Course syllabus

Introduction

The aim of the course is to introduce the student to advanced aero and thermodynamic research relevant to aerospace by a hands-on approach. The course empathises on investigation of complex problems with limited information and an open solution space. The environment is designed to imitate the typical work environment of a research group in academia or industry. Each year the course addresses an active research question in the department and the students present their findings in a format typical of an reviewed scientific conference, i.e. a short paper and a presentation.

Challenge of 2023

The New Flying Competition is a student competition where student teams designs a UAV to perform a mission. From the webpage "The competition is characterized by applying real world industrial aircraft design criteria and real world aircraft design processes to model aircraft design. During the competition the participating university teams apply scientific rationale and methods which are to be documented in design reports". While the overall design of the drone is performed in another student project, this course focuses on the design of the propeller. Normally, teams buy off-the-shelf(OTS) propellers and acquire one with a the best match possible for the load and operating conditions of the aircraft. However, there are not too many models OTS and the "best" match might come with a 10-20% propulsive efficiency penalty. This penalty is often unacceptable so the drone design is ultimately derived from propeller specifications. In order to assist the student team for the New Flying Competition this years challenge for MMS240 is to design a new propeller suitable for the requirements of the New Flying Competition.

The students will use in-house developed numerical tools to generate new propeller designs, 3D print these and evaluate them in Chalmers L2 wind tunnel. The results should be prepared as a short conference contribution with a corresponding presentation.

Organisation

The course revolves around one large project with inserted lectures and sessions together with discussion and tutoring. The lectures are aimed to guide the students with the completion of the project task and maximise student learning and quality of the work. 

Content

The lectures will address the following aspects:

• Problem formulation and approach
• Uncertainties, planning and risk mitigation
• Experimental and numerical tools from an applied point of view
• Post-processing (analysis) of results

The course includes hands-on experience of experimental investigations using the equipment such as 3D-printers, L2 wind tunnel and relevant equipment in Chalmers Laboratory of Fluids and Thermal Sciences.

Project Deliverables

The final deliverable for the students is a short conference paper and presentation of the findings in the targeted project subject. During the course, the students are to deliver parts of this report in deliverables in order to get feedback. All parts are directly applicable to the final report and enumerated below:

• D1 - Draft report, first version with the aim of answering the approach, very similar to “Planning Report” - due to 13 Oct 2022
• D2 - Draft report, second version, Expand the initial report by adding details up to the point of experiments - due to 11 Dec 2022
• D3 - Final report - due to 25 Dec 2022
• D4 - Diary of individual contributions

D1

The first draft is very similar to a planning report. It should answer the “what, how and when” of your work. However, the report should follow the provided structure of the final report and you are expected to iterate and improve it during the progress of the course. The D1 delivery must include:

• Introduction, Background, Approach (aim and limitations), Method

The report template is provided in the Files.

D2

The second draft should include:

• Detailed assessment of a selected approach and expected results.

D3

The final report is a compact report (max 6 pages + potential appendix) in the format of a 10-page aerospace representative scientific conference publication. The final report will be graded following the HISS-criteria.

Learning outcomes 

After the course the student should be able:

• to critically, independently and creatively identify and formulate issues
• to master problems with open solutions spaces. This includes to be able to handle uncertainties and limited information
• to apply previously learned theory, simulation methods and tools to handle industrial mechanical engineering problems
• to create appropriate simulations models and experiments to solve a specific simulations problem
• to use sensitivity studies and uncertainty analysis in design and assess the most critical aspects for a particular application case
• to critically evaluate the final design and provide alternative investigation methods and approaches
• to give written and oral presentations of a larger technical investigation
• to present and report the work to peers

Literature

Students are not expected to buy any literature for this course, books are either available online via Chalmers library or in the public literature. A literature list will be provided to prepare discussion sessions and lectures and adapted to research question.

Overreaching Literature

• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M Pirsig
• Essay Writing Guide - Jordan Petersson
• Tropea, C., Yarin, A. L., & Foss, J. F. (Eds.). (2007). Springer handbook of experimental fluid mechanics.  Berlin: Springer.

2023 - Challenge Specific Literature

• Miltén, P. & Svensson, C. (2022) Design and evaluation of UAV system to support naval search and rescue - Full design cycle of blended wing body unmanned aerial vehicle, ranging from initial sizing to windtunnel evaluation.
• Alrifai, Y. & Avetian, H. & Ingemarsson, C. & Kadi, O. & Mathiesen, V. & Vassilev, M. Propulsive Integration on a Search and Rescue Drone Aircraft.
• Alexandre Capitao Patrao, Research report - Department of Mechanics and Maritime Sciences: 2017:06 (2017), Implementation of Blade Element Momentum/Vortex Methods for the Design of Aero Engine Propellers.
• HAIDARI, M. H. et al. Low-Noise Propeller Design for Future Electric Aircraft.

Examination including compulsory elements

60% of the student grade will be derived from the team performance and 40% from individual contributions. Each student shall compile a project diary describing the tasks carried out in the project.