Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association ISSUE 28, SEPTEMBER 2019 in This Issue

Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association ISSUE 28, SEPTEMBER 2019 In This Issue:

From the Editors ...... 1 The VKI-AA Research Travel Grants 2019, an update...... 17 A new VKI Faculty Member: Miguel Alfonso Mendez ...... 2 When chemistry helps CFD: a short story of my stay at NASA Ames ...... 19 Interview with Marios Sideris (DC 1984, PhD 1988) ...... 4 Student trip to the Paris Air Show 2019 ...... 21

Interview with Tom Wayman Alumni dinner at the ETC13 in Lausanne ...... 22 (DC 1994 ) ...... 6 Alumni dinner at the ASME Turbo Expo 2019 in QARMAN: a satellite designed and built at VKI, Phoenix Arizona ...... 23 in orbit soon! ...... 10 Review of a Book by Professor René Van den RM Graduation Ceremony 2019 ...... 14 Braembussche ...... 23

VKI-AA Best Collaboration Award Speech ...... 16 Obituary ...... 25

From the Editors VKI Alumni Association’s Research Travel Grant program ensures they will perform at a very high level. The history of the Qarman CubeSat project illus- trates a very different form of education from the traditional VKI programs: a long term project involving research, design, testing, production and (very soon) flight! Strong collaboration among members with di- verse talents was the key to the project’s success. by HANS-PETER DICKMANN, DC 1987 All readers will recall the joy of the Graduation Ses- AND EDITOR,EUROPE sion. Awards were presented to various graduates. AND JOHN WENDT,FORMER DIRECTOROFTHE VKI The student trip to the airshow at Le Bourget and AND EDITOR,NORTH AMERICA the alumni gatherings on the occasion of the European Turbo Expo in Phoenix and the ETC conference in Lau- e lead off this issue by introducing the newest sanne are highlighted. member of the faculty, Assistant Professor WMiguel Alfonso Mendez; the VKI will benefit Recently-retired Professor René Van den Braembuss- greatly by his presence in the future. che has completed a monumental textbook on Centrifu- gal Compressors which will surely become a classic text. The two interviews present very different career Congratulations, René! paths: one from a graduate who has experienced all manner of projects from research to applied aerodynam- In closing, we are sad to announce that Profes- ics; the other from a graduate who chose to leave the sor Roland Decuypere of the Belgian Royal Military field of fluid dynamics and pursue a career in the field Academy passed away. He was a strong supporter of the of patents. Institute. The past performance of the recent graduates who We hope you will enjoy this issue of the VKI-AA have had or soon will have financial support from the Newsletter and will offer suggestions for future articles. 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association

A new VKI Faculty Member: Miguel decided to use mirrors. I ﬁrst tested this at home, after an "accident" broke the mirror of my bath into pieces. A Alfonso Mendez picture of the ﬁrst set up for testing the idea is in Fig- ure 1. The set up consisted of a hanging piece of dough (remaining from the home-made pizza of the day before) simulating the bubble, three pieces of broken mirror, two lamps for illumination and a black umbrella for the background.

by MIGUEL ALFONSO MENDEZ, RM 2013, PHD 2108 VKIASSISTANT PROFESSOR

ear Alumnae, Dear Alumni, Dear Friends of the von Karman Institute, it is with pleasure and pride Dthat I’d like to introduce myself as the new Assis- tant Professor in the Environmental and Applied Fluid Dynamics department of the von Karman Institute.

I am an Italian Engineer, born in Venezuela about 32 years ago and moved to Italy when I was about two years old. I grew up in a small village in Abruzzo, called Ripattoni, and obtained my bachelor degree in Mechani- cal Engineering in L’Aquila in 2009. I then moved to the University of Florence for my Master degree in Energy Engineering (graduated with 110/110 cum laude). Dur- ing my master studies, I have spent the academic year 2010/2011 at the University of Sevilla, in Spain, in the framework of an Erasmus program.

This experience triggered my interest in working in an international and cross-cultural environment. While searching for an additional Erasmus placement program at the University of Florence, I discovered the VKI. I joined the VKI in February 2012 as a Short Training Pro- gram (STP) student to work on my master thesis. Dur- ing my STP project, I worked on the dynamics of bub- bly ﬂows together with Professor Buchlin, and I had the chance to combine theoretical, numerical, and experimental work. After spending some time on the black- board, I had the freedom to work and develop a fasci- nating idea: reconstruct optically the 3D shape of an air bubble rising in water.

The idea was inspired by a TV documentary on the making of the animated comedy "Shrek". The documen- Figure 1: Top: sketch of the set up for the first visual hull tary showed how to "digitalize" an object by taking a lot experiment; Bottom: result of the 3D reconstruction from of pictures of it. The technique, known as visual hull, the images required tens of images from different angles and software to locate the position of the camera in each image, reconstruct the 3D space around the object, and finally The result was not perfect but proved the concept. retrieve its 3D shape by intersecting the cones formed The following month, together with the endless support by the silhouette of the object in each image and the of Ir. Delsipee, we designed a facility to do the recon- camera position. Easy, right? struction of a bubble and the rest of the story is my STP report. This experience was not only one of the most We thought that if this could work for a complicated formative ones of my life. It was a life turning point: it shape such as the funny green ogre, it had to work also showed me that the VKI is a unique environment for for a bubble. Since it was not possible to set tens of cam- boosting the growth of enthusiastic engineers and in eras to visualize the bubble from different positions, we which every challenge that is technically possible can be Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute - 2 - Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association successfully tackled. This was the beginning of my love gas jet to control the liquid thickness on a moving sub- story with the VKI. strate. My work, commissioned by Arcelor-Mittal, aimed at identifying and controlling different unstable mecha- After my STP, I continued working in the EA depart- nisms in the interaction between the impinging jet and ment as a Research Master student (graduated with hon- the liquid film. I have worked on four experimental facil- ors and the von Karman prize), a Post Research-Master, ities, developing various optical techniques and involv- an Advanced Research Orientation (ARO) student, as a ing in my work 22 students as STP or RM. During my PhD student, as a post-doctoral fellow and as of 1 May post-doctoral activities, I worked on the nonlinear sta- 2019, to my highest honor, as an Assistant Professor. bility analysis of the wiping process, developing a dedicated CFD software package called BLEW (Boundary In these years, I have worked on many challenging Layer Wiping). I took part in projects related to wire experimental projects. One of the funniest ones con- coating stability (BEKAERT), micro-gravity (64th ESA sisted of high-speed flow visualization and Particle Im- Parabolic Flight) and image-based velocimetry in two- age Velocimetry (PIV) on a jet of straw - a means to phase flows (Horizon 2020/Clean Sky). feed cows in cattle barns. A picture of the set-up and the straw jet is in Fig.2. The experimental data were used to derive a theoretical model for this complex particle- laden flow, later implemented in a software package commissioned by the "Centre Technique des Industries Mecaniques" (CETIM).

Figure 3: Top, from left to right: Miguel Mendez, Th. von Karman and Laura Peveroni (RM 2012) Figure 2 Top: Miguel Mendez adjusting the camera before during the 64th ESA parabolic flight; a high-speed PIV experiment on a straw jet; Bottom, Miguel Mendez during a Time Resolved PIV Bottom: a picture of the straw jet under investigation campaign in the VKI Ondule laboratory; these tests were conducted with a very high seeding density. During my Ph.D. thesis, I worked on the experimental, theoretical and numerical analysis of the jet wip- Besides experimental fluid mechanics and engineering process, a coating technique that uses an impinging ing modeling of fluid flows, my main research activities Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium - 3 - m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association include advanced data processing, model order reduc- "My first obligation was to do my military service so I tion, machine learning, and flow control. I have pub- had to return to Greece. During the one year of my mil- lished 9 journal articles (plus 3 in preparation), 18 ar- itary service I applied at a few companies in Greece and ticles in conference proceedings, and three technical in Europe. After considering all my options I decided to notes. One of my articles, in the Journal of Fluid Me- change career and to be involved in the area of intellec- chanics (10 July 2019, vol 870, pp. 988-1036), has trig- tual property. For this reason I selected to work for the Eu- gered several important international collaborations on ropean Patent Office (EPO), where I have been employed modal analysis and machine learning. Among these, I since 1989. am proud to recall the joint laboratory VKI-Dantec Dy- namics on post-processing of PIV data and the new VKI Lecture series titled "Machine Learning in Fluid Mechan- ics: Analysis, Modeling Control and Closures", together with Prof. B. Noack (LIMSI-CNRS), Prof. A. Ianiro (Univ. Carlos III) and Prof. S. Brunton (Univ. of Washington). I am also a member of the Scientific Committee of the European Coating Symposium (ECS) and organizer of the next edition, the ECS2021, which will be held at the VKI.

I am now looking forward to starting my ﬁrst academic year as Assistant Professor, where I will have the honor to teach Differential Equations for Fluid Mechan- ics (DEFM) and to contribute to the Signal Processing and Measurement Techniques courses. Besides continuing to expand my research expertise, I look forward to mentor and learn from the next generation of VKI students. If doing research is currently my passion it is mostly thanks to the mentoring and guidance that I have received in these years at the VKI and that I am eager to offer back.

Interview with Marios Sideris Professor Alec Young, Chairman, (DC 1984, PhD 1988) giving VKI Diploma to Marios Sideris

"The first years of my career I carried out the function of the patent examiner in the area of internal combustion engines (fuel injection, exhaust systems, engine control and turbochargers). In 2005 I changed career path and I became manager (Director) in different departments at the EPO. by HANS-PETER DICKMANN, DC 1987 "Although I left research after my PhD, I never forgot the joy to publish. In 1998 I published a book (monog- arios and Hans-Peter were at the same time pe- raphy) based on patent literature and later I presented a riods at VKI between 1985 and 1987. After 1987 few technical papers in International Conferences like the Mthey first got in contact for a long planned in- Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). All of them are in terview with a VKI alumnus working at the European the area of internal combustion engines." Patent Office in The Hague, Netherlands. After some it- erations it turned out that Marios works there as well What benefits could you take from your DC & PhD and is willing to contribute an interview for the VKI-AA- time at VKI for your professional career? newsletter. "It helped me to develop my analytical thinking and Marios, what happened after you left VKI after your problem solving, to work under pressure and to deliver PhD in 1988? within deadlines with the right quality. The VKI faculty Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute - 4 - Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association and especially my DC and PhD supervisor, René van den Did you return to VKI for attending or contributing Braembussche, played a very important role in my per- to Lecture Series or did you have any collaboration with sonal development. The VKI has a very good reputation in VKI? the industry and in the academic world, so the fact that I was a VKI graduate made my search for a job easier." "No, because my work never crossed with the activities in the VKI. I paid a visit a couple of times during open days. I recommended the Lecture Series to colleagues of mine who were dealing with the technical areas where the VKI is active and I have promoted the different educational programs of VKI."

Attendees at the June 1984 Graduation Ceremony

Is there anything special you could tell us about your DC life at VKI and in Brussels in 1983/84 ...?

"I enjoyed the international environment and the interaction with professionals from many different countries in the world. This led me later to look for jobs with a similar environment.

"I still remember the warm interaction with the colleagues, the exchange of ideas and solutions to problems we faced, the after midnight visits to the computer centre to check our computer program results and to resubmit our programs so in the morning we could hopefully have new and better results.

"And one should not forget the parties which the Greek community of the VKI regularly organised. They were a lot of fun. June 1984 Graduation Day: "Brussels has been a pleasure to live in. Whenever I visit Professor Frans Breugelmans, Elias Boletis, Brussels I really feel at home." Kostas Mathioudakis, Marios Sideris

Are you still in contact with the colleagues of your What were the most exotic types of fluid dynamics DC? problems you had to work on in your professional life "I am still in contact only with a very limited num- until today? ber of my colleagues at the DC. However, I still have some "Due to my change in career path I have not faced any contact with colleagues who I met during my PhD period particular fluid dynamics problems in my career." (PhD, DC, stagiaires, staff). I am in contact with Vincent Soumoy (DC 1987), Thanos Stubos (DC 1985), Zafiris Finally - we could i.e. talk about your hobbies, sport Georgiou (DC 1983), George Simeonidis (DC 1985, PhD activities or whatever you like, Marios. 1992), Stella Sauvan, Patricia Corieri (PhD 1994), An- tonios Fatsis (DC 1990), Erkan Ayder (DC 1987, PhD "I like to travel, to read books and to go to the movies, 1993). I am also in contact with many colleagues from theatres and concerts. My most recent sport is biking, the VKI who are currently working at the European Patent which I really enjoy. I could not avoid this nice Dutch habit Office." after living 30 years in The Netherlands." Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium - 5 - m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association

Finally after ﬁnally ... - as the situation is somewhat "As you can see the VKI community at the EPO is quite unique, Marios with the number of former VKI students big." at EPO: Please tell the names and DC years of all VKI alumnae and alumni you know at the European Patent Ofﬁce in The Hague. In case that somebody does not want to be mentioned, please just tell the number (sum) of alumni/ae.

"There must be more than 20 graduates of VKI who are currently working at the three sites of the EPO in Munich, The Hague and Berlin, but I do not know all of them. I could name here a few like: Thomas Nierhaus (DC 2004, PhD 2009), Aristotelis Athanasiadis (PhD 2004), Dilek Yildiz Rambaud (DC 2000, PhD 2005), Patrick Rambaud (1997-2013, PhD 2001), Carlo Bagnera (DC 2000, PhD 2008), George Vorropoulos (DC 1979, PhD 1983), Kon- stantinos Myrillas (DC 2006, PhD 2012), Adel Stitou (DC 1999, PhD 2003), Andrés de la Loma (DC 2005), Tamás Régert (DC 2004, PhD 2006), Pietro Rini (DC 2002, PhD 2006), Gabor Deszö (DC 2001, PhD 2006), Eugenio For- September 2019 at EPO: Herman Boerrigter, tugno (DC 2005) and Flora Tomasoni (DC 2006, PhD Zaﬁrios Giorgiou , Marios Sideris. 2010). What could a research institute like the VKI beneﬁt from patenting inventions?

"Patents are an important means of protecting innovations, not only for companies and individual inventors, but for universities and research institutes, too. Patenting an invention made at a university or a research institute does not necessarily mean prohibiting other scientists from using the invention. Rather, it means that the university or research institute is free to choose who to charge for using the invention, and how much. For example, universities will often choose to let other universities use their inventions for free while charging companies a small licence fee. These licence fees can then be used to finance further research." December 1985, in the VKI Cafeteria "Mr. Gabor Deszö, VKI PhD graduate is currently working with me as patent examiner in the area of Thermody- namics. Interview with Tom Wayman "At the EPO we have three directors in total including (DC 1994 ) myself who have graduated from the VKI. The other two directors are Herman Boerrigter (DC 1991)and Zafirios Georgiou (DC 1983). We cover all examining technical areas at the EPO i.e. I work in the field of Mechanics & Mechatronics, Zafirios in the area of Human necessities, Biology and Chemistry (HBC) and Herman in the area of Information & Communication Technologies (ICT). Each one of us manages 60 to 130 engineers, scientists and for- by JOHN WENDT,FORMER DIRECTOROFTHE VKI malities officers who work in the area of patent granting.

"Ms Paola Acton (DC 1991) is also working as a chair- or some years, Tom Wayman has organized the an- person for our Board of Appeals. There is also a big num- nual VKI Alumni dinner at the AIAA SciTech Fo- ber of colleagues who have been to the VKI either as sta- Frum and Exposition. He is also a member of the giaires or as university graduates to work for their gradu- VKI-Alumni Association’s Board of Directors. So I was ation thesis. very pleased to have the opportunity to interview him Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute - 6 - Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association for our Newsletter as I believe he has some important messages to relay, in particular, to our younger alumni.

Tom, before discussing your wide-ranging career, tell us about your background?

"I’m from a rural farming community in the state of Iowa here in the United States, and I have always had interest in anything that flies. While as a child I didn’t have much access to aviation activities, I did grow up lis- tening to my father’s flight experiences. He was in the US Air Force during the Korean Conflict and served as a flight crew member aboard a Convair B-36 Peacemaker.

"After graduating from high school I attended Iowa State University (ISU) and pursued a degree in Aerospace Professor Alec Young, Chairman, giving VKI Diploma to Engineering with an emphasis in anything that was ap- Tom Wayman, with Stella Sauvan in the back. plied and related to aerodynamics. I was very interested Why did you choose VKI for your advanced studies? about anything in the labs and it was there at ISU that I was fully exposed to the various experimental aspects of "In late 2005 I was approached by Gulfstream aerodynamics. Aerospace Corp. to join their preliminary design team and focus on development of supersonic technologies. Over the "After graduation in 1988 I was fortunate to be picked past ten plus years I have focused on various computa- up by Rocketdyne, a division of Rockwell International, in tional technologies and experimental methods to assist southern California near Los Angeles where I found myself Gulfstream’s current and future aircraft programs." on a research and development team designing and building a chemical oxygen-iodine laser. Not exactly the area of aviation I thought I was preparing for in college but still an incredible experience to hone my technical skills and gain maturity in my ﬁeld; and as I will describe later this experience would be critical in my eventual work at Boe- ing.

"Recognizing through this experience that I would need to further my engineering skills I took leave from Rocket- dyne and began graduate work at Wichita State University (WSU). While at WSU I met Dr. Mel Snyder who frequently shared with me his experiences at the von Karman Insti- tute (VKI) as a visiting professor in the 1970s. With his encouragement and after completing my Master’s Degree I was accepted into the Diploma Course (DC) program at VKI. This was my ﬁrst experience internationally and allowed me to continue my interest for fundamental research Walking to VKI in Rhode-Saint-Genese. in aerodynamics. Why did you choose VKI for your advanced studies? "After completing the Diploma Course I returned to WSU to pursue my Ph.D. and accept a Teaching Fellow Po- "There are a number of reasons I chose VKI for contin- sition with the Aeronautics Department. Three years into ued graduate work, many of which are the same reasons my course of studies I accepted a position with the Boeing I also choose WSU. The von Karman Institute, as I pre- Company to lead aerodynamic and airworthiness efforts viously said, was brought to my attention by Dr. Snyder on a new US military program to convert a commercial because he realized my interest in fundamental experimen- 747 into a high energy laser weapon, the Airborne Laser. tal research. The tunnels at VKI were at the top of my list Ironically, the laser designated for this program was the when pursuing the DC program, unlike many of the Uni- same one I had worked on at Rocketdyne nearly a decade versity facilities here in the States, VKI offered a unique before. Over the course of the next ten years my team led range of Mach number regimes and facility types for an the aerodynamic design, development and ﬂight testing of academic environment. For me it was comparable to the this program. facility options one would expect from one of our NASA centers, for me the VKI was equivalent to a Belgian NASA. Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium - 7 - m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association

"Additionally, I had just begun developing an interest "While some may say their social highlights were their in computational fluid dynamics and VKI offered an ex- opportunity to travel in and outside of Belgium with class- cellent program in this area of interest as well. That all mates, for me I can’t help to fondly reminisce on the sim- said, I can’t deny that part of my motivation was the op- pler events or travels like the breaks in the cafeteria and portunity to study overseas in Europe. Up until my arrival Friday evenings in and around the Grand Place. at VKI I had never left the North American continent, and the promise of a new adventure was very enticing." "Coming from the States and attending school at VKI I quickly learned that one needs to take time during the day What were the technical and social highlights of your and step away from your work periodically, and nothing year at VKI? emphasized this more than the nearly ritual adherence to morning and afternoon coffee/tea breaks. "As I’ve said, I was all about the wind tunnels and fundamental research opportunities at VKI. It was my good "To be honest, at first, I found these breaks as more in- fortune to have been assigned to Prof. Gerard Degrez who terruptions than necessities. My American context (maybe promptly assigned me to work an experiment in the Mach more of a Midwestern thing) had always taught me that 2 Supersonic Wind Tunnel. While my previous academic once you get the day started you work until the work is and industry experience provided me with exposure to var- done, meaning there was no need and no time for breaks. ious wind tunnel facilities, the opportunity to immerse So at first I’d keep myself holed up in the labs working completely in the S-1 tunnel and Prof. Gerard Degrez’s while I watched my classmates and faculty wander into work around boundary layer development across shock the cafeteria. waves was foundational to what would eventually be my area of expertise after returning to industry here in the "But eventually, through the encouragement of others, States. I began to join them and for me this ritual became something I embraced. It was a time to step away, a time to clear my head, a time to catch up, and a time to laugh.

"Now, as I reﬂect on that time during my diploma course, those few minutes each morning and afternoon are memories I cherish as a highlight, not because of the quality of the tea or cookies (though they were both excep- tional), but because of the quality of time spent with my friends.

My ofﬁce at VKI "The project was extremely challenging technically, and helped to mature my ability to successfully conduct fundamental research. My previous work was always focused on data collection, and so a skill set in fundamental research was welcomed and deﬁnitely one of several technical highlights.

"In addition to my own work in the S-1 I was also given Eating frites in downtown Brussels. Tom Wayman on the the opportunity to support a classmate, Kenol Jules, with right, Kevin Detwiler in the middle. his research in development of a pressure sensitive paint measurement technique in the Mach 6 Hypersonic Wind "But I must also point to time spent at and near the Tunnel. A new tunnel, a new speed regime and new mea- Grand Place. Whether we caught the buses, or a train, or surement technique - definitely another technical highlight found someone to give us a ride, no matter the mode of from VKI. transportation the Grand Place was the place to be. It offered a transformation from our time at VKI. "While a good amount of my time at VKI was spent in the labs or at my desk in the student office area I did find "Like the morning and afternoon breaks, the Grand- time to explore and socialize with my fellow classmates. Place offered us so many places to eat, and drink, and Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute - 8 - Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association shop, and just be young adults. While one could spend "Beginning in 2006 and continuing until today I have any time there, it was especially alive on the weekends. been at Gulfstream working at various levels and support- The weekends created an environment of locals, students, ing various groups to mature technologies related to sup- tourists and the like all converging and mingling within porting supersonic flight. the backdrop of Guild Halls and the City Hall." "As external publications can attest, much of our work Please describe your career after graduation has been related to technologies to mitigate or diminish to acceptable levels the sound pressure levels ("the boom") "After graduation in July of 1994, I returned to the associated with overland supersonic flight. States and settled back to Wichita, Kansas. First order of business was getting married in August, second was start- "From a professional level I have focused on aero- ing a teaching position at WSU, and third beginning my propulsion computational and experimental research and PhD program. experimental validation methods. In my spare time, I have served as the group head for the supersonic technology and "For the next three years I taught at WSU, where I con- applied aerodynamic groups." ducted research in pulse detonation engines. During this time, I worked with one of my VKI classmates, Kenol Jules, Please highlight your work on the supersonic busi- who was at NASA Lewis doing research on pulse detona- ness jet. How does Gulfstream’s’ design differ from other tion engines. We drafted and developed a preliminary siz- groups? Have you had any collaboration with Richard ing code, and I began plans to build a shock tube at WSU Tracy (DC 1960) and Andres Garzon (DC 2003), both to complete some of the fundamental research required to with Aerion Corp., in the course of your program? complement the sizing code. "While I can’t discuss publicly what Gulfstream may or not be doing related to supersonic business jets or any "My intent after VKI was to complete my PhD and pur- future business jet programs, it’s clear that the aerospace sue a teaching career, but another career opportunity pre- industry, academia, and our government agencies have be- sented itself and I chose another path. So in January 1997 gun shifting some focus into technologies and regulatory while still teaching I transitioned to an engineering po- changes that allow for and promote commercial super- sition with Boeing Integrated and Defense System in Wi- sonic flight. chita. There I was given aerodynamic and airworthiness responsibility for a US Air Force developmental program "For any established or developing OEM to pursue this to modify a Boeing 747 into an airborne laser weapon path there exists numerous hurdles - updated regulations, known as the Airborne Laser. community acceptance, commercially viable technologies, and environmental concerns. A quick internet survey will "For the next several years my team directed and con- show that folks like Gulfstream, Boeing, Lockheed, Aerion, ducted the aerodynamic, performance and handling quali- Boom, Spike Aerospace, etc. are engaged, have been en- ties development of this modified aircraft. It was an oppor- gaged, and will continue to be engaged in this very exciting tunity to develop and demonstrate a weapon system from potential of future flight products. concept design to flight. It was a true "cradle to grave" kind of program and allowed me to see the entire life cycle of "But from my perspective, it’s interesting how each of program development. the OEM proposes to pursue aircraft development. Some have decided to fly supersonically where they are allowed " Once the aircraft was deemed airworthy and the to fly supersonically, mainly over water; while other OEMs weapon systems were being built up and fitted in the air- have taken a more measured approach to wait for the var- craft, I was asked to lead the aero team at Boeing to de- ious governments to reset the criteria for acceptable super- velop a modified Boeing 767 to serve as a replacement sonic flight. Regardless of the approach, there seems to be for the aging fleet of KC-135 air refueling tankers. Known nearly weekly news on the subject from QUESST to Boom’s then as the Global Tanks Program, and now as KC-46 Pe- Overture, making for a lot of energy and interest in tech- gasus, initial variants were developed for the countries of nologies that support commercial supersonic flight. Italy and Japan. "Personally I have not had the opportunity to work "In 2005, again not intending to look beyond Boeing, with Dr. Tracy, though I have read and studied his work on I was approached by Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation to natural laminar flow technologies. It’s a technology that consider a position within the Preliminary Design Group. has great potential and one that may be well suited with Realizing that my time at Boeing was limited to modify- supersonic vehicle development. ing existing airframes, the opportunity at Gulfstream af- forded me the chance to work projects from a clean sheet, "As for Andres Garzon, we too have not had the oppor- and specifically support the technology development work tunity to work together on pursuit of supersonic technolo- Gulfstream was conducting into supersonic flight. gies. We have maintained contact at various AIAA confer- Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium - 9 - m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association ences and VKI Alumni events. me with the love I have today for conducting research, and discovery that is inevitable with this kind of work. "Most of Gulfstream’s collaborative efforts in this area have been less likely with other OEMs and more likely with "This passion has served me well in every aspect of NASA. Gulfstream has maintained a valuable working re- work since, and is something for which I will always be lationship with NASA centers at Langley, Glenn, Ames and in debt to the Institute and its faculty. When I say it "has Armstrong in the areas for supersonic technology develop- served me well" it goes beyond being able to do my job and ment. We have been able, over the past few years, to bring do it well, but it speaks to enjoying and loving what I do. to NASA concepts and technologies and then work with them to validate and mature these technologies. The best " Maybe a better way of saying it is that my experience public example of this kind of work would be the flight re- at VKI created a technical maturity I don’t think I could search that we performed on the Quiet Spike technology to have achieved here in the United States following the nor- suppress sonic boom signatures." mal academic path. It matured me professionally, but also opened up my world to research and people and ideas that Have you visited the VKI since graduation? gave me a perspective that is so much broader than previous to the VKI experience. I can say without a doubt that I "Unfortunately just once in 1999 while traveling with am a better engineer and better person for the experience." my family on a summer break. While travels have taken me back to Europe and the UK, none have been close enough to allow me to visit. I hope this was not the last time, as I am very interested in being back at the Institute sometime in the near future." QARMAN: a satellite designed and Have you been in contact with any of your fellow built at VKI, in orbit soon! graduates since 1994?

"Yes, but not as much lately. Immediately following my time at VKI I maintained contact with a couple of my American classmates, Kenol Jules and Kevin Detwiler, but also several of my classmates from Turkey, Murat Cakan and Bahadir Alkislar, and Chiara Palomba from Italy.

"While I have not maintained these relationships as I’d hoped, I have developed new relationships through the by AMANDINE DENIS,VKIRESEARCH ENGINEER various activities with the North American Alumni Asso- ciation and these new "classmates" span nearly the en- tep by step, Space is getting closer for QARMAN! tire breadth of the Diploma Course program. These re- This nano-satellite entirely designed and built at lationships include Andres Garzon (DC 2003), Tom Far- SVKI can be defined as an atmospheric entry ex- rell (DC 2004), Bryan Richards (1966-1980), Shinji Na- periment on a CubeSat platform. The last months have gai (ARO 1999), Tom Chyczewski (DC 1991), Nick Mar- been both busy and exciting for the team: integration of tin (RM 2018), John Wendt(1964-1999), Bob Dogwillo the flight model, successful test campaign, final review (DC 1979), Mickey Greenblatt (DC 1963), Nicole Key and authorization for launch. QARMAN should lift off (DC 2003), Kent Misegades (DC 1980), and Bayindir by the end of the year, to be released in orbit by early Saracoglu (DC 2008, PhD 2013)." 2020.

Looking back on your year at the Institute, what was "CubeSats"? its impact if any on your career and more generally on your life? The CubeSat (nano)satellite standard was initiated in the late 1990’s by Prof. Robert J. "Bob" Twiggs, at that "Great question and one that I have thought about time CalPoly, now Morehead State University, in order to many times over the years since my time at VKI ended. facilitate access to Space mainly for students. It basically 3 I spoke to this earlier but on a professional level my time consists in a 1kg, 10*10*10 cm cubic-shaped satellite, at VKI established for me a passion for fundamental re- to be released in Space by a deployer (a box with a search in experimental methods (i.e., love of the art of an pushspring mechanism) attached to a rocket launcher or experimentalist). even to the ISS. The basic 10*10*10 units can be com- bined to offer more space and power. More than a thou- "Prior to VKI I’d been exposed to the discipline of exper- sand CubeSats have been launched to date. Missions imental methods but the opportunity and independence nowadays range from student projects to interplanetary given me during the diploma course program infected in endeavors. Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute - 10 - Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association

this project. It has to manage the thermal environment until ground, by keeping the payload bay at a suitable temperature. The P50 cork has been selected for that purpose.

Artist’s impression of QARMAN orbiting the Earth. It shows the cork thermal protection system (front part of the satellite), titanium sidewalls (middle part of the satellite) and deployed solar panels for passive stabilization (back of the satellite). Test of the cork thermal protection system of QARMAN in the plasmatron facility at VKI. QARMAN mission and design QARMAN (Qubesat for Aerothermodynamic Re- QARMAN’s mission aims to provide an Earth entry search and Measurements on AblatioN) is the world’s flight data set for a given entry trajectory. This requires first CubeSat designed to survive atmospheric re-entry. an accurate de-orbiting system for QARMAN to reach The main aim of the QARMAN mission is to demonstrate 7.7 km/s at 120 km altitude. Thus, the second payload the usability of a CubeSat platform as an atmospheric of QARMAN is called "Aerodynamic Stability and De- entry vehicle. QARMAN has two payloads, which will Orbiting System (AeroSDS)". The AeroSDS will demon- operate on different time slots of the mission. The main strate the feasibility of a passive system providing aero- QARMAN payload is the usage of a CubeSat platform as dynamic stability for a CubeSat below 350 km of al- "Atmospheric Entry Demonstrator". Spacecraft descend- titude and provide also stability during re-entry. Four ing towards a planet with an atmosphere experience panels (accommodating the solar cells) will be deployed very harsh environment as extreme aerodynamic heat- and provide the required stability. ing and exothermic chemical reactions occur due to the These two payloads are hosted on a platform en- gas surface interaction at hypersonic free stream veloc- tirely designed at VKI. Many challenges had to be faced, ities. Such vehicles have special shields to survive these among which was the thermal control. Indeed, require- harsh conditions as will QARMAN. After the success of ments during orbital and re-entry phases are rather con- the mission, different entry vehicle configurations (for flicting. Re-entry requires strong insulation against very example using different TPS materials) can be tested high external heat, while the internally generated power on board at very low costs for scientific exploration and has to be evacuated during orbital life. Three highly in- qualification of future missions in order to provide valu- sulated "survival" boxes will thus protect the equipment able real flight data. needed for re-entry (data acquisition, on-board computer, batteries, Iridium modem) while the rest is in a To collect flight data the challenging physics of at- more classical configuration. mospheric entry to be investigated are down-selected to make scientifically valuable measurements respect- Communication was also a challenge to be over- ing the constraints of CubeSat platforms. Thermal Pro- come. Classical UHF radio can be used for orbital life. tection System (TPS) ablation, efficiency, and environ- However, the re-entry phase will include a black-out ment; attitude stability; rarefied flow conditions; off- phase due to the plasma ionization. Data will be stored stagnation temperature evolution and finally aerother- during that period, and sent out at a lower altitude. It is modynamic environment will be measured on QARMAN very unlikely that the VKI ground station will be in range using COTS spectrometer, photodiode, temperature and at that time, so the Iridium constellation will serve as a pressure sensors. The implementation of an effective relay. TPS that could fit within the external dimensions of a 3U standard CubeSat is one of the challenging parts of The main challenge was probably the available vol- Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium - 11 - m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association ume. Payloads and platform described above had to fit 2013), Ertan Umit (VKI Research Engineer), Gilles Bailet in a 30*10*10 cm3 envelope. The next figure gives an (DC 2011, PhD 2019), Paride Testani (VKI Research overview of the result, for a final mass of 5.285 kg. Engineer), and Terence Boeyen (Electronic Lab Tech- nician). They would later be joined by Davide Masutti From design to launch readiness (DC 2007, PhD 2013) and Amandine Denis, while some members left for new adventures. Vincent Van der Hae- The QARMAN project, a General Support Technol- gen, as Research Engineer, was in charge of the whole ogy Program (GSTP) funding program of ESA, started in project from the beginning in 2013 until 2017. Davide 2013. The initial team was composed of Vincent Van der Masutti was then project leader from 2017 until 2018, Haegen (DC 2013), Cem Asma (DC 2001, PhD 2009), and Amandine Denis took over for 2019. Isil Sakraker (DC 2010, PhD 2016), Thorsten Scholz (DC

CAD view of QARMAN, without sidewalls, showing the main subsystems.

In the Summer of 2016, a first proto-flight1 model was integrated and ready for the test campaign. Un- fortunately, the first vibration test campaign in Novem- ber 2016 failed: the ceramic sidewalls of the satellite cracked. The post-test investigations and consequent re- design took approximately a year. Sidewalls are now in titanium (for robustness) with a SiC coating (for thermal protection).

The first half of 2018 saw the full validation of the flight software and, above all, a full-scale test campaign in the Scirocco plasma wind tunnel in Italy. Scirocco is the world’s largest and most powerful hypersonic arc-jet facility. This world’s first full-scale reentry vehicle test in a ground plasma facility was conducted in the framework of a collaboration between CIRA and VKI. It du- plicated the integral heat load of the reentry phase in a QARMAN before test in SCIROCCO wind tunnel. destructive test in order to validate the thermal modeling and verify the structural integrity (and thus the TPS The integration of the updated proto-flight model sizing). It used a fully representative engineering model restarted in the Summer of 2018 at VKI, not without built for that specific purpose. The test was successful, any bad luck. Another ceramic part broke overnight, and demonstrating the structural integrity and validating the was also replaced by titanium. After the integration was internal temperatures reached during re-entry. (supposedly) concluded in February 2019, a malfunc- 1For CubeSats, typically only one unit of the satellite is built, which will undergo the qualification/acceptance tests and actually fly: the proto-flight model. Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute - 12 - Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association tion of the UHF radio was discovered and fixed. "Final In the meantime, the test campaign had been care- final" integration of the QARMAN protoflight model was fully planned. First, ambient tests validated the proper finally achieved on 26 March 2019. functioning of QARMAN as a whole and of each sub- system, including communication with the VKI ground station (highest point of VKI, on L1 rooftop) and with Iridium satellites. Antenna and solar panel deployments were also verified. In April, QARMAN went for vibration tests (at V2i, Liège) for the second time in its life. Af- ter a stressful morning of QARMAN being shaken from 20 to 2000 Hz, inspection revealed that QARMAN survived perfectly. Visual inspection and functional tests validated the success of the test.

QARMAN after test in SCIROCCO wind tunnel.

Vibration test of QARMAN (enclosed in box representative of the launch boundary conditions).

QARMAN then travelled to Toulouse (ISAE- SUPAERO) for bake-out and thermo-vacuum cycling ("TVAC"). Bake-out consists in baking QARMAN a few days at 50◦C so that it is clean for the subsequent TVAC test. TVAC itself aims at validating the proper functioning of QARMAN under representative thermal conditions. Under vacuum, QARMAN experienced four cycles of temperatures oscillating between -10 and +50◦C, staying a few hours at each extreme. QARMAN was switched on and functionalities tested at plateau and during transitions. The antenna were deployed successfully in the worst-case conditions (-10◦C) and the over- all campaign was successful.

Some final ambient tests at VKI demonstrated that QARMAN flight model in deployed configuration. It shows QARMAN survived the environmental campaign and the cork thermal protection system (bottom), titanium was ready for launch. In July, Qualification and Accep- sidewalls (middle) and deployed solar panels (top), as tance Review (QAR) was held with ESA according to well as the 4 UHF antennas (perpendicularly deployed). their standard procedures and concluded that QARMAN Orange and blue parts are non-flight support equipment. was finally ready and authorized for launch!

Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium - 13 - m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association

A few weeks after reaching the ISS, QARMAN will be deployed into Space and start its mission. All oper- ations will be performed from the VKI ground station. The ﬁrst weeks will be dedicated to commissioning the subsystems and verifying the good health of QARMAN. Solar panels will then be deployed to increase the drag, thus decelerate QARMAN and initiate its re-entry. After a few months in orbit, the beginning of the re-entry phase will be automatically detected by QARMAN, triggering the data acquisition. Maximum 18 minutes later, the re- entry phase is over and data are communicated through Iridium before the ﬁnal crash of QARMAN. The satellite will not be recovered, but don’t worry: the casualty risk has been carefully assessed and demonstrated to comply with all international regulations!

QARMAN in vacuum chamber, ready for TVAC test.

Final steps to Space At the time of writing these lines, QARMAN has been shipped and arrived in Houston, USA. In the coming days, it will be integrated into its CubeSat deployer, which itself will be installed on a Dragon cargo spacecraft. The Dragon is to be launched by a Falcon 9 rocket (SpaceX) from Cape Canaveral. The announced launch date is currently December 4, 2019.

A CubeSat being deployed from the ISS. (Credit: NASA, Nanoracks)

RM Graduation Ceremony 2019

QARMAN being packed for shipment. he VKI Director Peter Grognard opened the ceremony acknowledging the effort of the entire VKI After a few days navigating towards the ISS, Dragon Tstaff for their performance over the past year, will ﬁnally be grabbed by the robotic arm and berthed pointing out that their efforts allowed reaching an in- to the International Space Station. All along the process, come covering nearly 70 % of the total budget, the re- QARMAN and other CubeSats are stored in Nanoracks mainder being covered by the International contribu- CubeSat Deployers (NRCSD). The NRCSD is a self- tions from the NATO countries and the Belgian Federal contained CubeSat deployer system that mechanically Budget. and electrically isolates CubeSats from the ISS, cargo re- supply vehicles, and ISS crew. For CubeSat deployments, Ambassador Pascal Heymans, Permanent Represen- NRCSDs are attached to a platform, which is moved out- tative of Belgium to NATO, insisted then on the value of side via the Kibo Module’s Airlock and slide table that VKI for NATO due to its contribution in all disciplines allows the Japanese Experimental Module Remote Ma- critical for NATO. nipulator System (JEMRMS) to move the deployers to the correct orientation for the satellite’s release and also Dr. Bryan Wells, NATO Chief Scientist, reported provides command and control to the deployers. Each that the NATO Science and Technology Organization NRCSD is capable of holding six CubeSat Units. supported about 6000 scientists for a total of 300 Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute - 14 - Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association

Meuro/year. As an example of the importance of sustain- ment in international research programs gives the op- ing sciences, Dr. Wells referred to the recent celebration portunity to develop a sense for coordination and guid- of the 75th Anniversary of the Allied Invasion in Nor- ance, acquiring thus gradually a sufficient global view mandy on June 4, 1944. He recalled the decisive role of for developing important research programs. But com- the science of weather forecasting for the determination bining an intensive research with an even more impor- of the exact date for the successful invasion by the Allies tant family life is difficult, in particular if you have seven in Normandy, with the conditions of full moon, low tide, children as is the case of Falk. (NB: Falk is also an active little cloud cover and low winds. Dr. Wells also under- member of the board of the VKI Alumni Association and lined the importance of the collaboration between VKI since recently a member of the VKI General Assembly). and this organization. Then came the most important moment of the cere- Rather than giving a complete overview of all re- mony, the distribution of the RM Diplomas to the gradu- search activities as practiced for many years, 2017 saw ates, starting with the presentation of the special prizes: already an important change by replacing the superfi- - Theodore von Karman prize: Matilde Fiore, Italy, cial overview by a more in-depth presentation of a spe- University of Basilicata, cific research topic by a VKI Researcher. This year, Dr. - Belgian Government Prize: Marco Manfredi, Italy, Christopher Chahine addressed the topic "The Quest of University of Pisa, Sustainable Thrust - Advanced Design for Future Jet En- - Prince Alexandre of Belgium Award for Best Pre- gine Fan Blades". sentation: Romain Poletti, Belgium, Catholic University of Louvain, - Excellence in Experimental Research: Konstantinos Vratsinis, Greece, University of Patras, - Excellence in Numerical Research: Enrico Mauro Di Marzo: Italy, University of Naples Federico II.

Prof. Falk Klinge, Ostfalia University for Applied Sciences, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Wolfenbüttel, Germany

The address to the students was delivered by the former DC Student and, presently, Professor at the Ostfalia University for Applied Sciences, Wolfenbüttel, Germany, Falk Klinge. He recalled that he was sent in 2000 to VKI by his Professor, Ulrich Meier, who had graduated from VKI already in 1966. Based on his own career, Prof. His Excellency Ambassador Pascal Heyman Klinge developed some guidelines for students starting and Matilde Fiore, Theodore von Karman Prize with the rhetorical question "Is there a life after VKI?" Building up a solid network is important. The involve- The ceremony continued with the Best Collaboration Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium - 15 - m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association

Award, presented by Prof. Mario Carbonaro, on behalf of Since a few minutes you are no longer RM students, the VKI Alumni Association (see his complete elocution but VKI Alumni; that means, postgraduate students from hereafter) and the announcement of the names of the the von Karman Institute. You have been educated for eleven PhD students who obtained their Doctoral De- nine months with the practice of research in ﬂuid dy- gree during the past Academic year: namics, in a wide range of different applications. Most of you will leave the VKI, but nobody will forget, I am - Georgios Bellas-Chatzigeorgis, Greece, Politecnico sure, the time spent at the von Karman Institute. di Milano, - Sophia Buckingham, France & UK, Université Do you remember, at the very beginning of this year, Catholique de Louvain, you arrived in this same room, anxious to learn what - Christopher Chahine, Germany, University of Ox- you will be doing and studying, ... and you were told ford, that this would probably be your most difﬁcult and most - Sara González Ruiz, spain, Vrije Universiteit Brus- demanding year of studies? Well, by now you certainly sel, have realized how this was indeed true ... - Gian Luca Gori, Italy, Université Catholique de Lou- vain, And you will also remember the von Karman Insti- - Koen Groot, The Netherlands, Delft University of tute for what you have learned, but probably as much, Technology, or even more, for another thing which you experienced - Lionel Hirschberg, The Netherlands, Université de over the last nine months. Quite differently from the life Paris-Saclay, in large universities, the smaller scale of the VKI, with a - Yakut Cansey Kucukosman, Turkey, Delft University large variety of facilities, did allow you to get in much of Technology, closer contact with your fellow students, with the many - Lasse Müller, Germany, Université Libre de Brux- other VKI researchers, and with the faculty members. elles, It did allow you to interact much more intensely, to in- - Jorge Saavedra Garcia, Spain, Purdue University, terchange your ideas with your fellow students, who all - Alessia Simonini, Italy, Université Libre de Brux- had very different backgrounds, different nationalities elles. and different cultures. Thus it encouraged you to open your mind to different worlds of thinking, of living, of The vote of thanks to the guests was pronounced eating and of having fun together. by Giacomo Zuccarino, member of the Research Master Program of the Academic Year 2018-2019. But beyond the social life, the time spent at the VKI was also an extraordinary opportunity to learn how to Claus Sieverding, DC 1965 work together with your fellows in your studies and in VKI Honorary Professor your research projects, and in close contact with the faculty, the research engineers and the PhD candidates, in view of the much more favourable ratio of teachers to students than in universities.

And working together means a simple thing: it VKI-AA Best Collaboration Award means collaborating with each other. Speech Starting your professional career, you will find out very quickly that besides excellence in technical matters, the sense of collaboration and team spirit is considered by all organizations of primary importance. Technical achievements and success in research depend in general on the close collaboration of a large number of persons specialized in various domains to reach a given objective. The sharing of talents, views, ideas, competences and knowledge of many actors is the basis for innova- by MARIO CARBONARO, DC 1968, tive and efficient research. VKIHONORARY DIRECTORAND PROFESSOR Of course, personal recognition is important; and you will be often in a situation where you compete with Madame, Heer Ambassadeur, NATO Chief Scientist, your colleagues for obtaining a prize, a promotion, or Members of the NATO Budget Committee, Colonels, Dis- recognition and naturally you may be tempted to keep tinguished Guests, Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentle- your latest discoveries for yourself rather than shar- men, I am addressing this speech to the VKI Research ing them with your colleagues. But this is rather short- Master students who just received their VKI Diploma. sighted. Keeping your ideas and discoveries for yourself Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute - 16 - Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association will lead to a situation of isolation and will result in I will now give to François his certificate and prize. turn that you will not benefit from the ideas, suggestions And the prize is: and discoveries of your colleagues. Such sort of individ- - a 3-year Full Membership to the VKI-Alumni Asso- ualism is against cooperation, and cooperation, together ciation, with innovation and education, is one of the three pillars - our nice Association’s lapel pin, the Association’s for evolution of society to adapt to world changes. ball-point pen, - and the collection of the first 20 VKI Alumni Asso- The VKI-Alumni Association wishes to value this as- ciation Newsletters. pect and has decided to offer an "Award for Best Col- laboration" which is to be seen as an invitation and an encouragement to make collaboration and team spirit a characteristic of VKI students. The peculiarity of this Award is that neither the Faculty nor the Association designates the nominee. Instead, the candidate is nom- The VKI-AA Research Travel Grants inated by his or her fellow students in a secret poll, organized by the student representative, Giacomo Zuc- 2019, an update carino, whom I thank here for organising this poll last Friday, the day just before the student trip organised by the Alumni Association to the "Le Bourget" Air Show.

by MARIO CARBONARO, DC 1968 VKIHONORARY DIRECTORAND PROFESSOR

s indicated in previous NL27, a number of modiﬁ- cations were introduced for the RTG 2019 require- Aments: there is no more a deadline for all applications set at the end of January. Applications now can be submitted also at the end of each following month, and would be evaluated within the two following weeks, until the available yearly budget is exhausted. In addition,the stay in the foreign lab is not restricted to the period from March to September; it can also extend up to the end of the current year and the beginning of the following year.

As a result of such modifications, the number of applications submitted this year greatly increased. Thus, in 2019, the Alumni Association grant reviewers have already approved for support five applications for five doctoral candidates: David Henneaux, Andrea Fagnani, Charline Fouchier, Stefano Bocelli and Domenico Fior- ini; a sixth application, from Maria Teresa Scelzo has just been received, and a seventh candidate, Adriana Prof. Mario Carbonaro and François Piette, Enache, is in the process of submitting her application. Best Collaboration Award It is at present my honour and pleasure to deliver on David Henneaux, from Université behalf of the VKI-Alumni Association this Award, which Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, RM says: 2018 with Honours for his research project entitled "Development of an im- "The VKI Alumni Association proudly recognizes mersed method for melting of space debris" (one of the objectives of the François Piette "Cleansat" initiative of the European As recipient of the 2019 AWARD for "Best Collab- Space Agency) and recipient of the oration", nominated by the VKI Research Master Stu- 2018 Alumni Association Award for "Best Collabora- dents, Class of 2018-2019." tion", just completed in July his stay at NASA Ames. Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium - 17 - m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association

He has been working with the group of Dr David rolled in the VKI faculty last year (cfr. Article in NL25). Mansour, and he describes his experience in an article Charline already benefited from a VKI-AA grant in in this same newsletter issue. 2016 to visit for two weeks the Mary Kay O’Connor Pro- David continues to be supervised at the VKI by Pro- cess Safety Center, at Texas A&M University in College fessor Thierry Magin, as since October 2018, he has Station, Texas, and described her experience in NL22. been enrolled in the VKI PhD program in collaboration Now Charline has gone in September to Stanford with the "Université Catholique de Louvain" and Cé- University for a two-month period, to work in the de- naero (a company devoted to numerical simulations in partment of Civil and Environmental Engineering under aerospace, located in the Walloon region of Belgium). the supervision of Professor Catherine Gorlé (DC 2006), David’s thesis is devoted to a research topic critical to take advantage of their expertise on the modelling of in aerospace science, and is entitled: "Development of small particles in an urban environment under an atmo- high-fidelity numerical methods for the simulation of spheric boundary layer. the aerothermal ablation of space debris during atmo- The visit is a real chance to improve drastically the spheric entry." quality of the numerical work through the expertise of the professors of the university. At the end of the visit, Andrea Fagnani, from Politecnico a joint paper will be written and submitted for publi- di Milano, Italy, STP 2017 and RM cation, which will strengthen the collaboration between 2018 obtained the Theodore von Kar- VKI and Stanford University. man Prize for his research project entitled "Re-entry space debris characteriza- Stefano Bocelli, from Politecnico di tion for Design-for-Demise validation", Milano, Italy, RM 2017, supervised by which he also presented at the QIRT (a Prof Thierry Magin, who had applied renowned international conference on for a RTG in 2018, delayed several Infrared Thermography that takes place every two years times his stay at the University of Ot- since 1992), in Berlin in June, 2018. tawa in order to be more advanced in Upon completion of his RM, Andrea had been en- his work to fully profit of the collabora- rolled in the VKI PhD program under supervision by Prof tion with the Ottawa team. He will fi- Olivier Chazot, in collaboration with the Vrije Univer- nally visit them from November 2019 to January 2020, siteit Brussel, also obtaining support from the Flemish to work under the guidance of Professor James G. Mc- FWO after a competitive selection. He also just com- Donald and Professor Clinton Groth, leading experts on pleted his stay at NASA Ames, working with the group the development of numerical methods for Boltzmann of Dr David Mansour and will describe his experience in moment systems for rarefied flows. the next Newsletter. In June 2017, Stefano completed with honours a VKI The purpose of the stay was to work on various as- Research Master in the Aeronautics and Aerospace de- pects of basic research related to NASA-VKI common partment, winning the "Theodore von Karman Prize" for interest in material response modelling and/or plasma both his academic and research performance, as well physics. Among the main technical challenges, Andrea as the Prince Alexandre of Belgium award for the best thus worked on the development of a melting-ablation presentation. In his research project, he worked on the model to study the response of space debris materials in "Simulations of electron concentration in the wake of high-enthalpy facilities, and it is expected that this work meteors and application to radio observations", obtain- will lead to a common NASA-VKI journal publication. ing innovative results presented in a poster at the 61st Course of the International School of Quantum Electron- Charline Fouchier, from Ecole Nor- ics in 2017. male Supérieure des Mines d’Alès, RM Since October 2017, Stefano has been enrolled in 2015, had obtained the prize for Excel- the VKI PhD program on the topic "Development of mo- lence in Experimental Research for her ment methods for electric propulsion systems" under the research project entitled "Scale model supervision of Professor Thierry Magin in collaboration of pressure field after an explosion of a with the Department of Aerospace Science and Technol- charge in an urban environment". ogy at the Politecnico di Milano (which provides Stefano She was then enrolled in the VKI a fellowship), under the supervision of Professor Aldo PhD program, in collaboration with the Commissariat Frezzotti. The purpose is to develop simulation tools à l’Energie Atomique (CEA) in Gramat, France, which is that will prove to be crucial to plasma propulsion sys- funding her PhD, on the "Investigation of the dispersion tems, a technological application that is an emerging re- of solid micro-particles driven by a condensed phase ex- search activity at VKI. plosion in an urban environment". She was first super- At the University of Ottawa, Stefano will extend a vised at the VKI by Professor Jean-Marie Buchlin, and promising moment method based on entropy maximisa- presently by Assistant Professor Delphine Laboureur, en- tion principles, originally formulated by Professor Mc- Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute - 18 - Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association

Donald and Professor Groth, by modifying the formu- stratification, short holding time and sloshing. lation to introduce multiple chemical species and self- After three years of research on this subject at the consistent electromagnetic forces. Also numerical as- VKI, developing a numerical approach and conducting pects will be considered by coupling a VKI library for experiments on isothermal slushes, she now plans to go chemical species behaviour, Mutation++, to the rein October for six months at ESA/ESTEC in Noordwijk, search code developed at Ottawa and by implementing The Netherlands, with joint support from ESA, the Bel- the modified equations. gian FNRS and the Alumni Association. The purpose is to further conduct numerical stud- Domenico Fiorini, from Università ies and to extend the experiments to the non-isothermal degli Studi di Firenze, Italy, RM 2018, case, in collaboration with the Thermal Control Section had obtained the prize for Excellence of ESA-ESTEC, whose support will be essential to tailor in Experimental Research for his re- the investigation to the actual needs of the future space search project entitled "Application of launchers’ engines. the Lased Induced Fluorescence Tech- nique in Liquid Film Cooling for Rocket Adriana Enache, from Polytechnic Engines". This project, devoted to the University of Bucarest, Romania, RM measurement of temperature fields and thickness of 2017, obtained the VKI diploma with ethanol micrometric films, was part of a large program honours for her project entitled "Flow in a partnership between ESA, DLR and Ariane Group, control in the Jet Wiping process". She involving also a two-week experimental campaign in the was then enrolled in the VKI PhD pro- DLR site of Lampoldshousen. gram to work on aircraft de-icing tech- Domenico was then enrolled in the VKI PhD pro- niques under the supervision of Profes- gram, under the supervision first of Professor Jean- sor Jeroen van Beeck. Marie Buchlin, and then of newly enrolled Assistant Pro- In the context of a collaboration between the VKI fessor Miguel Mendez. Now Domenico will go for a lit- and the Norwegian University of Science and Technol- tle more than one week to the Institut d’Etudes Sci- ogy (NTNU) she was intending to submit an application entifiques de Cargèse, CNRS, part of the Université de to participate in a two-week experimental campaign in Corse/Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, France, to the icing wind tunnel of the VTT Research Center of Fin- follow the "Liquids-at-Interfaces" fall school, where he land, starting end of November. will have the opportunity to meet and discuss with Pro- However, due to a delay in availability of the VTT ic- fessor Jacco Snoijer (University of Twente), who is con- ing tunnel, the stay has been delayed to January 2020; ducting an important research on the role of inertia in thus, she will apply for the 2020 RTG. dynamic wetting, Professor Frieder Mugele (University of Twente), who is an expert in the field of measurement techniques for surface interactions and Professor Roland Netz (Free University of Berlin), who is very active in the numerical simulation of liquid interfaces. When chemistry helps CFD: a short All these fruitful discussions will be also very con- ducive for the candidate’s research work and the von story of my stay at NASA Ames Karman Institute projects.

Maria Teresa Scelzo, from Univer- sità degli Studi di Basilicata, Italy, RM 2016, who obtained the VKI diploma with honours for her project entitled "Flow control of confinement-driven os- cillation of impinging jets", was then en- by DAVID HENNEAUX, RM 2018 rolled in the VKI PhD program under the supervision of Professor Jean-Marie or those of you who are regular readers, you are Buchlin, in collaboration with the Université Libre de maybe going to think "again a VKI student telling Bruxelles, to prepare a thesis entitled "Study of cryo- Fhis adventure in California?!" And you would be genic slush for future launchers’ engines". right since I belong to this list of lucky students who The purpose of the research is to study the replace- have benefited from the interesting contacts of Prof. ment of the liquid hydrogen as space propellant by a Thierry Magin to get to NASA Ames this summer. non-Newtonian slush of hydrogen at the triple point, so that the resulting mixture of solid-liquid hydrogen is Like probably all the others before me, I found this less sensitive to a number of problems, like temperature experience simply amazing! But contrary to many of Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium - 19 - m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association them, the topic I was working on was not directly re- erties of solid metallic alloys and their corresponding lated to fluid dynamics, which, I hope, will arouse your liquid melted state are necessary, yet they are difficult curiosity for reading the rest of this text ;-) to find. Starting from this observation, we decided to take advantage of my stay at NASA Ames to collaborate I am finishing my first year of a PhD study about the with the local expert in Molecular Dynamics Simulation development of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) (MDS) Dr. Justin Haskins, deputy chief of the Thermal methods to simulate the ablation of metallic space de- Protection Materials Branch . bris when it re-enters the atmosphere. VKI is directly involved in the mitigation of this problem, which is of If this term sounds a bit mysterious for you, don’t great interest currently, through two contracts with the worry, it’s exactly what I felt when I was first told about European Space Agency and several PhD projects. this discipline. MDS consists in computing the move- ment of particles (atoms or molecules) which are sub- In a few words, the objective of my doctoral project jected to molecular interactions in a fictitious box, tak- is to combine several numerical methods that will al- ing the average of their positions and velocities over a low us to accurately simulate the ablation process of a certain amount of time and obtaining, from statistical re-entering debris (involving melting, evaporation, etc.) formula, relevant thermodynamic or transport proper- which leads in some cases to its complete disintegration. ties.

The development of such mathematical tools has In one sentence, that’s what I did during my nine one main goal: "resolving" the Navier-Stokes equations. weeks there, using a very nice open-source software. These pleasant equations, with which most of you have And it turned out that this approach for obtaining the certainly had a good time, decorate the ofﬁcial VKI T- missing properties we need is very powerful. I am very shirt and make it very fashionable. Incidentally, they excited about continuing the work we did there and in- also govern the behavior of many ﬂows and can for cluding this new promising element in my PhD plan. example predict the degradation of an object in an extremely high-temperature environment. In addition to having fun watching atoms move in a cube, I also enjoyed a lot of things that California can offer. To name just a few: I strolled around the huge Stan- ford campus, I went to the very interesting and complete Computer History Museum (next to Google headquar- ters), I spent a day sauntering along the steep streets of San Francisco and another one discovering the atmosphere of the Pride Parade, I took part in the Aerospace Games in Los Angeles during one weekend and we had the incredible chance to make a tour in the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Andrea Fagnani (RM 2018) and David Henneaux (RM 2018) during a tour of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California

If you remember (if not, pick up your t-shirt), the "resolution" of these equations requires the knowledge of different properties, such as the viscosity, the thermal conductivity and the speciﬁc heat capacities. We can be proud that VKI has developed Mutation++, one of the best tools for the moment to compute all these properties for many different gas mixtures, over a very wide Fig. 2: Group picture during a weekend hike in the range of conditions. Obtaining these same properties for Sequoia National Park in California liquids or even solids is more involved as the assump- tions made for gases are not valid anymore. We visited, with two friends from VKI and others met at Ames, the superb Sequoia National Park and Big Tree In the present case of ablating space debris, the prop- Park where we could enjoy breathtaking views (see Fig. Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute - 20 - Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association

2). These are maybe once-in-a-lifetime experiences, I am aerospace world, VKI RM students’ personal participa- so lucky to have been able to live them! tion seems insignificant, however the technical impact of the future aerospace field cannot be underestimated. That’s why I would like to sincerely thank all the peo- The Paris Air Show was certainly as impressive as its ple and organizations who made this stay possible. First, fame predisposed any potential visitor. The vast exhibi- I am very grateful to Dr. Nagi Mansour and Dr. Justin tion area offered literally a small town for the visitors to Haskins for hosting me at Ames, for their interest in my explore, only limited by their time constraints. work and for their very valuable advice and guidance. Thank you also to all the great people I met there and who made my stay as enriching from a human point of view as well as a scientific one.

Finally, I would like to thank the VKI Alumni Asso- ciation as well as the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles for the travel grants they awarded me and which made this trip a reality.

Student trip to the Paris Air Show 2019

The crowd of visitors, with the ARIANE 5 and VEGA launchers in the background

All the major aerospace industry ﬁrms around the globe were present, offering a perfect chance for net- by ERTAN UMIT,INSTR.&ELEC.SERVICE MANAGER working and information exchange about their latest AND GIACOMO ZUCCARINO, RM 2019 projects. Of particular interest for the VKI students were the SAFRAN and Dassault pavilions in which many ex- s in 2015 and 2017, the VKI Alumni Association amples of new generation aircraft engines were ex- sponsored a trip to the International Paris Air posed. The pavilions of manufacturers such as Boeing or AShow, the largest air show in the world, which is Airbus held a display of the next generation of aircraft organized every two years by the SIAE, a subsidiary of interiors together with some cutting edge prototypes. Fi- GIFAS, the French Aerospace Industries Association. nally, a huge exposition area was dedicated to the forth- coming ESA mission and the recent Ariane 6 launcher The 53rd Show took place at the Le Bourget Parc des was on display. Expositions between 17 and 23 June 2019. This exciting event brings together all the players in this global industry around the latest technological innovations.

Twenty Research Master (RM) students joined the VKI expedition to Le Bourget, together with four Short Training Program students, two PHD candidates, one Post Doc and one Research Engineer.

After a year of intense education and research the RM students were offered the opportunity to visit this immense experience right after the end of their ﬁnal presentations. It felt satisfying to see the ﬁnal products of the research projects and to be a part of these technological advancements.

With more than 316000 visitors attending to admire 140 aircraft on ﬂying displays and meeting 2453 ex- hibitors to ﬁnd out about the latest developments of the The Beechcraft AT6 light Ground Attack Aircraft Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium - 21 - m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association

The core exposition of the event was the vast num- Alumni dinner at the ETC13 in ber of different aircraft on display. They ranged from civilian to military, from airliners to business jets, from Lausanne historical planes to brand new vehicles. Many of them were very rare (in terms of their production numbers) and often a ﬂight crew was present to highlight their features, providing a unique opportunity for the visitors to experience the aircraft in person.

by HANS-PETER DICKMANN, DC 1987

he 13th European Turbomachinery Conference took place from April 8th to 12th, 2019 at the TEcole Polytechnique Féderale in Lausanne, About 130 presentations on R&D in different turbomachinery ﬁelds were given. These were followed by about 300 participants. The conference took place in a very new and impressive building, the SwissTech Con- vention Center on the campus of the EPFL. The campus is located very close to Lake Geneva with a marvelous view on the Swiss and French Alps.

Flight exhibition of the "Patrouille de France"

The most unforgettable experience of the air show was the breath-taking spectacle of air stunts. The ﬂight demonstrations of military jets such as the Dassault Rafale and F-16 Fighting Falcon were among the most spectacular ones while the sight of the Airbus A380 over- head was an astonishing view.

At the end of this full day all the students and the research personnel safely returned to VKI, and they were more motivated to continue contributing to aerospace.

The Paris Air Show is undoubtedly a celebration for aviation which any enthusiast of the ﬁeld should wit- ness at least once. The students and researchers of the ETC13 Alumni dinner VKI are grateful to the Alumni Association for making this visit possible.

However, for the 2021 trip the participants would like to recommend to get to Le Bourget one day in ad- vance and to spend a night in a nearby hostel. This will allow to explore the Air Show for the entire morning and afternoon of the following day before coming back to the VKI. This proposal is motivated by the small amount of time available at Le Bourget in this year’s visit. Even departing at 6:30 from the VKI there were just ﬁve hours to spend at the exposition before being forced to leave. Nevertheless, the experience was worth the long trip there and the long trip back.

ETC13 Alumni dinner

Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute - 22 - Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association

The VKI Alumni dinner took place in the Italian Restaurant "Gina" and was attended by about 20 alumni. The Gala dinner of the conference took place in the Olympic Museum, where all participants had free access to the exhibitions one hour before and I am sure that everyone found nice pictures and souvenirs (which had to stay in the museum, of course) from many Olympic Summer & Winter Games either watched on TV or at the actual venues. You can imagine that from the aerodynamic point of view it was very impressive to com- pare the shape of four-men bob sleds from today against those of the ﬁrst winter games, which did not have a shape at all as they were open without any cover. ASME Turbo Expo 2019 Alumni dinner

In the photo above, the participants to the dinner (from left to right): Beni Cukurel (PhD 2012), Jorge Saavedra (RM 2014), Cis de Maesschalck (RM 2012), Davide Lengani (DC 2006), Tom Verstraete (PhD 2008), Sergio Lavagnoli (DC 2008, PhD 2013), Marek Pátý’s wife, Marek Pátý (RM 2017), Dimitra Tsakmaki- Alumni dinner at the ASME Turbo dou (RM 2017), Valeria Andreoli (RM 2015), David Cuadrado (RM 2014), Giovanna Barigozzi (DC 1994), Expo 2019 in Phoenix Arizona Nicolas Billiard (DC 2002, PhD 2007), Tânia Ferreira (RM 2016), Francisco Lozano (STP 2014), James Braun (RM 2015), Koen Hillewaert (VKI 1994-2001), Bogdan Cernat (RM 2015), Fabrizio Fontaneto (RM 2012,PhD 2014), Samuel Gendebien (Postdoc VKI 2018), Rein- hard Niehuis (DC 1982).

Review of a Book by Professor René by BOGDAN CERNAT, RM 2012 Van den Braembussche

n the 20th of June 2019, a group of three current students and three professors organized the usual OVKI Alumni dinner held every year during the ASME IGTI Turbo Expo (Turbomachinery Technical Con- ference & Exposition). The present edition of the conference took place in sunny Phoenix, Arizona, in the United States. For this special occasion, more than twenty former students of VKI gathered downtown in the Arizona by E. AYDER M.GIACHI H.-P. DICKMANN, ALL DC 1987 state capital to enjoy a well-spent evening together and recall the memories of their experiences at the Institute.

ear Alumni, it is a nice coincidence that three par- While having a little relief from the tropical temper- ticipants of DC 1987 gathered to write their re- atures of the so-called "Valley of the Sun", the alumni Dviews on a recently published book by one of their had the chance to share their impressions on the con- VKI professors: ference, update their former colleagues on their recent professional achievements and enjoy several local culi- René Van den Braembussche - Design and Analy- nary specialties. It was a wellspent evening followed by sis of Centrifugal Compressors: ASME PRESS / Wiley, a drink in a traditional American bar close by. 2019 - Hardcover Book or Ebook (downloadable pdf) Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium - 23 - m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 28th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association

place in René’s book. Moreover, the book, which is a ref- erence guide for designers, reﬂects René’s meticulous- ness and contains the most up-to-date information on radial machines. I will use the book as one of my text- books in the course on the aerothermodynamics of turbomachinery in the graduate program at Istanbul Tech- nical University. I thank him very much for this important contribution to the literature.

Marco Giachi: When the "computer-era" will be finished only those with this book by VDB (as René is well-known in the centrifugal compressor designer community) will survive. With no "clusters" available anymore nobody will be able to design a centrifugal compressor and only those who still know the fundamentals will do the job. This apocalyptic scenario will never occur (I hope, but ... never say never). It is only a simple way to ex- plain the content of the book where the entire science of centrifugal compressor design, from the inlet volute to the discharge scroll is deeply analyzed and explained. And even well inside the "computer-era" the book is very useful for CFD specialists to provide them with the information they need to better understand their numerical results and judge what they get from their comput- ers. The book is also a valid tool for technicians who wish to understand what they see in their day-by-day practi- cal activity, but they need at least a second level education in order to get all the details which are contained in approximately four hundred pages (bold 10 and even smaller). It’s quite a long time that nothing new has been We three are: published in this field and there are not many text- books available which really cover all the aspects from • Erkan Ayder, Prof. for Turbomachinery, Istanbul steady performance, flow distortion effects to stability Technical University, Turkey and range and this book is very welcome. • Marco Giachi, Engineer at BHGE Fullstream Oil & Only one suggestion for the next edition, i.e. to cover Gas, Florence, Italy more the multi-stage design including a chapter on return channel design and analysis because these aspects • Hans-Peter Dickmann, Engineer at ABB Turbochar- are very important for industrial compressor applica- ging, Baden, Switzerland tions where most of the machines are multi-stage.

Hans-Peter Dickmann: Erkan Ayder: As I knew that René’s book was to be published soon When I saw René’s book on the internet, I got ex- I checked whether it could be ordered several times and cited, and I immediately purchased one. The book is was successful ﬁnally in March 2019. Since then I turned about centrifugal compressors, and it contains basic the pages and read passages at work, at home, on the terms/basic concepts together with advanced subjects. trains etc ... It was as well The studies that René had his PhD students conduct oc- cupy an important place in the book. I am one of those • a journey into the past, because I recognized many students. Under René’s supervision, I performed my PhD graphs from lectures I attended myself at VKI or on the volutes of radial machines at the von Karman In- which I knew from later publications on centrifu- stitute during the period 1987-1993. René pushed me gal compressors by René and/or his students from so much that I learned a lot about both the experimen- VKI or other authors around the world and tal methods and CFD techniques and then applications in turbomachinery. I think these were the most produc- • into the present (meaning that the book is up- tive years of my academic life. These studies also have a to-date with references which were published re- Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute - 24 - Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] 27th Newsletter of the VKI Alumni Association

cently), because I noticed also many new facts that After graduation from the von Karman Institute I did not see before such as an optimized outlet Roland returned to the RMA and engaged in a PhD volute or the effect/model of collecting incoming project including the conversion of an existing small boundary layers into an outlet volute or that the steam turbine facility into a wet steam cascade tunnel pipe diffuser invention of a jet engine manufac- and the investigation of the occurrence of condensation turer was adapted later on by a manufacturer of shocks in low pressure steam turbine blades. This work air-conditioning and refrigeration systems. was carried out in collaboration between the RMA, VKI and the University of Gent where he presented his PhD in 1973. I also appreciate that there is already a chapter about optimization in his book. Following his work after leav- Roland Decuypere had a long academic career. He ing VKI in 1987 I knew that René was very much inter- was not only Professor at the RMA, 1980-2006, but also ested in optimization of radial machinery components at the University of Brussels, as of 2007, and at the and just this topic has taken more and more space in Erasmus University College, 2003-2012. Besides that, he the R&D business of radial turbomachinery manufactur- was a renowned UAV expert as exempliﬁed by his nom- ers such as in the company where I work myself. ination of Director of the UAV center at the RMA, as member of several NATO technical teams dealing with Obituary UAVs and permanent member of the Jury for the "In- ternational University Contest of Mini & Micro drones". he VKI Alumni Association regrets to announce the Roland was also one of the founding members of the death of Professor Roland Decuypere, who passed European Turbomachinery Conferences in 1995. He was Taway on the 21st of August 2019. the organizer of the second conference which took place in Gent in 1997, and was Chairman of the committee during the period 1999-2003.

Roland was also active as a Belgian member of the Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Develop- ment (AGARD) Fluid Dynamics Panel (FDP), and after the reorganizing and renaming of AGARD in 1996, of the NATO-RTO (Research and Technology Organi- zation) Advanced Vehicle Technology Panel (AVT). It was in such positions that he acted for more than two decades as member, and for a number of years as Chair- man or Vice-Chairman, of the AGARD/RTO Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). The TAC met every year around November or December (until its dissolution in 2015 in favor of another Committee, the Scientiﬁc Ad- visory Committee, with different members) to evaluate the VKI activities, to state its importance for NATO and to issue recommendations to the NATO Assistant Secre- tary General for Scientiﬁc Affairs and Public Diplomacy for continued support of the VKI.

During all these years Roland kept close relations Roland Decuypere, DC 1970, PhD 1973 with the von Karman Institute, in particular acting as director, co-director or lecturer of several VKI- Lecture Roland graduated from the Royal Military Academy Series (e.g. on UAV’s). We will miss Roland, a great sup- in 1969 and attended then the VKI Diploma Course porter of the Institute and a great friend. 1969-1970 in the Turbomachinery Department headed by the late Professor Jacques Chauvin. Prepared by Claus Sieverding and Mario Carbonaro

Association of the Alumni of the von Karman Institute Chaussée de Waterloo 72, 1640 Rhode-Saint-Genèse, Belgium - 25 - m www.vki-alumni.org v +32-2-35 99 600 B [email protected] Newsletter Technical/Manuscript Editor: Mario Carbonaro, using Mehmet Mersinligil’s template B [email protected]