AAE 451 Aircraft Design-Build-Test, Course Description

Course Philosophy:

Design-Build-Test is a hands-on educational approach that allows Mother Nature to both confirm and qualify the analysis and design methodologies we teach in the classroom.

The approach starts with a single piece of paper, the mission specification, and involves eleven weeks design work conducted by four-five person teams. The design process is monitored in twelve major design reviews. Students then have three weeks to build the complete aircraft.

The design process ends in flight testing within the Mollenkopf Athletic Center during the fourteenth week of the semester when we see whether the aircraft system meets the mission specification.

Format: Five lecture hours per week during the initial quarter of the semester. Later on, no lectures, instead team conferences and presentations. Five contact hours per week are scheduled, two as lecture and three as lab.

Pre-requisites: AAE 334, 352, and 372.

Description: Lectures on the methods and philosophy of preliminary aircraft design. A supervised opportunity to perform a multidisciplinary aircraft design in teams. In some semesters a preliminary design is carried out using computer simulations. In other semesters a vehicle is designed, built, and flight tested.

Staff : Professor Dominick Andrisani

Principal References:

• Abbott, I.H. and VonDoenhoff, A.E, Theory of Wing Sections Including a Summary of Airfoil Data, Dover Publications, Inc., 1949, 1959.
• Anderson, J.D., Jr., Introduction to Flight, McGraw Hill Book Company, 1989.
• Lan, C-T., and Roskam, J., Airplane Aerodynamics and Performance, Roskam Aviation and Engineering Corporation, 1980.
• Hoak, D. E., USAF Stability and Control DATCOM, Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory, published in nine volumes or sections, Volume 4 is the most useful.
• Mattingly, J.D. Heiser, W.H., and Daley, D.H., Aircraft Engine Design, AIAA, 1987
• McCormick, B.W., Aerodynamics, Aeronautics, and Flight Mechanics, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1995.
• Raymer, D.P., Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach, AIAA, 1989.
• Roskam, J., Airplane Design, Parts I-VIII, Roskam Aviation and Engineering Corporation, 1986.
• Roskam, J., Airplane Flight Dynamics and Automatic Flight Controls, Part I, Roskam Aviation and Engineering Corporation, 1979.
• Selig, M.S., Donovan, J.F., and Fraser, D.B., Airfoils at Low Speeds, H.A. Stokely, Publisher, 1989.
• Torenbeek, E., Synthesis of Subsonic Airplane Design, Delft University Press, 1982.
• Witford, R., Design For Air Combat, Jane’s Publishing, Inc., 1987.

Assessment Method: Individual assignments 10%, Preliminary Design Reviews 20%, Critical Design Review 20%, Summary Project Presentation 20%, Final Design Report 30%.

Course Goal: To synthesize a complex multidisciplinary aircraft design in order to prepare students for engineering practice.

Course Objectives:

• Provide experience with the difference between analysis (the subject of most coursework), and design (the synthesis of solutions to open-ended problems that require creativity).
• Provide a capstone aircraft design project that requires integration and creative application of the analysis skills developed in earlier coursework.
• Provide a major design experience that requires students to work together in teams.
• Illustrate how performance of the different vehicle properties must be balanced using compromises that achieve good overall vehicle performance.

Necessary Background:

• Expertise in aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, flight mechanics, and control systems.
• Introductory design experience.
• Computer programming ability.

Key Elements of the Course:

1. Understanding of Mission Requirements

• Applicable engineering design standards
• Realistic constraints

2. Preliminary sizing

• Wing area
• Propulsion system

3. Design refinement

• Wing planform (section, taper, sweep, dihedral, etc.)
• Fuselage (length, diameter, etc.)
• Weight and balance
• Structural design (loads analysis, spars, wing box, etc.)
• Empennage and control surfaces
• Propulsion system details
• Preliminary design reports

4. Mission simulation and performance verification

5. Design iterations

6. Critical Design Review (oral and written reports)

7. Build a prototype (three weeks)

8. Flight test the prototype

9. Document and report results (oral and written reports)