Skip to main content

Week 13 Famous Last Words - Shock (Diamonds) and Awe!

This week has been busy, but in a very good way. I’ll start by talking about my capstone and that is likely the majority of what I will talk about in this Famous Last Words. So we finally got our system up and running. Our air compressor finally got wired up, we finally finished leak testing, and we finally go to actually test our system. And it works! Amazingly Well! I felt so much relief after our first successful test. We had a few bumps getting to that test, but they weren’t anything we couldn’t handle.

So firstly we had to replace a line that burst way below it’s rated pressure. We ended up finding some steel tubing since that would be able to withstand the heat. We got that hooked up and leak tests were smooth from that point forward.

Actual testing went super smoothly. We got air through the system with no problems, and out data acquisition is working well. I can’t put into words how excited and relieved I am that everything is working. The coolest part is we got out schlieren photography working. Schlieren photography is a technique that allows you to see pressure waves. So basically it allows you to see changes in air. It is beautiful. One of those types of images from our tests is shown below.


De Laval Cold Gas Nozzle Schlieren Photography Image
Source: The University of Oklahoma Aerospace Rocket Capstone Spring 2018

The crosses you see are called mach diamonds. Essentially those are shock waves caused by air moving faster than the speed of sound and a bunch of other reasons. 

Other than that, this week has been really chill. My robot did well for lab so I’ve got that going for me, which is nice. D&D went pretty well this week. Unfortunately, my allergies were really bad that day and I had to take a benedryll to stop sneezing which made me super tired. I didn’t get to enjoy the session as much as I wanted to, but it was still fun!


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction to a Hopeful Rocket Scientist

My name is Chris Weigel and I am a senior majoring in Aerospace Engineering. Initially, I came to OU wanting to be a Chemical Engineer. I have always enjoyed chemistry and still do to this day. Often my favorite parts of my classes are those that involve looking at the chemistry behind the mechanics. That being said, I switched to Aerospace because I realized how much I love aircraft and spacecraft. I am a member of the Boomer Rocket Team, an engineering competition team focused on building rockets for competition. Last year I helped build our rocket for the Spaceport America Cup which is an international competition. This was the team's first competition with more than 5 other teams competing. BRT Rocket Launching at Competition Courtesy of BRT Other than building rockets, I am an avid gamer. I probably play more video games than I should, but I'm having fun so I guess I don't really care. I primarily play Overwatch and Dota 2. I play a number of other games as ...
29 comments
Read more

Week 7 Story - You'll Find Your Dreams at a Crossroads

It was nearing midnight, and though the moon shone full, it was still dark. Justin walked forward, tentatively, following an old path in the woods. He had heard the legends. The hushed whispers of the folk of the town he grew up in. That there was something that could give him anything he had ever wanted. Something unnatural. He heard the rumors: that you had to bring gifts – an offering of sorts. He had spent the last week meticulously gathering what he needed: a yarrow flower, a cat’s paw, human blood – your own blood.   You’ll find your dreams at a crossroads. It was a phrase well recorded with the town. Every victim of an unsolved murder within the last hundred years in his town had the phrase carved into one of their arms. Granted, there weren’t many of them, but there were enough to make people wonder. The phrase repeated in his mind over and over. He grew nervous. The Crossroads Justin stopped. In front of him, the path split. A crossroads, he thought . He was...
6 comments
Read more