Aerospace Engineering Commons^™

Parameter Informed Reinforcement Learning For Vehicle System Identification, Nathan Schaff

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Accurate system identification is essential for modeling and controlling vehicle dynamics. This dissertation explores the application of Parameter Informed Reinforcement Learning (PIRL) as a novel approach to system identification (SYSID). PIRL integrates prior system knowledge, such as physical parameters, into reinforcement learning (RL) frameworks to improve estimation accuracy. The study begins with an overview of traditional SYSID methods and then introduces PIRL as a modification of standard RL. The research applies PIRL to short-period aircraft dynamics, demonstrating its effectiveness in both offline and online learning frameworks. The dissertation then further explores PIRL’s utility in an indirect model reference adaptive control …

A Test Rig For An Aircraft Propeller Powered By Battery Motor, C. M. Vigneswaran, J. Induja, K. S. Bharath, M. J. Spoorthi, R. Chethana

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering

The propeller test rig is a crucial component in aeronautical engineering that plays a vital role in the development, testing, and optimization of propeller systems for aircraft. This research outlines the design, development, and performance evaluation of a state-of- the- art propeller test rig developed for research and testing purposes. The primary objective of this project is to enhance the understanding of propeller dynamics and efficiency, leading to the improvement of aircraft propulsion systems. The test rig provides a controlled environment to evaluate and compare multiple propeller designs, aiding engineers in making informed decisions during the design process. An advanced …

Evaluating The Impact Of Maximum Aero-Thermal Heating On A High-Speed Fixed-Wing Atmospheric Aircraft Optimum Trajectory, Benjamin M. Ford

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This study explores how extreme heating affects the flight paths of hypersonic aircraft—vehicles that travel at speeds many times faster than sound. Analyzing how to fly a high-speed aircraft without overheating it can prevent structural failure while operating at maximum possible performance. The results shown in this section indicate that it is possible to operate at very high speeds in an aircraft while keeping peak vehicle temperature below our limits while saving fuel.

3d Printed Fixed Wing Aircraft Competition, Sidney E. Long, Mitchell Heise, Jack Bride, Daniel Salinas

Mechanical Engineering

Cal State LA and Arlington University, Texas are hosting the same 3D printed, fixed wing aircraft competition for 2025. Cal Poly requires a competitive plane that can adhere to each rule and be piloted remotely to achieve the longest time in the air. The plane must utilize solely 3D printing technology for the wings, body, and all other structures. The only off-the-shelf components can be the motor and electronics, as well as mechanical devices such as hinges.

Equivalent-Area Studies For Sonic Boom Loudness Mitigation On A Commercial Supersonic Aircraft Configuration, Zachary N. Foster

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Since the early 1970s, the FAA has banned commercial supersonic flight over populated areas. This ban has limited aerospace manufacturers’ and commercial aircraft companies’ ability to design and operate subsonic aircraft in their fleets. Since then, research has been conducted to understand the sonic boom and learn how to minimize its loudness. The work presented in this project report aims to use a 1D low-fidelity analysis to study the effect of perturbations to the outer mold line (OML) of a representative model of the N+2 Quiet Commercial Supersonic Concept Aircraft. Using a 1D analysis that employs an equivalent area method, …

Effect Of Post-Cured Through Thickness Reinforcement On Disbonding Behavior In Skin-Stringer Configuration, Jimesh D. Bhagatji, Christopher Morris, Yogaraja Sridhar, Bodhisatwa Bhattacharjee, Krishnanand N. Kaipa, Oleksandr G. Kravchenko

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

An experimental investigation of interlaminar toughness for post-cured through-thickness reinforcement (PTTR) skin-stringer sub-element is presented. The improvement in the crack resistance capability of skin-stringer samples was shown through experimental testing and finite element analysis (FEA) modeling. The performance of PTTR was evaluated on a pristine and initial-disbond of the skin-stringer specimen. A macro-scale pin-spring modeling approach was employed in FEA using a non-linear spring to capture the pin failure under the mixed-mode load. The experimental results showed a 15.5% and 20.9% increase in strength for the pristine-PTTR and initial-disbond PTTR specimens, respectively. The modeling approach accurately represents the overall structural …

Numerical Analysis Of A Multi-Stage Elastohydrodynamic Seal For Aircraft Engines, Md Wasif Hasan

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

At present, both governmental and private aviation enterprises are trying to develop aircraft that are swifter, more lightweight, and more cost-effective in order to maintain competitiveness on both the domestic and global stage. Continuous innovation and sustainability efforts are necessary to achieve advancements in aviation systems, such as fans, compressors, combustors, and turbines, as well as sub-systems, like engine seals. Advanced engine seals exhibit considerable potential in enhancing the engine's pressure ratio and cycle temperatures, leading to reduced engine weight, increased thrust, and improved fuel economy. In this study, a novel multistage seal idea has been proposed for the supercritical …

3d Printed Aircraft, Matthew Nagy, Charles D'Amico, Alexis Salgado Medina

Mechanical Engineering

This project is to design, build, and test a 3D-printable aircraft. The goal is to create a final design that will be able to fly for the longest duration possible, around 20 seconds. To determine the correct preliminary design and manufacturing process for a 3D printed RC aircraft, an analysis of multiple design options and manufacturing materials was performed. This allowed for a variety of choices for aircraft type, airfoil design, structure, among other topics to be narrowed down to the most promising option. It has been found that the aircraft will follow a design similar to industry motor-gliders, with …

An Alternate Dimensionless Form Of The Linearized Rigid-Body Aircraft Equations Of Motion With Emphasis On Dynamic Parameters, Douglas F. Hunsaker, Benjamin C. Moulton

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Student Publications and Presentations

The equations of motion for an aircraft can be linearized about a reference condition within the assumptions of small disturbances and linear aerodynamics. The resulting system of equations is typically solved to obtain the eigenvalues and eigenvectors that describe the small disturbance motion of the aircraft. Results from such an analysis are often used to predict the rigid-body dynamic modes of the aircraft and associated handling qualities. This process is typically carried out in dimensional form in most text books, or in nondimensional form using dimensionless parameters rooted in aerodynamic theory. Here we apply Buckingham’s Pi theorem to obtain nondimensional …

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. …

Simplified Mass And Inertial Estimates For Aircraft With Components Of Constant Density, Benjamin C. Moulton, Douglas F. Hunsaker

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Student Publications and Presentations

Aircraft mass and inertial properties are required for predicting the dynamics and handling qualities of aircraft. However, such properties can be difficult to estimate since these depend on the external shape and internal structure, systems, and mass distributions within the airframe. Mass and inertial properties of aircraft are often predicted using computer-aided design software, or measured using various experimental techniques. The present paper presents a method for quickly predicting the mass and inertial properties of complete aircraft consisting of components of constant density. Although the assumption of constant density may appear limiting, the method presented in this paper can be …

Effect Of Spray Rails On Takeoff Performance Of Amphibian Aircraft, Soham Bahulekar

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Amphibian aircraft have seen a rise in popularity in the recreational and utility sectors due to their ability to take off and land on both land and water, thus serving a myriad of purposes such as aerobatics, surveillance, and firefighting. The design of such seaplanes requires to be both aerodynamically and hydrodynamically efficient, especially during the takeoff phase. In the past, naval architects have implemented ways to make boats, yachts, and large ships more efficient; one of them being the addition of chine strips and spray rails on the hull. This thesis study explores the possibility of implementing spray rails …

Quasi-Static Structural Analysis Of An Experimental Aircraft Wing, Scott Bender

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In this report, a quasi-static load analysis is conducted on an experimental light sport aircraft wing via a whiffletree bending test. This report will discuss the loads present on the aircraft during straight level flight at a speed of 82 knots equivalent air speed. Flight load calculations are described along with the design of the whiffletree and mounting structures utilized for applying the distributed point loads. Initial finite element analysis is performed on the wing structure to determine critical strain locations and optimal sensor distribution. Subsequent mechanical experimentations are performed using a bending test to measure the strain at critical …

Formation Control With Collision Avoidance For Fixed-Wing Unmanned Air Vehicles With Speed Constraints, Christopher Heintz

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Advances in the miniaturization of powerful electronic components and motors, the democratization of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), and improvements in the performance, safety, and cost in lithium batteries has led to the proliferation of small and relatively inexpensive unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Many of these UAVs are of the multi-rotor design, however, fixed-wing designs are often more efficient than rotary-wing aircraft, leading to a reduction in the power required for a UAV of a given mass to stay airborne. Autonomous cooperation between multiple UAVs would enable them to complete objectives that would be difficult or impossible for a single …

Airframe And Systems Design, Analysis, And Testing Of The Horizon Morphing-Wing Aircraft, Sabrina A. Snow

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

Morphing trailing edge technology can provide the ability to dynamically alter the twist distribution, and therefore lift distribution, of an aircraft during flight. There are certain optimal lift distributions which can be chosen to create proverse yawing effects and eliminate the need for vertical control surfaces. The purpose of this project is to support the design and testing of a morphing, crescent flying wing airframe which will be used to evaluate yaw control in an aircraft without vertical control surfaces. There are three main objectives of this project, which are to perform static and dynamic analysis on the crescent wing …

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, …

Adaptive And Neural Network-Based Aircraft Tracking Control With Synthetic Jet Actuators, Joshua Teramae

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Wing-embedded synthetic jet actuators (SJA) can be used to achieve maneuvering control in aircraft by delivering controllable airflow perturbations near the wing surface. Trajectory tracking control design for aircraft equipped with SJA is particularly challenging, since the controlling actuator itself has an uncertain dynamic model. These challenges necessitate advanced nonlinear control design methods to achieve desirable performance for SJA-based aircraft (e.g., micro air vehicles (MAVs)). In this research, adaptive and neural-network based control methods are investigated, which are specifically designed to compensate for the SJA dynamic model uncertainty and unpredictable operating conditions characters tic of real-world MAV applications. The control …

Development Of A State-Space Aeroelastic Model Of A Flexible T-Tail Aircraft For Flutter Analysis, Patrick S. Downs

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Flutter prediction is an important part of the preliminary design process of any new aircraft. Current analysis methods include coupled fluid structure interaction codes and doublet lattice panel codes. The computation resources and time required for CFD solutions makes them unattractive for preliminary design and doublet lattice models require considerable pre and post processing to provide satisfactory results. Thus, a process for developing an analytical model to facilitate rapid design changes and the implementation of active control systems is the main motivation of this thesis. An analytical model is developed by first deriving the equations of motion of the structure …

Urban Cargo Transport Uav Final Design Review, Niko Giannakakos, Rafael Barreto Gutierrez, Tejas Bhavsar

Senior Design Project For Engineers

Delivery of goods to homes and offices over the last decades has seen a significant increase as more people and businesses need or want items sent directly to them. With the increase in demand, technology has also experienced a rapid growth, specifically in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Many major companies are currently researching UAVs as the future of their delivery operations. With this ever-growing demand, NASA has issued a design competition of a UAV developed for urban deliveries. This unmanned aircraft system (UAS) would need to be able to deliver small packages, in a timely manner, within …

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 …

Aircraft Hydraulic Systems - Fundamentals, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

Aircraft hydraulic systems are essential non-propulsive power systems. Hydraulic power systems are used to power major functional aircraft systems, such as flight controls (primary and secondary), friction braking, nose gear steering, thrust-reversers, operating heavy cargo doors, etc.

Wind Tunnel Measurements And Data Analysis Tutorial, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

This tutorial gives details on processing of raw aerodynamic data measured directly in the wind tunnel on airfoils and wings. Also procedures and equations from the lab report are given and demonstrated how to compute geometric characteristics of wings/airfoils and air data. All numeric results are typically rounded to five significant digits.

Keeping Your Distance: The Science Of Turns-Around-A-Point And Ground Reference Maneuvers, Nihad E. Daidzic

Aviation Department Publications

Ground reference maneuvers are more important than you may think. Frequently regarded as unimportant or boring, ground reference maneuver training is often limited to a few minutes of flight instructor demonstration and brief student practice.

Subscale Mars Colonization Mission, Cameron J. Lamack, James Lumsden, Sean Nevin, Donner Schoeffler, Riley Evers, Alexandra Poulakos, Skyler Tan, Anthony Keba, Siraj Zaman, Ali Altamimi, Anthony Modica

Honors Thesis

The team will compete in the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Aero Design West Advanced Class competition, held 5-7th April 2019 in Van Nuys, California. The team will work to develop, through research, design, optimizational trade studies, and manufacturing, a system for the deployment of parasitic aircraft, as well as payload. The system will consist of a primary fixed-wing aircraft, parasitic autonomous gliders, a real-time altitude data acquisition system, as well as both static and releasable payload. The deployable gliders must navigate autonomously to a targeting area on the ground without any on-board propulsion. The releasable payload, which will consist …

Development And Initial Evaluation Of A Reinforced Cue Detection Model To Assess Situation Awareness In Commercial Aircraft Cockpits, Aysen K. Taylor

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Commercial transport aircraft of today vary greatly from early aircraft with regards to how the aircraft are controlled and the feedback provided from the machine to the human operator. Over time, as avionics systems became more automated, pilots had less direct control over their aircraft. Much research exists in the literature about automation issues, and several major accidents over the last twenty years spurred interest about how to maintain the benefits of automation while improving the overall human-machine interaction as the pilot is considered the last line of defense.

An important reason for maintaining or even improving overall pilot situation …

Initial Stage Of Fluid-Structure Interaction Of A Celestial Icosahedron Shaped Vacuum Lighter Than Air Vehicle, Dustin P. Graves

Theses and Dissertations

The analysis of a celestial icosahedron geometry is considered as a potential design for a Vacuum Lighter than Air Vehicle (VLTAV). The goal of the analysis is ultimately to understand the initial fluid-structure interaction of the VLTAV and the surrounding airflow. Up to this point, previous research analyzed the celestial icosahedron VLTAV in relation to withstanding a symmetric sea-level pressure applied to the membrane of the structure. This scenario simulates an internal vacuum being applied in the worst-case atmospheric environmental condition. The next step in analysis is to determine the aerodynamic effects of the geometry. The experimental setup for obtaining …

Low Level Turbulence Detection For Airport, Derek Kearney, Anthony O'Connor

Articles

Low level wind shear and turbulence present a serious safety risk to aircraft during the approach, landing and take-off phases. Despite many advances in on-board and ground based warning systems. Wind shear remains a formidable force that coupled with a microburst can overpower any aircraft. Aviation reports have concluded that pilots need to have improved information in relation to tailwinds, wind shear and wind variations on approach and during the landing phases. Low level wind shear continues to cause disruption, delays and contribute to aircraft crashes. As recently as 2016, two Boeing aircraft crashed while attempting a Go-around manoeuver after …

Determination Of Aerodynamic Forces And Control Requirement During Ground Effect, Ambuj Srivastava

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The current work delivers the effect of ground proximity on longitudinal aerodynamic forces and the elevator deflection required for trimming the aircraft. The academic understanding states that the with the increasing proximity to the ground,downwash progressively reduces.The methodology adopts the approximation of linear decrement for the estimation of the residual downwash at any height above ground within the unit wingspan. The proposed method utilizes non-dimensional height above ground for the approximation of effective downwash angle in the presence of ground. The approximately predicted effective downwash angle is subsequently utilized to estimate the effect of ground proximity on longitudinal forces, trim …

Prototype Landing Gear Conceptual And Embodiment Design, Derek Carr

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Collin’s Aerospace Mechanical systems engineering was tasked with designing a set of landing gear for an undisclosed project. The landing gear is required to comply with customer specifications, coordinate systems, and overall landing gear performance. The purpose of this project is to document the conceptual and embodiment design process for an articulated main landing gear system. Unfortunately, due to high expenses and high lead times required for 300M stainless steel components, no full size prototype can be produced within the timeframe of this report. Instead, this document should be viewed as a process mapping guide for initial landing gear design …

Flight Vehicle Design, Andrew Ning

Books

No abstract provided.