Design And Flight-Path Simulation Of A Dynamic-Soaring Uav, 2021 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
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, 2021 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
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, 2021 California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
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, …
Improving The Stability And Operability Of A Small-Scale Rotating Detonation Engine, 2021 Air Force Institute of Technology
Improving The Stability And Operability Of A Small-Scale Rotating Detonation Engine, Nathan T. Fiorino
Theses and Dissertations
A small scale RDE was designed with a channel diameter of 28 mm and channel gap of 2 mm and operated on nitrous oxide (N2O) and ethylene (C2H4) as the oxidizer and fuel respectively. Changes to the original Jets in Crossflow (JIC) injection scheme and spark plug ignition method were implemented to counteract previously observed wave instabilities. Successful detonation was observed over a range of mass flows (0.035-0.068 kg/s) and equivalence ratios (ɸ = 0.6-1.4) and a stable single wave mode with frequency up to 16.8 kHz was observed for the first time. Injection …
One Dimensional Study Of Magnetoplasmadynamic Thrusters For A Potential New Class Of Heavy Ion Drivers For Plasma Jet Driven Magnetoinertial Fusion, 2021 Air Force Institute of Technology
One Dimensional Study Of Magnetoplasmadynamic Thrusters For A Potential New Class Of Heavy Ion Drivers For Plasma Jet Driven Magnetoinertial Fusion, Patrick M. Brown
Theses and Dissertations
Plasma Jet Driven Magnetoinertial Fusion (PJMIF) requires high velocity heavy ion drivers in order to compress a magnetized target to fusion conditions. Previous work with heavy ion drivers has revealed sub-par accelerations due to plasma instabilities; thus, it is necessary to investigate new methods of heavy ion plasma acceleration. One such method is Magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thrusters. Past studies of these thrusters have been conducted at an initial temperature at or below the energy of full ionization. Here MPD thrusters are investigated using a Godunov type MHD solver with a Harten-Lax van Leer-D (HLLD) flux solving scheme assuming the plasma is …
Perfromance Improvement Of High Bypass Turbofan Engine Through Optimization Of High-Pressure Compressor Blade – A Case Study, 2021 Kennesaw State University
Perfromance Improvement Of High Bypass Turbofan Engine Through Optimization Of High-Pressure Compressor Blade – A Case Study, Vlad Mandzyuk
Symposium of Student Scholars
This research determines the relation between the High-Pressure Compressor (HPC) blade characteristics, compressor pressure ratio, and lift-to-drag ratio of a high bypass turbofan engine. Alterations in the HPC blades airfoil, span, chord, taper ratio, twist, aspect ratio, sweep, and angle of incidence are performed and their effect on the engine’s performance is observed. The metrics used to compare engine performance include thrust, specific thrust, exit velocity, fuel/air ratio, power, and efficiency. Parametric cycle analysis and computational fluid dynamics are performed to compare and validate findings. The goal of this study is to optimize the design of HPC to maximize the …
Thermochemistry Of Combustion In Polyvinyl Alcohol + Hydroxylammonium Nitrate, 2021 University of Alabama in Huntsville
Thermochemistry Of Combustion In Polyvinyl Alcohol + Hydroxylammonium Nitrate, James K. Baird, Robert A. Frederick Jr.
PRC-Affiliated Research
A mixture of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and hydroxylammoniun nitrate (HAN) forms a gummy solid known as a plastisol, which is ionically conducting. When an electrostatic potential of 200 V DC is applied across the plastisol, it ignites. Combustion ceases upon removal of the applied voltage. The products of PVA + HAN combustion are known to include the molecular gases carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water, nitrogen, and hydrogen. When the electric field within the plastisol is spatially uniform, combustion occurs preferentially at the anode. The fact that HAN is an ionic conductor suggests that the mechanism of combustion is electrolytic in …
Thermochemistry Of Combustion In Polyvinyl Alcohol + Hydroxylammonium Nitrate, 2021 University of Alabama in Huntsville
Thermochemistry Of Combustion In Polyvinyl Alcohol + Hydroxylammonium Nitrate, James K. Baird, Robert A. Frederick Jr.
PRC-Affiliated Research
A mixture of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and hydroxylammoniun nitrate (HAN) forms a gummy solid known as a plastisol, which is ionically conducting. When an electrostatic potential of 200 V DC is applied across the plastisol, it ignites. Combustion ceases upon removal of the applied voltage. The products of PVA + HAN combustion are known to include the molecular gases carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water, nitrogen, and hydrogen. When the electric field within the plastisol is spatially uniform, combustion occurs preferentially at the anode. The fact that HAN is an ionic conductor suggests that the mechanism of combustion is electrolytic in …
Analysis On Fuel Options For Scramjet Engines With The Study To Lower The Starting Mach Number, 2021 University of Mississippi
Analysis On Fuel Options For Scramjet Engines With The Study To Lower The Starting Mach Number, Sumantra Luitel, Gagan Dangi
Honors Theses
The main objectives of this report were to perform analysis of an ideal scramjet engine, to assess the influence of fuel on endurance factor, and the possibility of lowering the starting Mach Number of the scramjet. In the first part, an ideal cycle parametric analysis was conducted on three different fuels i.e. Liquid Hydrogen (LH2), Jet Propellant 7 (JP-7), and Rocket Propellant (RP-1), taking into account their availability, physical properties, current uses, and potential uses. The detailed analysis is done largely relying on a 9 step Parametric Cycle Analysis technique to study how fuel properties influence the variation of seven …
Sensitivity And Estimation Of Aerodynamic, Propulsion, And Inertial Parameters For Rudderless Aircraft Using Simulation, 2021 Utah State University
Sensitivity And Estimation Of Aerodynamic, Propulsion, And Inertial Parameters For Rudderless Aircraft Using Simulation, Jaden W. Thurgood
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023
A technique known as system identification is often used in aircraft design and testing to understand and validate the mathematical parameters that describe the aircrafts stability and handling characteristics. System identification can be thought of as the inverse of simulation. In the world of system identification, we have a physical system that we seek to understand in more detail by monitoring the system with an array of sensors. In short, we conduct tests of an aircraft while recording the inputs and response outputs. Then we take the input and output data and run it through an algorithm that seeks to …
Computational Investigation Of Perforated Plate Film Cooling Utilizing Conjugate Heat Transfer, 2021 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
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, 2021 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
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 …
Project Alien, 2021 Duquesne University
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 …
Ram Air-Turbine Of Minimum Drag, 2021 California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
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. …
Density Measurements Of Neutral Xenon Using Multiphoton Ionization And Microwave Spectroscopy In A Hall Effect Thruster, 2021 Air Force Institute of Technology
Density Measurements Of Neutral Xenon Using Multiphoton Ionization And Microwave Spectroscopy In A Hall Effect Thruster, Taylor J. Foy
Theses and Dissertations
A new dye laser and microwave scattering system for measuring low speed xenon particles was installed to characterize a commercially sourced 600 W Hall effect thruster. The new system uses multiphoton ionization and microwave spectroscopy to determine number density and velocity measurements of neutral xenon atoms in the plume of a Hall thruster. A study was conducted to ensure the new system will be able to accurately measure these neutrals in future work. The ultimate goal of this new system is to isolate and characterize the extra thrust produced in Hall Effect Thrusters due to finite volume vacuum chambers.
Louver Slot Cooling And Full-Coverage Film Cooling With A Combination Internal Coolant Supply, 2021 University of Alabama in Huntsville
Louver Slot Cooling And Full-Coverage Film Cooling With A Combination Internal Coolant Supply, Austin J. Click, Phillip M. Ligrani, Maggie Hockensmith, Joseph Knox, Chandler Larson, Avery Fairbanks, Federico Liberayore, Rajeshriben Patel
PRC-Affiliated Research
Within the present investigation, a louver slot is employed upstream of an array full-coverage film cooling holes. Cooling air is supplied using a combination arrangement, with cross-flow and impingement together. The louver consists of a row of film cooling holes, contained within a specially designed device that concentrates and directs the coolant from a slot, so that it then advects as a layer downstream along the test surface. This louver-supplied coolant is then supplemented by coolant which emerges from different rows of downstream film cooling holes. The same coolant supply passage is employed for the louver row of holes, as …
Louver Slot Cooling And Full-Coverage Film Cooling With A Combination Internal Coolant Supply, 2021 University of Alabama in Huntsville
Louver Slot Cooling And Full-Coverage Film Cooling With A Combination Internal Coolant Supply, Austin J. Click, Phillip M. Ligrani, Maggie Hockensmith, Joseph Knox, Chandler Larson, Avery Fairbanks, Federico Liberayore, Rajeshriben Patel
PRC-Affiliated Research
Within the present investigation, a louver slot is employed upstream of an array full-coverage film cooling holes. Cooling air is supplied using a combination arrangement, with cross-flow and impingement together. The louver consists of a row of film cooling holes, contained within a specially designed device that concentrates and directs the coolant from a slot, so that it then advects as a layer downstream along the test surface. This louver-supplied coolant is then supplemented by coolant which emerges from different rows of downstream film cooling holes. The same coolant supply passage is employed for the louver row of holes, as …
Electric Power Systems And Components For Electric Aircraft, 2021 University of Kentucky
Electric Power Systems And Components For Electric Aircraft, Damien Lawhorn
Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering
Electric aircraft have gained increasing attention in recent years due to their potential for environmental and economic benefits over conventional airplanes. In order to offer competitive flight times and payload capabilities, electric aircraft power systems (EAPS) must exhibit extremely high efficiencies and power densities. While advancements in enabling technologies have progressed the development of high performance EAPS, further research is required.
One challenge in the design of EAPS is determining the best topology to be employed. This work proposes a new graph theory based method for the optimal design of EAPS. This method takes into account data surveyed from a …
Development Of Lifting Line Theory For The Fanwing Propulsion System, 2021 University of Central Florida
Development Of Lifting Line Theory For The Fanwing Propulsion System, Christopher Kaminski
Honors Undergraduate Theses
The FanWing propulsion system is a novel propulsion system which aerodynamically behaves as a hybrid between a helicopter and a fixed wing aircraft, and if the knowledge base with regards to this novel concept can be fully explored, there could be a new class of aircraft developed. In the current research, only 2D CFD studies have been done for the FanWing, hence the 3D lift characteristics of the FanWing have been unknown thus far, at least in the theoretical domain. Therefore, it was proposed to develop a modified Prandtl's Lifting Line Theory numerical solution and a CFD solution, comparing the …
Liquid Rocket Engine And Test System, 2021 The University of Akron
Liquid Rocket Engine And Test System, Ronnie Wallingford, Grace Ann Phillips, Blake Bowser, Jack Dalton
Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects
The goal of this project is to design the University of Akron’s first design team built liquid propulsion rocket engine and testing system. The creation of this engine and testing system will create new opportunities for the Akronauts Rocket Design Team moving forward, allowing the team to enter more prestigious competitions, and will also enable students to better pursue opportunities in the space and defense industry by exposing them to more relevant industry experiences.
The liquid rocket engine designed by the team will utilize ethanol and liquid nitrous oxide to generate approximately 500 lbf of thrust. An accompanying test system …