Professor Emeritus Dr. Lee Langston (Mechanical 
Engineering) authored an article appearing in the December 2013 issue of Mechanical Engineering magazine, entitled “Powering Out of Trouble,” which discussed Pratt & Whitney’s challenges in developing the J58 turbojet engine that powered Lockheed’s SR-71 Blackbird supersonic reconnaissance aircraft. Read the article here.
Faculty News
In Memoriam
In Memoriam
The School of Engineering community mourns the loss of professor emeritus Eli Dabora, who passed away November 8, 2013. Dr. Dabora joined UConn in 1968 as a professor of Aerospace Engineering and, later
, Mechanical Engineering. With expertise in high speed combustion for propulsion, Dr. Dabora brought considerable knowhow in the combustion characteristics of fuels. He was particularly interested in understanding the science of detonation, how to initiate or suppress it, and its possible application to propulsion. During his years at UConn, he was admired and loved by his colleagues. Dr. Dabora earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees at MIT, and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, where he taught for five years before coming to UConn. Please read more about Eli’s career here and view his obituary here. Those who wish to share memories of Eli on his guest book may visit www.potterfuneralhome.com. A memorial service will be held in late December; the family requests that donations be made in lieu of flowers, to Windham Community Memorial Hospital, Willimantic, CT 06226.
Faculty Notes
Faculty Notes
Dr. Robert Gao, the Pratt & Whitney Chair Professor in 
Mechanical Engineering, was interviewed by a journal that also highlighted research excerpts of his work, in International Innovation, owned by a UK-based media company that compiles and disseminates science, research and technological innovations globally. The research excerpts focused on the development of sensing methods to quantify multiple parameters for quality control, and the importance of collaboration in polymer processing. They appeared on pp. 27- 29 of the September 2013 North America issue, entitled Era of Discovery.
Public-Private Partnership Advances Gas Turbine Materials Technology
Public-Private Partnership Advances Gas Turbine Materials Technology
By Victoria Chilinski (CLAS ’16) and Maurice Gell, Ph.D.
Drs. Maurice Gell and Eric Jordan have developed a new process for making ceramic thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) that are used extensively in gas turbine engines. This Solution Precursor Plasma Spray (SPPS) process allows the deposition of higher temperature, lower thermal conductivity TBCs that will provide significant fuel savings for aircraft and land-based gas turbines.
This technology captured the interest of HiFunda LLC, a Salt Lake City small business, in 2011. As a result, HiFunda LLC and UConn have teamed on two U.S. Department of Energy Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR) projects. The latest is a newly-begun Phase II award totaling $1 million, of which UConn receives $387,000 as the sub-contractor. The program, entitled “Ultra-High Temperature Thermal Barrier Coatings,” utilizes the SPPS process to deposit highly durable TBCs made from yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG), a high-temperature, low thermal conductivity ceramic that cannot be deposited with adequate durability using commercial TBC processes. The SPPS process uniquely provides YAG TBCs with a strain-tolerant microstructure that provides excellent durability in thermal cycle tests.
DOE is committed to increasing the energy efficiency of turbines through the use of thermal barrier coatings, which are highly advanced material systems that are applied to insulate the metallic components of machines operating at high temperatures. For these turbines to become more efficient, however, they must operate at a temperate above current thermal barrier coatings’ limit of 1200°C. Higher temperature thermal barrier coatings would permit engines to operate more efficiently at higher temperatures, thus saving fuel and reducing greenhouse emissions. Alternatively, the thermal barrier coatings can be used at the same turbine temperatures and provide improved turbine component durability.
HiFunda has established a Thermal Spray Facility within the technology incubator at UConn’s Depot campus, moved a senior researcher to UConn, and is providing funds for capital equipment and supplies. The company’s intention is to license this UConn-patented technology and to establish a new company at UConn to further develop and market the SPPS technology.
Initial results from the earlier Phase I HiFunda LLC/UConn DOE collaboration on this same technology were very promising. As a result, five U.S companies, including Pratt & Whitney, Praxair, Progressive Surface, Siemens Energy and Solar Turbines have become industrial partners to the Phase II program and will provide more than $250,000 of cost share funds. These companies will evaluate the SPPS YAG TBCs in specimen, rig, and engine tests and will evaluate the economics of the process in production facilities.
STTR is a highly competitive federal program coordinated by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which grants research and development funds to non-profit research institutions that partner with small businesses. The program combines the strengths of both non-profit research and small business’s innovation by introducing entrepreneurial skills to high-tech research efforts.
Faculty Honored
Dr. Wei Sun, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering. In recent years, four graduate students working in Dr. Sun’s laboratory received prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowships, Department of Education Graduate Assistantships in Areas of National Need (GAANN) fellowships, American Heart Association fellowships, and Ruth L. Kirchstein National Research Service Awards. Dr. Sun’s students have garnered numerous Best Paper awards and other honors.
Faculty, Hanchen Huang
Dr. Hanchen Huang, Connecticut Clean Energy Fund 
Professor in Sustainable Energy (Mechanical Engineering) has been invited to serve on the Editorial Board for physics topics, for the journal Nature Scientific Reports. During his two-year appointment, Dr. Huang will contribute toward the assessment of manuscripts for peer review, management of the peer review process and final editorial decisions regarding publication.
Faculty, Lee Langston
Professor emeritus (Mechanical Engineering) Lee Langston recently began a new column entitled Technologue, in the July-August 2013 issue (Vol. 101) of American Scientist. For his first topic, Lee chose to profile “The Adaptable Gas Turbine,” covering the history, advantages and challenges, and current applications of gas turbines in jet engines and non-aviation applications such as natural gas pipeline compressors, ships and combined cycle power plants.
Dr. Robert Gao Awarded NSF GOALI
Dr. Robert Gao Awarded NSF GOALI
Dr. Robert X. Gao, the Pratt & Whitney Chair Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and colleagues have received a three-year National Science Foundation GOALI (Grant Opportunities For Academic Liaison With Industry) grant to support collaborative research aimed at improving spare parts inventory management in the aircraft industry. UConn shares this three-year, $450,000 award with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Pratt & Whitney is the industry partner on the project. NSF developed the GOALI program as a means to catalyze industry-university partnerships and thus help to ensure that “intellectual capital and emerging technologies are brought together in ways that promote economic growth and an improved quality of life.” Dr. Gao explains that the goal of the project is to develop the basic science and practical tools to transform sensor measurements collected from a large number of distributed machines (such as jet engines) in the field into forecasting methodologies – along with inventory policies – for the spare parts required to maintain the equipment. To achieve this goal, the researchers, aided by their colleagues at Pratt & Whitney, will conduct research along four pathways:
- Develop advanced sensing and signal interpretation methods to diagnose the
health status of specific engine parts before they require replacement (versus the prevailing techniques that indicate the overall health of an engine only); - Develop models that transform measurement data into predictions of time-to-overhaul and resource requirements;
- Develop algorithms that forecast part needs, and inventory policies that aggregate this information across equipment, with consideration to field usage and economic conditions; and finally,
- Create a simulation tool for the monitoring and maintenance of a large fleet to validate the methodology.
The research will culminate in improved forecasting and inventory management for commercial engine spare parts. Beyond these specific technical advancements, Dr. Gao says the project will “determine the economic impact of advanced sensing and predicting methodologies and the resulting improvement in decision-making, and potentially make the case for their pervasive installation. Although the developed models will primarily be validated within Pratt & Whitney’s business units, the models and methods will be beneficial to a wide array of manufacturing firms for whom after-sale service is a critical component of their business.” In addition to this GOALI research, Dr. Gao has received several other NSF grants since joining UConn in 2008 that focus on advancing the science base of sensing physics for advanced manufacturing (such as electrically-assisted precision micro-rolling and multivariate injection molding control) and building the cyber-physical infrastructure for a “Smart City.”
Mechanical Engineering Welcomes New Faculty
Leila Ladani joins the Mechanical Engineering Department. Dr. Ladani received her PhD at the University of Maryland in 2007. Her research expertise spans additive manufacturing, manufacturing of nanomaterial and micro/nanoelectronics, material characterization and mechanics, and multi-scale modeling and simulation. Most recently, she was an assistant professor at the University of Alabama.
Michael Pettes joins the Mechanical Engineering 
Department. He received his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in 2011 and brings expertise in thermal transport physics at the micro- and nano-scale, and engineering of materials at the nanoscale for energy conversion and storage applications. Dr. Pettes was a post-doctoral researcher at UT Austin prior to joining UConn. Earlier, he served as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps.
David Pierce joins the Mechanical Engineering Department and the Department of Mathematics. He received his PhD from Stanford University in 2007. Dr. Pierce’s research expertise includes computational and experimental solid (bio)mechanics, finite element methods, biomechanics of cartilage and arteries, reliability prediction and design tools for MEMs. He was an assistant professor and Vice Head of the Institute of Biomechanics at Graz University of Technology, Austria.