ASL’s projects in the National Security field build directly on 50 years of expertise in shock wave research at Washington State University. Our expertise in advanced materials development has helped the U.S. Department of Defense find new methods for mitigating and resisting damage from high-velocity impacts, explosive blasts, and other rapid impulsive loading. Meanwhile, our ability to design and develop productive and safe energetic materials has been put to use by a number of governmental and commercial organizations.
Meeting national security needs requires expertise that is quite specialized and not readily available at most academic institutions. The Applied Sciences Laboratory offers unique capabilities, utilizing an optimal combination of experimental and computational approaches, to address a variety of applied research problems related to national security needs in a timely manner.
Current research activities at ASL include: