Portfolio Category: Engineering

Modern commercial aircraft would not be viable without the jet engine to achieve the necessary altitude and speed.  To extract the highest efficiency from a turbofan (pictured), the high pressure turbine design must be tuned to aerodynamic, heat transfer and structural challenges.  In particular, the surface of the inlet guide vane is exposed to gas…

Aerodynamic testing of swirling flows, such as the flow exiting a turbine blade (gas or wind), requires the measurement of three components of velocity and static pressure.  These four quantities can be extracted from a pressure probe with at least four distinct ports or holes.  To do this, the probe has to be calibrated in…

Multi-Component Separation is important in the chemical process industry.  For example, for the oil&gas application, the feed stock can be separated into many fuel products, such as methane, ethane, propane, n-butane and n-octane.  Effective separation is one that optimizes the $-value given the pricing of each product.   For example, a single-stage gas-to-oil ratio (GOR) can…

The push toward renewable energy considers electric power sources that have higher variation in output compared to fossil fueled plants.  While hydroelectricity is relatively constant over a day’s time, wind turbines and solar panels see variations on every time scale from hourly to monthly.  Control of the electric grid is challenged to optimize profit under…