AERO News 2009 - Michigan Engineering

Aerospace Engineering
Winter 2009
The University of Michigan
AERO VISION
Points of Interest:
• Advancing Aerospace
• Flight Control and
Avionics of Unmanned
Vehicles
• Gerard M. Faeth
Memorial Lecture
• International Programs
in Engineering
• Alumni Networking
Inside this issue:
Department
Research
2
Faculty News
4
Student News
6
Alumni News
8
Student Projects
10
International
Programs
The department has published
a document named “Advancing
Aerospace” In it, we offer a
vision of Aerospace Engineering as an educational discipline
as a research frontier, as well
as a source of human inspiration and a profession ready to
help address a number of
societal challenges. The booklet also describes various
endeavors within our University.
Today’s aerospace engineers
may take for granted the
accomplishments of our field,
but a hundred years ago these
capabilities were the stuff of
science fiction. As we look
ahead we can imagine what
future innovations may bring.
Some of today’s science fiction
will
surely
become
fact.
Commercial high-speed flight
will become practical. Unmanned vehicles will become
increasingly
common-place,
and in some cases their design
may be inspired by biological
flyers. Safe and quiet vertical
flight may enable direct air
travel into city centers. Parts of
the
hub-and-spoke
travel
system may be replaced by
new point-to-point models. Air
routes will open up new corners
of the world and pose new
challenges to aircraft designers.
Satellite-based technologies will
pervade our lives in ways we
cannot yet imagine.
11
Alumni on the Web 12
To accomplish these and other
innovations, aerospace engineers will increasingly work in
interdisciplinary teams. International collaborations will be
needed to enable ambitious and
expensive projects globally. The
http://aerospace.engin.umich.edu/AdvancingAerospace.pdf
complexity of aerospace systems may call for new modes
of analysis and design. Software based tools will enhance
some of yesterday’s subject
matter specialists. Aerospace
engineers, like those in other
disciplines, may move more
frequently from one employer
to another. Many will adopt
entrepreneurial careers.
While it is impossible to predict
the precise future of the aerospace enterprise a decade or
two from now, it is clear what
changes a leading academic
department must make to
remain at the fore-front of this
field. In this document we envi-
sion the new
challenges
and opportunities that the
aerospace engineers of
tomorrow will face, and
describe key initiatives that
we have put in place at
Michigan to prepare our
graduates and research
endeavors to succeed in this
future.
We sincerely hope this
document will motivate your
thinking about these issues;
we look forward to your
feedback.
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Aerospace Engineering
DEPARTMENT RESEARCH
ACTIVE AEROELASTICITY
AND STRUCTURES
RESEARCH LAB
In the Active Aeroelasticity and than the traditional piezoelectric wafer‐
Structures Research Laboratory Professor based transducers, high mode selectivity, and Carlos Cesnik and Ph.D. student Ken Salas compensation for environmental effects. have designed, built and The CLoVER device is composed of a series of characterized a completely directional sectors that are sequentially acti‐
new transducer for vated to interrogate a structure for damage Structural Health Monitor‐ from a central inspection point. The ultrasonic ing. The so‐called CLoVER waves, within a frequency range of 50 kHz to 1 (Composite Long‐range Vari‐ MHz, excited in the structure are able to able‐length Emitting Radar) identify defects as small as 5 mm in diameter transducer detects damage and can be located on the surface or inside the in aerospace structures as structure. The development of this novel radar finds airplanes in the transducer is being sponsored by AFOSR and air. The directionality of this NASA/CUIP, and it is being considered for Ares new transducer allows for V composite parts to detect damage. For much longer range coverage additional information, visit the website: Photo: Wave field excited by a CLoVER sector in an
aluminum plate at 75 kHz as measured using laser
vibrometry. The propagation distance shown is 10 cm
with the transducer outer radius (RO) being 2.5 cm.
http://gust.engin.umich.edu/ Radio Aurora Explorer (RAX) Project
Last fall, the National Science Foundation (NSF) selected the University of Michigan and their partner, SRI International, to develop NSF's first satellite mission. Under the direction of Professor James Cutler, undergraduate and graduate students will be heavily involved in this Radio Aurora Explorer (RAX) project. RAX is a small “cubeSat” class satellite, less than 5kg, and about the size of a loaf of bread. RAX will measure the energy flow in the ionosphere, the highest part of Earth's atmosphere where solar radiation turns regular atoms into charged particles. Disturbances in the ionosphere can affect earth‐to‐space communications such as GPS signals, digital satellite television and voice and data transmission systems including Iridium and Globalstar. This project will help better understand space weather processes, how the Earth and Sun Photo Above: interact, and how weather produces noise in space communication signals—noise that Conceptual drawing of bistatic radar translates to lower quality telecommunications capabilities and errors in GPS signals. RAX will experiment of the RAX mission. fly a novel bistatic radar receiver to perform these experiments with ground based radar transmitters. The first launch opportunity for this NSF satellite program will be with the Department of Defense Space Test Program, aboard a Minotaur‐4 launch vehicle out of Kodiak, Alaska, in December 2009. RAX is scheduled to be the first in a series of CubeSat missions funded by the NSF to study space weather phenomenon. Please visit http://rax.engin.umich.edu for further information. DEFENSE UNIVERSITY
Continuing the department’s success in competing for the Defense University Research RESEARCH INSTRUMENTATION Instrumentation Program (DURIP) Grant Award, Professor Tony Waas was selected by the PROGRAM (DURIP) GRANT
Army Research Office for an ultra‐high speed digital imaging system that is capable of AWARDS
capturing images at 1 million frames per second, to extract the displacement and strain field in a variety of advanced materials. Each image consists of 1M Pixel and 30 frames can be captured in a single event. It will initially be used to study 3‐D textile composite materials. The added capability can directly contribute to an improved understanding of the deformation response of such materials when they are subjected to very short duration and high intensity loads. An example is the mechanics of damage development and growth in advanced composite materials and structures that are used for light‐weight land and air vehicles of interest to the U.S. Army. Flight Control and Avionics of Unmanned Flight Vehicles
Page 3
The unmanned vehicle has attracted significant interest in the aerospace engineering community and is one of the strategic areas of the Department. With impressive progress made in flight vehicles, such as the Predator, research is being conducted at Michigan and other institutions to address a broad range of issues related to control, communication, sensing, structures and materials, aerodynamics and propulsion. In this issue, we profile some research efforts in the area of flight controls. Aerospace Robotics and Control Laboratory (ARC Lab) The ARC Lab, under the direction of Professor Anouck Girard, has recently added instrumentation to create an Autonomous Control Environment (ACE). ACE consists of scaled unmanned ground and air vehicles that work collaboratively under human supervision to accomplish global mission goals. One example is a base defense scenario where the vehi‐
cles work together to defend a base and its high value assets against an enemy intruder. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) are autonomously controlled to detect an intruder that has penetrated the base’s outer perimeter, report the threat to a human operator, broadcast images of the intruder back to base, and track and eventually neutralize the intruder. The locations of the UAVs and UGVs are measured using a Vicon motion tracking system. The cameras send out light which is reflected back to the cameras via tracking spheres that are attached to the UAVs and UAGs. The Vicon system can then determine the vehicles’ positions and orientations. A Graphic User Interface (GUI) is also being developed to display what is occurring and to provide information to the user on the vehicle status. The GUI will enable the user to control the UAVs by selecting waypoints or tracking the vehicles when completely autonomous. The model helicopters currently being used in this research have a battery time of only seven minutes. As a result, a device is being developed that will autonomously swap out the depleted battery and replace it with a new one. The battery swapper has been designed to allow one helicopter to operate indefinitely. Fuel cells are also being considered to power the UAVs to prolong their operation time. In July, team members visited Wright‐Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, to present the ACE research and to learn about the Air Force’s current research. The trip included a day at The Dayton Air Show. For more information and to see videos of the helicopters and ground robots visit their website at: http://www.umich.edu/~arclab/macccs. Autonomous Aerospace Systems Laboratory (A2Sys Lab) and EECS, which is currently in a Phase II effort aimed at achieving multi‐day fully
‐autonomous open‐water deployment. The solar energy harvesting system will be monitored and managed by onboard software responsible for computing and executing repositioning flights while maintaining sufficient energy for daytime and overnight operations. The A2Sys Lab is under the direction of Professor Ella Atkins. The lab designs, builds, and demonstrates embedded planning and control software for an array of challenging Aerospace systems and environments. The broad research objective of the A2Sys Lab is to provide 2
high levels of robustness and safety for autonomous Exciting research activities are emerging in the A Sys lab. Aerospace platforms through fusion of task‐level and As an example, a small fixed‐wing UAS has been instru‐
physics‐based embedded planning and control mented with an array of pressure ports to enable full air‐
algorithms. A synergistic goal is to support informa‐ data system measurements plus tion and embedded systems education through use characterization of flow over the of platforms such as TableSat, a one degree‐of‐ wing. The near‐term goal is to freedom tabletop satellite providing undergraduate incorporate aerodynamic data students real‐world experience with embedded into the onboard control law to real‐time software, sensor calibration, and single support robust transition between forward flight and degree‐of‐freedom attitude control. hover, with a longer‐term goal of Projects range from the Flying Fish persistent ocean incorporating strategic pressure surveillance platform to an emergency flight planning data into flapping wing vehicle and guidance algorithm suite designed to autono‐
models and ultimately control laws. For more informa‐
mously land a disabled aircraft. Flying Fish is a tion, including photos and videos, please visit the website: collaboration between researchers in Aero, NAME, http://solarbubbles.engin.umich.edu/~a2sys Photo Above: Aero Student, Zahid Hasan is pictured with autonomous helicopters in formation. Photo Left: TableSat (Tabletop Satellite Platform) Photo Below: Funtana with integrated wing pressure Page 4
Aerospace Engineering
NEW FACULTY MEMBERS
The Department of Aerospace engineering is a vibrant place. Over the past two years we have added six new faculty members to our ranks, representing a quarter of our total faculty. All are assistant or associate professors, who have brought with them fresh expertise that has added to our Department’s strength in specific strategic areas that we have targeted for development and growth. We also have ongoing searches to add several more faculty members to further enrich our teaching and research portfolios. James Cutler joined the faculty in Sep‐
tember, 2008. He did his graduate work at Stanford University and under‐
graduate studies at Purdue University. His research interests center on space systems, a multi‐disciplinary approach to enabling future space capability with particular emphasis on novel, nanosatellite missions. He is developing next generation communication capabil‐
ity and robust space computing infrastructure. He has flown five university‐class nanosatellites and is building a global ground station network. He is Co‐PI on the first NSF space mission, the Radio Aurora Explorer (RAX), See page 2. He is also PI on a ULF magnetometer chain operating in California. <[email protected]> Krzysztof Fidkowski joined the fac‐
ulty in September 2008, after a post‐
doctoral appointment at the Massa‐
chusetts Institute of Technology; he received both his Ph.D. and S.M. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from M.I.T. in 2007 and 2004, respectively. His research interests include development of robust solution techniques for computational fluid dy‐
namics, error estimation, computational geometry management, parallel computation, large‐scale model reduction, and design with uncertainty. His teaching interests are in aerodynamics and nu‐
merical methods, and in computational fluid dynamics. <[email protected]> FACULTY AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
Carlos Cesnik Carlos was promoted to full professor and currently serves as the department’s graduate com‐
mittee chair. He has also been appointed the Technical Chair for the 50th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/
AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference to take place in Palm Springs, California, 4‐7 May 2009. This is the golden anniversary of the oldest AIAA meeting and the world’s most influential aerospace structures and materials technical conference. <[email protected]> Peretz P. Friedmann Peretz presented the 2009 Dryden Lecture in the 47th American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Aerospace Sciences Meeting on January 5, 2009. The Dryden Lectureship in Research is one of the AIAA's major honors. It emphasizes the importance of basic research to the advancement in aeronautics and astronautics and is a salute to research scientists and engi‐
neers. The title of his talk was “Aeronautics Research at Two Frontiers of Vehicle Development‐
Vibration Control in Rotorcraft and Hypersonic Aeroelasticity,” two topics on which he has done a substantial amount of pioneering research during the last 15 years. The award recognizes his numerous contributions to rotary and fixed wing aeroelasticity, vibration and noise reduction in rotorcraft, hypersonic aeroelasticity and aerothermoelasticity and optimal design of helicopter rotors. He also assumes the responsibility of the Editor‐
in‐Chief of the AIAA Journal, the flagship publication of the AIAA. <[email protected]> Page 5
Werner J. A. Dahm Appointed as Chief Scientist of U.S. Air Force Werner has accepted an appointment as Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force beginning October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009. As Chief Scientist, he is the principal science and technology advisor to the Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and provides assessments on a wide range of scientific and technical issues that affect the Air Force mission. In this roll he identifies and analyzes technical issues and brings them to the attention of Air Force leaders, and interacts with other Air staff principals, operational commanders, combatant commands, acquisition, and science and technology communities to address cross‐
organizational technical issues and solutions. He additionally interacts with other services and the Office of the Secretary of Defense on issues affecting the Air Force in‐house technical enterprise. For the past three years he has served as a member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). He also serves on the Steering Committee and Senior Review Group of the Air Force SAB, and is the principal science and technology representative of the Air Force to the civilian scientific and engineering communities and to the public at large. Professor Dahm has 30 years experience in science and technology, including defense science. <[email protected]>
Harris McClamroch Harris was the 2008 recipient of the Aero Departmental award recognizing his long and outstanding contributions to many critical aspects of the department's mission. Harris has been on the Aero faculty since 1967. He has taught and developed numerous undergraduate and graduate level courses, he has supervised more than 25 Ph.D. students as their primary advisor, and is widely viewed as a leader in the dynamics and control community. He also served as the Aero department chair (1992‐1996), and recently as chair of the department's undergraduate committee. He has excellent knowledge of and insight into a number of topics of interest to aerospace engineering, and has been a voice of progress in and out of the department. <[email protected]> Tony Waas Tony has been named the Felix W. Pawlowski Collegiate Professor of Aerospace Engineering. The professorship recognizes his outstanding and broad contributions and leadership. Tony is internationally known for research contributions in the fields of composite materials and structures, structural stability, and strength prediction of composite structures and their performance under compressive loading environments. He served as the Technical Chair of the 49th AIAA Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference (Chicago 2008), received the College of Engineering Research Award 2007, and is currently an Associate Editor of The Aeronautical Journal, published by the Royal Aeronautical Society, UK; he also served as associate editor for the AIAA Journal (1995‐
2002). He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the American Academy of Me‐
chanics (AAM). <[email protected]> Thomas Zurbuchen Thomas was promoted to full professor and was recognized as the Outstanding Student Group Advisor at the College of Engineering Student Leaders and Honors Brunch in March, 2008. Thomas has a joint faculty appointment with AOSS and Aero and currently serves as the AOSS Graduate Student Advisor as well as adviser for the MEng/SGUS in Space Engineering, and the Director of the Center for Entreprenuership. He is a member of both the UM Google Group and the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching Advisory Board. <[email protected]> Page 6
Aerospace Engineering
STUDENT AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
Erin Farbar (Ph.D. Candidate AE; faculty adviser Iain Boyd) Erin won two prestigious awards. The Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowship, awarded to women in areas of science and engineering closely related to advanced studies in aerospace‐related science or aerospace‐related engineering, and the National Research Council of Canada Post‐graduate Scholarship (NSERC) for high‐caliber scholars in the natural sciences or engineering. Kohei Fujimoto (BSAE Senior) Kohei received the 2008 Harm Buning Scholarship Award. This award is given annually to an outstanding undergraduate student and commemorates Professor Buning’s life‐long dedication to our department, par‐
ticularly its undergraduates. Kohei has an outstanding academic record, has been researching the orbital mechanics of debris fields, and is the current leader of the Mars Rover Team (see page 11). Andy Klesh (BSEAE 2005, BSEEE 2005, MSEAE 2006; faculty advisers Anouck Girard and Pierre Kabamba) Andy received the 2008 AIAA Guidance, Navigation and Control Graduate Award. The award is given yearly to a graduate student on the basis of academic record and research plan/potential, and for participation in research endeavors that will impact one or more of the areas of guidance, navigation, and control as part of their graduate studies. Andy was also one of the founding members of the Solarbubbles UAV Team (see page 12). Andy successfully defended his Ph.D. AE in February, 2009. Bryan Reid (BSAE 2003, MSE 2004; faculty adviser Alec Gallimore) Bryan was selected to join a handful of graduate students from across the country for an informal question and answer session with the NASA Administrator, Dr. Michael Griffin in May 2008. Topics included the International Space Station, the Mars Exploration Rovers, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the stresses of leading the most visible (and scrutinized) aerospace giant in the world. Bryan received his BSEAE, and spent four summers at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) during his undergraduate career. After graduating with his BSEAE, Bryan accepted a co‐op position in the electric propulsion group at NASA GRC, while pursuing a doctoral degree at Michigan as part of the Plasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratory. At NASA, Bryan was in‐
volved with research and characterization of Hall thrusters using alternate propellants. Bryan was awarded the NASA Harriett G. Jenkins Pre‐doctoral Fellowship in 2003 and the NASA Michigan Space Grant Consortium Fellowship from 2004‐2008. He served as Vice President of Sigma Gamma Tau and engineering representative for the Rackham Student Government (RSG). Bryan successfully defended his Ph.D. AE in December 2008. STUDENT LEADERS The College of Engineering Student Leaders and Honors Brunch, held in March 2008, recognized several outstanding Aerospace Engineering students: Aaron Johnson, Distinguished Undergraduate Achievement Award; Taeyoung Lee, Distinguished Graduate Achievement Award and the Ivor K. McIvor Award; Lindsay Parker, Distinguished Undergraduate Leadership Award; Jesse Thomas, Ivor K. McIvor Award. 2008 SUMMER RESEARCH AWARD RECIPIENTS Christopher Attard, “High Strain Rate Testing of Composite Materials (Advisor, Tony Waas); Brittany Drenkow, “Laser Induced Fluorescence Velocimetry of Xenon Ions Inside a Hall Effect Thruster” (Advisor, Alec Gallimore); Kohei Fujimoto, “Research on Virtual Debris Particles and its Application of Real Space Debris Observations” (Advisor, Dan Scheeres); Daniel Kosinski, “Instability and Failure Mechanisms of Reinforced Honeycomb” (Advisor, Nick Triantafyllidis); Andrew Lyjak, “Development of Tracking and Positioning System for MClimber, A Wireless Power Beaming Project” (Advisor, Ella Atkins); Nicholas Rooney, “Proposed Solar Power Prediction Device for Flying Fish Project” (Advisor, Ella Atkins); and Jonathan Wiebenga, “Optimizing an Electric Power Train for a Small UAV” (Advisor, Luis Bernal). Winter 2009
Page 7
2008 AEROSPACE ENGINEERING DEGREE RECIPIENTS
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (AEROSPACE ENGINEERING) Sami Alan Bayyuk, “Computation of Inviscid Compressible Flows About Arbitrary Geometries and Moving Boundaries” (Committee Co‐Chairs: Kenneth G. Powell, Bram van Leer); Julie Bellerose, “The Restricted Full Three Body Problem: Applications to Binary Asteroid Exploration” (Committee Chair: Daniel J. Scheeres); Jeremiah J. Boerner, “Computational Simulation of Faraday Probe Measurements” (Committee Chair: Iain Boyd); Jaganath Chandrasekar, “Reduced‐Complexity Algorithms for Data Assimilation of Large‐Scale Systems” (Committee Co‐Chairs: Dennis S. Bernstein, Aaron Ridley); Youngjun Choi, “Modeling an Anode Layer Hall Thruster and its Plume” (Committee Chair: Iain Boyd); Sulabh Kumar Dhanuka, “An Experimental Study of the Stable and Unstable Operation of an LLP Gas Turbine Combustor” (Committee Chair: James F. Driscoll); Bryan Glaz, “Active/Passive Optimization of Helicopter Rooter Blades for Improved Vibration, Noise, and Performance Characteristics” (Committee Chair: Peretz P. Friedmann); Peter A. Gustafson, “Analytical and Experimental Methods for Adhesively Bonded Joints Subjected to High Temperatures” (Committee Chair: Anthony M. Waas); Hseng‐Ji Huang, “In‐Plane Response and Mode II Fracture Response of z‐pin Woven Laminates” (Committee Chair: Anthony M. Waas); Wooseok Ji, “Static and Dynamic Response of a Sandwich Structure Under Axial Compression” (Committee Chair: Anthony M. Waas); In Sung Kim, “Large Scale Data Assimilation with Application to the Ionosphere‐Thermosphere” (Committee Co‐Chairs: Dennis S. Bernstein, Aaron Ridley); David E. Kirtley, “Study of Synchronous Operation of an Annular Field Reversed Configuration Plasma Device” (Committee Chair: Alec D. Gallimore); Taeyoung Lee, “Computational Geometric Mechanics and Control of Rigid Bodies” (Committee Co‐Chairs: Melvin Leok, Harris McClamroch); Andrew J. Lofthouse, “Nonequilibrium Hypersonic Aerothermodynamics Using the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo and Navier Stokes Models” (Committee Chair: Iain Boyd); Jose Fernando Padilla, “Assessment of Gas‐Surface Interaction Models for Computation of Rarefied Hypersonic Flows” (Committee Chair: Iain Boyd); Prashant R. Patel, “Automating Interplanetary Trajectory Generation for Electric Propulsion Trade Studies” (Committer Co‐Chairs: Daniel J. Scheeres, Thomas H. Zurbuchen); Weihu Su, “Coupled Nonlinear Aeroelasticity and Flight Dynamics of Fully Flexible Aircraft” (Committee Chair: Carlos R. Cesnik); Jesse D. Thomas, “Theoretical Formulation and Numerical Implementation of Electromagnetic and Thermomechanical Loading Processes in Solids” (Committee Chair: Nicolas Triantafyllidis); John Tamin Yim, “Computational Modeling of Hall Thruster Channel Wall Erosion” (Committee Co‐Chairs: Iain Boyd, Michael Keider). DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (AEROSPACE SCIENCE) Andrew James Porwitzky, “An End‐To‐End Model of an Electrothermal Chemical Gun” (Committee Co‐Chairs: Iain Boyd, Michael Keidar); Yoshifumi Suzuki, “Discontinuous Galerkin Methods for Extended Hydrodynamica” (Committee Chair: Bram van Leer). M.S. IN ENGINEERING (AEROSPACE ENGINEERING) John Joseph Baker Charles Wayne Barbour II Rebecca Leigh Besser David Lee Burns James Chullhyun Cho Anthony Mari D’Amato Timothy Reno Deschenes Bojana Drinci Shareil Elia Michael Phillip Eisenberg Benjamin Michael Iwrey Brendan Scott Fike Benjamin Jacob Friedland Rita Gitik Cameron E. Haag Neil Robert Halonen Jeffrey Anthony Hamel Wensheng Huang Santosh Jois Tadashi Kito Devesh Kumar Raymond Liang Jeffrey David Lydecker Anthony Andrew Marciniak Matthew Henry McKeown Alexander Ross Murray Ganesh Ananth Narayan Nadarasa Nimalarasa Freddy Ng Christopher Francis Ruswick Nathan Allen Scholten Adam Shabshelowitz Jeffrey Alan Simmons Mi‐Suh Song Zhiwei Song William Andrew Stoddard Kenji Tamura Brandon James Taylor Geoffrey Austin Theis Prasanna Amur Varadarajan Chenghao Ye Jinping Lemuel Yiew M.S. in Engineering (Aerospace Science) Guillaume Barraud Rahul Rajendra Bhinje Harish Ganesh Tyler D. Huismann Romain Florent Letor Tetsuo Yoshikuni Chenwei Zhang Page 8
Aerospace Engineering
AERO ALUMNUS, RICHARD S. YEUNG HONORED AS A COLLEGE OF ENGINEEIRNG 2008 MERIT AWARD RECIPIENT Dick Yeung was honored with the 2008 Aerospace Engineering Alumnus Merit Award at the CoE annual honors dinner on October 4, 2008. Dick is a professional investor based in Kona, Hawaii. He graduated from Michigan with B.S. and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering (1960 and 1961 respectively), followed by an MBA at Columbia University. He started his career in the aerospace industry as a corporate planner at Grumman Aircraft, where he was engaged in long‐range planning to determine the Navy's future aviation requirements under various geopolitical scenarios; he was also involved in the early phase of Grumman's Lunar Landing Module. He then was recruited as assistant to the Chairman at Bendix International for planning and marketing. During this period, he worked closely on procurement of Bendix avionics requirements for the new Boeing 747, and other military and commercial aircraft. His specific assignment was to draw‐up quarterly budgets for the international marketing division, and present the quarterly performance to the top management. He was also responsible for planning and coordinating the building of Bendix's first manufacturing plant in Taiwan for car radios in the mid‐60's. While studying for his MBA, he became increasingly interested in management and investments. In order to make use of his dual disciplines, Mr. Yeung decided to pursue a career in investments focusing initially in high‐tech industries, first as an analyst then as a portfolio manager. This career change took him to the Bank of America in the Bay Area, where he witnessed the birth of the Silicon Valley and participated in investing in many of the start‐up companies that have since become tech icons. Subsequently, he worked at Western Asset Management Company as a technology fund manager and served on the board of the parent company's venture capital subsidiary. To further broaden his horizons, Mr. Yeung joined the Capital Group (a leading investment management group based in L.A.) where he had the oppor‐
tunity to travel overseas extensively and observed the beginning of the rise in Asian economies. He visited most of the leading consumer electronics and auto companies in Japan and start‐ups in electronics and PCs in Taiwan and Korea. He finally ended his career at Newport Pacific Management (creator of the original "Tiger Fund") which was one of the first companies to focus exclusively on investments in Asia. While at Newport, Mr. Yeung was responsible for investments in Japan and Asia, and at the same time was the Managing Director in charge of a private equity fund that invested in private consumer related companies in China; the fund will terminate in 2010. He served on the boards of several VC funds in Asia including Dragon Korea Fund, Inter‐Asia Capital Trust, and Peregrine Indonesia Fund. Mr. Yeung is currently involved as a private investor in two biotech start‐ups in Hawaii and Canada. JOHN D. WARNER, AERO ALUMNUS, VISITS ANN ARBOR (BSEAE 1962, MSEAE 1963, PhDAE 1968) Dr. John Warner visited the University of Michigan on September 10 and 11 2008. John began with Boeing as an engineer in 1968, holding a variety of management positions from the mid 70s through the 80s in Commercial Airplanes and Military Airplanes. In 1989 he became the Vice President of Engineering in Commercial Airplanes, in 1993 the President of Boeing Computer Services, and in 1997 the Chief Administrative Officer for the company. John retired from The Boeing Company in July 2002 as Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer. John received his bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, all from the University of Michigan. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. During his “home visit,” he met UM President Mary Sue Coleman to exchange ideas about the latest trend and future perspective in higher education. He met a number of colleagues in both the College of Engineering and the Department of Aerospace Engineering, as well as numerous students in group discussions. On September 11, 2008, John delivered a standing room lecture to students and faculty in the Boeing Lecture Hall as part of the Aero 585 seminar series. In his lecture, “Challenges to Engineering in the Global Environment: Lessons Learned,” he discussed the need and expectation of engineering in today’s world. In particular, he addressed the implications of a global economy and highly collaborative, international nature of the work force, followed by a town‐hall‐style discussion with the audience. Page 9
Winter 2009
FIRST ANNUAL GERARD M. FAETH MEMORIAL LECTURE : “Hydrogen” Dr. Elaine S. Oran, Senior Scientist for Reactive Flow Physics at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), and Adjunct Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, delivered the first Faeth lecture to a standing room only audience in the Boeing Lecture Hall in the FXB on April 10, 2008, entitled “Hydrogen.” The lecture’s title was a particularly appropriate one. Earth’s hydrogen is mostly tied up in the oceans as water, a molecule essential to life. When converted to a gas, it is a highly reactive chemical fuel, recently proposed as an environmentally friendly energy source. The fundamentals of hydrogen combustion were among Professor Faeth’s first and last research topics, and part of his vision of what would be most important to humanity’s future on Earth and in space. In addition to giving a brief history of hydrogen formation and distribution in the universe, Dr. Oran discussed some of the arguments for and against its use as a non‐polluting fuel, and research issues in hydrogen ignition, turbulent flame propagation, and possible transition to detonation. Elaine Oran (pictured right) succeeded Professor Faeth from 2003 until December 2008 as Editor‐in‐Chief of the AIAA Journal. At NRL, she is responsible for carrying out theoretical and computational research on the fluid and molecular properties of complex dynamic systems. She has published over 300 research articles and several books, is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of APS and AIAA. She received the Zeldovich Gold Medal of the Combustion Institute (2000), the AIAA Dryden Lectureship in Research (2003), the Achievement Award of the Society of Women Engineers (2006), and was awarded the degree of Docteur Honoris Causa from the Ecole Centrale de Lyon, France (2006). The late Gerard M. Faeth, Arthur B. Modine Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan from 1985 until his sudden passing in 2005, is remembered and honored with the Annual Gerard M. Faeth Lecture. In this annual memorial lecture, the Department will invite a distinguished lecturer with outstanding scholarly accomplishments in the field of aerospace engineering. During his career, he served as Editor‐in‐Chief of Combustion and Flame, the ASME Journal of Heat Transfer, and the AIAA Journal. He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering as well as a Fellow of AIAA, ASME, AAAS, and APS. He received the Combustion Institute’s Alfred C. Egerton Gold Medal (2004), NASA Public Service Medal (1999), and ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award (1988). He was an outstanding teacher, well respected and appreciated by many students who were fortunate to have taken classes from him. The 52 Ph.D. students he mentored are now established leaders and active contributors in industry, academia, and federal agencies. Pictured right is (left to right) Christine Faeth, Lorraine Faeth, Jonothon J. Faeth, Mary Ann Faeth, and Elinor Damo. Page 10
Aerospace Engineering
Student Projects and Clubs
The UM has a wide variety of student‐lead, faculty‐advised projects and clubs for engineering students. The Walter E. Wilson Student Team Project Center meets a critical need by providing students with dedicated space and facilities for teams to compete nationally. The Center empowers student teams from all engineering disciplines by providing a facility in which they can experience hands‐on develop‐
ment and fabrication, enhance engineering theories, and allows members to use practical application of knowledge; some of the projects with an Aerospace focus are featured in this issue. www.engin.umich.edu/teamprojects Team Blue Moon: Google Lunar X Prize Team Blue Moon is a collection of UM undergraduate and graduate engineering students working toward building an autonomous lunar rover based on the Google Lunar X Prize Competition. The Google Lunar X Prize is a $30 million international competition to safely land a robot on the surface of the Moon. To win, a team’s robot must travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, send back near‐real time and high definition video packages, and send back self portraits and 360 degree panoramic images of the lunar surface. Teams must be at least 90% privately funded and must be registered to compete by December 31, 2010. The Photo above depicts current rover design. The UM team was formed to combine the strength of student teams, Michigan companies, and University of Michigan specialists into a single team entrepreneurial entity capable of completing the requirements of the competition and more. The ultimate goal is constructing a next‐generation, multi‐purpose vehicle adaptable to numerous planetary missions. Team Blue Moon’s rover features a robust, modular design with a novel five‐wheel structure as well as an autonomous navigation system with path optimization capability and state‐of‐the‐art integration of stereo vision. Team Blue Moon is lead by faculty advisor Thomas Zurbuchen (AOSS/AE), and composed of Steven Morris (BSE AE), James Wojcik (BSE AE and ME SSE), Eric Kosmyna (BSE ME and ME SSE), Bill Woelk (BSE AE and ME SSE), and Jason Quint (Summer Volunteer, BSE ME Cornell University) pictured, left to right, along with Kelly Moran (BSE AE and ME SSE), Jimmy Grohoski (BSE AE/EE), and Evan Smith (BSE AE), not pictured. In the summer and fall of 2008, they finished their first functional version of the rover including its composite frame, camera arm, stereo vision camera, and electrical system, with particular focus on further development of autonomous navigation capabilities as well as testing and optimizing design. The five wheel rover has passive suspension for high mobility, while being lighter and more energy efficient; the fifth center wheel and both sides are “free” to articulate vertically to help the rover move over uneven surfaces, climb steep slopes, and scale steps as large as the diameter of the wheels. HUMAN POWERED HELICOPTER The Phoenix Human Powered Helicopter team is a student run organization that is comprised mostly of undergraduate students from the UM College of Engineering. Each year, individuals or teams from around the globe are invited to compete for a $20,000 prize in the Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition, offered by the American Helicopter Society (AHS). The competition challenges teams to build a human powered rotorcraft that can fly for one minute, achieve a height of three meters, maintain the craft’s center within a 10x10m Pictured above are rotor blade made box, and the pilot must not rotate. Due to the extreme difficulty of this problem, only two of balsa wood and a mylar covering. human powered helicopters have ever left the ground and did not come close to a height of three meters. Currently, the UM team is designing a light‐weight, four rotor helicopter that will seat a pilot in the center of the vehicle while four counter rotating rotors lift the craft; the design is similar to the “Yuri”, one of only two human powered helicopters to have flown for about 20 seconds, reaching a height of .2 meters in 1994. The faculty advisor is Carlos Cesnik (AE) and lead by Aero undergraduate students Steve Nogar and Scott Trip. The key areas of research and consideration for the design include: i) torque compensation, eliminating the net torque of the vehicle, without reducing thrust, ii) rotor testing using Hayden’s Theory to predict ground effect power; ground effect is the bonus lift that is present when a rotor is operating near the ground. This reduces the power necessary to fly and makes building a helicopter possible, iii) motor to rotor transmission, and iv) build light weight structures. UM students are using a combination of physical modeling, mathematical testing, computational fluid dynamics, light weight structures designs, and CAD modeling. Please visit their website at: http://umich.edu/~umhph for additional information. Winter 2009
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MICROGRAVITY EXPERIMENTATION OF THE NANOPARTICLE FIELD EXTRACTION THRUSTER (NANOFET) Photo Above Left: The flight crew operating the test equipment onboard the C‐9B aircraft. For the past two years, the C‐9 NanoBLUE team, as part of the Student Space Systems Fabrication Laboratory (S3FL), has been assisting with the development of the Nanoparticle Field Extraction Thruster (NanoFET) concept. NanoFET uses high electric fields to charge and accelerate nanoparticles as a means of electric propulsion for small spacecraft. The undergraduate, interdisciplinary NanoBLUE team conducted proof‐of‐concept experiments to investigate the feasibility of the thruster concept in a microgravity environment while following S3FL’s design‐build‐
test‐fly philosophy to acquire real‐world systems engineering experience. This year’s NanoBLUE team proposed a follow‐up of last year’s microgravity experiment and was one of 50 undergraduate teams accepted to fly on NASA’s C‐9B aircraft. An updated experiment, incorporating better measurement precision and greater automation than the previous setup, was designed, fabricated, integrated, and tested over a nine month period. In June 2008, the team traveled to NASA Johnson Space Center to fly the experiment under microgravity conditions as well as to perform outreach demonstrations for elementary school children. Valuable data was collected through both ground testing and the microgravity flights demonstrating the feasibility of the NanoFET concept, validating microgravity physical models, and highlighting important NanoFET design and operational parameters. Photo Above: A fun outreach experi‐
The flight crew included five Aerospace Engineering undergraduate students: Horim Han, ment for elementary school students Patrick Martinchek, Steven Morris, Joseph Munski, and Kurt Swieringa; they were showing the effects of microgravity. supported in Houston by ground crew members: Brittany Drenkow (BSE AE), Michelle Knapp (BSE ChE), and Rachel Trabert (BSE AE). Additional NanoBLUE team members included: John Bell (BSE EECS), Theresa Biehle (BSE AE), Benjamin Brierty (BSE AE), Matthew Putz (BSE ME), Chris Rossi (BSE AE), and Rebecca Wind (BSE AE). The team was mentored by graduate student advisor Thomas Liu (AE), under the direction of Professors Alec Gallimore (AE) and Brian Gilchrist (EECS). The project was supported in part by funds from the Michigan Space Grant Consortium and the Women in Science and Engineering office at U‐M. For the coming year, a new C‐9 experiment will be proposed to investigate the propellant feed system of an alternate NanoFET configuration. If you are interested in learning more about the upcoming project, please contact project lead Brittany Drenkow, [email protected], or visit their website at: http://data.engin.umich.edu/s3fl/c9_nano/Welcome.html MICHIGAN MARS ROVER The Michigan Mars Rover Team is an all volunteer student‐run organization at UM. Originally created in March of 2000, the team continuously conducts valuable research on human exploration of Mars. For the past two and a half years, they have been designing and fabricating a proof‐of‐concept prototype for the Universal Chassis concept, first proposed in 2005 at the NASA sponsored RASC‐AL conference. Photo Above: Ankit Saxena (left, EECS) and Jason Riggs (right, ME.). The project is highly multi‐disciplinary, requiring knowledge from many academic fields The gadget on the table is a test‐
including aerospace, mechanical and electrical engineering. Based on this prototype, the bed for the control systems of the team aims to compete in the University Rover Challenge hosted by the Mars Society at the Universal Chassis prototype.
Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, in June 2009. In this contest, teams design, build, and operate a stand‐alone, off‐the‐grid, mobile rover remotely from a base station. The rover will perform tasks such as scientific field work, soil characterization, emergency rescue of a distressed astronaut, and equipment construction, providing students with a unique opportunity to use the theoretical tools learned in classrooms to solve a real‐life problem. The faculty advisor is Professor Nilton Renno (AOSS). For more information please visit their website http://www.umrover.org or email them at [email protected]. Page 12
Aerospace Engineering
Solar Bubbles: Solar UAV Team Three years ago, a small group of dedicated students participated in a NASA C‐9 project called “Space Bubbles”; it developed and tested a means to remove bubbles from hypodermic needles. During the project, the group decided that team projects provided experiences that could not be met in the classroom—and quickly became involved in designing a solar powered UAV. Transferring and transforming their old team name, the new team was called SOLARBUBBLES. This iconic name now represents the unique nature the project, as well as the experiences from past projects. Pictured above from left to right are team members: Nate Ernst (Adaptive Materials Inc.), Vince LoPiccolo (Aero), AJ The UM Solar Bubbles UAV Team provides the hands‐on experience of Field (Aero), Andy Klesh (Aero), Steve Hoesli (Aero), Steve designing, building and testing unmanned‐aerial vehicles to students at the Kast (Aero), Eric Gustafson (Aero), Ryan Eubank (Aero), University of Michigan. The team allows an opportunity for the practical and Nick Schoeps (Adaptive Materials, Inc.).
development of leadership, teamwork and technical skills outside of the classroom for dedicated and intelligent students. The short term goal is to design, build, and test an unmanned solar‐powered aerial vehicle with a wingspan of less than 15 feet, capable of 36+ hours of flight, and carrying a small camera payload. Long term, the team will continue to investigate, design, build, and test creative and unique unmanned aerial vehicles. Solar Bubbles also works with outside companies. In the past they have helped Raytheon Missile Systems test propellers, and just recently helped Adaptive Materials Inc. to design a Fuel cell UAV with the goal of 24 hour continuous flight. Their current solar powered aircraft, named Hui, is expected to achieve autonomous flight under solar support by the end of the 2009 summer. This requires a fully autonomous aircraft with on board solar cells. While not a completely solar powered UAV, the Hui aircraft provides a test platform to develop the equipment and methods needed to create the next design. On October 30, 2008 The Solar Bubbles team flew the aircraft they designed in collaboration with Adaptive Materials Inc., named Endurance, for 10 hours, 15 minutes, and 4 seconds. This flight set a new world record for the longest flight by a Fuel cell powered aircraft, beating the previous record by nearly an hour. The Fuel cell project was led by Aero students Andrew Field, Steven Hoesli, Steven Kast, and Cody Martin. The students designed and constructed the Endurance airframe, while Adaptive Materials Inc. funded the project and provided the Solid Oxide Fuel Cell. The flight time was restricted by daylight hours as there was no night lighting system installed on the aircraft. Had the flight been able to continue, it was estimated that Endurance could have flown for five additional hours based on the amount of propane fuel left onboard at landing. Faculty advisors are Aerospace Engineering Professors Ella Atkins, Luis Bernal, and Carlos Cesnik. Student team leader is Nick Rooney (AE). Please contact them at [email protected], or visit their website solarbubbles.engin.umich.edu/
~solarbubbles. Get Involved! Michigan Jet Engine Club Club objectives are to foster and promote interest in jet engine propulsion as well as test and modify small jet engines. This year, students will design and create a more sophisticated test stand and run engines at various design levels using alternative fuels. Student members include: Team Leader, Luis Vidal (AE); Test Set‐Up Lead, Blake Karkoska (AE); Experiment Design Lead, Chase Estrin (AE); Modeling Lead, Brad Cotton (AE); and Public Relations Lead, Emily Matula (Undeclared) and faculty adviser, Jim Driscoll (AE). Please contact them at: [email protected] Sigma Gamma Tau (SGT) SGT is the honor society for Aerospace Engineering. SGT recognizes and honors students in the field of Aeronautics and Astro‐
nautics who have been a credit to their profession through scholarship, integrity, and outstanding achievements. Regular activi‐
ties include field trips (NASA Glenn in ‘09), student/faculty mixers, students night out, and workshops. You can learn more at their website: www.umsgt.org or email their officers at sgt‐[email protected]. U‐M Student Chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) The UM chapter is a student‐run organization which seeks to educate and excite students about aerospace technologies and science, and to promote fellowship among students interested in these topics. Regular activities include bringing speakers from aerospace companies to campus, student/faculty mixers, and making field trips to airports, museums, and other industry‐related sites. For information visit them on the web: www.engin.umich.edu/soc/aiaa or email at aiaa‐[email protected]. Winter 2009
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French Educational Partnership Provides Unique Opportunities for AERO Students Photo above: AERO students Colleen Monahan and Maria Falcone with The Hornet at the Pairs Air Show, GEA Summer Program 2007. Each summer adventurous U‐M AERO undergrads gain an inside view of French aerospace education and industry. Our students head to Toulouse and take courses that provide a European perspective on aeronautics and space fundamentals. Technical visits to industrial and historical sites complement the coursework, including the Paris Air Show, Airbus facilities, and the high‐tech center of Poitiers. In addition to earning six credits towards their UM degrees, our students also find time to appreciate French culture. Living alongside local students in the campus dormitories helps them practice language and learn about life at a French Grande Ecole. UM students also take advantage of organized field trips to Marseille and the Basque Country and many extend their stay to explore more of Europe. “The industry visits were one of the best parts about the trip. Seeing the Airbus A380 assembly line up close is breathtaking because it is one of the greatest feats of engineering to date. We also got to visit Eurocopter, Messier‐Dowty, the manufacturer of most of Europe’s landing gear and the French Securite Civil, who fought fires in the Bombardier CL‐415 firefighting planes shown here [right].” Alex Bogatko, AERO Student, GEA Summer Program 2008 CL‐415 Firefighting Plane “I consider this to have been a summer well spent. I found that I rather like the whole fish out of water feeling. I’ve improved my French as well as my Spanish, reinforced some aerospace fundamentals, learned about the aerospace industry in Europe, and even learned a thing or two about inline skating.” Shaw Chen, AERO Student, GEA Summer Program 2008 The six‐week summer program is organized by the Group des Écoles Aéronautiques et Spatiales (GEA), an elite consortium of French aerospace schools. U‐M students gain access to this program through the College of Engineering’s partnership with a leading GEA member: l’École Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (SUPAERO). Founded in 1909, SUPAERO was the world's first dedicated aerospace engineering school and is widely viewed as the national leader in its field, with its graduates occupying over 60% of the managing director and chief executive positions in the French aerospace industry. As a “Grande Ecole,” SUPAERO is a public institution of higher education which operates under the authority of the French Minis‐
try of Defense. Since the U‐M‐SUPAERO partnership was established in 2001, more than 30 AERO undergraduates have studied in Toulouse. In exchange, top SUPAERO students are able to pursue graduate studies in the AERO department. These talented students bring new perspectives to the AERO department and contribute to graduate research teams. The U‐M SUPAERO partnership continues to grow and more students are expected to spend time in Toulouse. As senior Shaw Chen concludes, “I’m graduating this year, so although I cannot spend any more summers studying abroad, I do intend to get my Master’s in a foreign country, and at the top of my list of schools to apply to is SUPAERO.” Note: In 2007, SUPAERO merged with ENSICA, another aerospace engineering school from Toulouse. The new institution is called the Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (ISAE). ISAE‐
SUPAERO retains separate student admission requirements and delivers its own diploma. Pictured above are students from the 2008 GEA Summer Program
Study abroad will show you parts of the world you do not know and will give you the chance to experience things that you cannot begin to imagine while preparing you to be a member of the international engineering community! For information on programs abroad, please contact the International Programs in Engineering office at: ipe‐[email protected] AEROSPACE ENGINEERING ALUMNI SOCIETY Contact Information: University of Michigan Department of Aerospace Engineering 1320 Beal Avenue François‐Xavier Bagnoud Bldg. Ann Arbor MI 48109‐2140 aerospace.engin.umich.edu 734‐764‐3310 Department Chair: Wei Shyy [email protected] Department Administrator: Michelle Shepherd [email protected] Asst. to the Chair: Lisa Szuma [email protected] Graduate Program: Denise Phelps, Graduate Student Services Coordinator Phone: (734) 615‐4406 or (734) 764‐3311 [email protected] Undergraduate Program: Linda Weiss, Undergraduate Student Services Coordinator Phone: (734) 764‐3310 [email protected] Aero alumnus Corey Brooker (BSEAE 94, MSEAE 95) has written the following message to our alumni. Please feel free to contact Corey if interested in volunteering your time to help start this organization. As a Board of Governor on the College of Engineering Alumni Society Board one of our goals is to reach out to all alumni. One of the ways to improve that is creating individual department alumni societies. Through discussions with the Aerospace Engineering Department Chair Wei Shyy and other Departmental alumni groups, we are exploring the formation of the Aerospace Engineering Alumni Society. It is my goal to have an official UM Aerospace Alumni Society by September 2009. I am looking for volunteers to help form this society and who would be willing to meet via telecon quarterly and on campus during Homecoming weekend. Please join me in founding this organization to help: • stimulate an enduring interest in the Department, the College of Engineering and the University of Michigan • foster fellowship and strengthen ties among alumni, students, faculty and friends of the Department • educate members to the goals and progress of the Department, thus enabling the members to assist in advancing Department programs • provide advice, encouragement, and assistance through mentoring and other methods of communication with Department students • encourage a continual flow of outstanding applicants to the Department, contribute toward their financial needs while enrolled, and assist in the placement of graduates • help University faculty and staff to meet Department, College of Engineering and University of Michigan needs for financial support from public and private sources You can connect to the LinkedIn site and the Facebook site at: http://aerospace.engin.umich.edu/people/alumni.html For additional information please contact Corey Brooker via the group email: [email protected]