Course syllabus

Course-PM

MMS240 Project in aerospace lp2 HT25 (7.5 hp)

Contact details

• Isak.Jonsson@chalmers.se - Course responsible and contact for everything
• Valery.Chernoray@chalmers.se - Examinator

Schedule

The schedule for the course will be introduced during the first lectures on Monday, 3/11, please be there. There are only three occations (large lectures, lab visits) on 3, 5, 12 of Nov, try you best to be there.

TimeEdit

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. You can choose to do a challange from prevous years but every year there is a new.

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

Problem of 2023 (slightly modified) - 2024

"The Swedish Sea Rescue Society, in collaboration with numerous partners, is developing a small, lightweight, fast, and enduring drone as part of the EOS - Eyes On Scene project. It is launched from an automatic launcher to quickly fly out from the coast to provide early situational awareness in maritime rescue missions. The drone only weight 900 g to adhere to regulation but they are having some issues with endurance. Low endurance comes for an aircraft can either be high drag or low propulsive efficiency, this project addresses the latter:
Do we have the right propeller today in terms of our mission profile? 10 minutes (approximately 50% of available energy) at the highest possible speed (30+ m/s), followed by the longest possible duration (45+ minutes) in loiter at the best economy speed (≈17 m/s). If not, what should it look like?

The students address this challenge by using in-house developed numerical tools to generate new propeller designs, 3D print these and evaluate them in Chalmers L2 wind tunnel. 

Problem of 2025

The ENABLEH2 and MINIMAL, INTEHEX and several other projects at Chalmers in collaboration with industry partners like GKN, are developing intercooled hydrogen turbofan engines to enable sustainable aviation. Hydrogen fuel requires pre-combustion heating, necessitating compact heat exchangers integrated into the gas path between the low-pressure compressor (LPC) and high-pressure compressor (HPC). This introduces challenges in duct design: the diffuser must expand the flow uniformly to the HX inlet while minimizing pressure losses and avoiding stall, all in a constrained space. This project addresses the core issue: Can we design an aggressive diffuser (area ratio A2/A1=4, inlet Mach 0.2) that achieves high pressure recovery (Cp > 0.75), low losses (K < 0.25), and uniform outlet flow for the HX (k=ΔP/q=5), while keeping length short (L=100–200mm for h1=30mm, h2=112mm). If not, what trade-offs in geometry, boundary layer control, or HX interaction are needed?

The students address this challenge by using in-house Python design tools for initial geometry optimization, StarCCM+ CFD templates for detailed flow simulations, and experimental validation in Chalmers' fluid dynamics lab to measure recovery and stall margins.

Organisation

The course revolves around a 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:

• Introduction to Course and Problem Introduction         (3/11)
• Engineering, reserach and an imperfect world               (3/11)
• Continue of above + Communication & Thinking          (5/11)
• Experimental and Numerical Tools + Review Material  (5/11)

After the first week there is a more detailed session the 12/11 for each spcific challenge, but to be able to absorb this you need to have read a bit first.

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 deliverables are directly applicable to the final report and enumerated below:

• D1 - Draft report, first version with the aim of answering the approach, and populate the results section with preliminary results. 
• D2 - Propeller geometry and second draft report. Expand the initial report by adding details up to the point of experiments.
• D3 - Final Presentation (Preliminary 18 of Dec)
• D4 - Final report - due to in Jan 2024.
• D5 - Diary of individual contributions, compilation of material, bonus is to incorporate feedback from D3.
  
  

D1

The D1 report outline the final report and you are expected to iterate and improve it during the progress of the course. The first draft is have all sections populated with summaries or sketches of what you are describing or augmenting for in each paragraph. The goal is to convincingly argue for why the selected approach, what is the the aim and the expected outcome and how you are going to do it. The D1 delivery must include:

• Introduction, Background, Approach (aim and limitations), Method and targeted results (sketches will be sufficient) and what conclusion you aim to draw from these results.

The report template is provided and further instructions can be found in the assignment description.

D2

The second draft is in essentially more mature version where the precious summaries are replaced with detailed descriptions, should include:

• Substantially more detailed assessment of a selected method and an assessment of the expected results.

D3

A presentation of 8min + 5 min question where you describe you findings, it will be submitted beforehand and will try to replicate a typical Academic Conference Session.

D4

The final report is a compact report (max 6 pages + potential appendix) in the format of a scientific aerospace conference publication. The final report will be graded following the HISS-criteria. D3 is approved ones the presentation (date to be set during the course).

D5

Your last deliverable is the final time sheets, report blade geometries, and result files (following the formatting described in the assignment instructions). You are also recommended to add any simulation files, contributions to the in-house code.

Weekly Follow-up Meetings 

On Mondays (unless we agree on another day or have to spread it out over many days due to high number of students) we will have follow up meetings, further details will be provided when the course starts.

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. 

2025 - Technical Literature in recommended

• Sovran, G. J., & Klomp, E. D. (1967). "Experimentally Determined Optimum Geometries for Rectilinear Diffusers with Rectangular, Conical or Annular Cross-Section." In Fluid Mechanics of Internal Flow (Elsevier).
  Comment: Focus on the performance maps and charts section, its bascially the underlying litterature for my ppt.
• Gibson, A. H. (1910). "On the Flow of Water Through Pipes and Passages Having Converging or Diverging Boundaries." Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
  Comment: Read the experimental setup and results (full short paper, ~5 pages); focus on resistance data for conical passages. (Historical basics on pressure recovery.)
• Fox, R. L., & Kline, R. C. (1971). "An Investigation of the Flow in a Diffuser with a High Area Ratio." NASA CR-1781.
  Comment: Read the polynomial contours section (pp. 14-15) and flow characteristics (pp. 8-12); figures on curved walls. (Practical a 5th-order design, ~8 pages; search NTRS for PDF.)
  Reneau, L. R., Johnston, J. P., & Kline, S. J. (1967). "Performance and Design of Straight, Two-Dimensional Diffusers." ASME Journal of Basic Engineering.
  Comment: "Performance Data" Check the contour plots for Cp and stall regimes.
  Capitao Patrao, A., et al. (2023). "Compact Heat Exchangers With Curved Fins for Hydrogen Turbofan Intercooling." ASME Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power (Chalmers PDF link).
  Comment: Introduction and diffuser-HX integration (pp. 1-5); figures on pressure losses. (Modern tie-in to your project, ~5 pages.)

2024 - Technical Literature in recommended

• Aircraft Engine Design (2nd Edition). Mattingly, Jack D.; Heiser, William H.; Pratt, David T
• 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.
• 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.
• C. N. Adkins and R. H. Liebeck, Design of Optimum Propellers”, Journal Of Propulsion And Power, Vol. 10, No.5, 1994.
• Alrifai, Y. & Avetian, H. & Ingemarsson, C. & Kadi, O. & Mathiesen, V. & Vassilev, M. Propulsive Integration on a Search and Rescue Drone Aircraft. C. 
• HAIDARI, M. H. et al. Low-Noise Propeller Design for Future Electric Aircraft.

Other Literature

• The Unwritten Laws of Engineering - By W. J. King and James G. Skakoon
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M Pirsig
• Essay Writing Guide - Jordan Petersson
• How to solve it - George Pólya
• Tropea, C., Yarin, A. L., & Foss, J. F. (Eds.). (2007). Springer handbook of experimental fluid mechanics.  Berlin: Springer.

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.