Thrust Vectoring Design Project at Six Universities: Part I — Project Description and Final Designs

An undergraduate student design and build project has been established by the US Air Force, Air Force Research Laboratory as part of an outreach program. During the 2011–2012 academic year, undergraduate students of six universities participated in designing a thrust vectoring system for a small (20 pound-thrust) jet engine. A description of the project parameters and student designs is given in this paper. It proved to be an extremely successful project, and other professors and students can learn from the different approaches taken by the six different teams and the project itself. Industry will also be interested in the depth and breadth of an undergraduate project that is being used to educate their future engineering workforce.

Download Full-text

The Next Century of Air Power

Mechanical Engineering ◽

10.1115/1.2003-nov-2 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 125 (11) ◽

pp. 34-40

Author(s):

Paul D. Nielsen ◽

Ahmed K. Noor ◽

Samuel L. Venneri

Keyword(s):

Air Force ◽

Research Laboratory ◽

Unmanned Vehicles ◽

Air Power ◽

Us Air Force ◽

Wide Range ◽

The Us ◽

Directed Energy ◽

Air Force Research Laboratory ◽

Non Destructive

The US Air Force has been pursuing the transformation of air and space power through development of technologies that yield new capabilities and by adopting novel operational concepts that enhance our ability to achieve desired military effects. Maturing a comprehensive set of technologies is the mission of the Air Force Research Laboratory. The transformation includes migrating military capabilities to unmanned platforms for a wide range of air applications and developing new directed energy capabilities, which produce effects on the battlefield ranging from the traditional destruction of enemy equipment to the revolutionary non-lethal, non-destructive stopping of advancing enemy troops. Vehicles being planned at the Air Force Research Laboratory include unmanned planes for surveillance and reconnaissance. Combat operations of the future may see officers giving commands to fleets of unmanned vehicles that are able to carry out orders on their own. Although precision munitions are smaller, more precise, and more autonomous, weapons using directed energy are beginning to emerge.

Download Full-text

Effect of Acknowledement on Performance of a Fault-Tolerant Wireless Network11The authors acknowledge the support by the US Air Force Research Laboratory (F30602-020-C0225), and by NASA (NCC-1-02009).

Fault Detection, Supervision and Safety of Technical Processes 2006 ◽

10.1016/b978-008044485-7/50225-6 ◽

2007 ◽

pp. 1336-1341

Author(s):

N. Eva Wu ◽

Sudha Thavamani

Keyword(s):

Air Force ◽

Research Laboratory ◽

Fault Tolerant ◽

Us Air Force ◽

The Us ◽

Air Force Research Laboratory

Download Full-text

Thrust Vectoring Design Project at Six Universities: Part II — Impact on Student Learning and Lessons Learned

Volume 4: Ceramics; Concentrating Solar Power Plants; Controls, Diagnostics and Instrumentation; Education; Electric Power; Fans and Blowers ◽

10.1115/gt2013-95631 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Markus P. Rumpfkeil ◽

Mark G. Turner ◽

James T. VanKuren ◽

Rory Roberts ◽

Jeffrey Bons ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Undergraduate Students ◽

Project Based Learning ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Learning Activity ◽

Outreach Program ◽

Thrust Vectoring ◽

Us Air Force ◽

Survey Results ◽

Student Impact ◽

Almost All

Undergraduate students of six universities participated in a design and build outreach program sponsored by the US Air Force during the 2011–2012 academic year. The goal was to design and build a thrust vectoring system for a small jet engine (about 20 pounds of thrust). Student and professor exit surveys were taken with almost all participants contributing to these surveys. Based on the survey results and the professors’ insights, learning outcomes and student impact are assessed. In addition, any other lessons learned during this extensive project-based learning activity are described.

Download Full-text