The laboratory includes a Combustion Diagnostics Facility for multiple diagnostics on flames with applications in fire safety and combustion emissions. The apparatus equipped with an exhaust system and low-vibration optics has capabilities for diagnostic methods such as high-resolution digital photography and image processing, laser light extinction, thermophoretic sampling of soot, radiation flux and temperature measurements and also has a demonstration of combustion-generated noise.

The laboratory also has the capability for thermodynamic modeling of heat recovery systems and other energy conversion systems including software for thermodynamic property calculations (NIST Reference Fluid Thermodynamic and Transport Properties Database (REFPROP)) and cycle calculations.

A simplified wave rotor test rig has been designed to isolate and easily investigate the pressure losses that the wave rotor experiences. The rig allows the user to vary the axial load applied on the seal and the pressure configuration of the channels. Using established gas dynamic theories, a mathematical model has been developed in order to simulate the pressure losses within the channels. The result of this project will allow designers of wave rotor combustors to easily predict the effects of pressure loss on the entire combustion cycle.