3/26, 11 AM - noon, ADVANCE Seminar Series Invited Lecture on
"Understanding Explosions"

Please join us for the second annual Clark School of Engineering ADVANCE
Seminar Series Lecture!

 

When: Tuesday, March 26th from 11 AM to noon
Where: The Kaye Board Rooms in the Kim Engineering Building (rooms 1107 &
1111)
Who: Dr. Elaine Oran, member of the National Academy of Engineering and
Senior Research Scientist at the US Naval Research Laboratory in
Washington DC.


Presentation title and abstract:

Understanding Explosions: From Catastrophic Accidents to the Creation of
the Universe

Explosions occur when energy is released into a physical system faster
than it can be smoothly equilibrated.  Then the pressure increases
rapidly, shock waves form, and these waves propagate throughout the
system. This very general description covers scenarios that range from the
Big Bang, to thermonuclear explosions in stars, to magnetohydrodynamic
explosions in the sun, and to most of the chemical explosions on earth. In
each case, the explosion event is short and dramatic, and it is usually
with excitement and alarm that we see, hear, or feel the effects. In some
cases, we have attempted to control an explosion, as in propulsion and
combustion systems when we try to use the explosion process and the output
energy. In this presentation, we examine some of the fundamental fluid and
chemical properties and transitions that are the underpinnings of all
explosions. We consider how the transitions that occur on the smallest
scales can have catastrophic large-scale effects.

 
Alison Flatau, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of Research, Clark School of Engineering
Professor, Aerospace Engineering
Univ MD ADVANCE Professor
3110b Kim Bldg
Univ. Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
ph: 301-405-1959