Award Data

Accurate real-time waterborne pathogen detection is of paramount importance to security of U.S. military forces and installations. Fieldable high-throughput pathogen concentration is a critical analytical need for enhanced detection performance. Existing concentration methods are time-consuming, bulky, labor-intensive, power- and reagent-hungry, and consequently ill-suited for battlefield deployme ...

Higher efficiency solar cells are needed to reduce mass, volume, and cost of DoD space missions. However, to achieve higher efficiency and radiation hardness of the best to date multi-junction photovoltaic (PV) devices, several challenges must be addressed. This project aims to develop: 1) Quantum Well (QW)-based multi-junction cell that exhibits enhanced efficiency, and 2) Radiation-hardened PV c ...

The purpose of this STTR is to develop comprehensive detailed kinetics for oxidation of C-SiC-SiO2-rubber in extreme oxidizing environment. This material is used as a coating on the outer surface of Navy weapon systems. In order to predict the fate of this material under extreme conditions and mitigate the degradation of the coating, a comprehensive oxidation mechanism is required. In Phase I, CFD ...

The goal of the proposed research is to develop advanced computational tool for high-fidelity simulations of hypersonic non-equilibrium plasmas. Octree adaptive Cartesian mesh will be used for automatic mesh generation and dynamic mesh adaptation to plasma properties, particularly important for hypersonic flows with strong shock waves, transient laminar and turbulent domains with large gradients o ...

Higher efficiency solar cells are needed to reduce solar array mass, volume, and cost for Air Force space missions. Intermediate-band quantum-dot (QD) solar cells can yield dramatically higher efficiencies than current multi-junction (MJ) technologies. However, several issues must be addressed to demonstrate manufacturable, high efficiency devices. CFDRC aims to develop: 1) High-efficiency, ligh ...

The objective of this Phase I project is to evaluate the use of novel Laser Induced Surface Improvement (LISI) techniques to provide surface modification to substrate materials which will provide superior wear resistance in extreme conditions. The specific application of interest is the hypersonic metal-to-metal contact that occurs at high speed test track facilities that can and has lead to catas ...

The design of future hypersonic vehicles requires detailed understanding of flow regimes ranging from rarefied to continuum. Hypervelocity flows are characterized by high temperatures, real gas effects, nonequilibrium chemistry, and ionization. The goal of this project is to develop unified kinetic/continuum solution methods with automatic domain decomposition for a wide range of Air Force applic ...

To build a more intelligent grid, electric utilities must now construct a new architecture from connected, standard technologies. This smart architecture will connect SCADA systems so they can interact more efficiently. It will employ distributed monitoring and power-use optimization. It will also connect SCADA networks to corporate networks, wireless systems, and remote monitoring stations. ...

Detecting explosives and weapons under clothing or in hand carried packages, and imaging terrain and objects through fog and smoke are two high-priority needs that can be met using light in the Terahertz frequency range. However, to image concealed threats, and aid in navigation in fog and smoke, a practical, low cost THz camera is needed. Intelligent Optical Systems (IOS) in collaboration with Re ...

AEDC personnel have developed and demonstrated the effectiveness of coupling a control volume model with a wind tunnel control system. The performance of the model was hampered because parameters of the model were assumed to be constant, when they are likely variables. A method for using facility data to determine functional relationships defining these parameters would allow them to vary during ...