Datla and Imas awarded grant for work on DARPA's Underwater Express program
David son Laboratory will provide model testing and computational modeling services
HOBOKEN, N.J. — A team from Stevens Institute of Technology has been awarded a grant from Northrop Grumman to support its work on DARPA's Underwater Express program. Led by principal investigator Raju Datla, Research Associate Professor in the Civil, Environmental & Ocean Engineering department, the group from Stevens’ David son Laboratory Stevens is providing physical model testing and computational modeling services in support of the program. Daniel Savitsky, Professor Emeritus, and Len Imas, Research Associate Professor, are also participating in this project.
The Underwater Express program is a technology development and demonstration program: It will require the investigation and resolution of critical technological issues associated with the physics of supercavitation and must culminate in a credible demonstration at a significant scale to prove that a supercavitating underwater craft is controllable at speeds up to 100 knots.
“The laboratory designed and installed a unique controllable high-pressure air-flow system that successfully developed the desired underwater cavity. Extensive tests were made in the D/L high speed towing tank at speeds up to 70 knots to examine the geometry and stability of the cavity and to evaluate various means for providing vertical equilibrium to the vehicle,” said Datla.
Through this program, DARPA is seeking to facilitate new operational opportunities in the underwater battlespace. Also relevant are the current limitations for small high-speed surface craft which suffer performance degradation in waves and are subject to exposure, while underwater alternatives today are very slow. The military advantage of very high speed underwater craft has yet to be exploited to its full potential because significant technological breakthroughs are needed for operational viability of such a craft. The ability to attain substantial underwater speeds for this class of vehicle is severely constrained by the power required to overcome the large drag forces on an underwater body. Without a radical means to solve this problem, strides that could be made in underwater propulsion are limited, as are breakthroughs needed in underwater sensing, navigation, and communications, all critical to taking strategic advantage of the underwater space.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.
Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.
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