Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory

The Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory (short: Penn State ARL or simply ARL), is a specialized research unit dedicated to interdisciplinary scientific research at the Penn State University Park campus. The ARL is a DoD designated U.S. NavyUniversity Affiliated Research Center. It is the university's largest research unit with over 1,000 faculty and staff.^[1] The laboratory ranks second in United States Department of Defense and 10th in NASA funding to universities.^[2]

ARL maintains a long-term relationship with the Naval Sea Systems Command and the Office of Naval Research.

The ARL was established in 1945 by the U.S. Navy when the Harvard Underwater Sound Laboratory (USL) was terminated and its torpedo division was moved to Penn State. Eric Walker, the USL's assistant director, moved to Penn State to become its first director from 1945 until 1951, when he became Dean of the College of Engineering and Architecture. He would later become the Vice President for Research and then the President of the university, both in 1951.

Today, ARL operates over a dozen facilities ranging from acoustic research to fluid and nuclear.

The ARL is made of six distinct research divisions:

• Advanced Technology
  • Includes: Autonomous Control and Intelligent Systems, Systems and Unmanned Vehicle, Energy Science and Power Systems, Sonar Research and Development
• Fluid and Structural Mechanics
  • Includes: Fluid Dynamics, Noise Control and Hydroacoustics, Computational and Mechanics, Research Facilities
• Material and Manufacturing
  • Includes: Material Processing, Manufacturing System, Laser Processing, Composite Material, Systems and Operations Automation
• Communications, Information, and Navigation
  • Includes: Communication Systems, Electromagnetics & Geospatial Systems, Information & Imaging, Visualization SEA Lab, Navigation Research & Development
• Undersea Weapons
  • Includes: Torpedoes Systems, Weapon Systems Engineering, Technology Development and Transition, Systems Analysis and Simulation
• Research and Academic Programs
  • Includes: Acoustics, Information Sciences and Technology

The Applied Research Laboratory operates a number of locations and off-site facilities.^[3]

• Penn State main campus buildings
  • Applied Research Laboratory Building
  • Applied Science Building
  • Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel
  • Research Building West
• Penn State satellite campus
  • Distributed Engineering Center, Penn State Fayette Campus
• Off-campus buildings
  • ARL West IV, Science Park Road, Ferguson Township, PA
  • ARL Science Park Building, Science Park Road, Ferguson Township, PA
  • ARL West I, Cato Park, Ferguson Township, PA
  • Exegyn ARL West II, Cato Park, Ferguson Township, PA
  • ARL West III (aka Atotech), Science Park Road, Ferguson Township, PA
  • 230 Building, Innovation Park, College Township, PA
  • Navigation Research & Development Building Center,^[3]Warminster, PA
  • Electro-Optics S&T Center,^[3]Kittanning, PA
  • Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport,^[3]Keyport, WA
  • Reston Office, Reston Virginia
  • Key West Facility, Key West, Florida
  • EOC, Electro-Optics Center, Northpointe, Kittanning, Pennsylvania
  • Keyport, Washington
  • Mitchell Field, New York

ARL operates the Structural Acoustics Laboratory which houses an array of tanks including an Acoustic Reverberant Tank and an Acoustic Test Tank for acoustic research projects. The facilities include complete instrumentation for measuring and calibrating transducers and transducer arrays. The Acoustic Test Tank is equipped with the instrumentation required for determining the acoustic characteristics of sonar devices designed for frequency response calibrations, radiation pattern plots, and impedance and admittance characterizations.^[4]

Additionally, ARL operates a Large Anechoic Chamber with the "mission is to increase the knowledge and understanding of applied electromagnetics in key areas of defense and commercial systems utilizing communications, navigation, and sensor-based systems such as direction finding, for example." The facility is stationed in Warminster, Pennsylvania at the former Naval Air Warfare Center.^[5]

The Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel was constructed shortly after the establishment of the ARL at Penn State in cooperation with the U.S. Navy for further torpedo research. The facility operates one of the largest circulating water tunnels in the world. It also operates an array of wind tunnels, glycerin tunnels, and anechoic chamber for used in many physics problems and experiments.

يدير مختبر أبحاث الجيش (ARL) مرفق اختبار الوقود النووي المتقدم (ANFTF) ^{[ 6 ]} ، وهو مرفق ممول من شركة وستنجهاوس لاختبار مفاعلات الطاقة المتقدمة وتصاميم مكونات الوقود. بدأ تشغيل المرفق عام 1996 بمحطة طاقة نووية عاملة بالكامل بقدرة 600 ميغاواط، وهي محطة وستنجهاوس AP600 . يهدف المرفق إلى تحديد تأثير فواصل شبكة الوقود المختلفة على بدء ظاهرة الخروج عن الغليان النووي (DNB)، وقياس التدفق الحراري الحرج (CHF) عند حدوث هذه الظاهرة. ^{[ 7 ] [ 8 ]}

في 4 سبتمبر 2013، تم التوصل إلى اتفاقية بين مختبر الأبحاث التطبيقية ومركز ليندون جونسون الفضائي التابع لوكالة ناسا. ^{[ 9 ]} أنشأ المختبر مبادرة أنظمة الفضاء التي من شأنها أن تسمح لمركز الفضاء بتزويد الجامعة بصواريخ ثنائية الوقود ومحركات تحكم تعمل بالميثان السائل/الأكسجين السائل، وذلك لتمكين الطلاب من اكتساب فهم أفضل لأداء الصواريخ. وسيتم تبادل البيانات والنتائج مع وكالة ناسا.

• جامعة ولاية بنسلفانيا
• غارفيلد وتوماس أنفاق المياه

• Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory−ARL website