Research at the
High Pressure Combustion Laboratory (HPCL), located at the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania State University, has been concentrated in the area of combustion of gaseous, solid, liquid, and gelled propellants for rocket and gun propulsion systems, solid fuels for ramjets and hybrid propulsion systems, and metal combustion.
Recently, the scope has been expanded further to cover combustion of airbag propellants, flammability/explosion limit determination of gaseous reactants for commercial applications, and study ablation/erosion of rocket nozzle, internal insulation, and heat-shield materials.