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Research Facilities in Mechanical Engineering
Our research is done in Mason and Becton Laboratories which are well-equipped with instrumentation for analyzing and characterizing surfaces, particles, cells, chemical kinetics, flows, and separations and with personal computers as well as high-performance workstations.
Mechanical Engineering possesses unique molecular beam equipment, uv photoionization time-of-flight mass spectrometers, and high-speed variable-temperature scanning tunneling microscopes. It also has state-of-the-art chromatography systems and a high-resolution Fourier transform infrared spectrometer.
The high level of research activity across campus sustains other critical facilities: the Becton Engineering and Kline Science Libraries, machine, electronics, and glassblowing shops, transmission and scanning electron microscopes, x-ray diffractometers, as well as the Yale Computer Center.
Specialized Laboratories:
The Acoustics Laboratory includes equipment covering the range of frequencies from audio to 100 megahertz: generators, synthesizers, pulsers, amplifiers, transmitters, transducers, microphones and hydrophones, spectrum analyzers, digital oscilloscopes, diagnostic ultrasound equipment for imaging and doppler, sound level meters, reverberation time analyzers, audio and video tape equipment, and microcomputer-based data acquisition systems. There is also special equipment for the measurement of the mechanical behavior of liquids and specially designed apparatus for the acoustic levitation of particles, drops, biological material, and bubbles. For more information, please contact Prof. Marshall Long.
The Aerosol Laboratory facilities include a variety of devices to investigate ultrafine particles in gas suspension in the size range from molecular dimensions to hundreds of nanometers. Available to our students are: four state-of-the-art differential mobility analyzers (DMAs) (resolving power near 70, FWHH =1.5%), that offer a unique opportunity to investigate molecular ions and small polymer molecules in a gas, under well controlled conditions; several compressible focusing impactors and hypersonic impactors, with a size range down to a few nanometers, that, combined with the DMAs, allow for mass measurements in a range inaccessible to any other existing instrumentation. Of our two condensation nucleus counters, one is uniquely sensitive to ions and clusters of subnanometer dimensions.
The laboratory is able to generate size standards in the nanometer range, including electrospray sources and hot filament sources. A mass spectrometer is available for studies of electrospray ionization. Larger particles can be investigated with TSI's commercial 7031 DMA model (from 10 nm up to 200 nm), and an aerodynamic size spectrometer (API's Aerosizer; from 200 nm up). For more information, please contact Prof. Juan Fernández de la Mora.
The Biomechanics Laboratory is equipped for in vitro material testing of biological preparations as well as in vivo human motion studies. Flexibility and material testing machines allow for determination of physical properties of biological tissues before and after injury. Infra-red cameras (Optotrak) and magneto-electronic (Flock of Birds) devices are available for three-dimensional rigid body motion analyses. Electromyographic activity of muscles during human motion can be recorded with a twelve-channel EMG system.
Facilities are also available for processing data and analysis, computer graphics, and computer modeling. The main focus in this laboratory is on spinal mechanics and motor control of spinal system. For more information, please contact Prof. Manohar Panjabi or Prof. Jacek Cholewicki.
Computational Facilities include an upcoming (Winter 2007) 128 - core high-performance cluster with 512GB of RAM, as well as an older system with 16 processors and 64GB of RAM. Several smaller workstation-class systems also exist, including an 8-way SMP with 32GB of RAM. For more information, please contact Prof. Mitchell D. Smooke.
The Fluid Mechanics Laboratory facilities include wind tunnels, high-speed digital and framing cameras, shadow-graph, schlieren and interferometer systems, infrared spectroscopes, pulsed short-duration light sources, laser light-scattering apparatus, PIV system for velocity measurement in a plane, and state-of-the-art data acquisition systems. For more information, please contact Prof. Marshall Long.
Center for Laser Diagnostics
Laser Diagnostics and Combustion Facilities for studying turbulence and combustion include a large number of lasers and state-of-the-art electronic imaging and flow visualization systems. Research equipment includes instrumentation for planar laser-induced fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy, absorption and emission spectroscopy, nonlinear optical spectroscopy, photo ionization spectroscopy, Fourier transform spectroscopy, laser Doppler anemometry, phase Doppler anemometry, elastic and inelastic light scattering, gas chromatography, and mass spectrometry. The labs are also equipped with an assortment of laminar and turbulent burners. For more information, please contact Prof. Marshall B. Long and Prof. Alessandro Gomez. Also see Center Combustion Studies and Center for Laser Diagnostics.
The Mechanical Testing Laboratory for research on solids offers a microprocessor-controlled MTS system capable of combined tension-torsion loading and a PC controlled 50,000 lb MTS tension-compression system. An Instrom screw-driven machine has been modified for the testing of fine whisker materials. Equipment for the measurement of dynamic mechanical properties includes a Kolsky bar and high speed digital acquisition equipment designed for high resolution crack velocity measurements.
Recently, a computer-integrated, mouse-driven, Philips XL30 scanning electron microscope was installed for materials characterization and micromechanical testing of small-scale structures of various materials and for use by undergraduates and graduate students working in materials science and mechanical behavior of materials. It provides a high resolution digital image acquisition system, an EDAX EDS unit for chemical analysis of materials, a TSL OIM unit for microtexture characterization of individual crystals, custom-built loading stages and heating stages, and an infrared CCD monitoring camera. Digital image correlation software and related hardware have also been recently developed to process digital images acquired from the scanning electron microscope, optical microscope, and the CCD and video cameras for whole-field deformation mapping. For more information, please contact Prof. Udo Schwarz.
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