China Lake engineers honored with achievement award

Weapons and Energetics Director Dave Janiec, right, presents, from left, Joseph Boyle, Matt Lemons and Matthew Winchell with a NAWCWD Achievement Award on March 12. Photo by John Perrige.

Date: 24-Mar-10
News Release Number: ECL201003241
News Release Copy: By Renee Hatcher NAWCWD Public Affairs

Three Weapons and Energetics Department (4.7) engineers at NAWCWD China Lake were recognized March 12 for their work on improving the kinematic performance of solid rocket motors.

Dave Janiec, 4.7 director, presented aerospace engineers Matt Lemons and Joseph Boyle, and mechanical engineer Matthew Winchell with a NAWCWD Achievement Award.

These three technologists worked together under the Integrated High Payoff Rocket Propulsion Technology (IHPRPT) Program to develop an innovative concept to enable the use of highly loaded grain designs in solid rocket motors. The result of their efforts increases kinematic performance over that of current state-of-the-art rocket motors.

"This capability pushes the known envelope and furthers the development and understanding of highly loaded solid rocket motors," said Steven Florian, Propulsion Technology manager in the Propulsion and Energetics Division. "Their work is an achievement that will help ensure U.S. warfighter dominance in years to come."

Winchell discovered a solution to enable increased kinematic performance in solid rocket motor propulsion systems through highly loaded grain designs, and Lemons added technical insight and management direction to develop the concept. Together, they refined the manufacturing process to improve ballistic tailoring and reliability, which allowed this concept to have applicability to nearly any solid rocket motor. Boyle developed a detailed and validated model to specifically predict ballistic performance of highly loaded grain designs.

"This team of engineers worked synergistically to fine-tune ballistic performance," Florian said. "Their persistence resulted in solving complex engineering and scientific problems associated with the development of new or existing propulsion systems for a number of Navy weapons."

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