Aerospace Engineering Commons^™

Effects And Solutions On The Human Body After Long-Duration Space Flights, Jose Jaime Esquivel Patricio

McNair Research Journal SJSU

During the Cold War, President John F. Kennedy made it a mission for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to accomplish a lunar landing and return to Earth. The final lunar landing and the last time humans left Low Earth Orbit (LEO) was in December, 1972. However, 47 years have passed and the fascination with traveling into deep space remains alive and flourishing. A major problem with future human missions to Mars is the effects of microgravity and Mars’ 0.38g environment. Unfortunately, space medicine is limited and little is known about the effects of microgravity on the human body …

Numerical Investigations Of Transient Wind Shear From Passing Vehicles Near A Road Structure (Part I: Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Simulations), Hamid Rahai, Assma Begum

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

In this research, the authors performed unsteady numerical simulations of a moving Ahmed body under a freeway overpass at different distances from the bridge columns in order to evaluate transient wind shear and the wind load on these columns. Results have shown that when the vehicle is at 0.75W distance from the bridge columns, an unsteady wind speed of up to 24 m/s is observed at the columns with a pressure coefficient difference of 0.9. Here W is the width of the vehicle. These results indicate with an appropriate system for harnessing these wind energy potentials, significant renewable electric power …

Investigation Into The Effects Of Blade Tip Twist On Noise Reduction For A Naca 0012 Rotor Blade, Uyen T. Sou

McNair Research Journal SJSU

The advancement of the urban air mobility concept is heavily dependent on the public acceptance of the aircraft vehicles used for air taxis. The importance of the perception of noise by humans is crucial to the passing of legislation and proposals working to implement the new transport system. The investigation into how the noise perception can be reduced is vital to the success of the personal air travel industry. The air taxi design has been geared towards the rotorcraft models. Therefore, the investigation into the rotor blade designs is necessary because, similar to helicopters, the main component in noise generation …

Effects And Solutions On The Human Body After Long-Duration Space Flights, Jose Jaime Esquivel Patricio

McNair Research Journal SJSU

During the Cold War, President John F. Kennedy made it a mission for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to accomplish a lunar landing and return to Earth. The final lunar landing and the last time humans left Low Earth Orbit (LEO) was in December, 1972. However, 47 years have passed and the fascination with traveling into deep space remains alive and flourishing. A major problem with future human missions to Mars is the effects of microgravity and Mars’ 0.38g environment. Unfortunately, space medicine is limited and little is known about the effects of microgravity on the human body …

A Protocol-Based Blended Model For Fluid Mechanics Instruction, John Solomon, Eric Hamilton, Vimal Viswanathan, Chitra Nayak, Firas Akasheh

Faculty Publications, Mechanical Engineering

A personalized and media-rich learning framework called “Knowledge and Curriculum Integration Ecosystem” (KACIE) has been developed and implemented in a junior level fluid mechanics course in Fall 2016 and Spring 2017. This model shares characteristics of blended instruction as well as a flipped classroom, with an overall structure that includes the application of established principles emerging from the learning sciences and from cognitive neuroscience. These principles have taken form in the KACIE model as classroom protocols or written instructions to scaffold and guide teaching and learning by faculty and students respectively. In KACIE, the course has been presented as a …

Electric Aircraft And The Environment: A Literature Review, Uyen T. Sou

McNair Research Journal SJSU

Historically, the integration of social need, environmental impact, and technological advancement has been a challenging balancing act for growing cities and metropoles. If the balance between social need and environmental sustainability is reached, the increasing advancements and improvements made to electric aircrafts have the potential to steer society towards a new mode of sustainable air. One reason why electric aircraft technology has not grown as fast as other technologies is because there lacked a need for fast advancements. With that said, electric aircraft technologies are improving today due to the demand in heavily populated cities to relieve traffic [5]. Some …

Adaptive Differential Thrust Methodology For Lateral/Directional Stability Of An Aircraft With A Completely Damaged Vertical Stabilizer, Long K. Lu, Kamran Turkoglu

Faculty Publications

This paper investigates the utilization of differential thrust to help a commercial aircraft with a damaged vertical stabilizer in order to regain its lateral/directional stability. In the event of an aircraft losing its vertical stabilizer, the consequential loss of the lateral/directional stability and control is likely to cause a fatal crash. In this paper, an aircraft with a completely damaged vertical stabilizer is investigated, and a unique differential thrust-based adaptive control approach is proposed to achieve a stable flight envelope. The propulsion dynamics of the aircraft is modeled as a system of differential equations with engine time constant and time …

Optimal Trajectory Determination And Mission Design For Asteroid/Deep-Space Exploration Via Multibody Gravity Assist Maneuvers, Sean Fritz, Kamran Turkoglu

Faculty Publications

This paper discusses the creation of a genetic algorithm to locate and optimize interplanetary trajectories using gravity assist maneuvers to improve fuel efficiency of the mission. The algorithm is implemented on two cases: (i) a Centaur-class target close to the ecliptic plane and (ii) a Centaur-class target with a high inclination to the ecliptic plane. Cases for multiple numbers of flybys (up to three) are discussed and compared. It is shown that, for the targets considered here, a single flyby of Jupiter is the most efficient trajectory to either target with the conditions and limitations discussed in this paper. In …

Development Of Cloud-Based Uav Monitoring And Management System, Mason Itkin, Mihui Kim, Younghee Park

Faculty Publications

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are an emerging technology with the potential to revolutionize commercial industries and the public domain outside of the military. UAVs would be able to speed up rescue and recovery operations from natural disasters and can be used for autonomous delivery systems (e.g., Amazon Prime Air). An increase in the number of active UAV systems in dense urban areas is attributed to an influx of UAV hobbyists and commercial multi-UAV systems. As airspace for UAV flight becomes more limited, it is important to monitor and manage many UAV systems using modern collision avoidance techniques. In this paper, …

Aerodynamic Modeling Of Nrel 5-Mw Wind Turbine For Nonlinear Control System Design: A Case Study Based On Real-Time Nonlinear Receding Horizon Control, Pedro A. Galvani, Fei Sun, Kamran Turkoglu

Faculty Publications

The work presented in this paper has two major aspects: (i) investigation of a simple, yet efficient model of the NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) 5-MW reference wind turbine; (ii) nonlinear control system development through a real-time nonlinear receding horizon control methodology with application to wind turbine control dynamics. In this paper, the results of our simple wind turbine model and a real-time nonlinear control system implementation are shown in comparison with conventional control methods. For this purpose, the wind turbine control problem is converted into an optimization problem and is directly solved by the nonlinear backwards sweep Riccati method …

Statistics Based Modeling Of Wind Speed And Wind Direction In Real Time Optimal Guidance Strategies Via Ornstein-Uhlenbeck Stochastic Processes, Kamran Turkoglu

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Solid-Fuel Regression Rate Modeling For Hybrid Rockets, Francesca Favaro, W. Sirignano, M. Manzoni, L. Deluca

Faculty Publications

The regression rate of the solid fuel is a primary parameter in the performance analysis for a hybrid rocket. Many studies in the past few years have theoretically claimed, or experimentally shown, a dependence of the regression rate on the chamber total pressure. Such behavior is generally traced back to the presence of oxygen below the flame zone and of heterogeneous reactions occurring at the surface and affecting the pyrolysis law. An experimental program was performed at the Space Propulsion Laboratory of the Politecnico di Milano showing, within the explored operating conditions and the associated uncertainty bands, a neutral trend …

Defining, Teaching, And Assessing Engineering Design Skills, Nikos J. Mourtos

Nikos J. Mourtos

The paper discusses a systematic approach for defining, teaching, and assessing engineering design skills. Although the examples presented in the paper are from the field of aerospace engineering, the principles apply to engineering design in general. What makes the teaching of engineering design particularly challenging is that the necessary skills and attributes are both technical and non-technical and come from the cognitive as well as the affective domains. Each set of skills requires a different approach to teach and assess. Implementing a variety of approaches for a number of years at SJSU has shown that it is just as necessary …

Defining, Teaching, And Assessing Engineering Design Skills, Nikos J. Mourtos

Faculty Publications

The paper discusses a systematic approach for defining, teaching, and assessing engineering design skills. Although the examples presented in the paper are from the field of aerospace engineering, the principles apply to engineering design in general. What makes the teaching of engineering design particularly challenging is that the necessary skills and attributes are both technical and non-technical and come from the cognitive as well as the affective domains. Each set of skills requires a different approach to teach and assess. Implementing a variety of approaches for a number of years at SJSU has shown that it is just as necessary …

Challenges Students Face When Solving Open - Ended Problems, Nikos J. Mourtos

Nikos J. Mourtos

No abstract provided.

Challenges Students Face When Solving Open - Ended Problems, Nikos J. Mourtos

Faculty Publications

Several core aerospace engineering courses at SJSU have been re-designed in an effort to help students develop problem-solving skills. This re-design includes (a) explicit definition of skills and attributes students need to develop to become capable problem-solvers, (b) inclusion of open-ended problems in each of several key, junior-level, core courses, (c) coaching students in the use of Wood’s Problem-Solving Methodology, and (d) development of rubrics to evaluate student performance at each step of this methodology. The paper discusses the application of this process and, in particular, it presents an assessment of student performance in two courses: fluid mechanics and aerodynamics. …

Pid Parameter Optimization Of An Uav Longitudinal Flight Control System, Kamran Turkoglu, Ugur Ozdemir, Melike Nikbay, Elbrous Jafarov

Faculty Publications

In this paper, an automatic control system design based on Integral Squared Error (ISE) parameter optimization technique has been implemented on longitudinal flight dynamics of an UAV. It has been aimed to minimize the error function between the reference signal and the output of the plant. In the following parts, objective function has been defined with respect to error dynamics. An unconstrained optimization problem has been solved analytically by using necessary and sufficient conditions of optimality, optimum PID parameters have been obtained and implemented in control system dynamics.

A Sustainable, Systematic Process For Continuous Program Improvement, Nikos J. Mourtos

Nikos J. Mourtos

The USA Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) adopted recently a new set of criteria for evaluating engineering programmes. One of these (criterion 3) refers to programme outcomes and assessment. In this article, the author describes the design and implementation of a sustainable, systematic process for defining and assessing programme outcomes. This process involves analysing each outcome into elements, defining a set of attributes for each element, selecting outcome indicators and performance targets, and developing special rubrics for an accurate assessment of student skills. The author also describes a systematic way of addressing specific programme outcomes through course and …

A Sustainable, Systematic Process For Continuous Program Improvement, Nikos J. Mourtos

Faculty Publications

The USA Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) adopted recently a new set of criteria for evaluating engineering programmes. One of these (criterion 3) refers to programme outcomes and assessment. In this article, the author describes the design and implementation of a sustainable, systematic process for defining and assessing programme outcomes. This process involves analysing each outcome into elements, defining a set of attributes for each element, selecting outcome indicators and performance targets, and developing special rubrics for an accurate assessment of student skills. The author also describes a systematic way of addressing specific programme outcomes through course and …

Introduction To Product Design And Innovation: A Cross Disciplinary Mini Curriculum, Patricia Backer, Seth Bates

Faculty Publications

For the past two years, faculty at San Jose State University (SJSU) have implemented a three- semester minicurriculum in Product Design and Manufacturing. The project follows the Project- Based Learning (PBL) model and is central to the Certificate Program in Product Design in the Mechanical Engineering Department, the Manufacturing Systems concentration in the Department of Aviation and Technology, and the Industrial Design Program in the School of Art and Design. Students in the three courses in the minicurriculum face design challenges while being instructed about the constraints of manufacturability. In each course, students develop three to four products. All products …

Incorporating The Impact Of Engineering Solutions On Society Into Technical Engineering Courses, N. Dejong-Okamoto, J. Rhee, Nikos J. Mourtos

Nikos J. Mourtos

In the era of market and workforce globalisation, engineers need a solid understanding of the impact that their products have locally, as well as globally. This is why the US Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) recently put a new spin on this requirement in engineering education. Specifically, outcome 3h of Engineering Criteria 2000 states that engineering graduates must have the broad education to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global/ societal context. This outcome may be one of the most difficult to achieve, since it requires not only a strong technical understanding, but also an informed …

Incorporating The Impact Of Engineering Solutions On Society Into Technical Engineering Courses, Nicole Dejong-Okamoto, Jinny Rhee, Nikos J. Mourtos

Faculty Publications

In the era of market and workforce globalisation, engineers need a solid understanding of the impact that their products have locally, as well as globally. This is why the US Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) recently put a new spin on this requirement in engineering education. Specifically, outcome 3h of Engineering Criteria 2000 states that engineering graduates must have the broad education to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global/ societal context. This outcome may be one of the most difficult to achieve, since it requires not only a strong technical understanding, but also an informed …

Open-Ended Problem-Solving Skills In Thermal-Fluids Engineering, Nikos J. Mourtos, N. Dejong-Okamoto, J. Rhee

Nikos J. Mourtos

Problem-solving skills have always been important in many professions. However, ABET EC 2000 recently placed a new focus on these skills in engineering education with outcome 3e, which states that engineering graduates must have an ability to identify, formulate and solve engineering problems. Problem-solving is defined as a process used to obtain a best answer to an unknown or a decision that is subject to some constraints. Problem-solving is not the same as textbook exercise solving, which is very common in engineering curricula. In the article, the authors first define engineering problem-solving and, in particular, what it means to identify …

Open-Ended Problem-Solving Skills In Thermal-Fluids Engineering, Nikos J. Mourtos, Nicole Dejong-Okamoto, Jinny Rhee

Faculty Publications

Problem-solving skills have always been important in many professions. However, ABET EC 2000 recently placed a new focus on these skills in engineering education with outcome 3e, which states that engineering graduates must have an ability to identify, formulate and solve engineering problems. Problem-solving is defined as a process used to obtain a best answer to an unknown or a decision that is subject to some constraints. Problem-solving is not the same as textbook exercise solving, which is very common in engineering curricula. In the article, the authors first define engineering problem-solving and, in particular, what it means to identify …

From Learning To Talk To Learning Engineering; Drawing Connections Across The Disciplines, Nikos J. Mourtos

Nikos J. Mourtos

No abstract provided.

From Learning To Talk To Learning Engineering; Drawing Connections Across The Disciplines, Nikos J. Mourtos

Faculty Publications

This paper introduces eight so-called conditions of learning (immersion, demonstration, engagement, expectations, responsibility, approximation, employment and response), which have been previously established for the learning of literacy. It is stipulated that these conditions are universal in nature; in other words, they must be present for any learning to occur. When these conditions are met, students learn more efficiently and are able to enjoy and appreciate their subject matter. The article discusses briefly how these conditions were established and their relevance in the study of engineering. More importantly, the article also presents examples of how these conditions can be satisfied in …

Introducing Cooperative Learning Through A Faculty Instructional Development Program, Nikos J. Mourtos, E. L. Allen

Nikos J. Mourtos

Cooperative Learning was officially introduced in the College of Engineering at San Jose State University in 1995 with a two-day workshop. The Faculty Instructional Development Program in the college maintains interest in the subjsect and provides support for instructors who use Cooperative Learning, through workshops and informal discussions (Conversations on Teaching). This paper discusses the effectiveness of the program in introducing, promoting, and implementing Cooperative Learning among the faculty and students in the college of engineering. A variety of performance criteria have been used in this assessment, some faculty-centered and some student-centered. The results indicate that although a relatively small …

Introducing Cooperative Learning Through A Faculty Instructional Development Program, Nikos J. Mourtos, Emily L. Allen

Faculty Publications

Cooperative Learning was officially introduced in the College of Engineering at San Jose State University in 1995 with a two-day workshop. The Faculty Instructional Development Program in the college maintains interest in the subjsect and provides support for instructors who use Cooperative Learning, through workshops and informal discussions (Conversations on Teaching). This paper discusses the effectiveness of the program in introducing, promoting, and implementing Cooperative Learning among the faculty and students in the college of engineering. A variety of performance criteria have been used in this assessment, some faculty-centered and some student-centered. The results indicate that although a relatively small …

A Five-Year Development Plan For The California Aviation Database, H.-S. Jacob Tsao

Faculty Publications

The California Aviation Database (CAvD) project was suggested by Caltrans Aeronautics Program to fulfill a need of the planners involved in aviation system planning and programming activities to locate and access aviation data and information in an efficient and comprehensive way. CAvD is being implemented in the form of an Internet website and is currently intended as a five-year project. However, the development can be accelerated, and the duration will depend on the available resources. CAvD is a joint project between the National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research (NEXTOR) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Its primary …

Portfolio Assessment In Aerodynamics, Nikos J. Mourtos

Nikos J. Mourtos

A new way of assessing student learning in an aerodynamics course through the use of portfolios is presented. The approach is portable to any engineering course, with a few modifications depending on content.

The main idea is to allow students more responsibility for their own learning. Instead of having everyone in the class perform identical activities (homework, experiments, projects, tests, etc.), a cadre of assignments is made available to them. Students choose and perform (within reason) the ones that suit them better in terms of their own strengths and learning styles. The ultimate goal is for each student to demonstrate …