Title of Dissertation: Computational Investigation of Micro-Scale Coaxial Rotor Aerodynamics in Hover Vinod K. Lakshminarayan, Doctor of Philosophy, 2009 Dissertation directed by: Dr. James D. Baeder Department of Aerospace Engineering In this work, a compressible Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) solver is extended to investigate the aerodynamics of a micro-scale coaxial rotor configurati...

The use of gravels as syntectonic indicators of thrusting has recently been questioned by foreland-basin models that assign gravels to a post-thrusting interval of progradation, except in very proximal areas. On the basis of precise temporal control provided by magnetostratigraphically dated sections, the history of gravel progradation after a major thrusting and uplift event in the northwester...

The ability to measure extremely low thrust levels with unusual precision is becoming more critical as attempts are made to characterize the performance of emerging micropropulsion systems. Many new attitude control concepts for nanospacecraft involve the production of thrust below 1 μN. A simple, but uniquely successful thrust stand has been developed and used to measure thrust levels as low a...

This study describes a methodology and gives an example of a simplified analysis to determine the steady propagation speed of a projectile fired into a gaseous mixture of fuel and oxidizer. For tractability, the steady supersonic flow of an inviscid calorically perfect ideal reacting gas with high activation energy over a symmetric double wedge, unconfined by a cowl, is considered. A search of ...

We report on the development of a nano-Newton thrust-stand that can measure up to 100 μN thrust from different types of microthrusters with 10 nN resolution. The compact thrust-stand measures the impingement force of the particles emitted from a microthruster onto a suspended plate of size 45 mm × 45 mm and with a natural frequency over 50 Hz. Using a homodyne (lock-in) readout provides strong ...

The feasibility of using a stand alone Fluidic Thrust-Vectoring (FTV) system for the purpose of longitudinal trim of an unmanned aerial vehicle is the focus of the research presented in this paper. Since the fluidic thrust vectoring requires high pressure secondary air to deflect the engine exhaust gases, this research also provides an analytical toolset for preliminary sizing of a suitable sec...

Linear flux switching motors with simple passive segmented secondary, referred as Segmented Secondary Linear Flux Switching Motors (SSLFSMs), have low cost secondary and therefore are applicable to transportation systems like Maglev. However, it is shown that the SSLFSMs suffer from high thrust ripples. In this paper, minimizing SSLFSM thrust ripples besides maximizing its developed thrust are ...