Ted Vlady

"YJ-2030: Candidate Engine for a Supersonic Business Jet"

The AIAA undergraduate engine design competition committee has requested proposals for a new engine design for their Mach 2.1 business jet entering into service in the year 2030. The YJ-2030 is Georgia Tech’s response to the AIAA Request For Proposal (RFP). The engine is an afterburning mixed flow turbofan that allows the aircraft to cross the Atlantic in under 5 hours, while still offering extended range at subsonic cruise. This presentation will cover the requirement definition, cycle design, component design and the material and weight analysis of the YJ-2030 engine.

Jessica Jourden

"Finite Element Model Characterization of a Regeneratively Cooled Nozzle"

Regeneratively cooled nozzles often circulate cryogenic compressed fuel through a nozzle composed of hundreds of tubes. This process cools and helps maintain the strength of the metal components during rocket engine operation. Engine designers use a simplified engine system finite element model to determine loads for component design. A two-dimensional shell mesh can be used for the nozzle in this load analysis model. Beam theory can be leveraged to compute approximate orthotropic material properties such that the shell elements will exhibit the same behavior as the nozzle tubes. A “truth model” can be made using cyclic symmetry. The mode shapes and frequencies of the shell model can be tuned to this truth model using Attune by adjusting the shell orthotropic material properties.

Pavan Patel

"Numerical Simulation of Reacting Flows in a 7-injector GCH4/GOX Rocket Engine"

Utilizing hydrocarbon fuels for rocket engines is beneficial in terms of cost, reliability, and environmental friendliness. To enable more informed and cost-effective designs of rocket engines, it is key to understand the combustion processes involved in the combustion chamber; one approach to do so is through numerical simulations. Numerical simulations facilitate deeper exploration of the physics involved in comparison to experiments. In this study, the numerical simulation of a 7-injector, GCH4/GOX, experimental rocket engine (developed at the Technical University of Munich) is performed with an in-house LES CFD solver. The numerical methodology adopted is based on the well-established, second-order accurate (in both space and time) finite-volume solver for the unsteady Favre-filtered multi-species compressible Navier-Stokes equations. A hybrid scheme, which switches between a second-order-accurate central scheme and a third-order-accurate MUSCL (Monotone Upstream-centered Schemes for Conservation Laws) scheme is employed. The reacting flow and flame features/characteristics are studied from the simulation results. 

Jishnu Medisetti

"Conceptual Design and Data Visualizations for Georgia Tech Interuniversity Mission Operations Control Center (GTMOCC) for Cubesat Missions" 

As Georgia Tech expands its space systems capabilities with current and planned future Cubesat Missions, it requires a strong foundation for mission operations to be able to send commands and downlink telemetry from these systems. GT-1 and TARGIT are scheduled to be the first customers of the MOCC, however this system will be designed for versatility to accommodate multiple future missions including GT-2+, and formation flying mission like SWARM-EX and VISORS. This presentation aims to provide a proposed layout of how data received from the satellites will be processed to generate mission critical visualizations, and describe the different MOCC operating modes. Integrating AGI Systems Tool Kit along with MATLAB will provide the functionality to propagate estimated orbits for the satellites and calculate access data regarding when estimated next passes occur in order to aid the operations team in changing operating modes. 

Isaac Del Valle

"Development of a Soft Robotics Tensegrity Rover for Planetary Exploration"

Tensegrity, a term derived from tensional integrity, refers to a specific class of structures composed of rigid bars and cables. When these bars and cables are connected to each other, they form a lattice-type structure which is capable of undergoing severe deformation due to the buckling of its bars. Utilizing the ability to deform or compress, a tensegrity lattice demonstrates advantageous characteristics as a rover for micro or low gravity environments, including being robust to failure, impact tolerant, and capable of energy efficient modes of locomotion. This presentation highlights the manufacturing processes used to build tensegrity structures, as well as the methods that have been employed to provide locomotion to a tensegrity lattice for future planetary exploration.

Jacob Zhong

"SysML Modeling of an Unmanned Mars Mission System"

One of the recent areas of focus in aerospace has been the use of Model-Based Systems Engineering approaches to aid in the system engineering process.  This talk will give an overview of the application, benefits, and limitations of MBSE to modeling aspects of an unmanned mars mission system using SysML in MagicDraw. This includes modeling aspects such as requirements, system structure and hierarchy, and parametric analysis. Additionally, this talk will also briefly discuss the aerodynamic and trajectory analysis code developed for planetary entry as well as the current limitations of MATLAB integration within MagicDraw. 

Kianmehr Ebrahimzadehshirazi

“Deployment Mechanism Techniques for GT-1 CubeSat Mission”

Interest in small satellites, specifically CubeSats, has surged in recent years as they offer opportunities to conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations in space in such a way that is cost-effective, timely and relatively easy to accomplish. GT-1 is a student-led 1-U CubeSat mission being developed in the Space Systems Design Laboratory with a goal of developing a fully functioning and robust spacecraft bus to be implemented on future GT series CubeSat missions designed to operate in Low Earth Orbit. A critical feature of the spacecraft bus is the UHF antenna and solar panel deployment mechanisms. The small form factor of the 1-U CubeSat (10cm×10cm×10cm) imposes several constraints on such deployment mechanisms and therefore require unique solutions to meet the mission requirements. This presentation aims to explain the development and decision-making process involved in designing, manufacturing, testing, and integrating the deployment mechanisms including the problems encountered and the lessons learned throughout the past year

Shravan Hariharan 

"Flexible Thermal Protection System Design for Mars Entry Applications"

Current Mars entry missions use a rigid thermal protection system, which is limited in diameter by the payload fairing of the launch vehicle. To account for the larger payload masses and decelerator surface areas required for future surface missions, NASA has conducted studies into Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerators (HIADs), which allow large decelerators to be packaged into small volumes. However, HIADs require a flexible thermal protection system (FTPS), which is currently at a low TRL and requires high-fidelity modeling prior to full-scale system testing. This presentation includes the Martian atmospheric entry trajectory modeling for HIAD use cases, stagnation point heat flux calculation for a given trajectory, and the preliminary modeling of FTPS layups to determine the necessary material thicknesses for a given entry trajectory.

Sahaj Patel

"Development of a Cold-Gas Thruster Component Testbed"

The volumetric constraints of small-satellites, specifically CubeSats, limit the availability of propulsion systems for small-satellite missions. The Lightsey Research Group in the GT Space Systems Design Lab develops custom cold gas thrusters for small-satellite missions, making use of additive manufacturing to integrate the main tank, plenum tank, nozzles, and tubing into one monolithic structure that optimally uses the available volume. However, the compact design significantly limits the ability to test individual components, particularly the solenoid valves and their electronic controller. A scaled-up model of the cold-gas system would allow for simple testing of components along with measurement of pressure and temperature at intermediate points in the flow path. This presentation will discuss the design, development, and upcoming testing of an expanded cold-gas thruster component testbed.  

Sabrina Noor

"2D Automatic Table Generation"

Having multiple parameters and being able to get a solution for an unknown in real time is crucial in fields where this information can be used to make split second decisions. The automatic generation of a 2D table allows for adaptive updates to take place throughout the entire procedure/mission. These computations happen in a continuous manner where the table is updated rather than recomputed. This presentation highlights the iterative methods used to generate the table.