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Establishing Mission Requirements Based On Consideration Of Aircraft Operations, Robert A. Mcdonald
Establishing Mission Requirements Based On Consideration Of Aircraft Operations, Robert A. Mcdonald
Robert A. McDonald
The design requirements for a next-generation commercial aircraft can do much to secure its fate as a success or failure. New aircraft are often designed to meet or surpass the capabilities of an existing aircraft they are intended to replace. However, in the case of unconventional aircraft, this could lead to significant overdesign resulting in nonviable concepts. Instead, a method of analyzing observed aircraft use is presented with the intent of establishing a set of requirements based on replacing aircraft utility instead of capability. Two aircraft in the commercial fleet are used as example cases, and launch customers for each …
Solar Energy Collection Analysis Tool For Conceptual Aircraft Design, Grant M. Glazebrook, Robert A. Mcdonald
Solar Energy Collection Analysis Tool For Conceptual Aircraft Design, Grant M. Glazebrook, Robert A. Mcdonald
Robert A. McDonald
As battery energy storage and solar cell technology improve, solar aircraft are increasingly being considered for high altitude long endurance missions. Although solar vehicles may theoretically remain on station indefinitely using the sun as a power source, their design and feasibility is sensitive to mission planning details as specific as the time history of the vehicle’s deck orientation relative to the sun; the energy available for capture by the on-board solar array is governed by the solar incidence angle, and at certain orientations, the vehicle may cast shadows on itself and further reduce its energy capture capabilities. To quantify these …
Enabling Rapid Conceptual Design Using Geometry-Based Multi-Fidelity Models In Vsp, Joel B. Belben, Robert A. Mcdonald
Enabling Rapid Conceptual Design Using Geometry-Based Multi-Fidelity Models In Vsp, Joel B. Belben, Robert A. Mcdonald
Robert A. McDonald
Four types of reduced fidelity or degenerate geometric representations have been defined and implemented in VSP for the purpose bridging the gap between conceptual design and analysis. They are Degenerate Surface, Degenerate Plate, Degenerate Stick, and Degenerate Point, corresponding to three-, two-, one-, and zero-dimensional representations of underlying geometry, respectively. The information contained in these representations was targeted specifically at lifting line theory, vortex lattice, equivalent beam, and equivalent plate methods, but could be used for other analysis techniques. The ability to output this information in both csv and Matlab file formats has been implemented in VSP. Ongoing work seeks …