Combustion

I have begun a new journey in the field of combustion. Currently I am reviewing flammability limits, heat release, flame extinction, acoustics, etc. There is some limited literature on acoustic waves from combustion. I am hopeful that I might eventually place these papers on a more grounded theoretical basis. Current models in use are mainly …

Impressionist Artist Garden in Norfolk Exhibit

This weekend I was able to visit the Artist’s Garden Exhibit at The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk Virginia. The exhibit is open until early September. Approximately seventy works are on display. This space shows American artists that used gardens essentially as laboratories for their studies in color theory in the impressionist style. Those …

Lyon Wildflowers

My good friend and colleague Alexandra sent me a picture of wildflowers near Lyon, France. I love wildflowers. Perhaps more interestingly Lyon is the location of the Aeroacoustics conference. I can imagine Camille Pissarro incorporating these into some of his countryside paintings. I think that a visit to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens is in order.

An Elegant Explanation of the Effect of Wing Sweepback in Delaying the Appearance of Shock Waves

Suppose a cylindrical wing (constant chord, incidence, etc.) is placed in an airstream at an angle of yaw — i.e., it is swept back. Now, even if the local speed of the air on the upper surface of the wing becomes supersonic, a shock wave cannot form there because it would have to be a …

Sonnet to Turbulence by Stanley Corrsin (1920-1986)

Sonnet to TurbulenceStanley Corrsin Shall we compare you to a liminar flow?You are more lovely and more sinuous.Rough winter winds shake branches free of snow,And summer’s plumes churn up in cumulus.How do we perceive you? Let me count the ways.A random vortex field with strain entwined.Fractal? Big and small swirls in the mazeMay give us …

Mathematical Relationships

I recently gave a talk at the NASA Langley 2015 Technical Working Group. Slides are available on my website under presentations. One interesting slide shows mathematical relationships between acoustic analogy (turbulence as a source of sound) and nonlinear propagation (Burgers’ equation).