| Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Guindy engineering students' design dazzles NASA
Chennai: Their interest in aerospace led Anusha.R and Srinath.S,
students of mechanical engineering and geoinformatics at the
College of Engineering, Guindy, to participate in a competition
held by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
earlier this year. Little did they expect to come second among
the international winners.
"We had to submit a conceptual design for an aircraft that
could be used in 2058. It had to fit certain specifications.
For instance, the payload had to be around 30,000 pounds, the
runway length shortened to less than 3,000 feet and so on. They
also stressed the use of noise reduction technology and fuel
efficiency since this will be very important in the future,"
Anusha said.
Under the guidance of faculty advisor professor E Natarajan,
the students decided to adopt the design of a blended wing body
aircraft in place of the tubular fuselage to which wings are
attached as in the aircraft being used today.
"This ensures that every cross section is shaped like an
air foil and the whole thing becomes a lifting surface instead
of just the wings being so. The adoption of this design alone
can ensure a decrease of about 30% in fuel consumption,"
she said.
Since the drag produced by the aircraft would be minimal, it
would save fuel and produce less noise, Srinath added. "We
looked at synthetic fuels, liquid hydrogen and biofuels as alternatives.
Liquid hydrogen was a very attractive option because it produces
no emissions but the manufacturing process would not be eco-friendly.
In addition, there would be problems with storage and handling
since it occupies a lot of volume. We suggested blending aviation
fuel with biofuel. In fact, Virgin Atlantic has already experimented
with this by running a single engine of an Airbus A380 on biofuel,"
he said.
With Anusha wanting to pursue a master's programme in aeronautical
engineering and Srinath intending to further his interest in
photogrammetry (making maps from aerial photographs) and unmanned
aerial vehicles, they are both looking forward to presenting
their paper at the Fundamental Aeronautics Meet at Atlanta in
October.
"The event will bring together the aerospace community
from all over the US. We will get a chance to see a lot of innovative
designs such as cutting-edge supersonic and subsonic projects.
Professor Natarajan will be with us. However, since there are
no cash prizes for international students we are applying for
travel grants to be able to attend the event," Anusha added.
Courtesy: The Times of India
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