College of EngineeringDepartment of Aerospace EngineeringResearchAdvanced Flow Diagnostics Laboratory
The Advanced Flow Diagnostics Laboratory (AFDL) specializes in the development and application of visualization diagnostics for fluid dynamic measurements. Areas of specialization include three- dimensional imaging and high- repetition rate flow visualization (up to 1 million frames/sec). The centerpiece of the laboratory is a custom-built plenoptic camera. AFDL is under the direction of Dr. Brian Thurow . Research areas of interest include aero-optics, turbulence, compressible fluid dynamics, supersonic/hypersonic flow, and aero-acoustics.
The complexity of fluid dynamics has created an entire field devoted to advancing techniques to make flow measurements. The Advanced Flow Diagnostics Laboratory (AFDL) focuses on developing and establishing cutting-edge imaging methods to a broad-spectrum of flow fields. Research at the AFDL revolves around three-dimensional analysis through light-field imaging. Current experiments have adapted a plenoptic camera, which is capable of recording the light field, to measure three-dimensional fluid flow physics. As global leaders in light-field imaging techniques, the AFDL constructs plenoptic cameras here at Auburn University which are used in collaborative research projects with scientists and engineers at NASA, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Sandia National Laboratories, and universities around the world. Applications of these plenoptic camera are diverse, including studies concentrated on supersonic flow physics, explosion analysis, artificial heart valve performance, flapping wing dynamics, and hydrosphere contamination. Researchers in the AFDL use a variety of techniques to process plenoptic data and are continuously developing computational methods, which have recently been implemented on the high performance computing (HPC) cluster at Auburn University. These efforts allow scientists and engineers to investigate the important questions of fluid dynamics that help shape the future of aircraft design, national security, healthcare, and environmental protection.
