Project 5: Development, evaluation and application of a micro-particle velocimetry system
Adviser(s): Greg Elliott (Associate Professor, Aerospace Engineering)
Project description: In recent years unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been utilized for surveillance, atmospheric monitoring, payload delivery, and in the program at UIUC to demonstrate principles in aerospace engineering. Currently, we are seeking a REU student to conduct research designing, building, and testing small reconfigurable mission-flexible UAV concepts. This will involve utilizing the rapid prototype capabilities at the university to design an aircraft that can be easily reconfigured for the instrumentation and flight profile defined by various mission requirements or in-flight data recorded to determine the aircraft flight characteristics. For example a fuselage may be designed to incorporate instrumentation such as GPS, flight data collection, telemetry and aerial cameras, but designed so that the wings and control surfaces can be easily reconfigured and optimized for missions requiring loitering, maneuverability, or speed.
Student background: Although any student interested is encouraged to apply to this project, students who have experience with CAD software packages and/or flying and building radio controlled aircraft are particularly encouraged to apply.
Fig. 1.Coefficient of lift versus angle of attack of a wing with
and without flaps extended taken from an instrumented UAV.
Fig. 2. In-flight video recorded of tufts on a UAV investigating attached flow on the wing during level flight and separated flow during stall
