Aerospace engineering

For editors

For lecturers

For students

Welcome to the Department of Aerospace Engineering.

Aerospace Engineering deals specially with aircrafts, and all types of machines which can fly. It also covers theory of aerodynamics. This also deals with huge spacecrafts, space structures, satellites, and all aspects related to space.

Aerospace engineers design, develop, and test aircraft, spacecraft, and missiles and supervise the production of these products. Those who work with aircraft are called aeronautical engineers, and those working specifically with spacecraft are astronautical engineers. Aerospace engineers develop new technologies for use in aviation, defense systems, and space exploration, often specializing in areas such as structural design, guidance, navigation and control, instrumentation and communication, or production methods. They also may specialize in a particular type of aerospace product, such as commercial aircraft, military fighter jets, helicopters, spacecraft, or missiles and rockets, and may become experts in aerodynamics, thermodynamics, celestial mechanics, propulsion, acoustics, or guidance and control systems.

Areas of study

General Prerequisites

• Basic Mathematics - differentials, integrals, basic mechanics, vector algebra, matrices and matrix manipulation, total derivative (for mass and momentum equations, among others)
  • Calculus
  • Differential Equations
• Thermodynamics/Heat Transfer - Zereoth, First, Second and Third Laws, Enthalpy, Entropy, Clausius Inequality and ??, Steady State Equation, Modelling Gas Turbines/Engines, Conduction, Convection, Radiation (Black Body, Grey Body)
  • Engineering Thermodynamics
• Circuits/Electronics
• Physics - Forces, Gravity Equation
  • Gravity

Statics

• Structural Analysis
• Mechanics - Friction on a surface, Rolling bodies, Stability, Pure/Damped/Forced Harmonic Motion, Orbits (reaching orbit, geostationary point, changing orbit, escape velocity)
  • Solid Mechanics

Fluid mechanics

• Aerodynamics - Derivation of shear stress on a fluid, perfect gas equation, Bernoulli equation, Langrangian and Eulerian reference frames, control volumes and control surfaces, Conservation of mass up to 3-d, balance of momentum equations up to 3-d, Aerofoils, Circulation, Mach Number & Renauld's Number, Laminar and turbulent flow, Propulsion & Turbomachinery
  • Aerodynamics
  • Jet Propulsion
  • Rocket Propulsion

Materials Science

• Material Classes - Metals, Ceramics, Composites, Polymers, Ionic and Covalents
• Material Microstructure
• Properties of Materials - Strength, Stiffness, Young's Modulus, Elasiticity and Modulus of Elasticity, Hardness, Toughness, Electrical Properties?
• Materials Selection
• Material Processes - Annealing, Quenching, Precipitaiton Hardening, Case Hardening
• Failure - Fatigue, Creep, Fracture, Case studies (aircraft)
• Composites - matrix and fibers, explanation of directional properties, case studes (carbon fibre, kevlar, fibreglass)
  • Material Science

Aircraft Design

• Basic Aircraft Performance - Air density at altitudes, Perfect Gas equation,
• Dynamics and Control - Control Surfaces,

Rover Design

• Rover Mission Analysis and Design

Related news

• April 26, 2007 - Paper on hyperdrive system wins award at conference and is examined by US Government researchers...[1]
• March 27, 2007 - NASA seeks research proposals.
• March 20, 2007 - Private company to launch rocket.

External links

• Personal Air Vehicle Page at Cafe Foundation (in affiliation with NASA)
• Open avionics
• Boeing's electric plane using fuelcells.
• OpenAvionics

Books

• Research opportunities in advanced aerospace concepts

• Astrodynamics