Posted on March 2, 2001 at 9:35 a.m.
BIRMINGHAM, AL — Four University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) mechanical engineering students have been selected to participate in the NASA Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities program March 8 through March 17, including a flight on NASA’s KC-135a aircraft, also known as the Weightless Wonder, which simulates weightlessness in space, to conduct scientific research.
Southern Company is sponsoring the UAB trip and has provided one of its engineers, UAB graduate Mark Berry, to help the students as they prepare their research project for the trip.
The UAB student project, “Structure and Dynamics of Laminar Slot Diffusion Flames in Reduced Gravity” will study the combustion process. A diffusion flame results when a fuel and oxidizer are not mixed prior to combustion, for example a candle flame. The diffusion flame was chosen for this experiment because it represents one of the fundamental types of combustion processes and it is widely used in a number of industrial applications. The primary objective of the research is to determine how a slot diffusion flame will behave in a reduced gravity environment, thereby providing a better understanding of combustion.
Why is this important? Approximately 85 percent of the energy used in the United States involves combustion, according to John Baker, Ph.D., professor in the UAB Department of Materials and Mechanical Engineering and faculty advisor for the student group.
“A better understanding of combustion processes will lead to the development of more energy efficient combustion technologies and/or lessen the amount of money spent by companies to deal with pollution caused by combustion,” Baker said. “This type of research is critical to the development of highly efficient combustion technologies.”
NASA’s KC-135a aircraft is one of the few ways to do research in a reduced gravity environment without actually going into space. While the research is important for the students, a ride on the Weightless Wonder gives them the opportunity to experience what most people never will — total weightlessness.
The UAB student team includes John Carlson, son of John and Gloria Carson of Brandon, Fla., who graduated December 2000; Rob Hayes, son of Rob and Marie Hayes of Birmingham, who graduated in December 2000; David Murphy, a sophomore, son of Kenneth and Roseanne Murphy of Hoover; and Joe Davis, a junior, son of Sammy and Patti Davis of Alabaster. The students will be mentored by Peter Sunderland, Ph.D., of NASA’s National Center for Microgravity Research and joined by Harry Hutchinson, managing editor of the American Society for Mechanical Engineers' Mechanical Engineering magazine. This is the second group of students from UAB to fly on the Weightless Wonder; the first group went in August of 1999.
Southern Company is a leader in technology and research. The company's contributions to the preservation of our natural resources are many. They include providing resources in the effort to develop enhanced battery technology for electric vehicles; actively participating in photovoltaic research; evaluating the use of fuel cells as a source for electrical power; testing and supporting research into microturbines, one example of a stand-alone technology for on-site electric generation; and having a role in the development and distribution of a flywheel that acts as a mechanical battery, which may lead to ways of improving the reliability of our electricity supply through a system that stores electrical energy.