Aerospace Engineering Commons^™

Energy Dissipation In A Sand Damper Under Cyclic Loading, Ehab Sabi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Various seismic and wind engineering designs and retrofit strategies have been in development to meet structures' proper and safe operation during earthquake and wind excitation. One such method is the addition of fluid and particle dampers, such as sand dampers, in an effort to reduce excessive and dangerous displacements of structures. The present study implements the discrete element method (DEM) to assess the performance of a pressurized sand damper (PSD) and characterize the dissipated energy under cyclic loading. The idea of a PSD is to exploit the increase in shearing resistance of sand under external pressure and the associated ability …

Fabrication, Thermophysical, And Mechanical Properties Of Cermet And Cercer Fuel Composites For Nuclear Thermal Propulsion, Neal D. Gaffin

Doctoral Dissertations

Nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) utilizes nuclear fission to double the efficiency of
in-space propulsion systems compared with traditional combustion rocket systems.
NTP systems are limited primarily by the fuel material choice, due to the extreme
conditions they will need to endure, including temperatures up to 3000 K, multiple
thermal cycles with rapid heating and cooling, exposure to hot flowing hydrogen,
large thermal gradients, and high neutron flux. Particle based fuels, namely ceramic-
metallic (cermet) and ceramic-ceramic (cercer) composites are both promising fuel
element material candidates for NTP. Given the high temperature nature, these
materials are difficult to fabricate and very …

A Comparative Evaluation Of Oxidation And Combustion Phenomena In Ti-6al-4v Exposed To Earth Re-Entry And Arc-Jet Test Environments, Arlene Smith

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Ti-6Al-4V alloy is widely used in aerospace applications for its beneficial combination of properties. However, this alloy has high solubility for oxygen and thus a high reactivity. Recovered data contained within the Columbia artifacts suggests that this alloy underwent an accelerated degradation and combustion reaction when exposed to the high enthalpy, low-pressure surroundings experienced during reentry into Earth's atmosphere. Arc-jet testing has provided a simulated aerothermodynamic heating environment to mimic what the spacecraft endured. When the effect of thermal alteration on this alpha-beta phase alloy was investigated during previous studies, optical metallography and microhardness tests revealed inconsistencies between samples …

Dynamic Perimeter Movement Using Uavs And Robotic Systems, Nayeli Barrett, John Lawson, Billy Kihei

Symposium of Student Scholars

For this study, we propose a Dynamic Perimeter Movement system that has a user-operated UAV to identify GPS coordinate points using land markers such as April Tags. These markers would be used to identify the perimeter of a road work zone. Once the work zone is determined, autonomous robotic traffic cones would disperse to position themselves around the perimeter determined by coordinate points. As the work zone progresses the UAV would periodically update the perimeter to reposition robotic traffic cones. These traffic cones will operate using a Pure Pursuit system as a means to navigate.

Multi-Robot Symbolic Task And Motion Planning Leveraging Human Trust Models: Theory And Applications, Huanfei Zheng

All Dissertations

Multi-robot systems (MRS) can accomplish more complex tasks with two or more robots and have produced a broad set of applications. The presence of a human operator in an MRS can guarantee the safety of the task performing, but the human operators can be subject to heavier stress and cognitive workload in collaboration with the MRS than the single robot. It is significant for the MRS to have the provable correct task and motion planning solution for a complex task. That can reduce the human workload during supervising the task and improve the reliability of human-MRS collaboration. This dissertation relies …

Novel Thermal Coating For High-Speed Airplanes, Abinash Satapathy, Lakshay Battu, Liam Watson, Nazanin Rajabi

Symposium of Student Scholars

In comparison to various other materials, Carbon Fiber, specifically Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRP), is pre-eminent amongst other materials for use on aeronautical systems. Due to its high specific strength (strength-to-weight ratio), CFRP is prominent for carrying heavy loads while maintaining a lightweight build. However, when influenced by heat resulting from air resistance, CFRP is known to undergo serious degradation that would significantly decrease the effectiveness of the polymers. To prevent this degradation and maintain the strength of the CFRP, thermal protective layers (TPLs) are designed to shield the CFRP from heat exposure. This research is focused on the examination …

Thermal Relaxation Of Shot Peen Induced Residual Stresses In A Nickel-Base Superalloy, Bryce E. Van Velson

Theses and Dissertations

Shot peening induces compressive residual stresses in components that positively influence fatigue life. Thermal and mechanical loading causes those residual stresses to relax. The hole drilling method and xray diffraction is used to measure the thermal relaxation of residual stresses in the nickel-base superalloy ME3.

Design And Testing Of A Composite Compressor Rotor, Mauro Noel V. De Leon

Theses and Dissertations

Additive manufacturing (AM) and molding are manufacturing methods known for building representations or replicas of conceptualized engine components, but was considered impractical for manufacturing operating engine components. More recent technology has rendered composite materials (combining high-temperature polymers and fiber reinforcement) capable of withstanding the temperature and structural requirements to compete with conventional turbomachinery metals. This study explores the application of several high-temperature polymers (ULTEM 9085, Onyx-Carbon fiber, and Epoxy-Carbon fiber) and their survivability in the operating conditions of a P400 Engine compressor. The tests conducted for this study determined their viability as compressor materials. This study required conducting tensile specimen …

A Computational Fluid Dynamics-Based Surrogate Wind Turbine Blade Aerodynamic Model For Hybrid Simulation, Eric Lalonde

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Hybrid simulation (HS) is a promising technique for studying wind turbines due to the presence of scaling errors in wind tunnel testing. However, HS of wind-loaded structures is limited by the current practice of using lower-accuracy, "pre-calculated" aerodynamic loads, which uncouple the aerodynamic loading from the structural response. This thesis presents six stand-alone studies that collectively build towards a novel HS framework that employs a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) based surrogate model to generate higher-accuracy aerodynamic loads within the HS loop. An experimentally-validated residential wind turbine model equipped with an external damping system was used to illustrate the proposed framework. …

Microscale Transverse Compression Modeling: A Comparative Study Of The Analytical Mac/Gmc Methods To Experimental Results, Emily Zeitunian

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Composite materials require a multi-scale approach to fully understand its behavior. At the micro level, material behavior analysis is conducted most often using numerical or analytical approaches. These models, however, require validation from experimental data to ensure material predictions are accurate. This study compares a semi-analytical micromechanical analysis tool, MAC/GMC, to experimental results of in-situ microscale transverse compression testing conducted at AFRL facilities. Effective properties, stress-strain curves, stress and strain fields, and damage predictions are compared with experimental outputs. Both generalized method of cells (GMC) and high-fidelity generalized method of cells (HFGMC) theories implemented within MAC/GMC show results that agree …

Co2 Based Parachute Deployment, Anthony M. S. Settlemier, Nicholas Motter

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper describes the design process of a CO2 based parachute deployment system for the Akronauts Rocket Design team, with particular emphasis on the selection of methodologies of deployment as well as design iteration. The objective was to create a fully mechanical system in order to replace the black powder based systems that were used previously by the team.

Emphasis was put in creating a system that would function well at higher altitudes while also preventing damage to the parachute during deployment. This system emphasizes robustness under launch conditions.