3/3/2016 Susan Mumm, Media Specialist
Written by Susan Mumm, Media Specialist
Having joined Aerospace Engineering at Illinois in 2012, Panesi has established himself as one of the foremost international experts in high-temperature computational aerothermodynamics. His work is changing the way that non-equilibrium phenomena in high-temperature, high-speed flows are understood and modeled.
Panesi’s approach to the modeling of non-equilibrium processes relies on physics-based first-principles methods, incorporating new physical-chemistry research into aerospace engineering models. He has pioneered techniques to develop high-fidelity collisional-radiative models, reducing them to simpler, computationally efficient models to enable realistic three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations for engineering applications.
Panesi has shaped National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and U.S. Air Force research in aerothermodynamics through his modeling of non-equilibrium phenomena in high-speed flows. His work promises to drastically change the safety margin policy used in the design of spacecraft by providing a more accurate estimate of the heating encountered during atmospheric entry. The construction of lighter and more efficient thermal protection systems will enable missions that have previously been considered as prohibitive in terms of cost and technological requirements.
Panesi’s recent work on the application of Bayesian Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) techniques for the solution of statistical inverse problems in the context of chemistry and radiation modeling is also crucial for predicting the heat-shield behavior when exposed to high-temperature gas generated when entering a planet’s atmosphere. Most recently, NASA awarded Panesi and his colleague, Alexandre Martin, assistant professor at the University of Kentucky, a $500,000 Early Stage Innovation grant to improve software and thermal property modeling of the heat shield for the Orion spacecraft. Panesi’s job will be to run quantification analysis of the data from Martin’s model of shield material consumption during re-entry.
Panesi has been recognized for his expertise with an Air Force Young Investigator Award and a NASA Early CAREER Faculty Award, both in 2015. He recently has expanded his program to include research in heliophysics and low-temperature plasma flows.
Prior to joining AE, Panesi was a visiting scientist at NASA Ames Research Center in California, and had worked as a research associate at the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin.
He earned a master’s degree in applied fluid dynamics and a PhD in aerospace engineering from von Kármán Institute for Fluid Dynamics in Belgium in 2005 and 2009, respectively. He also earned a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the Universitá di Pisa in Italy in 2003.