Posted on November 6, 2024 by Klesse College Staff
Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design features numerous revolutionary labs, exciting projects, and innovative teams across campus and the Klesse College Field Trips series is dedicated to uncovering these fascinating stories and showcasing the remarkable work taking place. Join us on a field trip as we explore Dr. Daniel Pineda’s Laser Spectroscopy and Chemical Propulsion Laboratory.
Equipped with a cutting-edge, student-designed high-enthalpy shock tube, Dr. Pineda and his team use laser technology to capture readings and measurements in extreme environments. This shock tube enables them to replicate the intensity of these volatile environments, allowing the team to collect valuable data with applications across numerous fields, including aerospace.
Read the full Q&A with Dr. Pineda down below to learn more about the lab, and all of the fascinating work conducted by him and his team.
What type of research takes place in your lab?
DP: We are primarily experimentalists, and we perform a variety of projects that involve a combination of applied engineering with fundamental science concepts. We develop and use laser-based diagnostic tools to perform measurements of temperature, concentration, and pressure in reacting environments, including flames, rockets, fuel cells, and more. Developing these tools requires our student researchers to have a solid grasp on their chemistry and physics fundamentals. Occasionally, I even recruit graduate students with backgrounds in physics (rather than engineering) so that this perspective is part of our team. For many projects, we take our diagnostic tools out of the laboratory and into collaborator facilities (such as Southwest Research Institute, The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, and others) so that we can make measurements in others' systems or devices. We also leverage UTSA's metal 3D printer in many of our projects, and additive manufacturing has formed the basis of our research thrusts in propulsion. It’s definitely allowed us to collaborate more with other faculty who research materials and manufacturing, and it’s opened up new types of job opportunities for students after they graduate.
What is the thing in your lab that you are most proud of?
DP: We are most proud of our high-enthalpy shock tube, a custom piece of gasdynamic equipment comprising about 2000 pounds of stainless steel, aluminum, and carbon steel. Designed by my first Ph.D. student, and anchored to the ground by a structure designed, manufactured, welded, and assembled in the UTSA makerspace by UTSA undergraduate students, we use the shock tube to generate very high temperatures and pressures (≥1000 K, up to 375 atm) for short periods of time (< 5 milliseconds) so that we can develop and test laser-based sensors targeting extreme environments relevant to rocket propulsion, hypersonic flight, and planetary and stellar atmospheres. It's operated using a control station designed and built by one of the first senior design teams I had the fortune of mentoring during my first year at UTSA.
Which students (major and level: UG, GRAD, PhD) use your lab?
DP: I have students of all levels in my laboratory, and the distribution is pretty equal. This semester, I have five Ph.D. students, five M.S. students, and about 7–8 consistent undergraduate students. Usually, undergraduate students are able to join and contribute effectively starting their third year of their degree plan, typically after taking the upper division course Fluid Mechanics or equivalent.
What type of funding did you receive to stock your lab with the existing equipment?
DP: The UT System and UTSA provided me with sufficient funding to construct the shock tube, our jet flame burner, the gas handling lines, optical tables, and a few initial lasers and detectors to get things started. With several new awards from NSF, NASA, FEMA, and industry, we've been able to procure additional lasers at different wavelengths so that we can measure even more different types of gasses in a diverse variety of environments.
How does your lab help UTSA stand out from other engineering colleges?
DP: To our knowledge, we have the only high-enthalpy shock tube in the UT System, which certainly sets us apart in terms of permanent equipment and infrastructure. We are also one of the few institutions where student researchers have direct access to a metal 3D printer, and so these pieces of equipment enable many unique opportunities for our students and allow us to work in more multidisciplinary areas in collaboration with other research groups here at UTSA. More importantly, though, is that we have many collaborative projects that require us to deploy our diagnostic techniques outside of the laboratory. This mobility is key to providing graduate students with testing and evaluation experience in settings that are more representative of the kinds of jobs they'll have in these fields after they graduate.
Tell us about the ARC.
DP: I am the faculty advisor for UTSA's Aeronautics and Rocket Club (or, ARC). I typically encourage ARC to build and launch at least one flagship competition rocket each year, and in recent years they have competed in the Spaceport America Cup in New Mexico—this past summer we broke an organizational record and launched a student-designed-and-built rocket to 24,000 feet above ground level. Many students in the organization are excited to learn that there is propulsion research happening on campus; a few of the ARC students tested a small amount of the same propellant in my laboratory and measured the temperature of the flames with our laser-based techniques. It was a cool combination of undergraduate research and project-based student organizations, and the students brought home a competition trophy for that work. Overall, by working on a project-based activity that has a well-defined end-goal, the students are able to practice being engineers and enhance their education. Our students learn in many different ways, and for many of them this serves as an incredible complement to their classroom studies.
— Klesse College Staff
