Momentum - October 2019 - 5

STUDENT
GENERATION

The Georgia Advanced Class team captured first
place Overall, first in Mission Performance, second
place in Technical Design Report, and second
place in Technical Presentation at SAE Aero Design
East 2019. This photo of the team was taken at
the conclusion of the competition and shows
the mothership, gliders, and items intentionally
dropped from the in-flight plane. The team
consisted of (left to right) Daniel Sagan, Pranav
Krishnamurthy, Jonathan Paravano, Frank Kozel
(captain), Micaiah Smith-Pierce, Parth Kumar, Mark
Lau, Matthew Warren.

Photo credit: David Gaitan

MOMENTUM

CAD model of the glider showing payload arrangement.

20
250
225
15
Habitats

This challenge was compounded by the complexity in
the scoring. As the scoring relationships are too extensive
to explain here, the reader is encouraged to glance
over section 8.17 from the 2018-2019 SAE Aero Design
competition rules manual. In short, four variables are at
play: number of habitats carried, colonists per glider, max
takeoff weight of the mothership, and fluid ounces of
water carried. The equations relate a quantifiable flight
score to the aircraft's ability to deliver colonists with
adequate housing and water to the target location.
With some clever equation rearrangement, variable
relationships, and plugged-in assumptions, a contour
plot with lines of constant score was generated using
MATLAB to illustrate the sensitivity of score to certain
design points. On inspection, a line of ideal ratios of
design variables appears, and fitting ping pong balls in
the gliders was a determining factor for how far up the
line to go for more flight points while staying within the
realm of possibility. Ultimately, a design point was chosen
that balanced the payload requirements to fall just within
possibility to maximize flight score.
Other notable glider requirements were a nine-ounce
weight limit including all payload, the sole use of an
autonomous flight control system following deployment,
two degrees of control deflection, ping pong ball payloads
arranged to contact only one side of a geometric plane,
and three resettable 50-g shock trip sensors oriented
along the x, y, and z axis at the center of gravity.
With the problem well understood and requirements
defined, the team brainstormed ideas. With the nineounce weight limit such a critical factor, structure had
to be as minimal as possible. Additionally, the electronic
components for autonomous flight, the ping pong balls,
and the shock sensors had to fit within the vehicle.
A conventional "tadpole" fuselage glider would not
comply with all the required elements. The team came
up with the idea to envelope the highest planar packing
efficiency of ping pong balls in a triangular arrangement
to keep the vehicle as small as possible to minimize
structural weight.

200
175
10

150
125
100

5
75
50
0
0

Colonists/CDA

Lines of constant flight score indicate sensitivities to design variables.
October 2019 5

Momentum - October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Momentum - October 2019