Aerospace Engineering Commons^™

Improving Receiver Station-Keeping In Aerial Refueling By Formulating Tanker Motion As Disturbance, Christopher Michael Elliott

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

During aerial refueling operations, the receiver aircraft should hold position within a “refueling box” to maintain the boom-receptacle connection while the tanker aircraft flies in a racetrack maneuver. Prior research work shows, especially in turns, significant difficulty resides in meeting y-deviation requirements, i.e., to stay within the box in the lateral direction. This observation indicates tanker motion as “the biggest disturbance” in turn. The nonlinear equations of motion for the receiver aircraft used in this work are developed in terms of position and orientation states relative to the tanker. Linearization results in a set of equations with tanker motion clearly …

On The Design Of A Biodegradable Poc-Ha Polymeric Cardiovascular Stent, Joonas Ilmari Ponkala

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

The current state of the art in coronary stent technology is mainly populated by metallic stents usually coated with certain drugs to increase biocompatibility, even though experimental biodegradable stents have appeared in the horizon. To design stents from biodegradable polymers one must accurately characterize their mechanical behavior for analysis and optimization.This manuscript presents the process for evaluating the material properties for biodegradable biocompatible POC-HA polymeric composite, techniques for developing the stent models for finite element analysis, and development of material models for finite element analysis. The developed material models were utilized in finite element analysis to evaluate the suitability of …

Finite Element Analysis Of Forging, Aditya Ashok Battin

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Numerical modeling and simulation of metal forming is very effective in saving production time, effort and economy and has thus gained prominence in many industries all over the world. In metal-forming finite element analysis, software like Deform, Qform, Forge, Simufact, Hyperform are used extensively for the forming analysis. Apart from having narrow applications, these softwares are expensive. The object of this study was to examine the robustness of general package softwares in regards to forging. Software such as Abaqus and Ansys LSDyna were used to simulate the forging process. The case examined was that of a circular metal disc restrained …

Multi Objective Optimization Of Graphite Heat Spreader For Portable Systems Application, Arijit Banerjee

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

The advancement made in portable electronic systems has primarily been due to miniaturization of electronic systems. This in turn leads to an increase in power density which leads to higher temperatures and formation of hot spots. There is a temperature specification of system surfaces for human comfort (such as the surface close to a keyboard on laptops). Challenge in cooling portable devices is that there is not enough room to accommodate heat sinks. It is therefore important to have heat spreaders that can transfer the heat from critical devices to regions where cooling is available. Traditionally, copper has been the …

A Numerical Study On The Dynamics Of Bubble Growth And Detachment From An Orifice, Sheshi Kumar Takkallapally

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

The study of bubble formation from an orifice finds numerous industrial applications which include bubble acoustics in ocean physics and chemical reactors. Numerical simulations have been performed to investigate the dynamics of bubble formation, growth and detachment from an orifice. The full transient Navier - Stokes equation is solved in a two-dimensional axi-symmetrical coordinate system. The surface tension implementation algorithm known as the Pressure Boundary Method (PBM) is used to model the surface tension. The robustness of PBM method on Two-Phase flows with different conditions has been shown. The results achieved by numerical simulations have been compared with the available …

Heat Transfer Analysis Of A Pulse Detonation Engine, Neelima Kalidindi

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

A thermal analysis of the effect of sensible heat release on the walls of the detonation chamber for stoichiometric mixtures of hydrogen/air, octane/air and octane/oxygen was presented. The detonation tube was assumed to operate at 20 Hz and cooled by a water jacket to dissipate the heat from the walls which ensures the effective operation for a longer period. Wall material was assumed to be made of copper because of its high thermal conductivity.The study showed a slow temperature rise along the walls of the combustion chamber for multiple pulses. It can be concluded that due to the space-time averaging …

Thermal Conduction Equations For A Medium With An Inclusion Using Galerkin Method, Thiagarajan Sivalingam

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

The Galerkin method is used to semi-analytically solve the heat conduction equation in non-homogeneous materials. The problem under deliberation is a square plate with a circular inclusion having different thermal conductivities. A generalized procedure that involves the Galerkin method and formulation of the final solution in terms of the procured base functions is adopted. The Galerkin method basically involves expressing the given boundary value problem in terms of a standard mathematical relation, generating a set of continuous base functions, formulating the matrix equation, and determining the solution.For the non-homogeneous material, a set of base functions for the plate and inclusion …

Structural Optimization Using Ansys Classic And Radial Basis Function Based Response Surface Models, Vijay Krishna

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

This thesis describes a methodology to develop an effective and simple structural optimization method using Response Surfaces. It also further demonstrates how these Response Surfaces can then be utilized for further Multi Objective Optimization. The true or exact responses were calculated using Ansys Classic while the codes for the training and simulation of Response Surface is pro-grammed in Matlab. Initially we used a Halton sequence to generate a DOE of the design variables. Then we used Ansys Classic to generate the exact responses. Once the responses were imported the Response Surface are generated using a RBF approximation model. This RBF …

Electrowetting On Dielectric (Ewod) Digital Microfluidics For Electronic Hotspot Cooling, Govindraj Shreyas Bindiganavale

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Electronics cooling was a field dominated by bulky and heavy heat sinks, heat pipes and fans for decades. Lately, the size of the electronic components has decreased to a substantial extent with an increase in performance. This has fuelled a need for smaller, lighter, yet efficient cooling systems. A lot of research has been done to build innovative cooling solutions which satisfied most of the requirements as stated above. Some of them still have limitations like use of the right coolants and design challenges. Digital microfluidics is one field which can solve all these issues by providing a simple, reliable …

A Unified Analysis Of Stiffener Reinforced Composite Beams With Arbitrary Cross-Section, Gianfranco Rios

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

A number of methods are available to analyze the laminated composite beams using smear property of laminate stiffness ignoring unsymmetrical behavior of laminates. Some include their effect of laminate but did not include the unsymmetrical effect of the cross-section of the beam. On the other hand, using finite element method to analyze the beam is dependent on the structural configurations including the laminate lay-up sequence. An analytical method was developed from lamination theory in order to study the structural response of composite laminated beams. The present method is capable of predicting the axial and bending stiffnesses, the centroid location, and …

A Generic Methodology For Flight Test And Safety Evaluation At Conceptual Design, Amit R. Oza

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

The current research is dedicated to the application of a simulation suite that emulates flight testing and is applicable to the aircraft conceptual and preliminary design environment. The configuration concept available for study is an unmodified Cessna Citation X. The research goal is to arrive at a systematic process that reduces aircraft design risk while creating transparency for the manager and engineer during product life-cycle simulation. When integrating the discipline of flight test emulation into the development methodology, the objective is to complement and enrich the design simulation through a correct representation of flight safety relevant disciplines like aircraft certification, …

High Temperature Microporous Coatings: The Effects Of Wetting And Wicking On Nucleate Boiling And Chf, Ross Evan Pivovar

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Porous coatings have long been a method to enhance boiling heat transfer. Previous researchers have thoroughly explained most of the physics behind the enhancement, but some holes still exist. Correlations, setup to predict nucleate boiling, are often only accurate in specific scenarios. CHF correlations that take into account wettability do not consider microstructure changes that decrease contact angle, but do not enhance CHF. A solution to these problems is presented via the wicking and wetting of liquid on a porous surface. CHF is found to be enhanced with increases in wicking speeds and flow rate. Wetting, measured by apparent contact …

The Effects Of Elasticity In The Foundation On The Flutter Of A Metallic High Aspect Ratio Wing, Horacio Esteban Sepic Kriskovich

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

The goal of this thesis is to study the flutter characteristics of a metallic high-aspect ratio wing, with linearly varying chord across the semis-span, and a simulated elastic foundation. The general planform of the wing is similar to the one found in a High- Altitude Long-Endurance Uninhabited Aerial Surveillance Vehicle (HALE USAV).

The problem is studied using a simplified aerodynamic loading based on thin-airfoil theory, which is then combined with a Lagrangian formulation to solve the system as stationary. The wing has no control surfaces or external stores, and is modeled as a uniform beam with known mechanical properties, being …

Topology Optimization Using Hyper Radial Basis Function Network, Aditya P. Apte

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Topology optimization has been conventionally used in automobile and aerospace industries to produce lightweight structures for minimum compliance or maximum fundamental frequency. Today, topology optimization finds application in solving diverse types of problems ranging from medicine to consumer products. Popular continuum based method SIMP fails to provide global solution due to too many variables involved. In this work, a novel hyper radial basis function network is presented as topology description function. The proposed approach provides drastic reduction in number of design variables involved in topology optimization. This makes the use of heuristic global solution possible. Parallel processing, reanalysis formulation and …

Optimal-Control Theoretic Methods For Optimization And Regulation Of Distributed Parameter Systems, Jennifer Dawn Goss

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Optimal control and optimization of distributed parameter systems are discussed in the context of a common control framework. The adjoint method of optimization and the traditional linear quadratic regulator implementation of optimal control both employ adjoint or costate variables in the determination of control variable progression. As well both theories benefit from a reduced order model approximation in their execution. This research aims to draw clear parallels between optimization and optimal control utilizing these similarities. Several applications are presented showing the use of adjoint/costate variables and reduced order models in optimization and optimal control problems. The adjoint method for shape …

Transient Flow Analysis Of Filling In Pulse Detonation Engine, Veera Venkata Suneel Jinnala

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

The Pulse Detonation Engine (PDE) is considered to be a propulsion system of future air vehicles. The objective of the present study is to model an efficient inlet system for filling the detonation tube completely with the fuel/air mixture. In the present study the filling processes is modeled numerically using CFD code FLUENTTM. Calculations for the gas flow are carried out by solving the Navier-Stokes equations coupled with the k- ? turbulence model. Five different inlet configurations were proposed and simulated in both two-dimensionally and three-dimensionally. The model with an orifice plate at the inlets ensured the desired optimum results. …

Guidance Of Receiver Aircraft To Rendezvous With Tanker In The Presence Of Wind, Jane-Wit Kampoon

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

This thesis work addresses the problem of aircraft rendezvous in the presence of prevailing wind for automated aerial refueling operations. A modified point-parallel rendezvous procedure is defined. The tanker aircraft performs a racetrack maneuver along a pre-specified refueling orbit. The receiver aircraft enters the refueling area through a fixed point and flies along the refueling line that is aligned with on of the straight legs of the race track. It is the responsibility to meet the tanker at the rendezvous point. A virtual target is used to define the trajectory of the refueling orbit. A nonlinear guidance algorithm is used …

Experimental Investigation Of Flow Boiling And Spray Cooling On Enhanced Surfaces In Fc-72, Gilberto Morenp

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

In this study the effect of a recently developed, thermally conductive microporous coating on flow boiling and spray cooling performance was studied using FC-72 as the working fluid. The overall goal is to further increase heat transfer in forced convection systems and in doing so, provide a viable option for future cooling applications. In flow boiling, the coating increased heat transfer coefficients by as much as 400% and produced values exceeding 40,000 W-m-2 K-1. This enhancement is believed to be a result of both an increase in active nucleation sites and a decrease of the superheated liquid layer. It is …

Water Vapor And Carbon Dioxide Species Measurement In Narrow Channels, Derek Lambe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A novel method has been implemented for measuring the concentration of gas species, water vapor and carbon dioxide, within a narrow channel flow field non-invasively using tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) in conjunction with a laser modulated at a high frequency [Wavelength Modulation Spectroscopy (WMS)] tuned to the ro-vibrational transition of the species. This technique measures the absorption profile which is a strong function of the species concentration across short path lengths and small time spans, as in PEM fuel cells during high load cycles. This method has been verified in a transparent circular flow 12 cm path length …

Optimization Of A Strapdown Inertial Navigation System, Mario Ruiz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The focus of this Thesis is to find 21 error parameters in a Strapdown Inertial Navigation System (SINS) that would minimize objective functions or error functions to increase accuracy utilizing an optimization algorithm. The algorithm used is goal attainment by Gembiki which is a multi-objective optimization algorithm proven to outperform other optimization methods in terms of efficiency and accuracy over large numbers of problems. Simulations of a noise-free SINS mounted on an aircraft were done in a stationary and on the move scenario to simulate two conditions in which alignment could become necessary. The error parameters to find were sensor …

On The Nature Of The Flow In A Separated Annular Diffuser, Jason Dunn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The combustor-diffuser system remains one of the most studied sections of the turbomachine. Most of these investigations are due to the fact that quite a bit of flow diffusion is required in this section as the high speed flow exits the compressor and must be slowed down to enter the combustor. Like any diffusion process there is the chance for the development of an unfavorable adverse pressure gradient that can lead to flow separation; a cause of drastic losses within a turbine. There are two diffusion processes in the combustor-diffuser system: The flow first exits the compressor into a pre-diffuser, …

Design, Implementation And Validation Of An Attitude Determination Subsystem For Nanosatellites, Mathieu Naslin

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

The purpose of this study is to design and analyze the accuracy of an attitude determination subsystem for a satellite of the CubeSat class by using low cost sensors. CubeSats are nanosatellites that complies a certain amount of layout criterions described by the California Polytechnic State University. A 3-axis attitude determination platform has been designed with emphasis on the use of low cost, off the shelf sensors. This platform features a sun sensor, a magnetometer and an earth sensor. The principles of observation and the description of the acquisition method are explained. The interfacing of the software package and real …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Birnessite And Cryptomelane Nanostructures In Presence Of Hoffmeister Anions, Marcos A. Cheney, Robin Jose, Arghya Banerjee, Pradip K. Bhowmik, Shizhi Qian, Joseph M. Okoh

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

The effect of Hoffmeister anions Cl(-), SO(4) (2-), and ClO(4) (-) on the structure and morphology of birnessite and cryptomelane-type manganese dioxide nanostructures, produced by the reduction reaction of KMnO(4) and MnSO(4) in aqueous acidic media, was studied. The syntheses were based on the decomposition of aqueous KMnO(4) in presence of HCl for birnessite-type and acidified MnSO4 for cryptomelane-type manganese dioxide under soft hydrothermal conditions. They were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) techniques. XRD patterns show the formation of birnessite for the first synthesis and a mixture of cryptomelane and …

Advances In Controlled Meteorological (Cmet) Balloon Systems, Paul B. Voss

Engineering: Faculty Publications

Over the past five years, small altitude-controlled balloons have been developed for atmospheric research and deployed in several major field campaigns. These Controlled Meteorological (CMET) balloons have been operated at altitudes from sea level to 18,000 feet, at latitudes from 18 to 80 degrees north, and for periods of up to five days. CMET balloons are now sufficiently simple to prepare and launch that they are being mailed to scientific collaborators oversees and operated remotely via satellite, greatly reducing the cost of making in situ atmospheric measurements. The balloon payload has been redesigned around a novel eight-parallel-processor microcontroller that enables …

On-Chip Liquid-Liquid Extraction And Separation Using Digital Microfluidics, Praveen Kunchala

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

In this thesis, on-chip liquid-liquid microextraction and separation using electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) digital microfluidics was demonstrated by considering room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) and DI water as two liquid phases, which form immiscible interface with each other. Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) have been actively investigated as replacements for the organic solvents and various "task-specific" ionic liquids (TSIL) are being developed which exhibit many attractive properties such as selectivity to specific biomolecules. Liquid-liquid extraction and separation using EWOD digital microfluidic device with model extraction experiments have been demonstrated, one was extraction of organic dye from RTIL (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, [bmim][NTf2]) …

Perchlorate In Wet Deposition Across North America, Srinath Rajagopalan, Todd A. Anderson, Stephen Cox, Greg Harvey, Qiuqiong Cheng, W. Andrew Jackson

United States Air Force: Publications

Natural perchlorate is believed to be of atmospheric origin, yet no systematic study has been conducted to evaluate perchlorate deposition rate and possible seasonal or spatial variations. This study evaluated perchlorate concentrations in weekly composite wet deposition samples acquired through the National Atmospheric DepositionProgramfrom 26 sites across the continental United States, Alaska, and Puerto Rico for a 1-3 year period. Perchlorate concentrations varied from /L to a high of 102 ng/L with a mean of 14.1±13.5 ng/L for the 1578 total samples. The annual perchlorate flux by site ranged from a low of 12.5 (TX) to 157 mg/ha-year (NE) and …

A Location Analysis Approach For Military Maintenance Scheduling With Geographically Dispersed Service Areas, Dale L. Overholts Ii, John E. Bell, Marvin A. Arostegui

United States Air Force: Publications

This research uses a two-stage maximal covering location problem (MCLP) model to develop Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) maintenance schedules for the US Air Force. Solutions are compared to actual missile maintenance activities accomplished at F. E. Warren Air Force Base (AFB), Wyoming in May 2005. Sensitivity analysis is performed to determine the impact of altering security response times and the number of security patrol are as on the quality of daily maintenance schedules and personnel usage. Results indicate marked improvement over traditional Air Force scheduling methods. In addition, sensitivity analysis identifies the levels at which the quality and quantity of …

Procedure To Validate Direct Numerical Simulations Of Wall-Bounded Turbulence Including Finite-Rate Reactions, Lian Duan, M. Pino Martín

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper first discusses the constitutive relations and surface catalytic model for direct numerical simulation of wall-bounded turbulence including finite-rate chemistry and gas-surface interaction and then provides a systematic procedure to test the validity of the simulations by dividing the whole problem into different components and testing each component separately. Namely, comparisons against similarity solutions and other established hypersonic boundary-layer solutions are used to test the validity of laminar mean flow with and without gas-phase chemical reactions; comparisons against the analytic solution for the one-dimensional diffusion equation are used to test the validity of the surface catalysis boundary condition; and …

Understanding Practical Limits To Heavy Truck Drag Reduction, Drew Landman, Richard Wood, Whitney Seay, John Bledsoe

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

A heavy truck wind tunnel test program is currently underway at the Langley Full Scale Tunnel (LFST). Seven passive drag reducing device configurations have been evaluated on a heavy truck model with the objective of understanding the practical limits to drag reduction achievable on a modern tractor trailer through add-on devices. The configurations tested include side skirts of varying length, a full gap seal, and tapered rear panels. All configurations were evaluated over a nominal 15 degree yaw sweep to establish wind averaged drag coefficients over a broad speed range using SAE J1252. The tests were conducted by first quantifying …

Algorithm Developement For Adaptive Grid Generation Using Galerkin Finite Element Method, Monalkumar Patel

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

The adaptive grid concept is developed in order to achieve more accurate and stable results for the numerical simulations of Partial Differential Equations (PDEs). There are two main types of strategies used for adaptive grids: local refinement by increasing the number of elements (h-refinement) and deforming grids where the number of elements remains fixed (r-refinement). The h-refinement method requires inserting additional elements and nodes in a certain region of the mesh. This significantly affects the software data structure and makes programming more difficult. To maintain the same data structure, the method must delete the same number of nodes from another …