Master's thesis of Aerospace Engineering

The aim of this Master of Engineering (MEng) - Aerospace thesis is to study the structural response and failure of aerospace grade composites during exposure to fire. Key aspects of the research are to analyse the thermal and mechanical responses of laminates and sandwich composites in high temperature and fire environments, which result in softening and structural failure. The research is concentrated on carbon/epoxy laminates and sandwich composites, which are the most common composite materials used in aerospace structures.

209p runthenight05 01-03-2023 7 3   Download

This thesis investigates the SPH capability available in the commercial Finite Element (FE) code LS-DYNA®, for water impact problems. Experiments have been conducted on rigid wedges impacting water, which were then simulated with the SPH method. Although certain limitations were experienced with the experimental results, a positive correlation was observed with the numerical technique, thus establishing SPH as a promising method for crashworthiness design.

176p runthenight07 01-03-2023 8 3   Download

The aim of this research is to employ a sensitivity study for the total thrust of a ducted twin counter-rotating propeller system design for UAV applications using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Two factors were investigated: propeller spacing and difference between blades pitch angle. Using discrete values for both factors, 32 designs were analysed and evaluated. The same approach was also used for an equivalent unducted propeller system to access the influence of the duct.

142p runthenight07 01-03-2023 10 3   Download

This thesis presents an evaluation of the mapping performance of a variety of SLAM algorithms that are freely available in the Robot Operating System (ROS), in conjunction with ranging data from various ranging sensors suitable for use onboard small UAS. To compare the quality of the generated maps, an existing metric was initially employed, however deficiencies noted in this metric led to the development of two new metrics. A discussion of both the existing and new map quality metrics, and the advantages and disadvantages of each, is presented as part of this thesis.

99p runthenight04 02-02-2023 10 2   Download

The primary aim of this research was to further develop the sensing and estimation module of the CHMS framework with an improved multimodal inference model of MWL as needed for the application in aerospace CPHS. Here the focus of this research was on the implementation of a multimodal inference model of MWL that would be developed and experimentally tested. This was done with the purpose of studying the viability of real‐time system adaptation in aerospace systems.

283p runthenight04 02-02-2023 9 3   Download

The aim of this Masters of Engineering (MEng) - Aerospace thesis was to investigate the durability of Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors (PWAS) for the health monitoring of composite structures. One significant challenge faced by the aviation industry is the cost and time associated with maintaining aircrafts, in particular, aging airliners. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is a possible approach to reduce the high cost of inspection and maintenance.

164p runthenight04 02-02-2023 11 2   Download