Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Ambient Temperature Strength Degradation Of A Ceramic Matrix Composite Due To Solid Particle Erosion, Jonathan Clawson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Solid particle erosion (SPE) is an issue for aircraft exposed to hard, fine particles, such as sand or dust, that can be ingested into the engine at a high velocity without reaching their melting point, resulting in material removal. SPE can be attributed to the intake of particulate debris from the runway or from airborne particulates. The cumulative mass loss from SPE damage affects the structural integrity and performance of the engine; however, its effects on ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), that are being employed in the aerospace industry, are not well understood in literature. The limited SPE research studies that …

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. …

Dji Drone Modification, Sean Lacey, Seth Mancuso, Bryce Mckenzie

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

For this project, we set out to create a lightweight carrying case that would be mounted to a DJI Phantom 3. This case is designed to transport small packages, such as medications, from a delivery vehicle to their final destination. Based on our maximum drone lifting capacity of 600 grams, our case, servomotor, and contents had to weigh less than or equal to that value. The coronavirus pandemic has led to an increase in contactless delivery options along with the push for immunocompromised people to avoid contact with people that may be sick. Our product would help transport necessary supplies …

Design Of Banner Tow Mechanism For Bush Plane, Kyle Ciarrone, Ivan Martin, Rishabh Gadi, Tyler Brandt

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The 2019-2020 AIAA DBF objective was to design, build, and test a banner-towing bush plane that carries wooden passengers and luggage. Senior members on the team undertook the creation of the banner tow mechanism subsystem as their senior design project on behalf of the design team due to the challenge of its mechanical design and the aerodynamic considerations regarding its placement and enclosure aboard the aircraft. The competition as well as access to campus resources were canceled due to COVID-19, so full testing and integration of the mechanism was not achieved. However, the engineering design process was experienced from the …

Redesign And Analysis For Landing Gear Components, Daniel Clarke

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

A project for Collins Aerospace, the company I co-op at, where I will redesign several components of a landing gear for a military program. Any structural/stress analysis will also be performed. The goal is to reduce weight while maintaining strength and structural integrity.

Improving The Delivered Specific Impulse Of Composite Rocket Propellant Through Alteration Of Chemical Composition: Methodology And Parameters For Characterization Of Propellant And Validation Of Simulation Software Common To The Amateur Rocketry Community, Isaac O'Brien, Austin Ryan

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In this study, two solid composite rocket propellants were designed utilizing ProPEP, a rocket propellant formulation software common in the amateur and hobby rocketry communities. The two propellants were designed to optimize specific impulse relative to a literature propellant designed by 1020 Research Labs. The literature propellant was also tested in order to validate the design of experiment as well as the mixing and testing procedures. All three propellants, which includes the literature propellant RCS-P, and the two novel propellants AKR-P1 and AKR-P2 were characterized with static tests. The results of the static tests provide data on propellant performance and …

Magnus Effect In Duct Flow, Jesse S. Batko, Cameron W. Clarke, Kenneth W. Smith Jr.

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The following research paper details the preliminary research carried out by this team. The project was originally conceived to determine if Magnus Lift could be utilized in an unconventional way to assist rockets during takeoff. Several conceptual designs were proposed, but the idea was scrapped when it became apparent that the team would not be able to generate the desired lift without inducing significant amounts of drag and additional weight on a rocket. Instead, the team focused on researching an interesting topic that hasn’t been previously explored: Magnus lift on a cylinder within a duct.

An experimental procedure that could …

Magnus Effect In Duct Flow, Cameron W. Clarke, Jesse S. Batko, Kenneth W. Smith Jr.

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The following research paper details the preliminary research carried out by this team. The project was originally conceived to determine if Magnus Lift could be utilized in an unconventional way to assist rockets during takeoff. Several conceptual designs were proposed, but the idea was scrapped when it became apparent that the team would not be able to generate the desired lift without inducing significant amounts of drag and additional weight on a rocket. Instead, the team focused on researching an interesting topic that hasn’t been previously explored: Magnus lift on a cylinder within a duct. An experimental procedure that could …

Design Of The Structural And Propulsion Systems For The 2015 University Of Akron Rocket Team, Kyle W. Dehoff, Nicholas J. Hrusch

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

No abstract provided.