AAE Undergraduate Students Take Part in Study Abroad Research Program at Technical University Brauschweig

During the 2015 summer months, four AAE Undergraduate students took part in a study abroad research experience at Technical University Braunschweig (TUB), located in Braunschweig, Germany. Aleksandra Dervisevic, Noah Gold, Jay Millane, and Andres Velez-Valencia participated in independent research opportunities and had the opportunity to choose a research project that covered one or more of the five AAE program concentrations: Aerodynamics, Design, Propulsion, Dynamics and Control, and Structures. Upon successful completion of the research experience, students gained six hours of technical elective credit and three hours of general elective credit towards their plan of study.

Aleksandra worked in the area of Controls while at TUB and primarily focused on creating and perfecting coding in C++ to improve runway detection during landing approach. Aleksandra processed images taken from a camera placed on the front of the plane to then use in an Image Analyzer algorithm. Once the images were processed using the algorithm, Aleksandra would then use these findings to edit and perfect previous code until the program produced stable runway detection.

Noah’s research focused in both Propulsion and Structures. His research consisted of using finite element analysis to stimulate a rocket engine nozzle sample under realistic flight parameters. Once this simulation was developed, Noah then investigated the various effects of different parameters, failure modes inherit in the system, and possible solutions to these failure modes.

Jay’s research was in the area of Dynamics. Jay worked with the numerical satellite orbit propagation program known as Zuniem. While Zuniem is capable of reasonably accurate predictions, there were cases where the program failed to provide accurate results. Jay was tasked with improving the accuracy of this program which included full conversation of code from Fortran 77 to Fortran 90, the introduction of a Zuniem-standard transformation library, and the creation and inclusion of a standard variable type to store satellite properties (in order to avoid relying on global variables).

Andres, whose research was concentrated in Aerodynamics, shared that his research consisted of performing a mesh study between a fine and course mesh of a high lift wing configuration. Given the results for the fine mesh, the numerical simulations for the courser mesh were conducted using two separate turbulence models until stall condition were reached for each model. This lead to the main area of focus for comparison to be the vortices generated by the leading edge slat cut-off.

Overall, these students shared that they would highly recommend this experience and would encourage their peers to attend TUB for a research-intensive study abroad program. They described their academic experience as rigorous, challenging, exciting, and invaluable. Beyond the research environment, they said it was an incredible cultural experience as well. A combination of weekend trips to neighboring countries and cities, such as Berlin, Czech Republic, and France, European cuisine, and gaining a greater understanding of the world contributed to a phenomenal study abroad experience.

Interested in studying abroad at TUB this summer? For more information, as well as a list of summer 2016 research topics, please visit the Office of Professional Practice’s page: https://opp.purdue.edu/programs/global.html or attend their call out on November 11th from 5:30PM-6:30PM in MSEE B012. The application deadline is January 8th, 2016.