astronomy

Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory

Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory rather than just read about it. In short: The Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory (short: Penn State ARL or simply ARL), is a specialized research unit dedicated to interdisciplinary scientific research at the Penn State University Park campus. The ARL is a DoD designated U.S.

Key takeaways

Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory (short: Penn State ARL or simply ARL), is a specialized research unit dedicated to interdisciplinary scientific research at the Penn State University Park campus. The ARL is a DoD designated U.S. Navy University Affiliated Research Center. It is the university's largest research unit with over 1,000 faculty and staff. The laboratory ranks second in United States Department of Defense and 10th in NASA funding to universities. ARL maintains a long-term relationship with the Naval Sea Systems Command and the Office of Naval Research.

History The ARL was established in 1945 by the U.S. Navy when the Harvard Underwater Sound Laboratory (USL) was terminated and its torpedo division was moved to Penn State. Eric Walker, the USL's assistant director, moved to Penn State to become its first director from 1945 until 1951, when he became Dean of the College of Engineering and Architecture. He would later become the Vice President for Research and then the President of the university, both in 1951. Today, ARL operates over a dozen facilities ranging from acoustic research to fluid and nuclear.

Laboratory structure The ARL is made of six distinct research divisions:

Advanced Technology Includes: Autonomous Control and Intelligent Systems, Systems and Unmanned Vehicle, Energy Science and Power Systems, Sonar Research and Development Fluid and Structural Mechanics Includes: Fluid Dynamics, Noise Control and Hydroacoustics, Computational and Mechanics, Research Facilities Material and Manufacturing Includes: Material Processing, Manufacturing System, Laser Processing, Composite Material, Systems and Operations Automation Communications, Information, and Navigation Includes: Communication Systems, Electromagnetics & Geospatial Systems, Information & Imaging, Visualization SEA Lab, Navigation Research & Development Undersea Weapons Includes: Torpedoes Systems, Weapon Systems Engineering, Technology Development and Transition, Systems Analysis and Simulation Research and Academic Programs Includes: Acoustics, Information Sciences and Technology

Facilities

The Applied Research Laboratory operates a number of locations and off-site facilities.

Penn State main campus buildings Applied Research Laboratory Building Applied Science Building Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel Research Building West Penn State satellite campus Distributed Engineering Center, Penn State Fayette Campus Off-campus buildings ARL West IV, Science Park Road, Ferguson Township, PA ARL Science Park Building, Science Park Road, Ferguson Township, PA ARL West I, Cato Park, Ferguson Township, PA Exegyn ARL West II, Cato Park, Ferguson Township, PA ARL West III (aka Atotech), Science Park Road, Ferguson Township, PA 230 Building, Innovation Park, College Township, PA Navigation Research & Development Building Center, Warminster, PA Electro-Optics S&T Center, Kittanning, PA Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport, Keyport, WA Reston Office, Reston Virginia Key West Facility, Key West, Florida EOC, Electro-Optics Center, Northpointe, Kittanning, Pennsylvania Keyport, Washington Mitchell Field, New York

Acoustic research ARL operates the Structural Acoustics Laboratory which houses an array of tanks including an Acoustic Reverberant Tank and an Acoustic Test Tank for acoustic research projects. The facilities include complete instrumentation for measuring and calibrating transducers and transducer arrays. The Acoustic Test Tank is equipped with the instrumentation required for determining the acoustic characteristics of sonar devices designed for frequency response calibrations, radiation pattern plots, and impedance and admittance characterizations. Additionally, ARL operates a Large Anechoic Chamber with the "mission is to increase the knowledge and understanding of applied electromagnetics in key areas of defense and commercial systems utilizing communications, navigation, and sensor-based systems such as direction finding, for example." The facility is stationed in Warminster, Pennsylvania at the former Naval Air Warfare Center.

Fluid dynamics research

The Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel was constructed shortly after the establishment of the ARL at Penn State in cooperation with the U.S. Navy for further torpedo research. The facility operates one of the largest circulating water tunnels in the world. It also operates an array of wind tunnels, glycerin tunnels, and anechoic chamber for used in many physics problems and experiments.

Nuclear research ARL operates the Advanced Nuclear Fuel Test Facility (ANFTF) which is a Westinghouse-funded facility to test advanced power reactors and fuel component designs. The facility entered operation in 1996 with a fully functional 600 MWe nuclear power plant, the Westinghouse AP600. The facility's objective is to characterize the effect of different fuel grid spacers on the onset of the departure from nucleate boiling (DNB) phenomenon and to quantify the critical heat flux (CHF) as the DNB event occurs.

Space research On September 4, 2013 an agreement has been reached between the Applied Research Laboratory and NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. The laboratory created the Space Systems Initiative which would allow the space center to provide bipropellant rockets and liquid methane/liquid oxygen control engines with the university to enabling students to gain a better understanding of rocket performance. Data and results would be shared with NASA.

Lunar Lion

The Penn State Lunar Lion is a team within the Applied Research Laboratory as part of the Space Systems Initiative which has joined the Google Lunar X Prize. The team is expected to build a robotic spacecraft that is four feet in diameter and weighs 500 pounds. The team hopes to land the craft on the moon in December 2015. The project includes over 500 students and 50 faculty members.

See also Pennsylvania State University Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel

References

External links Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory−ARL website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory

In research: Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1945 establishments in Pennsylvania, Chemical research institutes, Engineering research institutes, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory in simple terms?

Why does Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory.