Introduction to Aerospace

Engineering and Design

Added & Edited
By: Arip Nurahman

Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics

Indonesia University of Education

and

Follower Open Course Ware at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, USA
Department of Physics
http://web.mit.edu/physics/
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Physics/index.htm
&
Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering
http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/www/
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Aeronautics-and-Astronautics/index.htm

Staff

Instructor:
Prof. Dava Newman

Course Meeting Times

Lectures:
Two sessions / week
1.5 hours / session

Level

Undergraduate

Just Click it!

The Space Shuttle orbiter Atlantis, framed by the California mountains, as it rides on the back of one of NASA’s Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) en route from California to the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. (Image courtesy of NASA.)

Course Highlights

This course contains labs, assignments, projects, and related resources dealing with aircraft and rocketry design concepts.

Course Description

The fundamental concepts, and approaches of aerospace engineering, are highlighted through lectures on aeronautics, astronautics, and design. Active learning aerospace modules make use of information technology. Student teams are immersed in a hands-on, lighter-than-air (LTA) vehicle design project, where they design, build, and fly radio-controlled LTA vehicles. The connections between theory and practice are realized in the design exercises. Required design reviews precede the LTA race competition. The performance, weight, and principal characteristics of the LTA vehicles are estimated and illustrated using physics, mathematics, and chemistry known to freshmen, the emphasis being on the application of this knowledge to aerospace engineering and design rather than on exposure to new science and mathematics.

Technical Requirements

Special software is required to use some of the files in this course: .rm.

Syllabus

This syllabus include information on the topics covered, texts used, and the rules and policies of the course.

Prerequisites

8.01 and 18.01

Course Requirements

Textbook

Dava Newman. Interactive Aerospace Engineering and Design. McGraw-Hill, 2002.

Class Participation

Your questions and comments are extremely valuable. Since the lecture material is available ahead of time from the textbook and on the Web, there will be more time in lecture to discuss (in seminar style) the material rather than spending the entire 90 minutes copying the lecture notes from a blackboard. Discussions during class time are highly encouraged to fill gaps in the lecture material, to guide the pace of the class, and for you to enquire about the meaning, relevance, and importance of lecture material.

Portfolio

Students are required to compile a portfolio containing notes, brainstorming ideas, concepts, sketches and final designs. This comprehensive notebook, or Personal Design Portfolio (PDP), is due toward the end of the term (See syllabus). A recommended template is provided for developing your PDP (See CD-ROM). The intent is to promote good note taking habits as an aid to understanding the material, to put your creativity down on paper and the computer, to help me assess what you are picking up in the lectures, and to grade your individual contributions to your design teams. In sum, the PDP presents a concise snapshot of what you learn throughout the entire semester and emphasizes your individual contributions.

Problem Sets

All assignments are given on the syllabus homepage. Homework assignments include traditional problems, thought problems, design problems and Web-based presentations (Preliminary Design Review (PDR), and Critical Design Review (CDR).

Lighter-than-Air (LTA) Vehicle Design Project

Teams of 5-6 students each would design, build, and race a remote controlled, lighter-than-air vehicle. The teams compete in their ability to carry the largest payload around a specified course in the minimum amount of time. The designs are judged on their equivalent mass/time. LTA vehicles are also judged in the categories of most reliable and most aesthetic designs. All designs are constrained to have a gross mass of less than 1.75 kg. A project kit is provided consisting of radio control equipment, batteries, balloons, electric motors, and construction materials.

Grading

Performance will be evaluated on the basis of class participation, reading summaries, problem sets, personal design portfolio submissions, and the LTA vehicle design project. There will be no tests or final exam. The final grade for the course will be calculated approximately as follows:

Problem Sets and Reading Summaries 30%
Student Personal Design Portfolio 15%
LTA Design Project 45% (including PDR, CDR, Trials and Race)
Attendance, Participation, General Evaluation 10%

Problem Set Solutions

Solutions will be posted one week after problem sets are due.

Handouts

There will be occasional handouts in lectures. It is expected that regular attendance in lecture will offer the opportunity to pick up these handouts.

A Note on Submission of Work

The manner in which you present your work can be just as important (and in some cases more so) than the final answer. Be sure to delineate each step along the way. Show a clear and logical approach to your solution. That makes your problem sets a better reference to you and easier for us to give you partial credit (if so deserving).

Readings

The textbook, written by the instructor, covers the topics examined in this course in greater detail.

When you click the Amazon logo to the left of any citation and purchase the book (or other media) from Amazon.com, MIT OpenCourseWare will receive up to 10% of this purchase and any other purchases you make during that visit. This will not increase the cost of your purchase. Links provided are to the US Amazon site, but you can also support OCW through Amazon sites in other regions. Learn more.

Interactive Aerospace Engineering and Design with CD-ROM

Author: Dava Newman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ISBN: 0-07-235124-1
Description: ©2002 / Hardcover with CDROM
Publication Date: July 2001

Overview

Intended for both majors and non-majors taking a first course in Introduction to Aerospace Engineering or Introduction to Flight. This new text will inspire students with its integrated bound-in CD-ROM and its strong emphasis in design. Its active visual approach and inclusion of space-oriented engineering makes it ideal for the changing needs of the Aerospace Engineering field. Newman's book is the first to include integrated multimedia, strong coverage of space flight, the design process, and extensive coverage of space flight. A CD-ROM, bound in with the book, provides extensive animations, QuickTime movies, and MATLAB^® based simulations to motivate student readers. A student design project is included to convey the importance of team orientated design in an accessible manner. All resource and multimedia materials are provided on the CD-ROM, including: PDF files of the book chapters; additional color photographs, figures, and pictures referenced in the text; multimedia animations, simulations, and vrml files. The icons in the book, namely, the CD-ROM and World Wide Web (WWW) icons, refer you to materials that are on the CD-ROM and website, respectively, not in the text. In the margins of the text you will see the CD-ROM icon with a filename, which means that the referenced resource material (photograph, animation, simulation, etc.) is linked to the CD-ROM and should be accessed and studied at that point in the chapter. The lighter-than-air (LTA) vehicle and electronics laboratory ('Ornithopter Lab') contain extensive multimedia materials and are referenced throughout the book, especially in Chapter 12. The WWW icon refers to the website for the text and CD-ROM where one will find a chronological listing of all the URLs referenced throughout the book.

Features

With a growing trend toward inclusion of design in engineering courses, Newman's book includes a hands on comprehensive design project for students, as well as topical coverage of design issues where appropriate.
The book is packaged with a CD-ROM containing a web based format of active animations, simulations, and QuickTime movies.
While many books lack coverage of space applications, Newman's book provides the best balance of conceptual foundations, aircraft and aerospace.
Book will also include an accompanying Web Site with both instructor and student resources.
Very current.

Supplements