The UMSAE aero design team has progressed along their desired schedule as planned and has finished construction of the 2010 aircraft.The use of advanced jigs has allowed us to produce an incredibly accurate aircraft.The jig for the wing has allowed us to manufacture a wing that has a dihedral that is within 1/32 of an inch on either side.It has also insured that there is no sweep in the wing, but unfortunately there was a small amount of twist.However, final steps taken in the construction of the wing allowed us to remove the unwanted twist.
The fuselage of the aircraft has proven to be remarkably sturdy in tests conducted. The final fuselage is now constructed, with everything coming together as originally planned.The interface for the wing has a snug fit and will allow the transfer of the load to the landing gear as estimated.In addition to this, with minor changes made, the wing will be square to the fuselage resulting in problem free takeoffs.There was one issue noted with the torsional rigidity of the tail boom.To ensure that the construction is sound and that there will be no flutter in flight, we are planning to test the tail section at flight speeds.These tests will determine if flutter will actually be an issue. Once the test is completed, the team will then conduct some actual flight testing to see how the plane actually performs.
Once testing is finished the team will ship the aircraft for competition and will be flying down to compete shortly afterwards.Work on the final technical presentation is currently underway.There are high expectations for the 2010 aircraft and we are greatly looking forward to meeting them.
The micro Aero team have built and successfully test flown 2 wings and 2 fuselages. The take off distances weights lifted exceeded all initial expectations. Test sections of the wing were built and then tested by means of a 3 point bending test. The data obtained confirmed the spar design.
The final wing design is completed and is in the process of being built. Wind tunnel testing will be conducted this month to select the proper propeller and battery pack. The fuselage and other remaining components are in the final stages of design. Construction should follow shortly.
The regular class Aero design team is making good progress along their schedule for completion. In order to assist in the building of the plane this year the team made an upgrade to their build room. 9 additional tables were made around the perimeter of the room, 3 of which are used for tooling while the other 6 can be used for construction. This was very important to the team since we will now a lot more reliable working space since the tables in there previously were not well suited for construction.
In November the team made a scale model of out aerodynamic platform and flew it to test its stability. The prototype flew very well and provided good feedback from the pilot. This was a proof of concept only for the stability of the aircraft as well as a chance to get new members further acquainted with the development of a plane, and how hard work pays off. Once this was done the teams was able to build some test sections for the fuselage. Due to the changes in rules they were not able to use the previous techniques for a fuselage fabrication and were now going back to a method of construction that has not been used in recent years. Since the team is no longer able to use fibre reinforced polymers(FRP’s) the design is going back to a spruce construction for the fuselage. Initial analysis have proved positive, since the sections designed ended up holding considerably more weight than expected during the testing.
Future plans for the regular class Aero design team include a design review that will be happening in the next two weeks. They also intend to test some new lighter fuselage sections to try to optimize the design. This will also give the new members a chance to practice building techniques for the final aircraft. Construction of the final aircraft is expected to begin in late January.
Following the successful 2009 season which saw the aero design team place 4 out 29 at competition in Van Nuys, California, the 2010 season will debut the first ever UMSAE entry of a plane into the Micro Class as well as the Regular Class. The micro class has the same basic air-cargo design objectives as the regular class, however, instead of the 200 inch overall airframe dimension restriction featured in the regular class the micro class requires the plane to be disassembled and transported within a carrying case of interior dimensions 18x13x6 inches.
The micro team has already fabricated two working prototypes. Initial test !ights of these planes have yielded very positive results. The Aero Design team working on the regular class entry is currently developing the equations which they will use to analyze the 2010 plane. With a newly imposed fibre reinforced polymer prohibition within the regular class, the team is facing the challenge of replacing all of the material previously used to build the main structural members of the 2009 plane.
Aside from design efforts the Aero team has kept busy with further test !ights of last year’s plane and facility upgrades within their build room.
Aero
