Aerospace Engineering Commons^™

Ground Support Equipment For Northrop Grumman Massive Heat Transfer Experiment, Michael A. Manuel, Christopher J. Sparber, Greg A. Trent

Aerospace Engineering

California Polytechnic State University students designed, built, and certified ground support equipment for the Northrop Grumman Massive Heat Transfer Experiment. The Cal Poly design team built the 10000, 20000, and 30000 assemblies to meet Northrop Grumman requirements. The requirements included interface limitations, design load factors, delivery, and testing specifications. The design process consists of requirements generation, conceptual design, preliminary design, design reviews, manufacturing, and certification. The hardware was successfully completed and is used at the Johnson Space and Kennedy Space Center.

Senior Project: Global Position Determination From Observed Relative Position Of Celestial Bodies, Michael Holmes

Aerospace Engineering

A method was developed to determine the latitude and longitude of an observer based on the observed position of the Moon and several other celestial bodies. The basic principal developed dealt with the proximity of the Moon. Its relative displacement from calculated values was measured using photography by comparison with stars near the Moon. Photographs were taken from a location in San Luis Obispo at Longitude 120°35.9' and Latitude 35°13.3'. The analysis method has determined the location of the observer to a Longitude of 117°43.8'. An additional method located the observer to 36°38.7'N Latitude and 114°47.6'W Longitude.

Conceptual Aircraft Hinge Moment Measurement System, Erin M. Hambrick, Nicole M. Thomason

Aerospace Engineering

The Conceptual Aircraft Hinge Moment Measurement System (CAHMMS) was designed, prototyped, and validated to improve hinge moment estimates early in the design process. Validation was performed by integrating CAHMMS with a test wing and conducting wind tunnel tests to compare the expected theoretical, historical, and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) predictions to the experimental results. As CAHMMS is an external measurement system, interference effects at the connection points were investigated. Further studies were undertaken to verify the CFD predictions with the experimental hinge moment measurements. Hinge moment results from the experimental data and the theoretical data closely correlated with less than …

Rv-7 N675cp Lean Versus Rich Fuel Mixture Aircraft Performance, Edward Spenser Burgos, William Beaman Howe

Aerospace Engineering

The purpose of this experiment was to compare the effects of flying with lean mixture versus rich mixture on aircraft performance. This was done by taking data in the RV-7 N675CP aircraft, RV-7A base aircraft that was built by students at California Polytechnic State University of San Luis Obispo. The RV-7 N675CP contains a Lycoming O-360-A 180 HP engine and fully automated flight data acquisition system. Test flight data indicates the aircraft consumes less fuel, has greater engine exhaust gas temperature (EGT), and possibly increases airspeed with a lean fuel mixture.

Matlab® Gui Visualization Of Classical Orbital Elements, Nancy Teresa Cabrera

Aerospace Engineering

The classical orbital elements of an orbit are eccentricity, angular momentum, inclination, right ascension of ascending node, true anomaly, and argument of perigee. These six parameters define an orbit. Using MATLAB® to model a satellite orbiting Earth in three dimensions, a graphical user interface was created to allow a user to manipulate the orbital elements to desired quantities. In doing so, each parameter’s impact on the orbit is visually displayed. This furthers the understanding of how the parameters are linked to the orbit. When the interface is first opened, the default circular orbit has a range of 20,000 kilometers, an …

Valveless Pulsejet Engine, Cory William Kerr, James Robert Reynolds

Aerospace Engineering

The goal of this project is to build a valveless pulsejet based on the Lady Anne model, known as the Focused Wave Engine VIII Twin Stack. This project has two main goals. The first goal is to design and build the valveless pulsejet. This includes machine work on stainless steel to build the engine, as well as modifying copper tubes to serve as a fuel injection system. The second goal is to build a test stand that allows for accurate data collection of the total thrust being produced by the engine and acts as a fuel injection and ignition system. …

Design, Fabrication, Structural Testing, And Numerical Analysis Of A Small Scale Composite Wing, Jacob David Gaunt, Juan Carlos Flores, Vincent Andrew Perry

Aerospace Engineering

A small scale composite wing based on a design found on an experimental aircraft was designed, constructed, and tested dynamically and statically. The wing was constructed similarly to an experimental aircraft wing. The performed static test was intended to produce pure bending. Strain gages were used to measure strains on the wing structure. The strains were converted to stresses to aid in analysis. The static test results suggested that the wing was actually under torsion. Four structural modes were found from the static test. A finite element analysis model was made to compare experimental results to numerical analytical results. The …

A Three Dimensional Vortex Particle-Panel Code For Modeling Propeller-Airframe Interaction, Jacob S. Calabretta

Master's Theses

Analysis of the aerodynamic effects of a propeller flowfield on bodies downstream of the propeller is a complex task. These interaction effects can have serious repercussions for many aspects of the vehicle, including drag changes resulting in larger power requirements, stability changes resulting in adjustments to stabilizer sizing, and lift changes requiring wing planform adjustments.

Historically it has been difficult to accurately account for these effects at any stage during the design process. More recently methods using Euler solvers have been developed that capture interference effects well, although they don't provide an ideal tool for early stages of aircraft design, …

Uav Pirates And Silentrack Integration, Travis Dean, Hushnak Singh, Ashley Wager, Matthew (Matt) Woolridge

Electrical Engineering

The integration of the UAV pirating system with the SilenTrack video tracking system will allow the combined system to automatically identify and track a suspicious air vehicle visually as well as identify and decode the RF control signal. Once a threat has been identified, the system will execute an algorithm to associate each control channel with the corresponding flight control surface. Once the control channels have been decoded the user can use a hand held radio controller to maneuver the drone which is now under their command.

Applied System Identification For A Four Wheel Reaction Wheel Platform, Seth F. Silva

Master's Theses

Applied System Identification for a Four Wheel Reaction Wheel Platform

By

Seth Franklyn Silva

At the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo there is a four-wheel reaction wheel pyramidal simulator platform supported by an air-bearing. This simulator has the current capability to measure the wheel speeds and angular velocity of the platform, and with these measurements, the system identification process was used to obtain the mass properties of this simulator. A handling algorithm was developed to allow wireless data acquisition and command to the spacecraft simulator from a “ground” computer allowing the simulator to be free of induced torques …

Non-Explosive Actuator Simulator, Bryan Costanza

Aerospace Engineering

The CubeSat group at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo discovered the need for a new piece of ground test equipment. Previous testing of the non-explosive actuator has been very expensive and is not repeatable; two undesirable traits. The analysis of the fuse as well as the design and test of the simulator concept and final article is discussed. The simulator has already seen real use and its entire build and operation cost is much less than the cost of one test of the actual hardware. Performance of the simulator based on burn time and reset time is acceptable …

Cubesat Developers' Workshop 2010, Tracy Owens, Ryan Race

Communication Studies

This project is the narrative component of the 7th Annual CubeSat Developers' Workshop 2010 planning process. It reviews the steps and team dynamics over the seven months spent coordinating the conference for the Aerospace Department. It was the first time that students from the Communcation Studies Department were brought in to help with the event, and the gap between the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Engineering was bridged.

Blended Wing Body Form Factor Code And Model Center Integration, Simone (Simo) Alberti

Aerospace Engineering

This senior project investigated a method of calculating the form factor of an arbitrarily shaped wing, such as a blended wing body, from its pressure coefficient distribution. A Matlab script was coded and integrated into an existing Model Center tool for blended wing bodies. Model Center allows a VSP model to be analyzed with PMARC, a panel code, to determine the pressure distribution over a wing. The Matlab code can then calculate the form factor and critical Mach number. It was found that the code can accurately model simple planar wings, validated against empirical equations, and is robust for blended …

Development Of A Meshless Method To Solve Compressible Potential Flows, Alejandro Ramos

Master's Theses

The utility of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for solving problems of engineering interest has experienced rapid growth due to the improvements in both memory capacity and processing speed of computers. While the capability now exists for the solution of the Navier-Stokes equations about complex and complete aircraft configurations, the bottleneck within the process is the time consuming task of properly generating a mesh that can accurately solve the governing partial differential equations (PDEs). This thesis explored two numerical techniques that attempt to circumvent the difficulty associated with the meshing process by solving a simplified form of the continuity equation within …

Numerical Examination Of Flow Field Characteristics And Fabri Choking Of 2d Supersonic Ejectors, Brett G. Morham

Master's Theses

An automated computer simulation of the two-dimensional planar Cal Poly Supersonic Ejector test rig is developed. The purpose of the simulation is to identify the operating conditions which produce the saturated, Fabri choke and Fabri block aerodynamic flow patterns. The effect of primary to secondary stagnation pressure ratio on the efficiency of the ejector operation is measured using the entrainment ratio which is the secondary to primary mass flow ratio.

The primary flow of the ejector is supersonic and the secondary (entrained) stream enters the ejector at various velocities at or below Mach 1. The primary and secondary streams are …

Novel Inverse Airfoil Design Utilizing Parametric Equations, Kevin A. Lane

Master's Theses

The engineering problem of airfoil design has been of great theoretical interest for almost a century and has led to hundreds of papers written and dozens of methods developed over the years. This interest stems from the practical implications of airfoil design. Airfoil selection significantly influences the application's aerodynamic performance. Tailoring an airfoil profile to its specific application can have great performance advantages. This includes considerations of the lift and drag characteristics, pitching moment, volume for fuel and structure, maximum lift coefficient, stall characteristics, as well as off-design performance.

A common way to think about airfoil design is optimization, the …

Aircraft Data Collection System, Amy Kronsteiner, Danny Marx, Collin Heller, Nathaniel Garcia, Nicholas Riccobono, Scott Parks, Albert Liu

Biomedical Engineering

This report outlines the design and building process for an interchangeable testing device that collects aircraft performance data. Included is the project objectives, system requirements, management plan, design concept development, design details, manufacturing procedures, and project verification test plans. The device is a wing-mounted Pitot-static system integrated with an Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS).

Delamination Of Sandwich Composites, Richard Anthony Davis

Aerospace Engineering

The use of shear keys to help stop or inhibit the face-sheet core delamination of sandwich composite beams under monotonic loading was analyzed in Cal Poly’s structural design lab. The composite beams were treated with the same boundary conditions as the ASTM D5528 double cantilever beam bending in which both faces of the beam remain free; one of the faces would have a debonded side and the other would not. An aluminum tab is attached to the top of the specimens and the load is applied there. Each specimen has piezoelectric sensors that are utilized in the detection of delamination …

Experimental Development Of Compressor And Turbine Performance Maps For Turbomachinery, Michael W. Green

Aerospace Engineering

Turbomachinery performance maps are used to reveal the on and off design performance of compressors and turbines. These maps plot the component’s pressure ratio versus the corrected flow rate for multiple engine rotor speeds. In this experiment, a Boeing T50-BO-8A converted turbojet engine was operated at a wide variety of rotor speeds with orifice plates of different sizes to vary the flow rate. The corrected flow rate through the turbojet ranged from 1.32 to 2.55 lb/s. The pressure ratios for the compressor and turbine ranged from 2.0 to 4.3 and from 1.7 to 4.3, respectively. The resulting performance maps showed …

Assessing The V2-F Turbulence Models For Circulation Control Applications, Travis M. Storm

Master's Theses

In recent years, airports have experienced increasing airport congestion, partially due to the hub-and-spoke model on which airline operations are based. Current airline operations utilize large airports, focusing traffic to a small number of airports. One way to relieve such congestion is to transition to a more accessible and efficient point-to-point operation, which utilizes a large web of smaller airports. This expansion to regional airports propagates the need for next-generation low-noise aircraft with short take-off and landing capabilities. NASA has attacked this problem with a high-lift, low-noise concept dubbed the Cruise Efficient Short Take-Off and Landing (CESTOL) aircraft. The goal …

High Order Finite Elements For Lagrangian Computational Fluid Dynamics, Truman Everett Ellis

Master's Theses

A general finite element method is presented to solve the Euler equations in a Lagrangian reference frame. This FEM framework allows for separate arbitrarily high order representation of kinematic and thermodynamic variables. An accompanying hydrodynamics code written in Matlab is presented as a test-bed to experiment with various basis function choices. A wide range of basis function pairs are postulated and a few choices are developed further, including the bi-quadratic Q2-Q1d and Q2-Q2d elements. These are compared with a corresponding pair of low order bi-linear elements, traditional Q1-Q0 and sub-zonal pressure Q1-Q1d. Several test problems are considered including static convergence …

Compression Testing Of Composite Laminated Foam Under Thermal Loading And With Central Holes, Dominic Surano, Jonathan Russo, Daniel Leighton

Aerospace Engineering

A study was conducted to investigate the effect of heat on composite sandwich plates, fabricated with the vacuum resin infusion process, with center holes of varying diameters. The study involved conventional notched specimens and notched specimens with shear keys, both of which were subjected to monotonic inplane compression loading. Hole diameter was be varied from one to four inches in one inch increments. Loading rate was applied using the Instron machine at one millimeter per minute. The diameter of the shear key around the holes varied from one inch to four inches in one inch increments. The specimens were placed …

Smore Phase 2: An Upgrade In Valve Systems & Startup Procedure For A Small Methanol Oxygen Liquid Rocket Engine, Christian Soria

Aerospace Engineering

A Methanol-Oxygen liquid rocket engine was designed and manufactured under the California Polytechnic State University Aerospace Department by students in a graduate level rocket propulsion class. The SMORE, previously known as the KORE, is now in an ongoing testing and developing stage with plans to incorporate it into the aerospace undergraduate propulsion lab. Phase 2 of the liquid rocket engine development is to produce a start-up procedure that will improve the safety due to manual operation and poor ignition conditions. A propane ignition system along with the implementation of electrically operated solenoid valves to control the fuels and oxidizer were …

Quantifying Seismic Risk For Portable Ground Support Equipment At Vandenberg Air Force Base, Joshua Brian Lowe

Master's Theses

This project develops a quantitative method to evaluate the seismic risk for portable GSE at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Using the latest probability data available from the USGS, risk thresholds are defined for portable GSE having the potential to cause a catastrophic event. Additionally, an example tool for design engineers was developed from the seismic codes showing the tipping hazard case can be simplified into strict geometrical terms. The misinterpretation and confusion regarding the Range Safety 24 Hour Rule exemption can be avoided by assessing seismic risk for portable GSE. By using the methods herein to quantify and understand seismic …

Autonomous Satellite Operations For Cubesat Satellites, Jason Lionel Anderson

Master's Theses

In the world of educational satellites, student teams manually conduct operations daily, sending commands and collecting downlinked data. Educational satellites typically travel in a Low Earth Orbit allowing line of sight communication for approximately thirty minutes each day. This is manageable for student teams as the required manpower is minimal. The international Global Educational Network for Satellite Operations (GENSO), however, promises satellite contact upwards of sixteen hours per day by connecting earth stations all over the world through the Internet. This dramatic increase in satellite communication time is unreasonable for student teams to conduct manual operations and alternatives must be …

System Integration And Attitude Control Of A Low-Cost Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator, Ryan L. Kinnett

Master's Theses

The CalPoly Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator mimics the rotational dynamics of a spacecraft in orbit and acts as a testbed for spacecraft attitude control system development and demonstration. Prior to this thesis, the simulator platform and several subsystems had been designed and manufactured, but the total simulator system was not yet capable of closed-loop attitude control. Previous attempts to make the system controllable were primarily mired by data transport performance. Rather than exporting data to an external command computer, the strategy implemented in this thesis relies on a compact computer onboard the simulator platform to handle both attitude control processing …

Adaptive Control Applied To The Cal Poly Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator, Matthew C. Downs

Master's Theses

The goal of this thesis is to use the Cal Poly Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator to provide proof of concept of two adaptive control theories developed by former Cal Poly students: Nonlinear Direct Model Reference Adaptive Control and Adaptive Output Feedback Control. The Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator is a student-built air bearing spacecraft simulator controlled by four reaction wheels in a pyramidal arrangement. Tests were performed to determine the effectiveness of the two adaptive control theories under nominal operating conditions, a “plug-and-play” spacecraft scenario, and under simulated actuator damage. Proof of concept of the adaptive control theories applied to attitude …

Control Law Design And Validation For A Helicopter In-Flight Simulator, Brian T. Fujizawa

Master's Theses

In-flight simulation allows one aircraft to simulate the dynamic response of another aircraft. A control system designed to give RASCAL, a JUH-60A Black Hawk helicopter based at Moffett Field, CA, in-flight simulation capabilities has been designed, optimized and validated in this research. A classical explicit model following control system with a frequency dependent feedback controller was used. The frequency dependent controller allows model following of the attitude in the short term and the velocity in the long term. Controller gains were optimized using a high order, linearized model of UH-60 dynamics. Non-linear simulations of the control laws were performed, first …

Improved Geometry Modeling For High Fidelity Parametric Design, James R. Gloudemans, Robert A. Mcdonald

Aerospace Engineering

Advanced multidisciplinary physics-based design and analysis capabilities are required to pursue the revolutionary vehicle and technology concepts needed to meet the goals of the aerospace industry for the next 10-30 years. The multidisciplinary physics critical to advancing aerospace technology all have one common bond, the shape, size, and form of the underlying aircraft - its geometry. An aircraft shape is the natural starting point for multidisciplinary analysis and optimization (MDAO). Vehicle Sketch Pad (VSP) is an aircraft geometry tool for rapid evaluation of advanced design concepts which was developed by NASA and is available to industry at large. VSP allows …

Conceptual Design Of A Next Generation, 150 Passenger Commercial Transport, Ryan Halper, Kevin Lane, Dustin Marschik, Brett Morham, John Pham, Robert A. Mcdonald, Bruce Wright

Aerospace Engineering

In response to the 2008-2009 AIAA Undergraduate Team Design Competition's Request for Proposals for an advanced, environmentally compatible, 150 seat commercial transport; Jackson West has designed the Sparrow JS-3. The Sparrow represents the next step in the evolution of commercial aviation. Scheduled to enter service in 2018, The Sparrow will compete directly with the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320. Its improvements in fuel consumption and operating cost, as well as its reduced environmental impact, make The Sparrow the ideal solution to this RFP.