GTREO Seminar: Lt. Col. Dell Olmstead, US Air Force Academy

Hypersonic Propulsion and Propulsion Research at the U.S. Air Force Academy – Lt. Col. Dell Olmstead, US Air Force Academy

Hypersonic propulsion has been an elusive technology for decades due to the extreme physical challenges this regime presents. A brief overview of hypersonic propulsion systems, the challenges as compared to gas turbine engines, and the recent successes will be presented. Additionally, the current research efforts in propulsion at USAFA will be discussed to include the J85, F109, and small turbines, quiet propellers, serpentine nozzles, combustion shock tube, and cascade turbine blade testing

BIOGRAPHY 

Lt. Col. Dell Olmstead is currently the department head for the Aeronautical Engineering department at the US Air Force Academy. He began his career in the AF working on high-speed propulsion at the Air Force Research Laboratory where he specialized in computational modelling of inlets and nozzles, with experimental investigations into fuel injectors for scramjet engines. After an assignment teaching at the Academy, he returned to grad school to and studied turbulent transition of shock-accelerated flows. Before returning to the Academy to teach again, he was a program manager for launching experimental payloads to space through the AF Space Test Program. His specialties are high-speed propulsion and computational aerodynamics, and he currently teaches classes ranging from thermodynamics to aircraft design.

Ohio State University.