Aerospace Engineering Commons^™

Implementation Of Microwave Transmissions For Rocket Exhaust Plume Diagnostics, Nicholas George Coutu

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Rocket-launched vehicles produce a trail of exhaust that contains ions, free electrons, and soot. The exhaust plume increases the effective conductor length of the rocket. A conductor in the presence of an electric field (e.g. near the electric charge stored within a cloud) can channel an electric discharge. The electrical conductivity of the exhaust plume is related to its concentration of free electrons. The risk of a lightning strike in-flight is a function of both the conductivity of the body and its effective length. This paper presents an approach that relates the electron number density of the exhaust plume to …

Closed-Loop Thrust And Pressure Profile Throttling Of A Nitrous Oxide/Hydroxyl-Terminated Polybutadiene Hybrid Rocket Motor, Zachary W. Peterson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Hybrid motors that employ non-toxic, non-explosive components with a liquid oxidizer and a solid hydrocarbon fuel grain have inherently safe operating characteristics. The inherent safety of hybrid rocket motors offers the potential to greatly reduce overall operating costs. Another key advantage of hybrid rocket motors is the potential for in-flight shutdown, restart, and throttle by controlling the pressure drop between the oxidizer tank and the injector. This research designed, developed, and ground tested a closed-loop throttle controller for a hybrid rocket motor using nitrous oxide and hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene as propellants. The research simultaneously developed closed-loop throttle algorithms and lab scale …

Empirically Bounding Of Space Booms With Tape Spring Hinges, Alan L. Jennings, Jonathan T. Black, Chris Allen

Faculty Publications

Self-deploying structures seek to provide a compact launch package for large, lightweight satellite booms. One self-deploying method is a foldable tape spring. This paper examines the large scale behavior of a boom attached by a tape spring hinge during mock deployments. A boom attached by tape spring to a rigid stand was released and the boom bounced up to 60° before coming to rest (as opposed to snap-through behavior). These large amplitude bounces can cause the boom to collide with sensors, other booms or arrays causing damage or preventing full deployment. Results show the first bounce of deployment is nearly …

Cubesat: From The Beginning To Who Knows Where, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs titled "CubeSat: From the Beginning to Who Knows Where" from November 13, 2012.

Small-Satellites For Arctic And Maritime Operations And Research, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs titled "Small-Satellites for Arctic and Maritime Operations and Research" from November 9, 2012.

Cubesat, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs titled "CubeSat" from November 7, 2012.

Manufacturing Processes In An All-Aluminum Airframe, Stewart Mcdougall

Aerospace Engineering

One often overlooked aspect to building an aircraft is the manufacturing process used to put it into production. This may be a major contributor to acquisition cost and requires a large amount of money to implement. Once all the tooling has been purchased, one of the greatest costs is labor. The experience of building an all-aluminum aircraft shows that the production process is one which may be done in many different ways. Minimizing the assembly time is important for aircraft manufacturers and one of the best ways to do that is on the assembly line itself. Specific practices in the …

Determination Of Human Powered Helicopter Stability Characteristics Using Multi-Body System Simulation Techniques, Sean M. Brown

Master's Theses

Multi-Body System Simulation combined with System Identification was developed as a method for determining the stability characteristics of a human powered helicopter(HPH) configurations. HPH stability remains a key component for meeting competition requirements, but has not been properly treated. Traditional helicopter dynamic analysis is not suited to the HPH due to its low rotation speeds and light weight. Multi-Body System Simulation is able to generate dynamic response data for any HPH configuration. System identification and linear stability theory are used to determine the stability characteristics from the dynamic response. This thesis focuses on the method development and doesn't present any …

Optimizing The Mechanical Characteristics Of Bamboo To Improve The Flexural Behavior For Biocomposite Structural Application, Jay Lopez

Master's Theses

Global awareness and preservation have spurred increasing interest in utilizing environmentally friendly materials for high-performance structural applications. Biocomposites pose an appealing solution to this issue and are characterized by their sustainable lifecycles, biodegradable qualities, light weight, remarkable strength, and exceptional stiffness. Many of these structural qualities are found in applications that exhibit flexural loading conditions, and this study focuses on improving the bending performance of engineered biocomposite structures. The current application of biocomposites is increasing rapidly, so this expanding research explores other natural constituent materials for biocomposite structures under flexural loading.

The renewable material investigated in this study was experimentally …

Mechanical Optimization And Buckling Analysis Of Bio-Composites, Cameron D. Chan

Master's Theses

Today’s environmental concerns have led a renewed search in industry to find new sustainable materials to replace non-renewable resources. President Barack Obama also quoted in the recent 2012 Presidential Debate “that there is a need to build the energy sources of the future and invest in solar, wind, and bio-fuels.” Bio-composites are believed to be the future and the new substitute for non-renewable resources. Bio-composites are similar to composites in that they are made up of two constituent materials; however the main difference is that bio-composites are made from natural fibers and a biopolymer matrix. This research investigates the buckling …

A Gap Analysis Of Meteorological Requirements For Commercial Space Operators, Nicholas J. Stapleton

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Commercial space companies will soon be the primary method of launching people and supplies into orbit. Among the critical aspects of space launches are the meteorological concerns. Laws and regulations pertaining to meteorological considerations have been created to ensure the safety of the space industry and those living around spaceports; but, are they adequate? Perhaps the commercial space industry can turn to the commercial aviation industry to help answer that question. Throughout its history, the aviation industry has dealt with lessons learned from mishaps due to failures in understanding the significance of weather impacts on operations. Using lessons from the …

Analysis Of Magnetic Nozzle Design For Pulsed Fusion Propulsion System, Richard Hatcher, Milos Stanic, Jason T. Cassibry, J Loverich, M Kundrapu

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Chargersat-1 Prototype Development, Matt Rodencal, Eric Becnel

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Development Of Tungsten Based Ceramic-Metallic Nuclear Fuel Containing Uranium Oxide For Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage Project, Jaewon Choi

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

The Us Challenge To Stay The Worlds Technical Leader In Innovation, Robert J. Twiggs

Robert "Bob" Twiggs STEM Education Collection

A PowerPoint presentation created by Professor Bob Twiggs titled "The US Challenge to Stay the Worlds Technical Leader in Innovation" from October 18, 2012.

Fusion-Fission Hybrid Pulsed Propulsion System For Improved Space Transportation, Micah Laughmiller

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Microgravity Testing Of Uahuntsville’Schargersat-1, Justin Riegel

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Stacked Linear Transformer Drivers For Application In Nuclear Fusion Propulsion, Patrick Giddens

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Instrument For Testing The Effect Of Boiling In Microgravity, Eric Becnel

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Materials Selection Considerations For Z-Pinch Pulse-Powered Fusion Systems For Space Propulsion, Mitchell Rodriguez

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Analytical Modeling Of Stochastic Pulse-Pileup In Radiation Detectors, Vandiver Chaplin, P. N. Bhat

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Diffusion Thruster, Mark Becnel

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Advancing The Beamed Energy Ablation Driven Propulsion Engine Concept, Grant Bergstue

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Microgravity Stowage System–A Random Access System For Deep Space Habitat Implementation, Clint Deerman, Drew Deerman

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

The Corona Reconnaissance Satellite Program, Amy Parlett

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

100k High Altitude Student Rocket, Markus Murdy

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

An Investigation Of U.S. Orbital Debris Policy Changes To Support Leo Conservation, Thomas Percy

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Validation Of The Ballistic Limit Equation For Monolithic Aluminum Shielding At Geostationary Orbital Debris Impact Velocity, Brandon Holladay

Aerospace Engineering

The Cal Poly Electro Magnetic Rail Gun was used to eject a 0.370 gram, rectangular aluminum projectile towards a 1/16 inch monolithic aluminum plate at a speed of 280 ± 50 m/s. The resulting impact left a large attached spall on the back of the shielding. The impact damage was compared to an industry ballistic limit equation for a spherical aluminum projectile of similar diameter and was shown to have slightly less damage than the expected results.

In addition, an aluminum mesh double bumper shield was fired upon in order to verify its higher protection per aerial density as well …

Three-Axis Stabilized Earth Orbiting Spacecraft Simulator, Alan F. Ma, Nikola N. Dominikovic

Aerospace Engineering

This report details the method and results of the program created for simulating an Earth orbiting spacecraft with control actuators and orbital perturbations. The control actuators modeled are reaction thrusters, reaction/momentum wheels, and control moment gyros (CMG). The perturbations modeled were gravity gradient, electromagnetic torques, solar radiation pressure, gravity gradients, third-body effects, Earth oblateness and atmospheric drag. This simulation allows for satellite control in all 6 degrees of freedom for any Earth orbiting spacecraft. Assumptions include rigid body dynamics, no sensor noise, constant spacecraft cross-sectional area, constant coefficient of drag and reflectivity, ignoring the effects due to the moon, moment …

Strain Rate And Orientation Dependencies Of The Strength Of Single Crystalline Copper Under Compression, Virginie Dupont, Timothy C. Germann

Aerospace Engineering - Daytona Beach

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are used to model the compression under uniaxial strain of copper single crystals of different orientations at various temperatures and strain rates. Uniaxial strain is used because of the close resemblance of the resulting stress state with the one behind a shock front, while allowing a control of parameters such as strain rate and temperature to better understand the behavior under complex dynamic shock conditions. Our simulations show that for most orientations, the yield strength of the sample is increased with increasing strain rate. This yield strength is also dependent on the orientation of the sample, …