cool them is with boiling—currently the most effective way to remove heat from a surface. Unfortunately, it has its limitations. In boiling, heat removal tops off at 100 to 300 watts per square centimeter of area. While substantial, this is still not enough for next-generation devices where cooling rates of more than 1,000 watts per square centimeter are desired. Professor Shalabh Maroo has been awarded a $500,000 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant to investigate the fundamental physics associated with
SPRING 2016
nanoscale meniscus evaporation and passive liquid flow to remove large amounts of heat from small surfaces in very short amounts of time. His research aims to prevent boiling with use of nanotechnology to achieve nanoscale evaporation, which can remove 10 times as much heat as boiling. Eventually, this knowledge could be applied to next-generation heat exchangers for thermal management of electronics and renewable energy technologies, such as concentrated solar photovoltaic cells.
TEACHING DRONES TO STAY ON TARGET
A FUEL CELL IN EVERY HOME
NEW FACULTY
When the power goes out in our homes, many people only have the option of waiting until it comes back on.
A
s we begin living in a world where drones are used for everything from delivering packages to monitoring the health of a remote forested area, there needs to be a way to ensure that drones, regardless of whether they can access a signal, can find their way.
B
To be built with the support of Millennium Engineering, this 1,200-square-foot, walled-in area will allow Sanyal to test different scenarios. Rather than programming a route for the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), Sanyal and his team will provide them with waypoints to reach and program the vehicles to autonomously navigate around obstacles and avoid collisions to a destination using only onboard sensors. The facility will be large enough to test single UAVs, teams of UAVs, and possibly even unmanned ground vehicles that communicate with UAVs.
Hamid Dalir Associate Professor Ph.D. Tokyo Institute of Technology
Michael Roppo Assistant Professor of Practice Ph.D. Northwestern University
Amit K. Sanyal Associate Professor Ph.D. University of Michigan
Research focus: Aircraft structural design, multi-disciplinary design optimization, development of aerospace design tools, structural analysis, and composite and nanotechnology in aerospace.
Research focus: Fluid flow stability, free surface flows, asymptotics and bifurcation of flows, numerical optimal control, and robotics.
Research focus: Nonlinear dynamics, geometric control, nonlinear estimation, geometric mechanics, aerospace control, and mobile robots.
In the Combustion and Energy Research (COMER) lab, Professor Jeongmin Ahn and his graduate students are developing just such a solution. By working to integrate flame-assisted fuel cells (FFCs) into fuel-fired furnaces or boilers already present in many homes, they aim to transform home furnaces into FFC combined heating and micro power systems. In their lab, Ahn’s team is integrating FFCs with furnace burners in a modified setup to allow staged combustion. They are analyzing the fuel cell’s performance and its ability to undergo extensive thermal cycling. In addition, they will complete a market analysis and economic assessment of applications for the technology.
RESEARCH AREAS
24 507 # of Faculty
ut what if we were able to transform existing home heating systems into micro power systems that generate both heat and electricity? Such a technology could have benefits that extend beyond emergency situations. It would keep the lights on during power outages, while simultaneously offsetting up to 20 percent of residential electrical power loads.
Professor Amit Sanyal is exploring how drones can operate in GPS-denied environments and under real-life conditions such as wind and rain. And, he will have an exciting new facility at the Syracuse Center of Excellence to complete his research.
FACTS AND STATS
# of Undergraduate Students
67 43
# of Master’s Students
# of Ph.D. Students
Aerodynamics and Propulsion
Design and Optimization
Energy Conversion and Heat Transfer
Energy Efficiency and Environmental Systems
Energy Sources, Conversion, and Conservation
Manufacturing and Engineering Systems
Fluid Mechanics
Smart Materials for Health Care
Solid Mechanics and Materials
Degrees Awarded May 2014–2015
102 Undergraduate
112 Graduate
Their research, funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, will ultimately provide resilience to the heating and power infrastructure of current buildings.
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT Erika Rodriguez, G’08, G’12 Erika Rodriguez, a two-time alumna of the College, is researching and characterizing thermal protection systems material performance during re-entry at NASA’s Ames Research Center. She attended the Orion EFT-1 launch at Kennedy Space Center and had the task of extracting material from the heat shield flown on the Orion to study its material response post-flight. “The incredible network and support I had during my five years at Syracuse University’s College of Mechanical and Aerospace
MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERING
Engineering were invaluable. I gained lifetime mentors that have coached me to excel in my professional career at NASA Ames. My academic career at Syracuse University laid the foundation for my understanding of material science and helped me to develop extensive knowledge and experience in research and development of novel materials for practical applications.”
Roger Schmidt Traugott Distinguished Professor Ph.D. University of Minnesota
Teng Zhang Assistant Professor Ph.D. Brown University
National Academy of Engineering Member Research focus: Green data centers, energy sources, conversion, and conservation.
Research focus: Solid mechanics, mechanics and multi-physics of soft materials, nano-mechanics, and bio-inspired design.
The addition of five new faculty members in the past year has expanded our department’s course offerings and expertise in aerodynamics and propulsion, solid and fluid dynamics, and sustainable technology.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
Riley Gourde ’16
Professor Melissa Green A childhood interest in marine biology coupled with an introduction to fluid mechanics during graduate school led Professor Melissa Green to devote her research to experimental fluid dynamics. She has a fascination with biologically inspired fluid problems, such as fish propelling themselves through water. In fact, her research contributes to an Office of Naval Research program that aims to create underwater vessels that mimic, and even improve upon, the movement of underwater wildlife.
In this and other applications, including the dynamics of flame propagating through turbulent flow, Green explores the organization of fluid motion in coherent structures and tries to understand fluid phenomena by characterizing the behavior of these structures. To do this, she uses an approach called Lagrangian coherent structures. Green applies this method to both experimental data from a simple flapping panel experiment and large-scale simulation of turbulent reacting flow.
Riley Gourde is still putting the final touches on his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering, but he’s already applying his knowledge to improve sustainability for the manufacturing industry in New York State. Since his junior year he has been an energy analyst for the Syracuse University Industrial Assessment Center. Gourde and his teammates conduct energy audits in manufacturing facilities to decrease their energy usage and increase their efficiency. “I have had a rewarding educational experience at SU. Working at the IAC has helped me improve skills such as time management
and creative problem solving which have helped me excel in my program,“ says Gourde. In addition, he attributes his academic success to his work ethic and the strong relationships he has formed with faculty and peers in the IAC. One such connection has led to Gourde continuing his education at SU this fall, where he will pursue a master’s degree in energy systems engineering under the tutelage of Professor H. Ezzat Khalifa.
TEACHING DRONES TO STAY ON TARGET
A FUEL CELL IN EVERY HOME
NEW FACULTY
When the power goes out in our homes, many people only have the option of waiting until it comes back on.
A
s we begin living in a world where drones are used for everything from delivering packages to monitoring the health of a remote forested area, there needs to be a way to ensure that drones, regardless of whether they can access a signal, can find their way.
B
To be built with the support of Millennium Engineering, this 1,200-square-foot, walled-in area will allow Sanyal to test different scenarios. Rather than programming a route for the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), Sanyal and his team will provide them with waypoints to reach and program the vehicles to autonomously navigate around obstacles and avoid collisions to a destination using only onboard sensors. The facility will be large enough to test single UAVs, teams of UAVs, and possibly even unmanned ground vehicles that communicate with UAVs.
Hamid Dalir Associate Professor Ph.D. Tokyo Institute of Technology
Michael Roppo Assistant Professor of Practice Ph.D. Northwestern University
Amit K. Sanyal Associate Professor Ph.D. University of Michigan
Research focus: Aircraft structural design, multi-disciplinary design optimization, development of aerospace design tools, structural analysis, and composite and nanotechnology in aerospace.
Research focus: Fluid flow stability, free surface flows, asymptotics and bifurcation of flows, numerical optimal control, and robotics.
Research focus: Nonlinear dynamics, geometric control, nonlinear estimation, geometric mechanics, aerospace control, and mobile robots.
In the Combustion and Energy Research (COMER) lab, Professor Jeongmin Ahn and his graduate students are developing just such a solution. By working to integrate flame-assisted fuel cells (FFCs) into fuel-fired furnaces or boilers already present in many homes, they aim to transform home furnaces into FFC combined heating and micro power systems. In their lab, Ahn’s team is integrating FFCs with furnace burners in a modified setup to allow staged combustion. They are analyzing the fuel cell’s performance and its ability to undergo extensive thermal cycling. In addition, they will complete a market analysis and economic assessment of applications for the technology.
RESEARCH AREAS
24 507 # of Faculty
ut what if we were able to transform existing home heating systems into micro power systems that generate both heat and electricity? Such a technology could have benefits that extend beyond emergency situations. It would keep the lights on during power outages, while simultaneously offsetting up to 20 percent of residential electrical power loads.
Professor Amit Sanyal is exploring how drones can operate in GPS-denied environments and under real-life conditions such as wind and rain. And, he will have an exciting new facility at the Syracuse Center of Excellence to complete his research.
FACTS AND STATS
# of Undergraduate Students
67 43
# of Master’s Students
# of Ph.D. Students
Aerodynamics and Propulsion
Design and Optimization
Energy Conversion and Heat Transfer
Energy Efficiency and Environmental Systems
Energy Sources, Conversion, and Conservation
Manufacturing and Engineering Systems
Fluid Mechanics
Smart Materials for Health Care
Solid Mechanics and Materials
Degrees Awarded May 2014–2015
102 Undergraduate
112 Graduate
Their research, funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, will ultimately provide resilience to the heating and power infrastructure of current buildings.
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT Erika Rodriguez, G’08, G’12 Erika Rodriguez, a two-time alumna of the College, is researching and characterizing thermal protection systems material performance during re-entry at NASA’s Ames Research Center. She attended the Orion EFT-1 launch at Kennedy Space Center and had the task of extracting material from the heat shield flown on the Orion to study its material response post-flight. “The incredible network and support I had during my five years at Syracuse University’s College of Mechanical and Aerospace
MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERING
Engineering were invaluable. I gained lifetime mentors that have coached me to excel in my professional career at NASA Ames. My academic career at Syracuse University laid the foundation for my understanding of material science and helped me to develop extensive knowledge and experience in research and development of novel materials for practical applications.”
Roger Schmidt Traugott Distinguished Professor Ph.D. University of Minnesota
Teng Zhang Assistant Professor Ph.D. Brown University
National Academy of Engineering Member Research focus: Green data centers, energy sources, conversion, and conservation.
Research focus: Solid mechanics, mechanics and multi-physics of soft materials, nano-mechanics, and bio-inspired design.
The addition of five new faculty members in the past year has expanded our department’s course offerings and expertise in aerodynamics and propulsion, solid and fluid dynamics, and sustainable technology.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
Riley Gourde ’16
Professor Melissa Green A childhood interest in marine biology coupled with an introduction to fluid mechanics during graduate school led Professor Melissa Green to devote her research to experimental fluid dynamics. She has a fascination with biologically inspired fluid problems, such as fish propelling themselves through water. In fact, her research contributes to an Office of Naval Research program that aims to create underwater vessels that mimic, and even improve upon, the movement of underwater wildlife.
In this and other applications, including the dynamics of flame propagating through turbulent flow, Green explores the organization of fluid motion in coherent structures and tries to understand fluid phenomena by characterizing the behavior of these structures. To do this, she uses an approach called Lagrangian coherent structures. Green applies this method to both experimental data from a simple flapping panel experiment and large-scale simulation of turbulent reacting flow.
Riley Gourde is still putting the final touches on his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering, but he’s already applying his knowledge to improve sustainability for the manufacturing industry in New York State. Since his junior year he has been an energy analyst for the Syracuse University Industrial Assessment Center. Gourde and his teammates conduct energy audits in manufacturing facilities to decrease their energy usage and increase their efficiency. “I have had a rewarding educational experience at SU. Working at the IAC has helped me improve skills such as time management
and creative problem solving which have helped me excel in my program,“ says Gourde. In addition, he attributes his academic success to his work ethic and the strong relationships he has formed with faculty and peers in the IAC. One such connection has led to Gourde continuing his education at SU this fall, where he will pursue a master’s degree in energy systems engineering under the tutelage of Professor H. Ezzat Khalifa.
ENDING THE THERMOSTAT WARS, SAVING ENERGY Thirteen percent of energy usage in the United States can be attributed to heating, ventilating, and air conditioning buildings. This also accounts for about 13 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
L
ast year, Professor H. Ezzat Khalifa and his team of researchers answered a call from ARPA-E to address this problem and were awarded $3.2 million from the Department of Energy and $319,000 from NYSTAR to develop a self-contained, micro-environmental control unit, smaller than a computer desktop tower, that can cool or heat the air in proximity to employees’ work stations. This will allow the building’s thermostat to be raised in the summer and lowered in the winter. Recently, NYSERDA awarded an additional $400,000 to develop a version of the system for electric demand reduction in New York City on hot summer days.
With your help, there is no limit what your Department can achieve. Please consider giving online at eng-cs.syr.edu/givenow.
Department of
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
H
owever, there isn’t currently a fundamental understanding of how air flows through these more complex geometries. This gap in knowledge needs to be closed to expand aerospace engineers’ ability to develop next-generation airplanes for the U.S. Air Force.
When patients undergo traditional knee replacement surgery, the bone and cartilage that make up their knee joint are replaced with one built with metal, plastic, and polymers.
A
long with their natural joint, patients lose a certain quality of life. Despite significant advances in artificial joints, Professor Michelle Blum sees a distinct need for better solutions and has made repairing knee joints a primary focus of her research.
We share these accomplishments with you because you are a part of us. As an alumnus or a friend of this Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, you have contributed to our shared success by your very association. A great many of you have also generously helped fund the endeavors highlighted within this newsletter.
VISIT US ON FACEBOOK @ENGINEERINGSU @ENGINEERINGSU CONNECT WITH US ENG-CS.SYR.EDU
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
Unlike the circular nozzles of traditional jet engines, modern aircraft like the F-117 and F-35 feature nozzles with different shapes and configurations to fit the airframe and improve the aircraft’s performance, adaptive control, fuel efficiency, and cooling for thermal management.
FAKE A KNEE—STUDENTS DEVELOP ONE-OF-A-KIND DEVICE
YOUR DEPARTMENT, YOUR COLLEGE, YOUR SUCCESS
PAID
Syracuse University College of Engineering and Computer Science Syracuse, NY 13244-1240
Professors Mark Glauser and Jacques Lewalle were awarded a $303,896 grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to continue to address this deficiency by studying fundamental turbulence mechanisms in multi-stream complex nozzle configurations that are of interest to the Air Force. The ultimate goal is to gain a better understanding of flow in advanced air vehicle designs and to lay groundwork for intelligent flow control and more efficient aircraft.
In cooling mode, the system freezes a phase-change material at night and releases the stored cooling as a breeze of 72-degree air when the desk is occupied. In heating mode, the system draws heat from the phase-change material and uses a heat pump to boosts the temperature of its blown air to 95 degrees. If adopted by an entire office, the system could save more than 20 percent of the total energy provided for heating and cooling.
Gifts from donors like you contribute to classroom upgrades like the Sandra and Avi Nash Collaborative Classroom used by professors like Professor John Dannenhoffer to innovate engineering education. They pay for state-of-the-art laboratory equipment needed to conduct groundbreaking research like Professor Maroo’s. Gifts provide students like Riley Gourde with educational experiences that simply could not exist without our donors’ steadfast commitment.
UNCOVERING FUNDAMENTALS OF JET PROPULSION AND NOISE
NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE
She called upon students Ryan Olson ’14, G’16 and Gabriel Smolnycki ’17 to develop a custom piece of equipment to test biomimetic materials that may one day be used to patch cartilage damage. The result is the 6-Axis CNC Biotribometer—a simulator capable of mimicking the complex motion of a walking gait cycle of the human knee. It is able to quantify the friction response and wear rate of natural and synthetic material and collect wear particles for further analysis. A novel feature of the device is its ability to operate in a simulated in-vivo environment where joint capsule
CLEANER COMBUSTION THROUGH LASER IGNITION Despite big improvements to engine technology over the years, ignition methods have remained the same.
temperature, relative humidity, and atmospheric conditions can be regulated. This makes it possible to also test scaffolds with living cells in the device.
I
n Professor Benjamin Akih-Kumgeh’s lab, researchers use a focused laser beam for ignition at very low fuel proportions. This is difficult to achieve using a spark plug and could provide cleaner combustion. Laser ignition also introduces the ability to ignite various kinds of fuels, including gasoline, biofuels, and natural gas. In a recent study, researchers compared laser ignition of methane to that of renewable biogas to determine the minimum energy required for ignition and observe how unsuccessful ignition may occur in each case. They were able to link variations in required laser energy under different mixture proportions to the prevailing pressures, temperatures, and focusing optics. One day, this technology could be used in electric power generation and even in vehicles. By exploring the use of renewable biofuel, improving fuel efficiency, and reducing emissions, the team demonstrates that combustion has a place in sustainability that many people don’t realize.
USING NANOTECHNOLOGY TO COOL TOMORROW’S TECH All electronics heat up when they are operating. The more work they do, the hotter they get, and that can diminish their performance significantly.
R
apid and efficient cooling is going to be required to make faster and smaller next-generation computer chips and energy conversion devices possible.
One way to cool them is with boiling—currently the most effective way to remove heat from a surface. Unfortunately, it has its limitations. In boiling, heat removal tops off at 100 to 300 watts per square centimeter of area. While substantial, this is still not enough for next-generation devices where cooling rates of more than 1,000 watts per square centimeter are desired. Professor Shalabh Maroo has been awarded a $500,000 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant to investigate the fundamental physics associated with
SPRING 2016
nanoscale meniscus evaporation and passive liquid flow to remove large amounts of heat from small surfaces in very short amounts of time. His research aims to prevent boiling with use of nanotechnology to achieve nanoscale evaporation, which can remove 10 times as much heat as boiling. Eventually, this knowledge could be applied to next-generation heat exchangers for thermal management of electronics and renewable energy technologies, such as concentrated solar photovoltaic cells.