Aeronautical Vehicles Commons^™

High-Fidelity Modeling Of Evtol Rotor Unsteady Aerodynamic And Aeroacoustic Response To Time-Harmonic Gust, Vadim Voropayev

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The rapid emergence of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) demands accurate prediction and mitigation of noise generated by electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft operating in complex urban environments. Among the various noise sources, the aerodynamic and acoustic response of rotors to unsteady inflow represents a major uncertainty in community-noise assessment and certification. This thesis investigates the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic behavior of a representative eVTOL rotor subjected to time-harmonic inflow disturbances, providing a detailed numerical framework to quantify how periodic gusts influence rotor performance, unsteady loading, and sound radiation.

The study employs a three-stage computational methodology using the open-source solver …

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 …

Aerodynamic And Performance Analysis Of A Morphing Helicopter Rotor System, Vinay Gopal Krishnan

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of rotor morphing, specifically variable rotor speed and variable blade twist, on various parameters such as the distribution of angle of attack, lift, power, thrust and/or other metrics describing the performance of a helicopter rotor. A MATLAB based blade element theory model was developed and executed for different flight conditions. The model was validated against the flight test data of a UH-60. Effects on power, lift to drag ratio and rotor drag from variations in blade twist, rotor speed, rotor radius and blade chord was analyzed. Morphing cases were applied …

Battery Centric Serial Hybrid Aircraft Performance And Design Space, Lenny Gartenberg

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The design space and flight envelope of a battery centric serial hybrid aircraft has been analytically derived. The formulation assumes cruising flight only and all energy available is used. The flight envelope can be generated for any conventional propeller driven serial hybrid aircraft. The advantageous combination of an electric motor and controllable-pitch electric propeller was also explored. The results are used to be able to control efficiency and noise at constant thrust and therefore constant airspeed. Manufacturer provided electric motor and propeller data is used for efficiency purposes. Since the electric motor is virtually silent compared to the propeller, published …

Flight Testing Small Uavs For Aerodynamic Parameter Estimation, Adam Thomas Chase

Master's Theses

A flight data acquisition system was developed to aid unmanned vehicle designers in verifying the vehicle's design performance. The system is reconfigurable and allows the designer to choose the correct combination of complexity, risk, and cost for a given flight test. The designer can also reconfigure the system to meet packaging and integration requirements. System functionality, repeatbility, and accuracy was validated by collecting data during multiple flights of a radio-controlled aircraft. Future work includes sensor fusion, thrust prediction methods, stability and control derivative estimation, and growing Cal Poly's small-scale component aerodynamic database.

Telescope Assembly Alignment Simulator Performance Optimization, Joshua G. Thompson, Brian Eney, Zaheer Ali, Bob Thompson

STAR Program Research Presentations

The Telescope Assembly Alignment Simulator (TAAS) calibrates scientific instruments (SI’s) that are installed on the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). An SI’s accuracy is directly dependent on the consistent performance of the TAAS, which has never been fully characterized. After designing various thermal and optical experiments to identify the current unknowns of TAAS, we now have a far better grasp on how the equipment behaves.