Flight Vehicle Design and Testing Group: People
People
Professor of Practice, Mechanical and Aerospace Engr.
Director, Flight Vehicle Design and Testing Group
Current and Recent Students and Design Research Projects
Colin Trussa
Colin’s research supports highly-maneuverable high-speed experimental drone aircraft design activities. Colin’s research is focused on low-speed high angle-of-attack experimental wind tunnel and flight testing of high-speed delta-type wing configurations to measure nonlinear aerodynamic and S&C performance characteristics.
M.Sc. Thesis: "Low-Speed Aerodynamic Characteristics of a Delta Wing with Articulated Wing Tips"
Jake Brandon
Jake’s research supports highly-maneuverable high-speed experimental drone aircraft design activities. Jake’s research is focused on jet engine inlet design and airframe/engine integration experimental testing for extreme maneuvering high-speed delta-type wing configurations.
M.Sc. Thesis: "S-Duct Inlet Design for a Highly Maneuverable Unmanned Aircraft"
Kali Boyd
Kali's research supports design research efforts in unique aircraft configurations. Kali's research is focused on mechanical systems and design for rocket-packed and deployed unmanned airacraft for rapid response.
Jonathan Richmond
Jonathan's research supports hypersonic waverider design research efforts. Jonathan's research is focused on developing parametric trade studies of flight performance for sub-orbit skip and glide trajectories.
Kevin Uth
Kevin's research supports design research efforts in unique aircraft configutaions. Kevin's resarch is focused on mechanical systems and systems design for high altitude solar-powered unmanned aircraft.
Boliang Meng
Boliang’s recieved his Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering 2020. Boliang's research supported bioinspired wing and multi-winglet design for adaptive soaring flight. Boliang’s research was focused on developing and integrating multi-winglet designs for optimal soaring.
Research Report: "Performance Analysis of Wing with Half-Delta Wingtip Based Devices"
- Boliang is currently pursuing his PhD at Texas A&M
Cole Robertson
Cole received his Master's degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineeirng 2019. Cole's research supported air-launched and recoverable unmanned aircraft design and development. Cole's research was focused on wind tunnel experimental testing of the aircraft, and predicting launch vehicle wake characteristics using computational fluid dynamics.
Thesis: "A Computational and Design Characterization for the Flowfield behind a C-130 during an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Docking"
- Cole currently works for Analex
Andito Eddy
Andito received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering in 2015 and 2018 respectively. Andito’s research supported high altitude solar-regenerative morphing aircraft design activities. Her Master’s research was focused on performing computational aerodynamic design analysis as a function of altitude gained to determine flexible wing morphing schedule.
Thesis: “An Investigation into Delta Wing Aerodynamics with Application to Unmanned Aircraft in High Altitude Flight”
- Andtio currently works for TotalSim.
Greg Rhodes
Greg received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering in 2016 and 2018 respectively. His Master’s research was focused on performing parametric airframe/propulsor performance trade-studies with a focus on developing trends of fuselage profile drag reduction via boundary-layer ingestion and the subsequent propulsor inlet flow characteristics; and determining systems integration capabilities for a transport aircraft.
Thesis: “Experimental Investigations of the Propulsive Fuselage Concept”
- Greg currently works for Blue Origin.
Austin Petsche
Austin received his Bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering 2018. Austin’s research supported high-speed low-observable uninhabited submersible aircraft design activities. His undergraduate research-distinction thesis was focused on computational design analysis of morphing wing configurations on a submersible, unmanned, aerial, vehicle concept.
Thesis: “A CFD Investigation of Morphing Wing Configurations on a Submersible, Unmanned, Aerial, Vehicle Concept”
- Austin currently works for Lockheed Martin.
Kegan Buchhop
Kegan received his Bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering 2017. Kegan’s research supported high altitude solar-regenerative morphing aircraft design activities. His undergraduate research-distinction thesis was focused on packable and deployable wing structure design for flexible delta-type wings at low-speeds.
Thesis: “Wing Structure Design for Flexible Delta-Type Wings at Low Speeds”
- Kegan currently works for Blue Origin.
Jordan Stechschulte
Jordan recieved his Bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering 2020. Jordan's research supported design research efforts in unique aircraft configurations. Jordan's research was focused on developing aerodynamic parametric trade studies for C-wing configurations in subsonic flight.
Thesis: "Aerodynamic Performance Analysis of C-wing Configurations"
Past Alumni and Design Research Projects
Matthew Aultmann, U.G. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (2017)
Thesis: “Effects of Geometric Parameters on an Inverted Airfoil in Ground Effect with the Utilization of Classic Optimization Techniques”
- Matt is currently a graduate student at Ohio State.
Elliot Lee, U.G. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (2017)
Thesis: “Vision-based Indoor Navigation of a Semi-autonomous and Interactive Unmanned Aerial System”
- Elliot is currently a graduate student at Ohio State.
Jillian Yuricich, U.G. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (2016)
Thesis: “Applying Radar Cross-Section Estimations to Minimize Radar Echo in Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle Design”
- Jillian is currently a graduate student at Georgia Tech.
Greg Rhodes, U.G. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (2016)
Thesis: “An Investigation into Artificial Vortex Generation and Effects on Inlet Flow Quality Using Scaled Turbofan Engine Simulators”
- Greg is currently working for Blue Origin.
Daniel Riley, M.Sc. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (2015)
Thesis: “An Investigation into Jet Engine Inlet Flow Characteristics for Turbine-Powered Helicopters”
- Daniel is currently working for GE.
Steven Scherer, U.G. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (2015)
Thesis: “Development of an Active Flight Envelope Warning Method for General Aviation Aircraft”
- Steven is currently working for Boeing.
Benjamin Wagner, U.G. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (2015)
Thesis: “Design of Leading Edge Vortex Flaps for Slender and Non-slender Delta-type Wings at Low Speeds”
- Benjamin is currently working for Ford.
Jacob Allenstein, M.Sc. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (2013)
Thesis: "An Investigation in Gold-Plating Scaled Turbofan Engine Simulators through Means of Aerodynamic and Load Cell Thrust Measurements with Comparisons to Full-Scale Engine Results"
- Jacob is currently a graduate student at Ohio State.
Ryan Winfree, U.G. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (2013)
Thesis: "The Application of Computational Fluid Dynamic Analysis to Jet Engine Inlet Flow Quality"
- Ryan is currently working in Columbus, OH.
Nicholas Higgins, U.G. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (2011)
Thesis: "Terminal Guidance of Autonomous Aerial Refueling"
- Nick is currently working for the National Air and Space Intellegience Agency.