Dr. Joseph Lawrence specializes in the engineering analysis of combustion, thermal, and fluid processes, specifically regarding the origin, cause, and propagation of fires and explosions. Dr. Lawrence has investigated fires in a wide range of applications including residential structures, internal combustion motor vehicles, hybrid motor vehicles, outdoor maintenance vehicles, watercraft, battery packs, and rail transport applications. These investigations included fire cause and origin determination, burn pattern interpretation, and evaluation of ignition mechanisms.
Dr. Lawrence has published scientific articles in the areas of detonation wave shaping, shock physics, hot spot initiation and sensitization, cocrystallization, explosive characterization, vibration-assisted printing, and additive manufacturing. Applications of his research include developing safer energetic materials, tailoring detonation wave shapes, the development and evaluation of novel energetic materials, optimization of additive manufacturing techniques, and additive manufacturing of rocket propellants. Dr. Lawrence also serves as a peer reviewer for the Propellants, Explosives, and Pyrotechnics (PEP) journal.
Prior to joining ESi, Dr. Lawrence was an Engineer at Colwell Consulting. Dr. Lawrence has held a graduate research assistant position at Zucrow Laboratories at Purdue University. Dr. Lawrence has also held positions at DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory (Aberdeen Proving Ground), Kyocera SGS Precision Tools, and Swagelok
Areas of Expertise
Publications
- Detonation Performance and Material Characterization of CL-20 and MDNT Cocrystals Versus Physical Mixtures, Propellants, Explosives, and Pyrotechnics, May 2025
- The Effects of Material Filled Voids on Detonation Waveshape in Rubberized RDX Explosives, Propellants, Explosives, and Pyrotechnics, December 2024
- Switchable RDX-based Rubberized Explosive with Thermally-expandable Microspheres, Propellants, Explosives, and Pyrotechnics, vol. 49, issue 10-11, October 2024
- The Effect of Volume Loading on the Extrusion of Bimodal Glass Bead Mixtures, npj Adv. Manuf. 1, 5, 2024, September 2024
- Influence and Comparison of Cylindrical Engineered Defects on Detonation Waveshape in a Rubberized RDX Explosive, Propellants, Explosives, and Pyrotechnics. vol. 49, issue 6, June 2024
- Effects of Sub-mm Cylindrical Voids on Detonation Performance in PBX 9501, Propellants, Explosives, and Pyrotechnics, vol. 48, issue 5, May 2023
- Additive Manufacturing and Combustion of RDX-based Composite Solid Gun Propellants, JANNAF Journal of Propulsion and Energetics, January 2023
- The coupling of Vibrations and Pressure Strongly Affects the Flow Rate and Flow Obstruction Behavior of Additively Manufacturable Composite Gun Propellant Pastes: An Instrumented RAM Extrusion Study, JANNAF Journal of Propulsion and Energetics, January 2023
- Evolution of Explosively Driven Flash Coatings,, AIP Conference. Proceedings, vol. 2844, issue 1, January 2023
- The Effect of Volume Loading and Monomodal Particle Size on the Extrusion of a Colloidal Suspension, JANNAF Journal of Propulsion and Energetics, September 2022
See CV for additional publications.