The Propulsion Laboratory at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering
The Laboratory for Turbo Machinery at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
The Crumbine Aerospace Structures Laboratory at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering
The Aerodynamic Laboratory at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering
The Flight Control Laboratory at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering
The Laboratory for Design for Manufacturing at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering
The Laboratory for Combustion Processes and Fuels
The Propulsion Laboratory at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering.
Head: Prof. Alon Gany
Research Interest:
- Spray combustion; liquid fuel at conventional and supercritical conditions, gelled fuels.
- Suppression of combustion instabilities.
- Laser ignition of fuel spray.
- Combustion diagnostics.
- Ramjet and pulse jet engines.
- Development of refractory and temperature resistant materials by self – propagating high temperature synthesis (SHS).
Facilities:
- Control room for four (shielded) test cells, suitable for high pressure and reactive experiments.
- Mounting tables for rocket and air-breathing motors with thrust measurements and all other relevant instrumentation with their computer interface.
- Computerized video system and image processing.
- High pressure air supply (7 tons at 200 bars), flow rate up to 50 kg/s.
- air heater to 1500 k for 1 kg/s, 50 bars.
- Thermochemical computer codes (PEP; NASA SP 273).
- CFD code “phoenics” for predictions of reactive flows.
The Laboratory for Turbo Machinery at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Head: Prof. Dan Adler
The laboratory is aimed for theoretical and experimental investigations of steady and transient flow phenomena in turbo-machinery.
Research Interests:
- LDA measurements of the flow inside rotating passages of turbo – machinery including measurements of turbulent viscosity inside these passages.
- LDA measurements inside mixing regions of sub and supersonic jets injected into crossed flows including measurements of turbulent viscosity inside these passages.
Facilities:
- 2D laser Doppler anemometer (LDA) + data acquisition and processing system.
- A 400kw driving facility, variable speed of up to 60,000 rpm for compressors.
- A 400kw driving facility, variable speed of up to 6,000 rpm for turbines (using suction).
- Wind tunnel for crossed jets investigation.
- Experimental facility for measurements in blowers.
- 3 sub-sonic wind tunnels.
- Vibrations and speed control of motors.
- PC’s, data processing instrumentation, temperature, and pressure probes.
- CFD codes for 3d flows in centrifugal compressors.
- CFD code for jets in crossed flow (for vectored nozzle propulsion).
The Crumbine Aerospace Structures Laboratory at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering.
Head: Prof. Haim Abramovich.
The lab is involved in theoretical and experimental research, and instruction in advanced lightweight structures for aerospace, marine, ground transportation, robotics and other structural applications. It supports industrial activities pertinent to these topics with analysis, design and testing, as well as dissemination of advanced technical information.
Experimental activities are conducted in the Krumbein Aerospace Structures Laboratory (ASL) established in 1957. ASL also houses a Lab for Structural Dynamics and a Lab for Damage studies in Composite Structures. Faculty members and graduate students perform research in the laboratory and participate in the continuous development of advanced testing methodologies.
Present research areas:
- Adaptive smart structural systems for enhanced performance and improved structural efficiency.
- Stress and stability of advanced composite and metallic structures including, studies on post buckling behavior, failure mechanics of advanced composite structures, buckling behavior of shells in presence of damage, geometrical imperfections, load eccentricity, and combined and non-uniform loading, and development of nondestructive techniques (NDT) for detection and identification of damage and realistic load eccentricity and boundary conditions.
- Durability of repeatedly post-buckled stiffened composite and metal structures, application of acoustic emission for detection of fatigue damage and crack propagation from holes.
- Prevention of fatigue crack propagation in aircraft and marine structures.
- Dynamic buckling” under axial impact loading of composite and metallic bars, plates and shells.
- Damage resistance, durability, and residual strength due to impact and operational damage in composites.
- Theoretical and numerical investigation of the behavior of thin-walled and solid composite beams and helicopter blades.
- Helicopter vibration suppression by composite blade tailoring and stability augmentation of wing/rotor systems using composite induced elastic couplings and damping layers.
- Structural dynamic behavior of helicopter and wind-turbine rotating blades in various operating conditions including field measurements.
The lab has been involved in research and projects for the US Air Force, NASA, McDonell-Douglas Corp., Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, Lockheed, Israel Aircraft Industries, Israel Ministry of Defense, Israel Air Force and Navy, Israel Electric Co., EL-AL Israel Airlines, Israel Military Industries, RAFAEL-Israel Armament Development Authority and other major industries, European Aerospace Industry and agencies (Rolls Royce, Dornier GmBH, DFG DLR), Australian Maritime Coop Res. Center. It cooperates with research groups and laboratories around the world.
Laboratory facilities and equipment include:
- Three MTS electromechanical closed-loop testing machines of 10, 25 and 50 ton capacity, for controlled-ramp, constant amplitude cyclic loading, and flight spectrum loading simulation, which allows a large variety of research on stress, stability and fatigue.
- System for ultrasonic measurement of internal damage in composites.
- System for acoustic emission monitoring of static and fatigue damage in metals and composites.
- NDT system for simultaneous measurement of mode shapes and eigenfrequencies of vibrating shells, and their initial geometric imperfections and growth.
- A variety of instruments, including multi-channel data loggers and numerical processors for high-speed recording and processing of fast dynamic phenomena.
- Air guns to test damage tolerance of composite structures subjected to low- and high-speed impact of projectiles.
- A 650 ton-m-capacity stiffened floor to permit testing of very large-scale industrial type structural elements.
- High temperature structural facility for simulation of aero-thermal environment.
- Facilities for conducting fatigue tests up to 1100o C.
- Structural analysis computer codes: Abaqus, Panda , Bosor 4 and 5, Adina, Nastran, Dytran.
The Aerodynamic Laboratory at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering.
Head: Prof. Tanchum Weller
Research Interest:
- Flows with heat transfer and chemical reaction in and around engine components.
- Aerodynamic performance of blades profiles.
- Sub and super sonic engine diffusers.
- Thermal shielding & cooling methods.
Facilities:
- Wind tunnels; Subsonic to 30 m/s
Transonic (m=0.1 – 1.1), air flow to 60 kg/s
Supersonic (m=1.6 – 3), air flow to 60 kg/s - Air jets at m=0.3 – 2.0, air flow to 20 kg/s
- Design, production and testing of aerodynamic model.
- Design, production and testing of air flow sensors.
- Design, production and calibration of force balances, temperature and pressure sensors.
- Design and construction of jet engine test bench with vectored nozzle.
- High enthalpy wind tunnel, with controlled gas composition, for high temperature testing.
- Optical instrumentation for flow measurements.
- IR photography for temperature mapping.
- Turbulence laboratory with capability for non-stationary flows.
- Hot wire and PIV measurements.
- CFD code, Inca, for flows with heat transfer and combustion processes.
- Shock tube for chemical kinetics studies.
The Flight Control Laboratory at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering.
Head: Prof. Arthur J. Grunwald
Research interest:
- Development of real time simulation systems for jet engine performance testing.
- Development and simulator evaluation of jet engine control systems.
- Development and experimental evaluation of special – purpose displays for testing the jet engine and evaluating the performance of the control system.
- The above activities are geared towards developing a facility for virtual engine testing.
Facilities:
- Computers and peripheral equipment for real time simulation of dynamic systems: 3 silicon graphics inc. workstations various personal computers.
- A six – DOF moving – base simulator for simulating aircraft motions.
- Various control manipulators, serving as control input devices.
- Computer generated displays of aircraft instruments (dial indicators), a helmet – mounted display and head – up display
- A three – DOF flight table for guidance and navigation experiments, involving sensors in the loop.
The Laboratory for Design for Manufacturing at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering
Head: Prof. David Lior
Research interests:
- Computerized manufacturing process for three dimensional sheet metal structures .
- High speed rotating assemblies.
- Design and manufacturing of composite material structures.
Facilities:
- Analytical tools for the design of heat exchangers or gas turbine regeneration.
- Analytical tools or prediction of rotating combustor engine.
- Design point predictions of jet engines.
- Data base for composite materials for jet engines.
- Computer program for engineering design of centrifugal compressors.
- Computer program (ANSYS) for design of high speed rotating shafts.
- Design of high-pressure (20:1) centrifugal compressor (patent pending).
- The phoenics CFD code for fluid flow measurements in centrifugal compressors.
The Laboratory for Combustion Processes and Fuels
Head: Prof. Alex Burcat
Research Interests:
- Chemical kinetics of combustion and analysis of different fuels and air pollution processes.
- Combustion processes of waste and production of toxic materials as a result of the combustion.
Facilities:
- Single pulse shock tube and gas chromatographs.
- Computer programs for combustion processes simulation in premixed (well stirred) reactor.
- Computer programs for calculation and estimation of thermodynamic properties of molecules and radicals connected to combustion.