Engineering Commons^™

Comparative Analysis Of Aviation And Ground Transportation Safety Standards Applicable To The Integration Of Unmanned Aircraft Operations, Andrew Walker

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

This study performed a comparative analysis of SMS in both the aviation and ground transportation industries to identify any gaps that may impact aviation safety by incorporating UAS operations within the ground transportation industry. The study reviewed relevant literature and compared the FAA SMS and FMCSA SMC policy components. The study also compared the implementation of OSHA requirements within the aviation and ground transportation industries. After reviewing the relevant policy components, the study finds that differences in safety standards between the FAA SMA and FMCSA SMC would impact safety. The study recommends that the SMC incorporate process descriptions for SRM …

Numerical Analysis Of A Multi-Stage Elastohydrodynamic Seal For Aircraft Engines, Md Wasif Hasan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

At present, both governmental and private aviation enterprises are trying to develop aircraft that are swifter, more lightweight, and more cost-effective in order to maintain competitiveness on both the domestic and global stage. Continuous innovation and sustainability efforts are necessary to achieve advancements in aviation systems, such as fans, compressors, combustors, and turbines, as well as sub-systems, like engine seals. Advanced engine seals exhibit considerable potential in enhancing the engine's pressure ratio and cycle temperatures, leading to reduced engine weight, increased thrust, and improved fuel economy. In this study, a novel multistage seal idea has been proposed for the supercritical …

3d Printed Aircraft, Matthew Nagy, Charles D'Amico, Alexis Salgado Medina

Mechanical Engineering

This project is to design, build, and test a 3D-printable aircraft. The goal is to create a final design that will be able to fly for the longest duration possible, around 20 seconds. To determine the correct preliminary design and manufacturing process for a 3D printed RC aircraft, an analysis of multiple design options and manufacturing materials was performed. This allowed for a variety of choices for aircraft type, airfoil design, structure, among other topics to be narrowed down to the most promising option. It has been found that the aircraft will follow a design similar to industry motor-gliders, with …

Enabling Premixed Hydrogen-Air Combustion For Aeroengines Via Laboratory Experiment Modeling, Christopher James Caulfield

Masters Theses

All combustion systems from large scale power plants to the engines of cars to gas turbines in aircraft are looking for new fuel sources. Recently, clean energy for aviation has come into the foreground as an important issue due to the environment impacts of current combustion methods and fuels used. The aircraft industry is looking towards hydrogen as a new, powerful, and clean fuel of the future. However there are several engineering and scientific challenges to overcome before hydrogen can be deployed into the industry. These issues
range from storing the hydrogen in a viable cryogenic form for an aircraft …

Enhancing Cyberspace Monitoring In The United States Aviation Industry: A Multi-Layered Approach For Addressing Emerging Threats, Matthew Janson

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This research project examined the cyberspace domain in the United States (U.S.) aviation industry from many different angles. The research involved learning about the U.S. aviation cyberspace environment, the landscape of cyber threats, new technologies like 5G and smart airports, cybersecurity frameworks and best practices, and the use of aviation cyberspace monitoring capabilities. The research looked at how vulnerable the aviation industry is from cyber-attacks, analyzed the possible effects of cyber-attacks on the industry, and suggests ways to improve the industry's cybersecurity posture. The project's main goal was to protect against possible cyber-attacks and make sure that the aviation industry …

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 …

Aircraft Communication Systems - Topologies, Protocols, And Vulnerabilities, Tyler Przybylski, Niroop Sugunaraj, Prakash Ranganathan

Electrical Engineering Student Publications

Aviation systems are facing fierce competition driven by private investments promoting the development of new avionics suites (AS). With these new AS comes the need for a faster and larger bandwidth requirement for next generation communication systems. The legacy military (MIL) standard 1553 communication system (e.g., 1Mbps) can no longer keep up with the surge in bandwidth demand requirements. The new communication systems need to be designed with a system architecture background that can enable simplistic integration with Information Technology (IT) controlled groundnetworks, military, and commercial payloads. To facilitate a seamless integration with communication architecture, the current system is highly …

Landing Gear Sealing Solution, Andrew Milligan

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

XYZ Landing Gear Solutions has been tasked with redesigning two internal components of the landing gears for the ABC-123 aircraft program. The customer, ABC Aeronautics, informed XYZ Landing Gear Solutions that a particular system of the landing gear does not meet the necessary performance requirements of the program. As a result, the entire system will have to be removed, facilitating the need for a redesign of the two components that the system interfaced with. The focus of this project will be completing the redesign process for both of these components. “Redesign” and “design” will be used interchangeably in this report. …

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 …

Friction Taper Plug Welding As A Repair Method For Fatigue Damage Around Fastener Holes In Aerospace Structures, David Carl Sumsion

Theses and Dissertations

This work details an adaptation of the friction taper plug welding (FTPW) process to repair fatigue damage in 6.35mm AA 7050 t-7451 plate. Aircraft components experience fatigue damage around fastener holes. This damage can be mitigated by enlarging fastener holes. There is no effective repair procedure once holes reach a maximum allowable size. Damaged components must be replaced. A suitable repair process would lead to substantial savings in both time and money. A simulated repair process was developed by machining holes in 6.35mm AA 7050 t-7451 plate. These hoes were then plugged using the FTPW process. Microhardness testing and metallographic …

Linearized Rigid-Body Static And Dynamic Stability Of An Aircraft With A Bio-Inspired Rotating Empennage, Austin J. Kohler

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The United States Air Force (USAF) will likely seek to remove the vertical tail of next-generation fighter aircraft. This work seeks to characterize the static and dynamic stability and handling qualities of a vertical-tailless aircraft concept that would satisfy the USAF’s goal. This concept aircraft, one modified with a Bio-Inspired Rotating Empennage (BIRE), does not have a vertical tail, and is instead capable of rotating the horizontal tail about the fuselage axis for maneuvering. The dynamic characteristics of the BIRE-modified aircraft are compared to a baseline unmodified aircraft, similar to the F16, with a traditional vertical tail. Linearized aerodynamic models …

Path Planning For Aircraft Under Threat Of Detection From Ground-Based Radar With Uncertainty In Aircraft And Radar States, Austin D. Costley

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Mission planners for manned and unmanned aircraft operating within the detection range of ground-based radar systems are often concerned with the probability of detection. Several factors influence the probability of detection, including aircraft position and orientation, radar position, and radar performance parameters. Current path planning algorithms assume that these factors are known with certainty, but in practice, these factors are estimated and have some uncertainty.

This dissertation explores methods to consider the uncertainty in the detection factors for an aircraft path planner. First, the detection model is extended to include uncertainty in the aircraft position and orientation, radar position, and …

Meshless Large Eddy Simulation Of Propeller-Wing Interactions With Reformulated Vortex Particle Method, Eduardo Alvarez, Andrew Ning

Faculty Publications

The vortex particle method (VPM) has gained popularity in recent years due to a growing need to predict complex aerodynamic interactions during preliminary design of electric multirotor aircraft. However, VPM is known to be numerically unstable when vortical structures break down close to the turbulent regime. In recent work, the VPM has been reformulated as a large eddy simulation (LES) in a scheme that is both meshless and numerically stable, without increasing its computational cost. In this study, we build upon this meshless LES scheme to create a solver for interactional aerodynamics. Rotor blades are introduced through an actuator line …

Uncrewed Aircraft Systems For Autonomous Infrastructure Inspection, Michail Kalaitzakis

Theses and Dissertations

Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) are becoming increasingly popular for infrastructure inspections since they offer increased safety, decreased costs and consistent results, compared to traditional methods. However, there are still many open challenges before fully autonomous, reliable, and repeatable UAS inspections. While a UAS platform has increased mobility and can easily approach hard to reach areas, it has limited range and payload capacity and is susceptible to environmental disturbances. Therefore, current operations are limited to Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) manual inspections that usually result in just a qualitative (visual) assessment of the structure.

The objective of this work is to …

Design Of Optical Compound Eye Simulation Software For Small Aircraft Applications, Qiming Qi, Ruigang Fu, Ping Wang, Min Wang, Hongqi Fan

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Optical compound eye has the advantages of large field of view, multiple viewing angles and high resolution. With another advantage that it can conformal combine with small aircraft, optical compound eye has application value in reconnaissance and surveillance, target detection, image navigation and other aspects. An optical compound eye simulation software for small aircraft is designed for the current situation of long development period of optical compound eye design and high cost of flight test in practical applications. The software integrates compound eye imaging, aircraft simulation and data management, and each functional module is extensible. The simulation results show …

Effect Of Spray Rails On Takeoff Performance Of Amphibian Aircraft, Soham Bahulekar

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Amphibian aircraft have seen a rise in popularity in the recreational and utility sectors due to their ability to take off and land on both land and water, thus serving a myriad of purposes such as aerobatics, surveillance, and firefighting. The design of such seaplanes requires to be both aerodynamically and hydrodynamically efficient, especially during the takeoff phase. In the past, naval architects have implemented ways to make boats, yachts, and large ships more efficient; one of them being the addition of chine strips and spray rails on the hull. This thesis study explores the possibility of implementing spray rails …

Quasi-Static Structural Analysis Of An Experimental Aircraft Wing, Scott Bender

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In this report, a quasi-static load analysis is conducted on an experimental light sport aircraft wing via a whiffletree bending test. This report will discuss the loads present on the aircraft during straight level flight at a speed of 82 knots equivalent air speed. Flight load calculations are described along with the design of the whiffletree and mounting structures utilized for applying the distributed point loads. Initial finite element analysis is performed on the wing structure to determine critical strain locations and optimal sensor distribution. Subsequent mechanical experimentations are performed using a bending test to measure the strain at critical …

Reformulated Vortex Particle Method And Meshless Large Eddy Simulation Of Multirotor Aircraft, Eduardo J. Alvarez

Theses and Dissertations

The vortex particle method (VPM) is a mesh-free approach to computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solving the Navier-Stokes equations in their velocity-vorticity form. The VPM uses a Lagrangian scheme, which not only avoids the hurdles of mesh generation, but it also conserves vortical structures over long distances with minimal numerical dissipation while being orders of magnitude faster than conventional mesh-based CFD. However, VPM is known to be numerically unstable when vortical structures break down close to the turbulent regime. In this study, we reformulate the VPM as a large eddy simulation (LES) in a scheme that is numerically stable, without increasing …

Formation Control With Collision Avoidance For Fixed-Wing Unmanned Air Vehicles With Speed Constraints, Christopher Heintz

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical Engineering

Advances in the miniaturization of powerful electronic components and motors, the democratization of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), and improvements in the performance, safety, and cost in lithium batteries has led to the proliferation of small and relatively inexpensive unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Many of these UAVs are of the multi-rotor design, however, fixed-wing designs are often more efficient than rotary-wing aircraft, leading to a reduction in the power required for a UAV of a given mass to stay airborne. Autonomous cooperation between multiple UAVs would enable them to complete objectives that would be difficult or impossible for a single …

Airframe And Systems Design, Analysis, And Testing Of The Horizon Morphing-Wing Aircraft, Sabrina A. Snow

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Morphing trailing edge technology can provide the ability to dynamically alter the twist distribution, and therefore lift distribution, of an aircraft during flight. There are certain optimal lift distributions which can be chosen to create proverse yawing effects and eliminate the need for vertical control surfaces. The purpose of this project is to support the design and testing of a morphing, crescent flying wing airframe which will be used to evaluate yaw control in an aircraft without vertical control surfaces. There are three main objectives of this project, which are to perform static and dynamic analysis on the crescent wing …

Methods Of Determining And Predicating Community Annoyance Due To Aircraft Noise, Kevin Zielinski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the importance of the aviation industry continues to grow, airports continue to expand, andincrease operations; noise generated from aircraft is becoming a growing concern to people livingwithin the communities surrounding the airports. Community members have shown concern throughcomplaints and annoyance due to the disturbances that aircraft noise cause in their everyday life. Thepurpose of this study is to determine which factors most affect community annoyance towards aircraftnoise. There are two main factors to be considered when analyzing annoyance due to aircraft noise.The first is the acoustic factors caused by the aircrafts themselves, such as the noise the aircraft emitsor …

The Effects Of Ultraviolet Radiation On Aircraft Crewmember Health, Erin Johnston

Theses and Dissertations

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation and its effects on crewmember health will be evaluated by examining the variables that impact the intensity of UV radiation and the health concerns associated with this exposure. The purpose of this study was to (a) identify how Ultraviolet A (UVA) exposure is different in an aircraft cockpit when compared to the exposure at sea-level and (b) expose the adverse health impacts associated with an increased exposure of UVA radiation. This was accomplished through an examination of UV radiation and the variables that impact its effectiveness. After this analysis, the adverse health impacts experienced from UV radiation …

Blds Pressure Belt, Hailey Earnest, Sean Casteel, Benjamin Bons, Biren Rama

Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Westphal has a Boundary Layer Data System (BLDS) that is used to take pressure measurements on the surface of the aircraft. Our team has created a design and manufacturing method for producing the corresponding pressure belt that attaches to Dr. Westphal's system to obtain pressure data.

Simulation Of A Configurable Hybrid Aircraft, Brandon Bartlett

Master's Theses

As the demand for air transportation is projected to increase, the environmental impacts produced by air travel will also increase. In order to counter the environmental impacts while also meeting the demand for air travel, there are goals and research initiatives that aim to develop more efficient aircraft. An emerging technology that supports these goals is the application of hybrid propulsion to aircraft, but there is a challenge in effectively exploring the performance of hybrid aircraft due to the time and money required for safe flight testing and due to the diverse design space of hybrid architectures and components. Therefore, …

Multi-Objective Optimization For Aircraft Power Systems Using A Network Graph Representation, Damien Lawhorn, Vandana Rallabandi, Dan M. Ionel

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

Today, the electrification of flight is more popular than ever, creating a wide array of concept aircraft and associated power system topologies. In order to gain insights into benefits of these varying architectures, this paper introduces the development of a framework for electric aircraft power system (EAPS) optimization. The proposed framework accepts inputs from a designer in the form of component parameters and desired flight mission characteristics. A collective graph representing many possible architectures is formed, from which, subgraphs that describe power system topologies meeting the flight requirements are extracted and analyzed. Optimal EAPS architectures with respect to goals of …

Disruptive Technologies With Applications In Airline & Marine And Defense Industries, Randall K. Nichols, Hans C. Mumm, Wayne Lonstein, Suzanne Sincavage, Candice M. Carter, John-Paul Hood, Randall Mai, Mark Jackson, Bart Shields

NPP eBooks

Disruptive Technologies With Applications in Airline, Marine, Defense Industries is our fifth textbook in a series covering the world of Unmanned Vehicle Systems Applications & Operations On Air, Sea, and Land. The authors have expanded their purview beyond UAS / CUAS / UUV systems that we have written extensively about in our previous four textbooks. Our new title shows our concern for the emergence of Disruptive Technologies and how they apply to the Airline, Marine and Defense industries. Emerging technologies are technologies whose development, practical applications, or both are still largely unrealized, such that they are figuratively emerging into prominence …

3d-Printed Wings With Morphing Trailing-Edge Technology, Benjamin C. Moulton, Douglas F. Hunsaker

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Student Publications and Presentations

In recent years, various groups have attempted to improve aircraft efficiency using wings with morphing trailing-edge technology. Most of these solutions are difficult to manufacture or have limited morphing capability. The present paper outlines a research effort to develop an easy to manufacture, fully 3D-printed morphing wing. This approach is advantageous due to the low cost, minimal man-hours required for manufacturing, and speed at which design iterations can be explored. Several prototypes were designed and tested and lessons learned from these iterations have been documented. Additionally, printer settings have been tested and catalogued to assist others attempting to reproduce these …

Development Of A Combined Thermal Management And Power Generation System Using A Multi-Mode Rankine Cycle, Nathaniel M. Payne

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Two sub-systems that present a significant challenge in the development of high performance air vehicle exceeding speeds of Mach 5 are the power generation and thermal management sub-systems. The air friction experienced at high speeds, particularly around the engine, generates large thermal loads that need to be managed. In addition, traditional jet engines do not operate at speeds greater than Mach 3, therefore eliminating the possibility of a rotating power generator. A multi-mode water-based Rankine cycle is an innovative method to address both of these constraints of generating power and providing cooling. Implementing a Rankine cycle-based system allows for the …

Development Of A Robust And Tunable Aircraft Guidance Algorithm, Jacob R. Spangenberg

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

A set of guidance control laws is developed for application to a reduced order dynamic aircraft model. A feedback control formulation utilizing a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) is developed, together with methods for easing the design burden associated with gain tuning. Metrics are developed to assess the stability margin of the controller over the full flight envelope of a notional unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) model. A feedforward control path is then added to the architecture. The performance of the guidance control laws is assessed through time domain step response metrics as well as through execution of a design mission. The …

Development Of A Robust And Tunable Aircraft Guidance Algorithm, Jacob R. Spangenberg

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

A set of guidance control laws is developed for application to a reduced order dynamic aircraft model. A feedback control formulation utilizing a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) is developed, together with methods for easing the design burden associated with gain tuning. Metrics are developed to assess the stability margin of the controller over the full flight envelope of a notional unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) model. A feedforward control path is then added to the architecture. The performance of the guidance control laws is assessed through time domain step response metrics as well as through execution of a design mission. The …