An assistant professor at Mississippi State University is set to receive a $1.13 million grant from NASA to help design hypersonic vehicles used in space exploration.
MSU Department of Aerospace Engineering’s Dr. Vilas Shinde won the grant to develop a new flow stability and transition analysis tool, which will aid researchers and aircraft designers in understanding and predicting changes associated with the boundary layer — airflow in the vicinity of an aircraft’s surface during flight.
“Dr. Shinde has demonstrated the relevancy of his research by securing this award,” MSU Aerospace Engineering Department head Rani Sullivan said. “The accurate prediction of boundary layer transition is critical for the aerodynamic design of aircraft, especially for the aerothermodynamic design of hypersonic vehicles. We are proud that Dr. Shinde and his collaborators at NASA Langley and the University of Mississippi will have the opportunity to study and develop new technologies to address important issues for aircraft systems.”
Awarded through NASA’s established program to stimulate competitive research, the grant will fund Shinde’s work over three years. The funding includes $750,000 from NASA, with MSU and neighboring Ole Miss funding an additional $285,000 and $90,000 respectively. The core theoretical and computational development will be performed at MSU in coordination with NASA, while Ole Miss will conduct an experimental investigation.
“This is a very competitive award, so the happiest moment for me was when my abstract was selected for the full proposal development,” Shinde said. “I’m fortunate to collaborate with some of the finest scientists in the field.”
Shinde’s proposed project, Development of a Lagrangian Stability Analysis Technique Framework for High-Speed Boundary Layers, uses Lagrangian modal analysis to efficiently investigate fluid flow stability and transition in complex flow configurations. The assistant professor believes this complements existing NASA simulation capabilities and the technique has several applications, aiding NASA in future aircraft development and space exploration.
“If we think of a spaceplane re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, it’s essential for scientists to know how and where the airflow over the vehicle transitions to turbulence,” Shinde said. “Our goal is to develop this technique to provide new insights into the boundary layer stability and transition phenomena, an effort toward making space exploration safer.”
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