SOCORRO, N.M. – Mechanical engineering professor Dr. Michael Hargather received a grant from Lawrence Livermore National Lab to study high-velocity projectiles.

Hargather said this grant will fund important science at New Mexico Tech, but also build collaborations with Livermore Lab. The project is titled “Quantitative Optical Measurement of Shock Interactions Around High-Velocity Projectiles.” Hargather is partnering with Dr. Alejandro Campos, principal investigator at Livermore Lab. The award is for three years, and about $385,000. The grant will fund master’s student Jason Falls (pictured at right in the lab) and his thesis research.

Hargather’s research group at New Mexico Tech will investigate the complex flowfields around high-velocity projectiles using optical measurement techniques. The work will apply traditional schlieren imaging and quantitative schlieren analysis, as well as developing new optical analysis methods to measure density fields around projectiles in flight. 

Hargather said the scenarios of interest will include projectiles in free flight. The optical diagnostic techniques to be developed and applied will allow increased fundamental understanding of the environment around projectiles in flight and produce experimental data which will be used to validate computational tools. 

The Lab’s Weapon Physics and Design (WPD) Academic Collaboration Team (ACT) University Program is in its second year. ACT-UP awards focus on increasing joint research efforts between the Lab and universities.

(The image of the density field around a 50 BMG bullet (0.55" caliber).  High-speed imaging is used to record a schlieren image of the projectile.  The image is then analyzed through a quantitative schlieren process to produce the quantitative density field.  The scale is density in kg/m^3.  The density plot is overlaid on the raw schlieren image of the bullet traveling at about Mach 2.)  

The ACT-UP awards emphasize key outcomes including innovation and basic science to establish long-term relations on target topics with target universities; products comprising of data, methods and technology where the Lab taps into university relations to respond with agility to WPD Program challenges.

The ACT-UP awards also serve as a pipeline to promote education, recruiting and hiring to build on the Lab’s university relationships for a workforce with cultivated skills, knowledge and abilities.

“The ACT-UP awards help advance the Lab’s Weapon Physics and Design missions by engaging university researchers,” said Rose McCallen, chair of the ACT. “We have had tremendous success in attracting some of the best researchers from various universities to collaborate with the Lab.”

– NMT –