Sulabh Dhanuka obtained his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Virginia in 2002.  He subsequently stayed on at UVA for his Masters and got an M.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 2003.

Sulabh is studying the combustion at a fundamental level within a realistic model gas turbine combustor.  The primary aim of his research is to investigate the reaction zone structure, chemistry, and its interaction with the flow field within a highly turbulent environment such as that of a gas turbine.  To this end, the study utilizes relatively established laser diagnostic techniques such as PIV and CH PLIF and more recent techniques such as reaction rate imaging (through simultaneous PLIF of OH and CO).

Danny Micka has been at Michigan since 2004.  He received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2004 and an M.S.E. in the same from Michigan in 2006.  He is a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellow as well as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. 

Danny's research interests include supersonic combustion and dual-mode scramjet engines.   He is currently modifying the supersonic combustion facility in order to study a fuel jet in a supersonic crossflow upstream of a flame-holding cavity.  Advanced diagnostics such as planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF), particle image velocimetry (PIV), and schlieren imaging will be used in this research. 

Alex Schumaker received his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from The Ohio State University in 2004 and a M.S.E in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2006. He is a member of Sigma Gamma Tau, Tau Beta Pi and the AIAA.

Alex’s research aims to understanding the coupling between fluid dynamic mixing and combustion at elevated pressures. These results are used in the development and verification of codes for rocket engine design. Currently Alex is studying the mixing of coaxial jets using acetone PLIF. Velocity, density and diameter ratios are varied to obtain mixing relations for the growth of the primary and secondary cores along with the stoichometric contour. The same will be done for reacting cases using OH PLIF.

Adam Steinberg joined the department in 2004 after receiving his B.A.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from the Division of Engineering Science at the University of Toronto earlier that year.  He received his M.S.E is Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2006.  Adam is the recipient of an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award and the Donald Matheson Springer Fellowship. 

His research interests aim towards an understanding of the fundamentals of turbulent combustion in order to facilitate combustion model development and engine design.  Adam has developed a new Cinema Stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimitry (CS-PIV) system for use in turbulent combustion studies.  This system is used to capture detailed movies of eddies interacting with a turbulent premixed Bunsen flame in order to better understand the dynamics of the flame front.