Engineering Commons^™

Mission Performance As Point Performance, Robert A. Mcdonald

Robert A. McDonald

The cruise or loiter performance of an aircraft is intimately tied to its wing loading (W/S) and its thrust to weight ratio (T/W). Paradoxically, mission performance is often not considered when these fundamental aircraft parameters are determined in conceptual design. In this research, the traditional constraint diagram is extended to include contours of range parameter. This point performance metric represents the mission performance capability of the aircraft without sizing the aircraft to a particular mission. This gives the designer an immediate and intuitive understanding of the tradeoff between the point and mission performance of the aircraft. This improved constraint diagram …

Lift Superposition And Aerodynamic Twist Optimization For Achieving Desired Lift Distributions, Kevin A. Lane, David D. Marshall, Robert A. Mcdonald

Robert A. McDonald

A method for achieving an arbitrary lift distribution with an arbitrary planform is presented. This is accomplished through optimizing aerodynamic twist for a given number of either known airfoils or airfoils to be designed. The spanwise locations of these airfoils are optimized to get as close to the desired lift distribution as possible. Airfoils are linearly interpolated between these points. After aerodynamic twist, the planform is twisted geometrically using radial basis functions to model the twist distribution. The aerodynamic influence of each twist distribution is determined and all are superimposed to determine the function weights of each twist function, yielding …

Conceptual Design Of A Next Generation, 150 Passenger Commercial Transport, Ryan Halper, Kevin Lane, Dustin Marschik, Brett Morham, John Pham, Robert A. Mcdonald, Bruce Wright

Robert A. McDonald

In response to the 2008-2009 AIAA Undergraduate Team Design Competition's Request for Proposals for an advanced, environmentally compatible, 150 seat commercial transport; Jackson West has designed the Sparrow JS-3. The Sparrow represents the next step in the evolution of commercial aviation. Scheduled to enter service in 2018, The Sparrow will compete directly with the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320. Its improvements in fuel consumption and operating cost, as well as its reduced environmental impact, make The Sparrow the ideal solution to this RFP.

Conceptual Design Of An Environmentally Responsible 150-Passenger Commercial Aircraft, Natalie R. Smith, Bryan Blessing, James Dixon, Allen Mackey, Gregory Mckenzie, Robert A. Mcdonald, Bruce Wright

Robert A. McDonald

Verde is an environmentally responsible commercial transport seating 150 dual-class passengers, designed in response to the 2008-2009 Request for Proposal from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Undergraduate Team Aircraft Design Competition. While the airline industry faces increasing pressures from the cost of fuel and the responsibility of environmental impact, the next generation of this aircraft class must operate more efficiently and address those environmental needs. Therefore, all design decisions for Verde focused first on reducing fuel burn, second on reducing emissions, then noise, and finally on maintaining flyaway cost, airport integration, and passenger comfort. The final design utilizes …

A Three Dimensional Vortex Particle-Panel Method For Modeling Propulsion-Airframe Interaction, Jacob S. Calabretta, Robert A. Mcdonald

Robert A. McDonald

The panel code has been a pivotal tool for aerodynamic simulations for decades, today providing users with quick solutions without the necessity of a volume grid. Unfortunately, the panel code also carries with it some inherent shortcomings when compared with other methods. One such weakness is its inability to account for any work done on or by the system in question. This paper proposes a method to address this issue by combining vortex particles with a panel code, and using them to model the work effects of a propeller or engine. While the proposed model is still a work in …

Parameter Estimation Of Fundamental Technical Aircraft Information Applied To Aircraft Performance, Mike Vallone, Robert A. Mcdonald

Robert A. McDonald

Inverse problems can be applied to aircraft in many areas. One of the disciplines within the aerospace industry with the most openly published data is in the area of aircraft performance. Many aircraft manufacturers publish performance claims, flight manuals and Standard Aircraft Characteristic (SAC) charts without any mention of the more fundamental technical information such as C_D0. With accurate tools, generalized aircraft models and a few curve-fitting techniques, it is possible to evaluate vehicle performance and estimate these technical parameters.

With this goal a program has been written in Matlab to calculate the fundamental information behind a …

Designing A Green Aircraft: Cal Poly's 2009 Undergraduate Aircraft Designs, Robert A. Mcdonald, Bruce Wright

Robert A. McDonald

The Cal Poly senior design class submitted six designs this year in response to the 2009 Undergraduate Team Aircraft Design Competition. This paper summarizes our experiences teaching design through this RFP and brings the student's insights together.

Improved Geometry Modeling For High Fidelity Parametric Design, James R. Gloudemans, Robert A. Mcdonald

Robert A. McDonald

Advanced multidisciplinary physics-based design and analysis capabilities are required to pursue the revolutionary vehicle and technology concepts needed to meet the goals of the aerospace industry for the next 10-30 years. The multidisciplinary physics critical to advancing aerospace technology all have one common bond, the shape, size, and form of the underlying aircraft - its geometry. An aircraft shape is the natural starting point for multidisciplinary analysis and optimization (MDAO). Vehicle Sketch Pad (VSP) is an aircraft geometry tool for rapid evaluation of advanced design concepts which was developed by NASA and is available to industry at large. VSP allows …