By its very nature, combustion is a highly interdisciplinary field that matches well the background and training of PSI's staff. Indeed, combustion-related research began at PSI in the late 1970's and has continued to grow and evolve. Today, this research area represents about one quarter of PSI's annual budget of $20M.
The combustion-related themes have also evolved to reflect important national and international research priorities such as improved energy efficiency in the 70's and 80's; high speed propulsion in the late 80's and 90's; combustion diagnostics in the 80's and 90's; and combustion-generated pollutant monitoring and mitigation in the 90's. Throughout these periods of changing priorities, however, PSI has maintained a common set of core disciplines that continue to be applied to new research problems. Below, we highlight some of the notable accomplishments and ongoing capabilities in four core disciplines: Power Generation, Reaction Kinetics, Gas Turbine Systems, and Combustion Diagnostics.