Aero-Design Team Takes 4th Place in AIAA Competition

A team of USC undergraduate engineering students won fourth place at the 2006 Design/Build/Fly Competition sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. A total of 49 teams entered the competition that was held in Wichita, KS on April 21 - 23, 2006. Due to the rigors of the construction and competition, only 41 planes from the United States, Israel, Turkey and Canada, participated in the flying part of the competition. All of the planes had to be powered by electric motors and batteries. The radio controlled planes had to be designed and built to fit in a small packing crate, take-off within 100 feet and fly with three diverse payloads. This annual competition

SCtingray on its final approach before landing during the competition at Wichita.

is supported by Cessna and the Office of Naval Research to promote aerospace engineering and aircraft development in undergraduate educational programs. USC has entered this competition each year during the last nine years and has placed first once, finished second twice, and was third twice in addition to placing fourth this year. The details of this year's scoring and the history of the competition can be found at http://www.ae.uiuc.edu/aiaadbf/.

The design objective for the 2006 competition was to create an airplane that could be stored in a 2 x 4 x 1.25 foot box. After passing a rigorous safety inspection, the plane had to complete two different types of missions. In the first, the plane had to carry 96 tennis balls for two laps. Almost all the teams chose to fly only 48 tennis balls at one time, necessitating landing and loading the additional 48 balls for a second flight of two laps. In the second mission, the plane had to demonstrate its capability to fly with three different types of cargo; namely one lap each with 48 tennis balls, 4

Preparing for a competition flight on the runway of the Cessna air field in Wichita Kansas.

liters of water and a 4"x4"x24" block of wood. The scoring for this mission was all based upon the time required to exchange the cargo while on the ground. The planes had to take off within 100 feet and fly around a 1000 foot pylon course with additional turns to demonstrate maneuverability. Since the planes were all limited to less than three pounds of batteries, energy management was an extremely important part of the design and flying in addition to the need for a versatile cargo bay. An added degree of difficulty was introduced into the competition by the weather since the wind is usually gusty in Wichita.

The total score for each team was comprised of three components; namely their best flight performance on the two different missions, their score on a written report documenting their aircraft design and selection, and a "Rated Aircraft Cost" representing the weight of their plane. USC's plane, named 'SCtingray,' had the fourth best flying score and the team had the third best written report at the competition.

After a thorough examination of the rules, the team decided to build a blended wing body for USC's entry. This decision was predicated upon the need for a light weight plane that would have a voluminous cargo area. This radical design required the development of several new design and manufacturing tools. The aerodynamics proved especially difficult due to the extreme amounts of twist that had to be added to the wing to satisfy the control constraints. After a preliminary design review before a skeptical panel of engineers from industry, the team decided to quickly build a full size model out of a big block of

Ole Foamy which was the 'proof of concept' plane that was quickly assembled in the fall semester. Photo was taken at El Mirage dry lake bed during the test flights in October.

foam. This plane, named 'Ole Foamy,' first flew in October. It proved that the flying wing concept could indeed meet all of the objectives of the competition and be a strong competitor. Its stability and controllability far exceeded the team's expectations. Thus the decision was made to continue with the blended wing concept and the final plane was constructed and first flown in early March 2006. A systematic set of flights were conducted on the weekends to insure that the plane had sufficient power available for the endurance flights, could take off within the prescribed distance, could provide a quick payload exchange, etc. Finally, flights simulating the required missions for the competition were conducted.

The Aero-Design Team at USC is open to all students who have an interest in airplanes and design. The team usually consists of 30-40 students and includes freshmen through seniors from many different disciplines of engineering. The 2006 team had 20 AE students, 9 ME students, and 8 others from different departments. The 2005-2006 team leader was Tai Merzel, an AE major. The faculty advisor is Ron Blackwelder, Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering and the team has two industry advisors, Mark Page from Swift Engineering, Inc. and Wyatt Sadler from Aerovironment Inc.

The team's organizational structure is modeled after industry and is split into five to seven discipline groups for aerodynamics, stability and control, propulsion, etc. Freshmen and sophomores are usually teamed up with upperclassmen in a group. The juniors and seniors are the group captains and one of the seniors is the overall team leader, hence the underclassmen learn from their peers within the team. This gives all of the students experience working on teams and provides leadership experience for the older members of the team. Each group is responsible for designing their sub-component of the aircraft and insuring it mates with the other components in the plane. Each group also provides a written description of their effort for the team's written report. In addition, the team usually visits local industry every year and presents their project to engineers working in industry, thus providing experience in technical presentations and oral communication.

The second semester begins with the construction phase, with each group contributing their particular specialty. The team has developed considerable expertise in using modern light weight materials. Although the 2006 plane utilized a lot of balsa wood, carbon composites have been used exclusively in other years to reduce the weight of the airframe.

—RB

SCtingray and many of the team members are shown on this photo taken in Kansas at the competition site. The members from left to right are Chris Poblete, George Sechrist(kneeling), Ed Smetak, Jeff Kaiser, Joe Yeargan,Karl Brecht, Sam Ekweghariri, Mark Page, Luke Hardman, mattMiller, Tomas Campuzano, Suzie Miles, Ron Blackwelder(advisor), Andres Figueroa, Caitlyn Fahey, Lane Dalan, Cristina Figueroa, Ian Whittinghill, Wyatt Sadler(advisor) AllieAnderson, and Ewald Schuster(pilot). Kneeling behing the plane are Tai Merzel, Jessica Calhoun, Tanner Yaberg, and Shweta Shrivastava.

Ole Foamy on the dry lake bead at El Mirage.

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