Current Areas of Research

High-Fidelity Simulations of Fire Suppression

High-resolution direct numerical simulations of droplet transport in turbulent combustion are being performed to understand the thermal, fluid, and chemical dynamics of fire suppression by fine water mist. Of particular interest is the relationship between the droplet distribution and predictive structural descriptors of the flow field topology. The results will be used to validate and improve moderate-resolution large-eddy simulations. 

Scientific Software Engineering

The applicability of state-of-the-art software engineering methodologies to scientific simulation is being studied.  Software complexity, data structure design, and dynamic memory management are being investigated through the application of formal methods,  object-oriented programming and component-base software engineering.  Of particular interest is the scalability of these techniques for high-performance, multithreaded code.

Modeling and Measuring Pyrolysis and Suppression

Closely coupled theoretical and experimental studies are being conducted to understand water mist behavior in total flooding suppression of unwanted fires. Models are being developed to predict water mist suppression of boundary-layer combustion. These models will simulate the charring (internal) and non-charring (surface) pyrolysis of solid materials and their interaction with water mist. Other modeling endeavors seek to improve the analytical techniques for predicting heat and smoke transfer associated with shipboard phenomena and experimental verification of the same.

Future Naval Capabilities (FNC) - Advanced Damage Countermeasure (ADC)

The FNC/ADC Program will demonstrate how usage of the alternative fire suppression agent water mist can be broadened to ship-wide applications. The use of an inert agent (e.g. nitrogen) in conjunction with water mist is being investigated to determine the hybrid system's impact on suppression of fires in various spaces, including electronics, storage and berthing space. Water mist technology is being further studied for its feasibility in mitigating damage from weapons' hits. Both applications for water mist are being considered for future ships (CVNX and DDX).

Live Fire Test and Evaluation

Research sponsored by Office of Secretary of Defense to look at the vulnerability of Navy Platforms.