Award Data

ABSTRACT: CU Aerospace (CUA) and team partner the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) propose to perform research, development and demonstration of experimental quenching free measurements of heat-release in a realistic highly turbulent plasma-assisted flame. Kinetics models will be correspondingly updated and detailed 3D multiphysics simulations will be validated by the measurements ...

ABSTRACT: The rapid continued development of unmanned air systems (UAS) is enabling new mission types, in-creased mission effects, and increased airman safety. However, these advances also present numerous challenges to airman-machine interaction, tactics development, and defense. The rapid development pace has produced a situation where new technologies are outpacing the knowledge of how best to ...

Ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) offers superior properties for structural applications. Existing UHPC design and production methods employ special materials and mixers. This project is developing mix design and fabrication methods for reliable production of UHPC with local materials and facilities. The Phase I project devised material selection criteria, proportioning methods and mixing pro ...

ABSTRACT: The Sonalysts Team proposes to develop a solution to establish secure cross enclave network interfaces that facilitate the flow of data between different levels of classification while improving and ensuring both security and data integrity. We will develop a prototype software application that will complement Cross-Domain Solution (CDS) installations by standardizing configuration and ...

Living systems rely on pervasive vascular networks to enable a plurality of biological function, exemplified by natural composite structures that are lightweight, high-strength, and capable of mass and energy transport. In contrast, synthetic composites possess high strength-to-weight ratios but lack the dynamic functionality of their natural counterparts. CU Aerospace, with team partners the Univ ...

The Air Force, will benefit from the radiation-hard, lightweight, flexible, high-efficiency solar cells, which will enable greater capability on future spacecraft. Spacecraft will have a longer lifetime in high radiation orbits; alternatively, less radiation shielding, and hence less weight, will be required to provide the same endurance available at present. In the longer term, lightweight, flexi ...

ABSTRACT: Energetic composite materials comprise crystalline energetic particles embedded in a polymer matrix. There is a need to gain insight into the microstructure and damage mechanisms of energetic composites via nondestructive evaluation. Applications of x-ray computed micro-tomography to resolve the microstructure of energetic composites are challenged by the low density gradient between th ...

ABSTRACT: Material extrusion 3D printing is an Additive Manufacturing method which utilizes a polymeric monofilanment as a feedstock in the fabrication of 3D objects. The relative simplicity compared to other AM technologies makes it an attractive manufacturing tool, however, characteristics inherent to this 3D printing method (namely air gaps between print rasters) makes it undesirable for the 3D ...

ABSTRACT: In order to achieve precise guidance, navigation and control in re-entry vehicles, aerodynamic shape must be accurately known throughout the flight trajectory. For this Phase I program an ultrasonic-based technique for real-time, non-intrusive (5 KHz) measurement of recession during ablation will be developed. The system combines the elements of ultrasonic thickness gauging technology w ...

ABSTRACT: The next generation of hypersonic and reentry vehicles being designed for the Department of Defense (DoD) applications will require advanced Thermal Protection System (TPS). While new TPS shields are under development, a key difficulty is the ability to predict and diagnose TPS performance. ElectroDynamic Applications (EDA) has been developing an optical diagnosticfor use during testi ...