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Aeronautical Vehicles Commons™

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2012

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Articles 31 - 37 of 37

Full-Text Articles in Aeronautical Vehicles

High Performance Modeling Of Atmospheric Re-Entry Vehicles, Alexandre Martin, Leonardo C. Scalabrin, Iain D. Boyd Jan 2012

High Performance Modeling Of Atmospheric Re-Entry Vehicles, Alexandre Martin, Leonardo C. Scalabrin, Iain D. Boyd

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Re-entry vehicles designed for space exploration are usually equipped with thermal protection systems made of ablative material. In order to properly model and predict the aerothermal environment of the vehicle, it is imperative to account for the gases produced by ablation processes. In the case of charring ablators, where an inner resin is pyrolyzed at a relatively low temperature, the composition of the gas expelled into the boundary layer is complex and may lead to thermal chemical reactions that cannot be captured with simple flow chemistry models. In order to obtain better predictions, an appropriate gas flow chemistry model needs …


Modeling Of Heat Transfer Attenuation By Ablative Gases During The Stardust Re-Entry, Alexandre Martin, Iain D. Boyd Jan 2012

Modeling Of Heat Transfer Attenuation By Ablative Gases During The Stardust Re-Entry, Alexandre Martin, Iain D. Boyd

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

The great majority of modern space vehicles designed for planetary exploration use ablative materials to protect the payload against the high heating environment experienced during re-entry. In order to properly model and predict the aerothermal environment of the vehicle, it is imperative to account for the gases produced by ablation processes. In the case of charring ablators, where an inner resin is pyrolyzed at a relatively low temperature, the composition of the gas expelled into the boundary layer is complex and may lead to thermal chemical reactions that cannot be captured with simple flow chemistry models. In order to obtain …


Specialized System Identification For Parafoil And Payload Systems, Michael Ward, Mark Costello, Nathan Slegers Jan 2012

Specialized System Identification For Parafoil And Payload Systems, Michael Ward, Mark Costello, Nathan Slegers

Faculty Publications - Biomedical, Mechanical, and Civil Engineering

There are a number of peculiar aspects to parafoil and payload systems that make it difficult to apply conventional system identification procedures used for aerospace systems. Parafoil and payload systems are unique because typically there is very little sensor information available, the sensors that are available are separated from the canopy by a complex network of flexible rigging, the systems are very sensitive to wind and turbulence, the systems exhibit a number of nonlinear behaviors, and the systems exhibit a high degree of variability from flight to flight. The current work describes a robust system identification procedure developed to address …


Evaluation Of Multibody Parafoil Dynamics Using Distributed Miniature Wireless Sensors, Chrystine M. Gorman, Nathan Slegers Jan 2012

Evaluation Of Multibody Parafoil Dynamics Using Distributed Miniature Wireless Sensors, Chrystine M. Gorman, Nathan Slegers

Faculty Publications - Biomedical, Mechanical, and Civil Engineering

Guided parafoils arc composed of two primary bodies, a payload and parafoil. The payload encompasses the majority ofthe ovcrdll system mass; however, the parafoil generates the majority of aerodynamic loads and is the sole source of control. Despite the canopy being the source of control, the sensor systems used for guidance are located away from the parafoil. Many multi body models exist in literature and use different degrees of freedom to represent parafoil-payload relative motion. However, in many cases, simulations are used to investigate how the relative motion between bodies affects the overall dynamics without experimental validation determining the accuracy …


Ua94/6/8 Student / Alumni Personal Papers Wku Terry Wilcutt, Wku Archives Jan 2012

Ua94/6/8 Student / Alumni Personal Papers Wku Terry Wilcutt, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about Terry Wilcutt and manned space flights.


Design And Flight Testing Of A Warping Wing For Autonomous Flight Control, Edward Brady Doepke Jan 2012

Design And Flight Testing Of A Warping Wing For Autonomous Flight Control, Edward Brady Doepke

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Inflatable-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have the ability to be packed in a fraction of their deployed volume. This makes them ideal for many deployable UAV designs, but inflatable wings can be flexible and don’t have conventional control surfaces. This thesis will investigate the use of wing warping as a means of autonomous control for inflatable wings. Due to complexities associated with manufacturing inflatable structures a new method of rapid prototyping deformable wings is used in place of inflatables to decrease cost and design-cycle time. A UAV testbed was developed and integrated with the warping wings and flown in a …


Aerodynamics And Control Of A Deployable Wing Uav For Autonomous Flight, Michael Thamann Jan 2012

Aerodynamics And Control Of A Deployable Wing Uav For Autonomous Flight, Michael Thamann

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

UAV development and usage has increased dramatically in the last 15 years. In this time frame the potential has been realized for deployable UAVs to the extent that a new class of UAV was defined for these systems. Inflatable wing UAVs provide a unique solution for deployable UAVs because they are highly packable (some collapsing to 5-10% of their deployed volume) and have the potential for the incorporation of wing shaping. In this thesis, aerodynamic coefficients and aileron effectiveness were derived from the equations of motion of aircraft as necessary parameters for autonomous flight. A wind tunnel experiment was performed …