Project Description:
Each year the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) hosts a student competition called Design, Build, Fly, which invites colleges to enter an aircraft that they have constructed over a year. To foster innovation the mission requirements of the competition change each year. The goal is to create an aircraft that can complete the mission requirements while maintaining affordable manufacturing practices, good flight handling, and performance. This year’s competition was focused on Urban Air Mobility (UAM) missions, which included an empty aircraft delivery, medical transport, and urban taxi. A course layout is provided beforehand, which each team needs to follow to complete the previously listed missions. However, the goals are slightly different depending on the mission. For the empty aircraft flight, the plane simply needs to fly around the course 3 times in 5 minutes to earn full points. The next two missions' scores are controlled by several factors including how other teams at the competition perform. These two missions required optimization of different components to decide how the aircraft would be designed and later constructed. The final aircraft, which was presented at the competition, was a tail dragging, low-wing monoplane, with two wing-mounted tractor motors and a conventional tail. The low-wing design was chosen to increase aerodynamic effects and ensure ease of access for loading the plane for different missions. By using two wing-mounted motors there will be a significant increase in thrust to allow for the added weight required, as well as the short take-off distance. The majority of the plane was made using hand layup techniques, with either: carbon fiber, or fiberglass with foam or honeycomb as the core material. Using these techniques added strength to the aircraft while keeping the plane's weight low. Our team worked tirelessly over the course of two semesters to design and build an aircraft capable of completing the missions, using principles and concepts we have learned from our four-year education at the University of Maryland.
