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Incoming UW freshman studies the effect of icy wings on airplane flight
Doing hard science in a cold place
Monday, August 21, 2000
By LISA STIFFLER
It's 75 degrees and sunny outside, but Mark Steedman is pulling on a heavy parka, wool hat and gloves.
He's off to work.
The 18-year-old entering freshman is one of 73 college students doing science research at the University of Washington through the Washington Space Grant Summer Undergraduate Research Program.
Steedman, who recently graduated from Garfield High School, is studying the effect of icy wings on airplane flight.
In a room chilled to 3 degrees Fahrenheit, Steedman sprays water droplets onto a rectangle of aluminum to form ice, approximating what happens to an airplane wing flying in snowy conditions.
The lab he is working in developed a revolutionary "pressure-sensitive paint" 10 years ago to study low air pressure, or lift, the force that keeps planes aloft. To develop new planes, aeronautical engineers needed to know how the lift pressure was distributed across a wing so it didn't collapse in midflight.
The paint contains a dye called porphyrin that luminesces, or gives off light, according to air pressure.
The luminescence, which is only visible with ultraviolet light, reflects differences in the concentration of oxygen in the air. The paint glows more brightly as the air pressure gets lower. Lower air pressure creates greater lift.
Before the paint was invented, scientists had to drill countless holes in airplane wings and insert sensors to collect data.
Now they can spray on the paint, start up the wind tunnel and find the answer glowing on the wings.
However, little is known about how ice on the wings affects lift, a serious issue for pilots flying in wintry conditions.
"No one's ever done this before," Steedman said of his research.
The undergraduate set up the experiment, planned the research and got the equipment he needed up and running, struggling through unforeseen problems of the sort all scientists face.
When he first went into the cold room to start his project, ice crystals hung in the air, settling on his knit cap and taking his breath away. The temperature read minus 40 degrees.
"I said, 'Nope, that's not right,'" he recalled. So he called for repairs and tried again, eventually settling on a temperature a few degrees above zero.
Now Steedman is performing experiments, donning the extra clothes and spraying the paint, which looks like diluted red Kool-Aid, onto the iced aluminum. A delicate fiber-optic instrument emitting a blue light measures the luminescence.
Steedman admits that he doesn't understand everything about the research, but he is pleased to be working on something "immediately applicable" to scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and at The Boeing Co. The project is being conducted in association with the space agency.
The enthusiastic undergrad is a welcome addition to the lab. He's one of four undergraduates doing research.
"They're good fresh air," said Gamal Khalil, an associate research professor in chemistry. "You don't want to keep listening to yourself."
And the young students are willing to take on unconventional projects -- ones that require them to work in a room that turns noses red and lips blue.
"The young guys -- they're fearless," said Khalil, who with Martin Gouterman and James Callis is overseeing the project.
The summer research program is financed by NASA, the UW and individual labs. The students work up to 40 hours a week and are paid between $6.50 and $8 an hour, depending on their year in school.
Sometimes the students continue working on their research part time during the school year and can return the following summer or change labs. With a fall schedule loaded with calculus, chemistry and computer science, Steedman hasn't decided what he'll do, though he wants to continue his project.
In addition to research, the students attend weekly seminars where they present their work. In September there's a poster session -- not unlike those at scientific meetings -- where students mingle and talk about their research.
"What makes (the NASA program) different is that each student has their own project and contributes something substantial to the overall research of the group," said Janice DeCosmo, director of the Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium.
DeCosmo said she has seen students transformed by the program, which is in its eighth year.
"It's really about being able to use your knowledge and not just to get a grade and meet the class requirements," she said.
"It does change the way that they look at their course work, and it makes their course work more valuable."
P-I reporter Lisa Stiffler can be reached at 206-448-8042 or lisastiffler@seattle-pi.com
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