AERO 489
(Special Topics in Intelligent Systems in Aerospace Engineering)

This multi-disciplinary class in novel technologies and techniques in aerodynamics, structures, and controls covers a broad spectrum of topics. Among these are:

  • Basics of Aerodynamics, Structures and Controls
  • Novel Experimental Techniques in Fluids and Structures
  • Smart or Active Materials
  • Intelligent Sensors and Actuators
  • Intelligent Systems in Flow Control
  • Biomimetics in Aerospace Engineering
  • Intelligent Techniques in Systems Modeling

Some of the course projects are described in detail below:

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Testing of a New Biomimetic Nanostructure Skin for Hydrodynamic Drag Reduction

 

Left: 3" submarine model to test the achieved drag reduction by covering it with the novel nanostructure skin.

Right: Microscope picture of skin with a drop of water on it forming a perfect sphere.

Bottom: Boundary layer profile over a surface with and without the nanostructure coating, showing significant drag reduction (20%) with the coating.

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Electric Power Generation From Wave Motion Via Piezoelectric Materials

 

Left: Design of the buoy for transferring the wave energy to the piezoelectric material, design of transmission mechanism and picture of typical QuickPack® Bimorph Piezo Beam.

Right: Setup for converting mechanical energy to electrical energy via the piezo beam.

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Experimental Modeling of Pressure Tubing Response and Frequency Response Enhancement

Upper left: Schematic of tubing in typical pressure probes. Need to reconstruct pressure Ps by measuring pressure Pr.

Upper right: Schematic and picture of speaker setup for evaluating the tubing frequency response.

Bottom: An example Ps pressure reconstruction by measuring Pr. The green dashed line is the recorded signal (Pr), the blue dotted line is the true signal (Ps), while the red solid line is the reconstructed signal.

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Low-Order Modeling of Dynamical Systems

This project addresses the use of Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) to achieve low order modeling for a wide range of dynamical systems. These systems range from synthetic-jets for flow control to modeling and forecasting of stock market securities.

Left: Exact (left) and low-order model (right) of the flowfield generated by a synthetic jet actuator.

Right: Low-order model and prediction of the price performance of Microsoft (The thin line is exact price data while the thick line is model and prediction. The last 25 days are prediction).

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