Center for Electric Power, Tennessee Tech. The Numerical Thermofluid Laboratory was created under a joint effort between NASA, private industries and the Center for Electric Power. John Chai, Steve Idem, Sastry Munukutla and John Peddieson are currently involved with the activities of the laboratory. The mission of the laboratory is to develop numerical methods and physical models, and apply these methods and models to understand complex physical phenomena.
Fundamental research focuses on the development of new numerical methods and physical models.
The resulting methods and models are then used to model complex engineering problems. Recent activities include radiation heat transfer, heat transfer in material processing, heat transfer in industrial boilers and turbulent fluid flow. The radiation heat transfer model developed by this laboratory is being used by NASA in its combustor code. This laboratory is involved in over a quarter of a million dollars in externally funded projects.