Aerospace Engineering Commons^™

Portable Leak Test System, Tyler Pulli, Joseph Arnell, Luke Osterhout, Dustyn Roberts

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Idaho National Laboratories requires an airtight seal on transportation casks to ship radioactive material. To ensure that the cask is air-tight, a system needs to be designed to measure whether air is leaking out of the seal and determines if the cask passes or fails.

Dynamics Within A Tunable Harmonic/Quartic Waveguide, Rudolph N. Kohn Jr., James A. Stickney

Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications

We present an analytical solution to the dynamics of a noninteracting cloud of thermal atoms in a cigar-shaped harmonic trap with a quartic perturbation along the axial direction. We calculate the first and second moments of position, which are sufficient to characterize the trap. The dynamics of the thermal cloud differ notably from those of a single particle, with an offset to the oscillation frequency that persists even as the oscillation amplitude approaches zero. We also present some numerical results that describe the effects of time-of-flight on the behavior of the cloud in order to better understand the results of …

Wind Release Mechanical Sun Tracker, Tyler Andrus, Brady Fisher, Jt Gibson, Cynthia Rigby, Derek Smith

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

• Solar panel sun tracking system that releases solar panels to orient to wind flow in high wind conditions

• Operates on a single rotational motor

• Designed to be lightweight and portable

Afrl Downed Airman Recovery System, Daniel Cornia, James Bennett, Matthew Halton, Matthew Bennett, Brandon Haws, Tyson Compton, Jacob Needham, Daniel Spreier, Thory Van Dyke

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

For the 2020 Air Force Research Laboratory design competition, teams were challenged to develop a system to assist Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) in recovering a downed pilot in contested waters.

In the event of a pilot ejecting from their aircraft, a GPS beacon notifies CSAR of the pilot’s approximate location. During the rescue operation, a swimmer from a CSAR crew enters the water and assists the isolated person (IP) to use rescue equipment.

The current procedure exposes an additional person to hazards and increases IP extraction time. The additional required personnel and setup time increases mission risk.

USU’s student …

Automated Cushion Ring Insertion System (Cris), Nathan Andersen, James Parberry, Chris Reid, Jeron Robbins, Kayden Atkin, Kody King, Mckay Mckinnon

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Project Description

This purpose of this project is to prototype a proof of concept machine capable of installing a retaining ring into an airbag cushion.

Project Benefits

• Decreased installation time

• Better consistency and quality control

• Helps create a fully automated production line

Usu Baja Sae 2020, Adam Black, Trevor Nuamann, Cliff Rossberg, Ian Jeppsen, Tad Behunin, Josh Olsen, Kaulin Curtis

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The 2020 USU Baja team addressed the following issues in the 2020 buggy design:

• Utilizing LotusSHARK software for suspension design: Completing a digital design of the buggy's suspension system in LotusSHARK allowed for optimization of suspension design.

• Redesign of brake system: Reducing the size of the brake pedal footprint was needed for increase space in the buggy for 4WD components.

• Implementation of 4WD: Significant bonus points could be earned in the SAE competition if the buggy has 4WD capabilities. The ability to switch between 2WD and 4WD was also desired to easily engage the best configuration for …

Heated Chamber Capable Of Purging/Scrubbing Twelve Or More Gas Analyzers Of Co2 And H20 For Calibration, Cole Watson, Oliver Hulme, Trevan Cottle

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

• Build ergonomically friendly chamber capable of purging 12 or more Gas Analyzers to keep up with current demand.

• Designed shelfing to fit all three Campbell Scientific, Inc. (CSI) gas analyzers: EC150, EC155, and Irgason.

• Chamber has uniform air temperature that will be regulated to not go above 50 ℃.

• CSI Datalogger is used to collect analyzer data and control electronics from outside the chamber.

• Chamber is durable and easily moved.

Autoliv Flexible Windshield Reaction Surface, Perry Simpson, Jacob Bowman, Joshua Christensen, Ethan Moore

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Summary: Currently Autoliv is testing airbags against a flat steel plate. Testing against a steel plate doesn’t provide accurate airbag rebound data. Autoliv also does most of the development in series with automotive companies. They do initial designs but cannot get accurate tests until test vehicles are built.

Problem: Create a fixture that will bend a surface to replicate the curvature of any windshield desired resulting in more accurate airbag rebound data.

Why: Solving this problem will result in higher accuracy and precision in airbag performance systems. The new test fixture will provide a better representation of how the airbag …

Small Satellite Reaction Wheel, Corey Creager, Kalan Juhasz, Jeremy Wiser, Jake Laub, Christopher Wartena

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

• A reaction wheel uses torque to control the attitude of a satellite.

• The requirements specify a torque, a momentum, and a confined volume.

Solar Array Deployment Test Gravity Offloader System, Braden Call, Matthew Calvin, Chris Debenham, Christian Marriot, Mason Onkes

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

• Space Dynamics Lab (SDL) has started to develop larger satellites and larger solar arrays are required to power the spacecrafts. These larger arrays are harder to test

• Larger solar panels need their weight from gravity offloaded to prevent damage to their joints. The joints are not designed to hold their own weight

• Space Dynamics Lab requested our design be able to function in a vacuum to simulate the microgravity environment as closely as possible.

• While gravity offloading systems have been designed in the past, a vacuum-compatible and passive design brings a new and unique challenge

Usu Mars Rover Team, Usu Department Of Mechanical And Aerospace Engineering

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The University Rover Challenge capstone project presents university students the opportunity to design, fabricate and test a rover to compete in the annual international Mars Society URC Competition held in Hanksville, Utah. The URC Competition consists of four separate missions including Extreme Retrieval & Delivery, Equipment Servicing, Science, and Autonomous Traversal. Each mission requires advanced subsystems onboard the rover to accomplish mission tasks in a timely manner.

The 2020 USU URC team is divided up into four subteams to accomplish each mission including Power/Drive, Navigation/Communications/Autonomy, Operations, and Science. Admission to the URC Competition is highly competitive since the competition is …

Westech Process Control, William Clarke, Ammon Mccarthy

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The WesTech Engineering company is looking into utilizing MatLab Simulink to increase productivity.

Zagg Innovation Program: Led Focusing Case, Kyle Douglas, Travis Halverson, Derek Wilkins, Jessica Williams

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Background: The ZAGG Innovation Program has the goal of creating innovative concepts and products for the telecommunication and consumer electronic retail channels.

Chosen Product: After deliberating over 30 generated product ideas with ZAGG representatives, the team chose to develop a phone case that would focus a cellphone camera flash into a practical flashlight beam.

Product Goals:

• Decrease beam angle and light increase projection distance

• Durability to withstand regular use and drops

• Keep the product as simple as possible, with minimal added bulk and parts

• Case will not obstruct the field of view of …

Test Dummy Positioning For Autoliv Ogden, Ut, Dianne Althouse, John Garrett, Ty Johnston, Ridge Jones

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

• The Team shall deliver a proof of concept prototype to Autoliv for its use in positioning test dummies for Out-of-Position (OOP) airbag testing

• This is to improve set-up timing and accuracy without operator to operator variation.

• The device should work for the placing of three-year-old, six- year-old, and 5th percentile female test dummies.

• There are two OOP: head on IP (instrumentation panel) and chest on IP.

Development And Testing Of A Hydrogen Peroxide Injected Thrust Augmenting Nozzle For A Hybrid Rocket, Mark C. Heiner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

During a rocket launch, the point at which the most thrust is needed is at lift-off where the rocket is the heaviest since it is full of propellant. Unfortunately, this is also the point at which rocket engines perform the most poorly due to the relatively high atmospheric pressure at sea level. The Thrust Augmenting Nozzle (TAN) investigated in this paper provides a solution to this dilemma. By injecting extra propellant into the nozzle but downstream of the throat, the internal nozzle pressure is raised and the thrust is increased, and the nozzle efficiency, or specific impulse is potentially improved …

Revolution In Autonomous Orbital Navigation (Raon), Rachit Bhatia

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Spacecraft navigation is a critical component of any space mission. Space navigation uses on-board sensors and other techniques to determine the spacecraft’s current position and velocity, with permissible accuracy. It also provides requisite information to navigate to a desired position, while following the desired trajectory. Developments in technology have resulted in new techniques of space navigation. However, inertial navigation systems have consistently been the bedrock for space navigation.

Recently, the successful space mission GOCE used on-board gravity gradiometer for mapping Earth’s gravitational field. This has motivated the development of new techniques like cold atom accelerometers, to create ultra-sensitive gravity gradiometers, …

Experimental Characterization Of Thermal-Hydraulic Performance Of A Microchannel Heat Exchanger For Waste Heat Recovery, James Yih, Hailei Wang

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Given size and performance advantages, microchannel heat exchangers are becoming increasingly important for various energy recovery and conversion processes. In this study, detailed experimental measurements were conducted to characterize flow and heat transfer performance of a microchannel heat recovery unit (HRU) manufactured using standard photochemical etching and diffusion bonding processes. According to the global flow and temperature measurement, the HRU has delivered the predicted thermal performance under various oil and air flow rates. As expected, the heat transfer effectiveness varies between 88% and 98% for a given air and oil flow rates while it increases with air inlet temperature due …

Gelatine Cavity Dynamics Of High-Speed Sphere Impact, Akihito Kiyama, Mohammad M. Mansoor, Nathan B. Spiers, Yoshiyuki Tagawa, Tadd T. Truscott

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

We investigate the impact and penetration of a solid sphere passing through gelatine at various impact speeds up to 143.2 m s^-1 Tests were performed with several concentrations of gelatine. Impacts for low elastic Froude number Fr_e a ratio between inertia and gelatine elasticity, resulted in rebound. Higher Fr_e values resulted in penetration, forming cavities with prominent surface textures. The overall shape of the cavities resembles those observed in water-entry experiments, yet they appear in a different order with respect to increasing inertia: rebound, quasi-seal, deep-seal, shallow-seal and surface-seal. Remarkably, similar to the We – Bo phase …

Secondary Electron Yield Measurements Of Carbon Nanotube Forests: Dependence On Morphology And Substrate, Brian Wood, Jordan Lee, Gregory Wilson, T. -C. Shen, Jr Dennison

Journal Articles

Total, secondary, and backscatter electron yield data were taken with beam energies between 15 eV and 30 keV, in conjunction with energy emission data, to determine the extent of suppression of yield caused by carbon nanotube (CNT) forest coatings on substrates. CNT forests can potentially lower substrate yield due to both its inherently low-yield, low-atomic number (Z) carbon composition, and its bundled, high-aspect ratio structure. Rough surfaces, and in particular, surfaces with deep high-aspect-ratio voids, can suppress yields, as the electrons emitted from lower lying surfaces are recaptured by surface protrusions rather than escaping the near-surface region. Yields of multilayered …

Constellation Planning Methods For Sequential Spacecraft Rendezvous Using Multi-Agent Scheduling, Skylar A. Cox, Nathan B. Stastny, Greg Droge, David K. Geller

Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications

This paper addresses the RPO constellation assignment problem by developing a responsive utility function for tasking a constellation of LEO satellites to several spacecraft servicing tasks. The paper develops the utility function that considers both value of servicing RSO spacecraft in conjunction with the associated ΔV cost. A highly-capable and operationally-relevant task allocation method, called the consensus-based bundle algorithm (CBBA), is leveraged for distributed processing and task allocation. This paper demonstrates that this methodology provides a robust technique for RPO constellation management.

Wireless Antenna Detection Of Electrostatic Discharge Events, Allen Andersen, Jr Dennison

Journal Articles

Wireless intraspacecraft communication technology is being developed for signal transfer on space missions to save weight and simplify the design. One consideration for this new technology is its interaction with space environmentinduced electrostatic discharges (ESDs). The short time scales of spacecraft ESD events result in broad frequency band signals that can interact with high-frequency wireless antennas. These interactions present a source of signal noise. However, they also present a possibility of in-flight wireless ESD monitoring. We present laboratory measurements of arcing on common spacecraft insulators using commercially available single-band 2.4-GHz and dual-band 2.4-/5.8-GHz Wi-Fi antennas. These wireless detections are shown …

Multiple Imu Sensor Fusion For Suas Navigation And Photogrammetry, Matthew Givens

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Inertial measurement units (IMUs) are devices that sense accelerations and angular rates in 3D so that vehicles and other devices can estimate their orientations, positions, and velocities. While traditionally large, heavy, and costly, using mechanical gyroscopes and stabilized platforms, the recent development of micro-electromechanical sensor (MEMS) IMUs that are small, light, and inexpensive has led to their adoption in many everyday systems such as cell phones, video game controllers, and commercial drones. MEMS IMUs, despite their advantages, have major drawbacks when it comes to accuracy and reliability. The idea of using more than one of these sensors in an array, …

Control And Stability Of Upper Stage Launch Vehicle With Hybrid Arc-Ignition Attitude Control System, Steven Russell Bennett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Utah State University Propulsion Research Laboratory (USUPRL) has recently made significant developments in the area of hybrid rocket systems. This type of propulsion system incorporates a solid fuel and a gas or liquid oxidizer. Hybrid rocket systems are known for their inherent safety, reliability, and restart capability. Over the last several years, the USUPRL has successfully built and tested a hybrid rocket system comprising acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic and gaseous oxygen (GOX). The system was demonstrated to be fully functional during ground, vacuum, and sub-orbital flight testing. Continuing forward, the USUPRL endeavors to extend the capabilities of this …

Angles-Only Ekf Navigation For Hyperbolic Flybys, Iggy Matheson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Space travelers in science fiction can drop out of hyperspace and make a pinpoint landing on any strange new world without stopping to get their bearings, but real-life space navigation is an art characterized by limited information and complex mathematics that yield no easy answers. This study investigates, for the first time ever, what position and velocity estimation errors can be expected by a starship arriving at a distant star - specifically, a miniature probe like those proposed by the Breakthrough Starshot initiative arriving at Proxima Centauri. Such a probe consists of nothing but a small optical camera and a …

How Vision Governs The Collective Behaviour Of Dense Cycling Pelotons, J. Belden, Mohammad M. Mansoor, A. Hellum, S. R. Rahman, A. Meyer, C. Pease, J. Pacheco, S. Koziol, Tadd T. Truscott

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

In densely packed groups demonstrating collective behaviour, such as bird flocks, fish schools or packs of bicycle racers (cycling pelotons), information propagates over a network, with individuals sensing and reacting to stimuli over relatively short space and time scales. What remains elusive is a robust, mechanistic understanding of how sensory system properties affect interactions, information propagation and emergent behaviour. Here, we show through direct observation how the spatio-temporal limits of the human visual sensory system govern local interactions and set the network structure in large, dense collections of cyclists. We found that cyclists align in patterns within a ± 30° …

A Multi-Fidelity Prediction Of Aerodynamic And Sonic Boom Characteristics Of The Jaxa Wing Body, Forrest L. Carpenter, Paul G. A. Cizmas, Christian R. Bolander, Ted N. Giblette, Doug F. Hunsaker

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Student Publications and Presentations

This paper presents a detailed comparison between the linear panel solver PANAIR A502 and the in-house Navier–Stokes solver UNS3D for a supersonic low-boom geometry. The high-fidelity flow solver was used to predict both the inviscid and laminar flow about the aircraft geometry. The JAXA wing body was selected as the supersonic low-boom geometry for this study. A comparison of the undertrack near-field pressure signatures showed good agreement between the three levels of model fidelity along the first 0.8L of the signature. Large oscillations in the PANAIR results were observed. The PANAIR discrepancies were traced back to violations of the …

Comparison Of Induced And Parasitic Drag On Wings With Minimum Induced Drag, Sarah A. Abdel-Motaleb

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Minimizing the induced drag for steady level flight is a variational problem that requires solving for the optimum lift distribution given a set of design constraints. From lifting-line theory, minimizing the induced drag is, in part, achieved by varying the Fourier coefficients used to describe the section lift. The elliptic lift distribution minimizes the induced drag for a wing with fixed weight and wingspan by setting all but the first coefficient to zero. If wingspan is allowed to vary, a negative third Fourier coefficient is utilized to reach an optimum lift distribution that further reduces the induced drag for stress-limited …

Investigation Of Thermoplastic Polymers And Their Blends For Use In Hybrid Rocket Combustion, Spencer D. Mathias

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis set out to find a blend of thermoplastics that had better combustion properties than the current ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) plastic or “Lego ^TM plastic” used by Utah State University. The current work is in an effort to eliminate toxic propellants from small space applications. High and low density polyethylene plastics were used because they are common plastic waste items. In this way rocket fuel can be made from these items to reduce the waste found in landfills. Three plastics were considered for replacement and as mixture components with the ABS plastic, namely low and high density polyethylene, …

Development And Testing Of Additively Manufactured Aerospike Nozzles For Small Satellite Propulsion, Isaac W. Armstrong

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Automatic altitude compensation has been a holy grail of rocket propulsion for decades. Current state-of-the-art bell nozzles see large performance decreases at low altitudes, limiting rocket designs, shrinking payloads, and overall increasing costs. Aerospike nozzles are an old idea from the 1960’s that provide superior altitude-compensating performance and enhanced performance in vacuum, but have survivability issues that have stopped their application in satellite propulsion systems. A growing need for CubeSat propulsion systems provides the impetus to study aerospike nozzles in this application. This study built two aerospike nozzles using modern 3D metal printing techniques to test aerospikes at a size …

Reconstruction Of Attenuated Hybrid Rocket Motor Chamber Pressure Signals Using Maximum Likelihood Estimation And Optimal Deconvolution, Evan M. Zelesnik

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Chamber pressure, as it develops during rocket combustion, strongly correlates with many of the internal motor ballistics, including combustion stability, fuel regression rate, and mass flow. Chamber pressure is also an essential measurement for calculating achieved thrust coefficient and characteristic velocity. Due to the combustion environment hostility, sensing chamber pressure with high-fidelity presents a difficult measurement problem, especially for solid and hybrid rocket systems where combustion by-products contain high amounts of carbon and other sooty materials. These contaminants tend to deposit within the pneumatic tubing used to transmit pressure oscillations from the thrust chamber to the sensing transducer. Partially clogged …