Aerospace Engineering Commons^™

Utilizing Uas To Support Wildlife Hazard Management Efforts By Airport Operators, Flavio A. C. Mendonca, Ryan Wallace

Publications

The FAA requires airports operating under the Code of Federal Regulations Part 139 to conduct a wildlife hazard assessment (WHA) when some wildlife-strike events have occurred at or near the airport. The WHA should be conducted by a Qualified Airport Wildlife Biologist (QAWB) and must contain several elements, including the identification of the wildlife species observed and their numbers; local movements; daily and seasonal occurrences; and the identification and location of features on and near the airport that could attract wildlife. Habitats and land-use practices at and around the airport are key factors affecting wildlife species and the size of …

Lupa: An Excursion Vehicle For The Moons Of Mars, Shannon Kavanagh, Bo Lewis, Alex Odinamba, Joshua Mulhern

Senior Design Project For Engineers

Our team has designed a spacecraft and mission for exploring the moons of Mars. The Lithological and Ultraviolet Photometry Assessment (LUPA) excursion vehicle is capable of crew habitation, autonomous rendezvous, and in-vacuum sample collection all in support of a parallel Mars surface mission to be carried out in the year 2040. Our project's key focus areas revolve around orbital mechanics, space vehicle propulsion analysis, scientific exploration, and the management of various interconnected spacecraft subsystems.

Project Scrappie (Clear Constellation), Jacob Bertram, Jacob Britt, Bill Ngo, Mike Diesing

Senior Design Project For Engineers

Clear Constellation™ is a nationwide competition hosted by Rubicon® to combat the growing problem of space debris in Low Earth Orbit. Project Scrappie is our team’s solution to this problem. Scrappie is an autonomous apparatus will make use of Whipple shield technology to collide with debris at high velocities and effectively destroy the debris throughout selected orbital paths.

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 …

Viability And Application Of Mounting Personal Pid Voc Sensors To Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Cheri Marcham

Publications

Small Unmanned Aerial Systems in Emergency Response

Current sUAS Uses

• Search and rescue
• Thermal imaging
• Evaluating structural stability
• Spread of wildfires
• Storm damage

Robust Nonlinear Tracking Control For Unmanned Aircraft In The Presence Of Wake Vortex, Petr Kazarin, Vladimir Golubev, William Mackunis, Claudia Moreno

Publications

The flight trajectory of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be significantly affected by external disturbances such as turbulence, upstream wake vortices, or wind gusts. These effects present challenges for UAV flight safety. Hence, addressing these challenges is of critical importance for the integration of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System (NAS), especially in terminal zones. This work presents a robust nonlinear control method that has been designed to achieve roll/yaw regulation in the presence of unmodeled external disturbances and system nonlinearities. The data from NASA-conducted airport experimental measurements as well as high-fidelity Large Eddy Simulations of the …

Unmanned Aircraft Systems For Archaeology Using Photogrammetry And Lidar In Southwestern United States, Imai Bates-Domingo, Alexandra Gates, Patrick Hunter, Blake Neal, Kyle Snowden, Destin Webster

Study America

Researchers can use small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS), also known as drones, to make observations of historical sites, help interpret locations, and make new discoveries that may not be visible to the naked eye. A student team from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University gathered data for historical site documentation in New Mexico using the DJI Phantom 4 Pro V2, DJI Mavic Pro 2, DJI M210 and DJI M600, and senseFly eBee. Utilizing these drones, student analysts were able to take the data gathered and create georectified orthomosaic images and 3D virtual objects. At Tularosa Canyon, at a site known as the Creekside …

Active Control Of Coherent Structures In An Axisymmetric Jet, Michael Marques Goncalves

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The primary objective of this work is to develop high-fidelity simulation model for jet noise control predictions and quantify the sound reduction when an external source frequency mode excitation is imposed on the jet flow. Whereas passive approaches using mixing devices, such as chevrons, have been shown to reduce low-frequency noise in jet engines, such approaches incur a performance penalty since they result in a reduced thrust. To avoid a performance penalty in reducing jet noise, the current work investigates a open-loop active noise control (ANC) system that utilizes a unsteady microjet actuator on the nozzle lip in the downstream …

A Reduced-Order Model Bi-Modal Excitation Of A Supersonic Planar Jet, Benjamin Malczewski

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This work analytically and numerically examines the effects of bi-modal excitation on a Mach 1.5 heated planar jet. Starting with the Navier-Stokes equations, triple decomposition is applied to the flow components. A reduced order model is derived, turning the Navier-Stokes partial differential equations into a set of coupled ordinary differential equations, relating the momentum thickness and amplitudes of a fundamental and subharmonic mode to the streamwise location along the jet. Computational fluid dynamics data from the minor plane of a Mach 1.5 heated rectangular jet is used to verify a hyperbolic tangent profile for the mean flow at various streamwise …

Monte-Carlo-Based Analysis Of Traffic Flow For Urban Air Mobility Vehicles, Sara Ghayouraneh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The research conducted in this dissertation is focused on developing a simulation tool that can predict the traffic flow patterns of the Urban Air Mobility vehicles to alleviate some of the challenges related to their traffic management. First, an introduction to the concept of Urban Air Mobility is given, the usage of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast systems for Urban Air Mobility vehicles is suggested and dynamic addressing concept is introduced as an answer to a part of air traffic management and address scarcity challenge for Urban air Mobility vehicles. Next, in order to simulate the traffic flow patterns of the Urban …

Design And Flight-Path Simulation Of A Dynamic-Soaring Uav, Gladston Joseph

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

We address the development of a dynamic-soaring capable unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) optimized for long-duration flight with no on-board power consumption. The UAV’s aerodynamic properties are captured with the integration of variable fidelity aerodynamic analyses. In addition to this, a 6 degree-of-freedom flight simulation environment is designed to include the effects of atmospheric wind conditions. A simple flight control system aids in the development of the dynamic soaring maneuver. A modular design paradigm is adopted for the aircraft dynamics model, which makes it conducive to use the same environment to simulate other aircraft models. Multiple wind-shear models are synthesized to …

Modeling Of A Hybrid-Electric System And Design Of Control Laws For Hybrid-Electric Urban Air Mobility Power Plants, Sohail Bin Salam Lahaji

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is an emerging market and technology in the aerospace industry. These systems are being developed to overcome traffic congestion. The current designs make use of Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP): either fully electric or hybrid electric. The hybrid engine system consists of two power sources: prime movers, such as turbine engines, and batteries. The hybrid systems offer higher range and endurance compared with the existing fully electric systems. Hybrid-electric power generation systems for AAM have different mission requirements when compared to systems used in automobiles. Therefore, there is a particular need to model hybrid-electric systems and the …

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, …

Passive Disposal Of Launch Vehicle Stages In Geostationary Transfer Orbits Leveraging Small Satellite Technologies, Marc Alexander Galles

Master's Theses

Once a satellite has completed its operational period, it must be removed responsibly in order to reduce the risk of impacting other missions. Geostationary Transfer Orbits (GTOs) offer unique challenges when considering disposal of spacecraft, as high eccentricity and orbital energy give rise to unique challenges for spacecraft designers. By leveraging small satellite research and integration techniques, a deployable drag sail module was analyzed that can shorten the expected orbit time of launch vehicle stages in GTO. A tool was developed to efficiently model spacecraft trajectories over long periods of time, which allowed for analysis of an object’s expected lifetime …

Computational Investigation Of Perforated Plate Film Cooling Utilizing Conjugate Heat Transfer, Jonathan Sippel

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The accuracy of modern state-of-practice computational fluid dynamics approaches in predicting the cooling effectiveness of a perforated plate film-cooling arrangement is evaluated in ANSYS Fluent. A numerical investigation is performed using the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes equations and compared to NASA Glenn’s available Turbulent Heat Flux 4 experimental measurements collected as a part of the Transformational Tools and Technologies Project. A multiphysics approach to model heat conduction through the solid geometry is shown to offer significant improvements in wall temperature and film effectiveness prediction accuracy over the standard adiabatic wall approach. Additionally, localized gradient-based grid adaption is analyzed using the …

Improving The Performance Of An Ead Aircraft By Use Of A Retractable Electrode System, Michael Alexander Fredricks

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Electroaerodynamic (EAD) propulsion is a growing area of research for small, low powered aircraft. Recent tests of EAD aircraft have demonstrated low performance in unpowered, gliding flight. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of a retractable electrode system on the flight performance of an EAD aircraft. An analysis of electrode drag contribution on the MIT ionic wind plane’s performance predicts a maximum lift to drag ratio of 22, with the addition of a retractable electrode system, for a similarly sized and modeled EAD aircraft. An experiment is developed using a prototype aircraft, launcher, and retraction system …

Design, Construction, And Flight Of A Remote-Controlled Aircraft For The 2020-21 Aiaa Dbf Competition, Jonathan A. Dixon, Caleb Weatherly, Satyam Mistry, Killian Samuels, Ethan Cerrito, Caleb Morgan, Sanghyeok Park, Sam Pankratz, Jamison Murphree

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Project Alien, Rebecca Mccallin, Madelyn Hoying, Alex Evans, Matthew Nestler, Karli Rae Sutton, Garett Craig, Lucia Secaia Del Cid, Alexander Guy, Rachel Fernandez, Amanda Trusiak, Paige Aley, Ingabire Gakwerere, Nina Dorfner, Maria Mosbacher, Mary Flavin, Selvin Hernandez, Audrey Steen, Benjamin Kazimer

Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium

Project ALIEN is a comprehensive plan to send humans to Mars to look for life on the Martian surface while exploring the viability and adaptability of terrestrial microbes in Martian atmospheric conditions. ALIEN will use a ballistic capture trajectory to get to Mars and stay in aerostationary orbit for a 30-day surface mission, during which two surface crewmembers will perform a variety of experiments to achieve the mission’s goals of Martian microbial discovery within brines of the Gale Crater and terrestrial microbe adaptability and viability to Martian conditions. Experimentation is based on the presumption that Martian microbes are metabolically similar …

Airplane Pitch Response To Rapid Configuration Change: Flight Test And Safety Assessment, Ralph Kimberlin, Markus Wilde, Brian Kish, Isaac Silver

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

This paper examines airplane response to rapid flap extension on seven general aviation airplanes. The scenario involves a pilot flying in the traffic pattern becoming distracted, abruptly extending flaps while looking outside the airplane, and failing to notice airspeed and pitch-attitude changes. The airplanes tested reached pitch forces of up to 36 lbf, meeting FAA requirements but exceeding the capability of 55% of the population. Flight data showed a pitch-up to more than 30˚ in 5 s after flap extension, causing airspeed to drop below stall speed for four of the airplanes. At traffic pattern altitudes, stalling an airplane can …

The Impact Of Uas On The Passenger Airline Industry, Matthew Whitten

Senior Honors Theses

This study seeks to cover the state of modern autonomous unmanned aerial systems (UAS) integration into commercial aviation, the future applications of the technology in the airline industry, and the roadblocks currently hindering its integration into passenger operations. Although great advancements are being made in the field, technological developments, economic impact, legal restrictions, airline cost, and public perception stand in the way of the full adaptation of autonomous technology into everyday passenger operations. However, technology is rapidly developing, perhaps allowing for the possibility of autonomous air travel even today, but there are likely years of refinement before regulators, executives, and …

The Effects Of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Command And Control Latency During Within-Visual-Range Air-To-Air Combat, David Thirtyacre

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The type of military missions conducted by remotely piloted aircraft continues to expand into all facets of operations including air-to-air combat. While future within-visual-range air-to-air combat will be piloted by artificial intelligence, remotely piloted aircraft will likely first see combat. The purpose of this study was to quantify the effect of latency on one-versus-one, within-visual-range air-to-air combat success during both high-speed and low-speed engagements. The research employed a repeated-measures experimental design to test the various hypothesis associated with command and control latency. Participants experienced in air-to-air combat were subjected to various latency inputs during one-versus-one simulated combat using a virtual-reality …

A Reduced Order Model Of The Celestial Icosahedron As The Substructure For A Lighter Than Air Vehicle, Torin C. Quick

Theses and Dissertations

A finite element approach was used to investigate a novel reduced order model to determine the minimum structure dimensionality to support vacuum for a VLTAV. This modeling technique represented the individual segments of the substructure as curved beams with clamped radially-resisted boundary conditions. The full structure was then modeled as a bare structure and structure with skin to validate the results of the reduced order model. The beam geometry for the material Ultem 9085 was determined through this process leading to the 3-D printing of the structure. It was then experimentally tested under uniaxial compression complimented with a FEA model.

Ram Air-Turbine Of Minimum Drag, Raymond Akagi

Master's Theses

The primary motivation for this work was to predict the conditions that would yield minimum drag for a small Ram-Air Turbine used to provide a specified power requirement for a small flight test instrument called the Boundary Layer Data System. Actuator Disk Theory was used to provide an analytical model for this work.

Classic Actuator Disk Theory (CADT) or Froude’s Momentum Theory was initially established for quasi-one-dimensional flows and inviscid fluids to predict the power output, drag, and efficiency of energy-extracting devices as a function of wake and freestream velocities using the laws of Conservations of Mass, Momentum, and Energy. …

Aircraft Input Files For Pylot And Machupx, Jaden Thurgood

Browse all Datasets

This data was used in an attempt at system identification for rudderless aircraft using simulation.

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 …

Can The Timeframe Of Reported Uas Sightings Help Regulators?, Spencer Erik Pitcher, Kelly A. Whealan-George

Beyond: Undergraduate Research Journal

Remotely controlled small aircraft, otherwise known as Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) or drones have started to impact the United States National Airspace System by interfering with the safe flight of aircraft. As the UAS industry continues its expected growth into the future, lawmakers, as well as regulators at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the aviation community must be able to predict when there will be more UAS craft in the air that could cause an interruption to air traffic so that more resources can be allocated optimally to counter the threat of UAS craft. The purpose of this study …

Tooling Design Modeling For Composite Fuselage Of Beechcraft King Air 250 Using Catia, Miazor Fidelis Ekom

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

Aircraft’s constant operation in tough conditions necessitates the need for structural components of high strength yet low weight. Composite materials are being used as an alternative to conventional aluminum alloys because of their competitive strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios. In this paper, the detailed design procedure of a light-aircraft composite material fuselage tooling in three dimensions is shown. In its operation, the layup tools provide a surface for the composite part which is the correct shape of the part and is stable through the cure cycle, and also providing a means of indexing the part for the next manufacturing operation. This …

Viability And Application Of Mounting Personal Pid Voc Sensors To Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Cheryl Lynn Marcham, Scott Burgess, Joseph Cerreta, Patti J. Clark, James P. Solti, Brandon Breault, Joshua G. Marcham

Publications

Using a UAS-mounted sensor to allow for a rapid response to areas that may be difficult to reach or potentially dangerous to human health can increase the situational awareness of first responders of an aircraft crash site through the remote detection, identification, and quantification of airborne hazardous materials. The primary purpose of this research was to evaluate the remote sensing viability and application of integrating existing commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) sensors with small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) technology to detect potentially hazardous airborne contaminants in emergency leak or spill response situations. By mounting the personal photoionization detector (PID) with volatile organic compound …

Exploring The Impact Of Composite Material Fires And Associated Response Protocol On The Material Analysis During An Aircraft Accident Investigation, Flavio A. C. Mendonca, Natalie Zimmermann, Peng Hao Wang, Julius Keller

Publications

Metals, beginning in the 1930s, have been frequently used as the material of choice for aircraft construction (Hallion, 1978; Jakab, 1999). Common metals used in the aviation industry range from alloyed and heat-treated aluminum to titanium, magnesium, and superalloys, the latter used in specialized applications (Hallion, 1978; Mouritz, 2012). Nevertheless, a shift in aircraft construction – specifically in terms of the materials used – began in the 1970s, as composite materials were introduced into commercial aircraft (Mouritz, 2012). Among others, the increased use of composited materials was – and still is – propelled by the ability to manufacture comparative lightweight …

Development Of Multi-Scale Characterization Techniques For Stress Corrosion Cracking Of Aerospace Alloys, Nicholas Reed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Corrosion presents an inherent challenge in the safe and effective use of metallic aerospace structures for extended periods of time. Progress in the fundamental understanding of corrosion initiation and propagation under stress requires a multi-scale approach that leverages experiments to develop predictive models. Although there exists a large amount of research results tracking the corrosive processes of anodic dissolution and hydrogen embrittlement, the amount of available data and modeling of the micro-scale initiation of corrosion is sparse. This work leverages a suite of characterization techniques to systematically analyze an aerospace grade aluminum alloy AA7075-T6, providing important multi-scale data for correlation …