Author Archives: saemiller
Syzygy
Would you like to know the best possible method for solving a Syzygy problem? It is this. Having ascertained from your doctor that you are in a state of health to bear, without risk, severe brainwork and keen intellectual excitement, from the most candid of your intimate friends that you are in a pleasant temper, …
On the On-Set of Hypersonics
Almost everyone has their own definition of the term hypersonic. If we were to conduct something like a public opinion poll among those present, and asked everyone to name a Mach number above which the flow of a gas should properly be described as hypersonic there would be a majority of answers round about 5 …
Fourty One Years of the NASA STS
Associate Professor
It is my first day as an Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida. Just about six years ago I left NASA and joined as an Assistant Professor. My goals remain the same. First is to perform excellent research of fundamental nature. The second is to inspire others and myself. …
Congratulations to Dr. Alex Carr on Defending his Ph.D.
My graduate student, Alex Carr, defended his dissertation on sonic boom through the turbulent atmosphere. Title: SONIC BOOM PROPAGATION IN THE TURBULENT ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER Abstract: Sonic boom waveforms measured at ground level exhibit variability due to scattering and diffraction caused by the presence of turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). Sonic boom propagation …
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Congratulations to Dr. Jianhui Cheng on Defending her Ph.D.
I’m pleased to see my student Dr. Jianhui Cheng defend her Ph.D. successfully at University of Florida. Title: THE APPLICATION OF INSTABILITY WAVE THEORY ON ACOUSTIC RADIATION WITHIN OFF-DESIGN SUPERSONIC JETS AND ON TWO-POINT STATISTICS WITHIN HIGH-SPEED FLOW OVER SHARP AND BLUNT CONES WITH PLASMA ACTUATION Abstract: The intense noise generated by large-scale turbulent structures …
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On Gasdynamics
The information needed by design engineers of either aircraft or flow machinery is the pressure, the shearing stress, the temperature, and the heat flux vector imposed by the moving fluid over the surface of a specified solid body or bodies in a fluid stream of specified conditions. To supply this information is the main purpose …
On Aerodynamics
The whole problem of aerodynamics, both subsonic and supersonic, may be summed up in one sentence: Aerodynamics is the science of slowing-down the air without loss, after it has once been accelerated by any device, such as a wing or a wind tunnel. It is thus good aerodynamic practice to avoid accelerating the air more …
Wright’s Split Flap Patent
Sheet I of the U.S. Patent 1,504.663, by Orville Wright and J. M. H. Jacobs, illustrating their concept of a split flap.