A team of Ohio State students placed third in the 2008 NASA Fundamental Aeronautics Competition. The annual competition challenges university students worldwide to design proposals for the future of the aerospace field.
This year’s challenge was for students to design the next-generation “DC-3-type” aircraft. Design consideration requirements included reduced environmental impact, reduced noise, daily operations on short runways, cost analysis for production and operation, passenger and cargo limits, structure and materials, and engines. Students were required to propose three valid scenarios for potential use of this vehicle in the year 2058.
The Douglas DC-3 airplane became a legend in aeronautics for its impact on transportation, becoming the first profitable passenger vehicle for airlines in the 1930s. Its durability throughout the years has been unmatched, and a few hundred DC-3s still fly today.
Design specifications for the competition were established by NASA. The following qualities were required of the proposed aircraft:
- Capability to land and take off on runways between 1,500 and 3,000 feet in length
- Payload capacity between 25,000 and 50,000 pounds
- Cruise speed between Mach 0.78 to 0.82
- Significant noise reduction technology when compared with similar sized aircraft in today’s commercial fleet
The Ohio State team answered the challenge with its Puma aircraft. Designed to cruise at Mach 0.8 and carry 25,000 pounds of payload, the Puma leaps from the runway in 3,000 feet and is outfitted with noise abatement technologies to reduce its acoustic signature. One of these technologies is the variable area bypass nozzle, utilized on the aircraft’s twin GE CF34-10 engines to minimize flow instabilities that lead to noise. The Ohio State entry also explored alternative fuels for the aircraft such as biofuel.
“This design competition was an excellent way for us to become acquainted with problems facing the aerospace industry�problems that we’ll have the opportunity to solve in our careers,” said Kevin Disotell, student leader for the project.
Team advisor Gerald M. Gregorek, professor of aerospace engineering, remarked that the students will benefit greatly from their undertaking. “Design is the essence of engineering, and aircraft design is a particularly difficult multidiscipline task,” Gregorek said. “Early exposure to aircraft design has been a great motivator for students in our curriculum.”
Team members are Robert Craun, Nachiket Deshpande, Kevin Disotell, Matthew Hansen, Alvaro Hernandez, Kevin Holcomb, Stephen Norris, and Maria Tolstykh. The students are sophomores enrolled in the departments of aerospace engineering and mechanical engineering.
(from left to right): Kevin Disotell, Robert Craun, Nachiket Deshpande, Alvaro Hernandez, Maria Tolstykh, Stephen Norris and Kevin Holcomb.
Not Pictured: Matthew Hansen.
Gina Langen, College of Engineering, 614/688-4423, langen.2@osu.edu June 11, 2008
