MAE PhD student wins AIAA best international student paper
Aerospace engineering graduate student, Spencer Stahl, won first place in the masters category of the international student paper competition at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Scitech conference.
Stahl presented his paper titled “Effects of Fountain Flow Interaction on Dual Jet Impingement at Mixed Operating Conditions” virtually at the January 2021 conference. The focus of his paper explores the challenges of Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft, and is supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR).
“Our interest is in understanding the hot turbulent flow generated underneath the aircraft that creates difficult conditions for stability, control, and propulsion systems for the aircraft,” said Stahl.
His work also investigates the aero-acoustic feedback mechanisms that create high levels of sound that can be damaging to nearby flight deck personnel. Stahl said that a successful model of obscured jet dynamics would give engineers new insights to help combat this problem.
Stahl’s research is done at the High Fidelity Computational Multi-Physics Lab (HFCMPL) led by MAE professor Datta Gaitonde. Stahl’s other research interests include developing the next generation of analysis techniques for computational fluid dynamics.
For Stahl, the reception of the student paper award was motivation to keep moving forward with his research, as a PhD student.
“Being recognized among the many talented students in the competition is a great accomplishment and continues to motivate me to advance my research throughout my academic career,” said Stahl.
Fortunately for Stahl and his fellow researchers, the move to remote work has had relatively little impact on conducting computational experiments. However, the loss of personal interaction has been difficult for all students, faculty and researchers alike.
“Those off-the-cuff conversations are where the real learning, collaboration, and great ideas come from,” Stahl said. “However, we are all incurring the same circumstances and I am impressed to see how the research environment is adapting.”
Stahl said that the AIAA international student paper competition was an opportunity for him to share his work and meet with distinguished scientists and engineers in the field. He hopes his award will be a catalyst for more opportunities for collaboration as he continues to move forward in his graduate work and research.
