I just got back from a short trip to our nation’s capital for a meeting about the research project I’ve been working on. It was DARPA’s (Defense Advance Research Projects Agency) Friction Drag Reduction Program primary investigator’s meeting. Basically all the groups that are involved in the program (Michigan, Stanford, General Dynamics, and DARPA/Government team) got together to discuss the status of the program and plans for our upcoming experiment. Now I know that everyone is hoping that I’ll give an extremely detailed account of this 10 hour meeting, but I’m sorry I’m just too tired to write all that.
As a general rule I don’t talk much about what I do with respect to work…and for the most part I think everyone is happy with that. However I will somewhat break my rule and share briefly what it is that I do (I wanted to write a blog and as a result of only talking about the project for over 24 hours now I really don’t have anything else to share…don’t worry I’m only giving a brief/non-technical summary). My PhD research is focused on the reducing of drag on ships by adding polymer solution or bubbles into the water. The core dataset that I will need for my PhD will come from this upcoming test at the US Navy’s LCC in Memphis (we use this water tunnel because it is the largest of its kind in the world). This particular test is extremely long (starts in one week and ends in September) and as always very difficult (physically and mentally). I really don’t know what to say about the research without getting into the technical stuff, but basically we squirt out some snot-like substance that allows a ship to move with less power.
As the project manager I have quite a bit of responsibility and that leads to plenty of annoying things that I wish I didn’t have to deal with. However there are little things that I try to be cool about but in reality I’m kind of proud of. Sometimes (in the rare moments when I’m not feeling overwhelmed) I think about how cool it is to be trusted with the responsibility of executing a large scale experiment. At the end of the meeting the main man at DARPA turned to me and said “good luck Brian…it is all in your hands now.” I think this statement really best summarizes my situation. The final part underlines the feeling of trust that I believe the group has give me. Then the good luck part says essentially you have a lot of difficult work ahead of you in order to accomplish the goals laid before you. I figure the bad side of it is going to be there regardless so I better enjoy the upside while it last because once the test is over all power will vanish…as my advisor said “the end of a PhD is the most vulnerable time for a grad student because their usefulness to the advisor is peaking but they need the advisor to give them their degree.”
20 comments:
The last sentence is so sad...and true. :((
I did not read anything by Tom Clancy so I don't know about friction-reducing bubbles from his book, but I do use bubbles to reduce friction.
I say you should go for it with the making topic secret toys for the government...it would be cool. Plus since you would have to let everyone know you were like a window washer you would be able to remain humble.
brian! I thought you just told me that bubbles don't reduce friction! make up your mind!
Sorry for the confusion Ciara...bubbles do reduce drag, but as a method for reducing drag on ships it will fail. The reason is that they only will work over the first couple meters at low speeds...high speed and further downstream the shear stress will force the bubbles away from the wall resulting in no reduction in drag.
So it's not even worth it for the lower speeds? You're telling the Little Tugboats out there that they aren't worth it?
Ciara there were two reason I gave...(1) speed and (2) persistence. Even a little tugboat is longer than two meters. Plus the basic design of the tugboat hull won't allow for the use of bubble drag reduction.
(Little Tugboat reference:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0698115767/002-4654051-2842405?v=glance&n=283155
so that you don't think I am totally out of it!)
But the Little Tugboat has the HIGHEST level of persistence!
Also, I thought you said that you add a piece of metal to the bottom of the ship anyways, so wouldn't the hull not matter? What's a hull anyway?
I am beginning to feel like all of my work in this place is a lie!
Ciara your work here isn't a lie...you are working on polymer drag reduction, not bubble drag reduction. However just to clear the air it is the bubbles problem that won't allow it to work on the tugboat (Little Toot has plenty of persistence), and perhaps we could work something out for him with air films rather than bubbles.
Are you saying that Little Toot can't do it on his own? Are you saying he's too fat?? :)
I thought you meant that Little Toot wasn't persistent enough, not the bubbles!
Nice pun with "clearing the air" by the way. Get it? Bubbles? Air? Eh, eh?
Wait...are you saying I'm fat?
I already told you like 15 minutes ago that you looked skinnier! AND you were the one who decided that you wanted to cover yourself in polymer so it'd take less power for you to go down a slip 'n slide!
Skinnier than what...an elephant...why are you so mean to me Ciara?
skinnier than you were a few weeks ago, fatty!!
snap!
Even though I wish to snap back I won't...I forgive you Ciara. I like to think of myself as a peacemaker.
sigh. okay. thank you!
I forgive you, too, for lying to me about the bubbles earlier. :)
am I ever going to be doing any work around here?
I DIDN'T LIE!!! Can't you see the difference between lieing and a misunderstanding? Please understand:(
Hmmm... you sound like you are being a bit defensive there... are you having trouble with your pride? :)
Look, then, I forgive you for miscommunicating to me... how's that? :)
Ciara I don't know if you noticed but the last few comments you left the link to your blog is wrong. Was this a mistake or are you trying to promote something?
Wow, I am surprised you noticed!
Listen, I would love tons of hits on my website, but maybe my OTHER website (ie. ptguild) needs some help, too! Are you really upset with me for trying to share the wealth... with myself? (oh, and my babies?)
:)
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