Solar Tower Testing for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency

In April 2017, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and Sandia National Laboratories demonstrated how large materials respond at extreme heat flux conditions at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF). Project leads Alexander Brown and Jeff Engerer used samples approximately 8x the size of samples previously exposed at the NSTTF Solar Furnace to identify if there was a difference in ignition conditions at the different scales. Both the plastic and the piñon pine tree in the video were exposed to a thermal pulse for 9 seconds. Sandia conducted the tests, and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency provided funding. SAND2017-5965C