UK Happenings

5th Ablation Workshop to Commence in Late February

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 14, 2012) — The 5th Ablation Workshop, hosted by the University of Kentucky, will take place Feb. 28 through March 1 at the Downtown Hilton Hotel. UK Department of Mechanical Engineering professors Alexandre Martin and Sean Bailey will serve as the conference hosts.

Participants will have the opportunity to engage a multi-disciplinary research community of scientists and engineers representing government agencies, the private sector and university systems from around the world, as well as interact with local companies involved in aerospace research.

The annual Ablation Workshop is a three-day meeting point for scientists working on topics related to aerothermodynamic ablation, a process that protects spacecraft or missiles from intense aerodynamic heating through surface vaporization and chemical transformation. The meeting is steered by the Air Force Office for Scientific Research (AFOSR), NASA and Sandia National Laboratories. This year's emphasis will be on coupling of material response and aerothermal models including gas-surface interactions and related uncertainty quantification. There will be a follow up session of the ablation code model intercomparison from the previous workshop as well as an initial session targeting an experimental case study for a research material.

"This workshop is an excellent opportunity for space and defense agencies and companies to get an update from the latest development in university research," Martin says. "Researchers will also be able to better understand the specific problems that the space and defense technology industry faces. I foresee participants pooling their knowledge for the benefit of all."

For registration information, please contact Geaunita Caylor at (859) 257-2820 or gcaylor@engr.uky.edu. For more information, visit ablation2012.engineering.uky.edu.