Digital Commons Network^™

An Alternate Dimensionless Form Of The Linearized Rigid-Body Aircraft Equations Of Motion With Emphasis On Dynamic Parameters, Douglas F. Hunsaker, Benjamin C. Moulton

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Student Publications and Presentations

The equations of motion for an aircraft can be linearized about a reference condition within the assumptions of small disturbances and linear aerodynamics. The resulting system of equations is typically solved to obtain the eigenvalues and eigenvectors that describe the small disturbance motion of the aircraft. Results from such an analysis are often used to predict the rigid-body dynamic modes of the aircraft and associated handling qualities. This process is typically carried out in dimensional form in most text books, or in nondimensional form using dimensionless parameters rooted in aerodynamic theory. Here we apply Buckingham’s Pi theorem to obtain nondimensional …

Simplified Mass And Inertial Estimates For Aircraft With Components Of Constant Density, Benjamin C. Moulton, Douglas F. Hunsaker

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Student Publications and Presentations

Aircraft mass and inertial properties are required for predicting the dynamics and handling qualities of aircraft. However, such properties can be difficult to estimate since these depend on the external shape and internal structure, systems, and mass distributions within the airframe. Mass and inertial properties of aircraft are often predicted using computer-aided design software, or measured using various experimental techniques. The present paper presents a method for quickly predicting the mass and inertial properties of complete aircraft consisting of components of constant density. Although the assumption of constant density may appear limiting, the method presented in this paper can be …

Aircraft Hydraulic Systems - Fundamentals, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

Aircraft hydraulic systems are essential non-propulsive power systems. Hydraulic power systems are used to power major functional aircraft systems, such as flight controls (primary and secondary), friction braking, nose gear steering, thrust-reversers, operating heavy cargo doors, etc.

Wind Tunnel Measurements And Data Analysis Tutorial, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

This tutorial gives details on processing of raw aerodynamic data measured directly in the wind tunnel on airfoils and wings. Also procedures and equations from the lab report are given and demonstrated how to compute geometric characteristics of wings/airfoils and air data. All numeric results are typically rounded to five significant digits.

Keeping Your Distance: The Science Of Turns-Around-A-Point And Ground Reference Maneuvers, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

Ground reference maneuvers are more important than you may think. Frequently regarded as unimportant or boring, ground reference maneuver training is often limited to a few minutes of flight instructor demonstration and brief student practice.

Low Level Turbulence Detection For Airport, Derek Kearney, Anthony O'Connor

Articles

Low level wind shear and turbulence present a serious safety risk to aircraft during the approach, landing and take-off phases. Despite many advances in on-board and ground based warning systems. Wind shear remains a formidable force that coupled with a microburst can overpower any aircraft. Aviation reports have concluded that pilots need to have improved information in relation to tailwinds, wind shear and wind variations on approach and during the landing phases. Low level wind shear continues to cause disruption, delays and contribute to aircraft crashes. As recently as 2016, two Boeing aircraft crashed while attempting a Go-around manoeuver after …

An Airplane-Helicopter Hybrid Called Racer Is A New Convertiplane Design From Airbus, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

Airbus recently unveiled an airplane-hybrid design named Rapid and Cost Efficient Rotorcraft (RACER)...I'll explore the aerodynamics that make such a design possible.

Evaluating The Effect Of Turbulence On Aircraft During Landing And Take-Off Phases, Anthony O'Connor, Derek Kearney

Articles

— Low level wind shear and turbulence present a serious safety risk to aircraft during the approach, landing and take-off phases. Low level wind shear has been identified as one of the primary factors for aircraft go-arounds and aborted landings. During any given year, wind shear occurs thousands of times at airports around the world, affecting the arrival and departure of aircraft. This paper has quantified the direct cost of flight Go-arounds. This paper will show the potential savings to the aviation industry. This paper will argue that a solution to the problem of forecasting low level wind shear and …

Six Degrees Of Freedom From Six Degrees Of Separation: The History Of Flight Simulators, David Keck, Morgan Lopez

Publications

Some of today's advanced flight simulators have the capacity to provide pilots with experiences of six degrees of freedom: forward/backward, up/down, or left/right (or pitching, rolling, or yawing in either direction). These incredible devices are the product of over 100 years of design developments that come from a series of technological discoveries and historical events.

Powered-Lift Aircraft Category: What Is It?, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

FAA Safety Seminar (GL1574995) held at Minnesota State University, Mankato at 18:00 CST on Thursday, April 6, 2017.

Find Your Center, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Specialist Communities In China’S Aerospace Technology And Innovation System: The Cultural Dimension, Alanna Krolikowski

History and Political Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Only two decades ago, China was a marginal player in the global aerospace industry. Today, the pace of China’s space programs is unparalleled and it has joined the sector’s leading ranks. China is the only country after the Soviet Union/Russia and the United States to independently send humans into orbit and a rover to touch down on the Moon. A Chinese station will likely soon be only the only long-term human habitat circling the Earth alongside the International Space Station. Within a decade, China could become only the second country in history to land a person on the Moon’s surface. …

Vtol Hybrids: Tiltrotors Are Gaining Acceptance, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Aircraft Decelerating And Stopping Systems, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

FAA Safety Seminar (GL1572070) held at Minnesota State University, Mankato Wiecking Center Auditorium at 18:30 CST on Thursday, November 10, 2016.

Brakes, Thrust Reversers, Beta Props, Spoilers And Life Dumps All Help In Deceleration Of Jets And Turboprops, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Software-And Hardware-In-The-Loop Verification Of Flight Dynamics Model And Flight Control Simulation Of A Fixed-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Calvin Coopmans, Michal Podhradsk, Nathan V. Hoffer

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Unmanned aerial system (UAS) use is ever-increasing. In this paper, it is shown that even with low-cost hardware and open-source software, simple numerical testing practices (software- and hardware-in-the-loop) can prove the accuracy and usefulness of an aeronautical flight model, as well as provide valuable pre-flight testing of many situations typically only encountered in flight: high winds, hardware failure, etc. Software and hardware simulation results are compared with actual flight testing results to show that these modeling and testing techniques are accurate and provide a useful testing platform for a small unmanned aerial vehicle. Source code used in simulation is open …

Correlational Study Of Open Circuit Resonant (Sansec) Sensor’S Electric Field Distribution On Lightning Attachment, Kayla M. Farrow, Linda L. Vahala

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) is conducting research to develop an open circuit SansEC (Sans Electric Connection) sensor to provide lightning strike protection (LSP) in conjunction with damage detection and diagnosis for composite aircraft. SansEC sensors are simplistic devices consisting of an open circuit conductive trace shaped in a planar geometric spiral. The length and width of the conductive trace as well as the gap separation between adjacent turns determines the inductance, resistance and capacitance of the LRC circuit and its associated resonant response. When the sensor is placed on a composite substrate, the electric impedance of the substrate is …

T/O Overruns And Veer-Offs On Slippery Runways With Crosswinds, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Fadec Advances Allow Better Engine Performance, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Electric Motor & Power Source Selection For Small Aircraft Propulsion, Jeremy Fehrenbacher, David L. Stanley, Mary E. Johnson Dr., Jeffrey Honchell

Purdue Polytechnic Directed Projects

The research conducted in this project is on electrical propulsion in aviation. A Cessna 172K aircraft with a Lycoming O-320-E2D piston engine serves as a baseline measurement. Investigation of the components required for electrical flight is performed, and components are selected based on market availability and operational performance criteria.

This research focuses on electrical propulsion in the aviation industry, and is tailored to aircraft within the General Aviation sector leading to the following research question: Can current electric motor and battery technologies conceptually support flight operations for a Cessna 172K in terms of aircraft performance criteria?

The results explore the …

Dealing With Contaminated Runways, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Avoiding Aircraft Icing Accidents, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Aircraft Landing Operations On Contaminated Runways, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Raising The Dead, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Adaptive Quaternion Control Of A Miniature Tailsitter Uav, Nathan B. Knoebel, Timothy W. Mclain

Faculty Publications

The miniature tailsitter is a unique aircraft with inherent advantages over typical unmanned aerial vehicles. With the capabilities of both hover and level flight, these small, portable systems can produce efficient maneuvers for enhanced surveillance and autonomy with little threat to surroundings and the system itself. Such vehicles create control challenges due to the two different flight regimes. These challenges are addressed with a computationally efficient adaptive quaternion control algorithm. A backstepping method for model cancellation and consistent tracking of reference model attitude dynamics is derived. This is used in conjunction with a regularized data-weighting recursive least-squares algorithm for the …

Solid State Aircraft Concept Overview, M. Shahinpoor, P. Jenkins, C. Smith, Kakkattukuzhy M. Isaac, T. Dalbello, Anthony Colozza

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Due to recent advances in polymers, photovoltaics, and batteries a unique type of aircraft may be feasible. This is a "solid-state" aircraft, with no conventional mechanical moving parts. Airfoil, propulsion, energy production, energy storage and control are combined in an integrated structure. The key material of this concept is an ionic polymeric-metal composite (IPMC) that provides source of control and propulsion. This material has the unique capability of deforming in an electric field and returning to its original shape when the field is removed. Combining the IPMC with thin-film batteries and thin-film photovoltaics provides both energy source and storage in …

Stochastic Game Approach To Air Operations, Ben G. Fitzpatrick, William M. Mceneaney, Istvan G. Lauko

Mathematics Faculty Works

A Command and Control (C²) problem for Military Air Operations is addressed. Specifically, we consider C² problems for air vehicles against ground based targets and defensive systems. The problem is viewed as a stochastic game. In this paper, we restrict our attention to the C² level where the problem may consist of a few UCAVs or aircraft (or possibly teams of vehicles); less than say, a half-dozen enemy SAMs; a few enemy assets (viewed as targets from our standpoint); and some enemy decoys (assumed to mimic SAM radar signatures). At this low level, some targets are …

Adaptive Critic Based Neurocontroller For Autolanding Of Aircraft With Varying Glideslopes, Gaurav Saini, S. N. Balakrishnan

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, adaptive critic based neural networks have been used to design a controller for a benchmark problem in aircraft autolanding. The adaptive critic control methodology comprises successive adaptations of two neural networks, namely `action' and `critic' networks until closed loop optimal control is achieved. The autolanding problem deals with longitudinal dynamics of an aircraft which is to be landed in a specified touchdown region in the presence of wind disturbances and gusts using elevator deflection as the control for glideslope and flare modes. The performance of the neurocontroller is compared to that of a conventional PID controller. Neurocontroller's …

Aircraft Quality Casting Standards, Robert Katz, Robert Bolin , Depositor

Robert Katz Publications

These standards are to be used in connection with the Handbook for Instructions for Aircraft Designers, 8^th Edition …

In the radiography of aircraft castings, markings appearing on the film may be attributed to either the condition of the castings examined, or to some details of the radiographic process entirely unrelated to the quality of the castings, These latter patterns must be recognized and related to the radiographic process so that sound castings will not be unnecessarily rejected. Radiographs must be carefully compared with the surface irregularities of the casting they represent before an attempt is made to …