The Contribution of Swirl Recovery to the Induced Drag of Propeller-Wing Systems

From the desire to reduce the impact of traveling on the environment and the increase in fuel prices over the past years, the propeller has regained interest as a propulsion mechanism in the aviation industry. Two main reasons can be found in their high propulsive efficiency and ability to combine with electric motors. The scaling of the motors...

The aerodynamic effects of the location of baseball seams: An experimental study by PIV

The aerodynamic behaviour of a pitched baseball depends on the combination of the translational velocity, the rotational velocity in combination with the rotation axis and the seam positions. For small spin parameters the effect of seam positions dominates the Magnus effect. This study focusses on a visual understanding of the seam position by...

Knowledge Based Engineering framework for preliminary spaceplane design

The concept of a spaceplane, a launch system that is a combination of an airplane and a rocket, is one of the most promising concepts of sustainable access to space. Along its trajectory, it experiences most extreme conditions with frequently opposing design requirements, making it one of the most complicated challenges in aerospace engineering....

The assessment of aerodynamic interaction between Ventifoil suction wings: A comparison between a numerical lifting line approach and full-scale RANS simulations

While the awareness of global warming rises, transport over sea remains a large contributor to green house gas emissions. New regulations imposed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) aim to reduce the emission of green house gasses. Consequently, ship owners turn to technological solutions in order to achieve this. The Ventifoil from...

Investigation of the Dynamic Response of a FOWT to Periodic Surge Motion

Due to the increasing interest in modelling floating offshore wind turbines, simulation tools need to be adapted from fixed-base applications to surge applications. In this study, an open-source inviscid 3D panel method named Vortexje was adapted for surge motion and its ability to capture the physics of severe surge motion (when the rotor...

Cockpit Design and Integration into the Flying V

The Flying V is an innovative new aircraft concept currently being developed by the faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology. This aircraft is a flying wing having a large sweep on the inner section, and a small sweep angle at the outer, giving the aircraft its characteristic V shape. The objective of this research is...

Pressure based active load control of a blade in dynamic stall conditions

A proportionate controller is investigated experimentally for unsteady load alleviation purposes on a 2D wing model with a trailing edge flap. This study is supposed to be a simplified version of a Smart Rotor, a mechanism which deals with the reduction of unsteady loads acting on a wind turbine and aims to understand the behavior of this type...

Holistically improving screening decisions under uncertainty in aircraft conceptual design and technology assessment: Insights on bottom-up uncertainty quantification and propagation and integrated socio-technical group decision making

In the highly uncertain environment of conceptual aircraft design and technology assessment and selection, making good decisions is of utmost importance. Aiming to contribute to improving decision quality, the problem was researched from both a technical as well as a socio-psychological perspective. In the technical perspective, the uncertainty...

Semi-passive trailing-edge flaps: for ultimate and fatigue load reductions on wind turbines

This thesis investigates the potential of a semi-passive trailing-edge flap on a large conceptual wind turbine. The mechanism passively reacts to blade and tower accelerations by changing the airfoil camber, opposing the dynamic loads on the turbine. An active element is present, which influences the mean of the flap oscillation. First, a low...

Aerodynamic modelling and performance analysis of over-the-wing propellers: A combined numerical and experimental study

The research objective is to analyze the aerodynamic interaction effects and quantify the performance of over-the-wing propeller systems. To achieve this objective, two wind tunnel experiments have been performed to characterize the most important aerodynamic interaction effects of a single propeller installed over-the-wing. Results feature wing...

Simulation & Analysis of the Aerodynamic Interactions between Distributed Propellers and Wings

The recent advances in complementary technologies have given a new impulse in the research activities related to distributed propulsion. Light electric engines, whose performance is rather insensitive to scaling, improved battery capacities and autonomous flight all contribute to this trend. Promising concepts featuring electrically powered...

Wave Limitations for Floating AWES: A method for determining effects of wave induced motions on horizontally landing Airborne Wind Energy Systems on floating foundations

Airborne Wind Energy (AWE) is a field of engineering that utilizes tethered aircraft for the generation of electrical power. The potential for the application of AWE in deep-water offshore environments on top of floating foundations is enormous. Where conventional wind turbines would require a very stable platform to reduce motions at the...

Vortex-Surface Interactions: An experimental investigation and the development of a conceptual vortex-surface interaction model

The high efficiency of open rotor propulsion has led to a comeback of propeller propulsion systems in recent years. The main issue preventing wide application of the technology is its high noise level. One of the main contributors to this noise is the pressure fluctuations generated during the interaction between a propeller tip vortex and a...

On the unsteady development of the flow under transonic Buffet conditions: Experimental study of the interaction of shock and pressure waves using PIV and Schlieren visualization

This thesis presents an experimental study of the unsteady phenomenon known as transonic buffet. Completely developed in the High Speed Lab of the Aerospace Faculty at TU Delft (The Netherlands), the experiments were conducted in the transonic/supersonic wind tunnel TST-27. In order to achieve time and spatial resolution of the phenomenon, high...

A numerical investigation into the aerodynamic characteristics of AeroCity

Drag reduction through a streamlined aerodynamic design process: Development and implementation of a methodology to accelerate the aerodynamic design process in the preliminary phase of car design

Continuous innovation is very important to stay competitive in today’s world. Automotive manufacturers are an excellent example of this evolution when looking to new vehicle concepts. But also behind the scene, they have to be innovative in order to be able to keep up this progression. Aerodynamics has a large influence on the total performance...

An Investigation of the Non-Linear 3D Flow Effects Relevant for Leading Edge Inflatable Kites

The kite power group at TU Delft is currently researching the use of leading edge inflatable (LEI) kites for use in power generation. A thorough understanding of the aeroelastics of these kites is paramount to the development of system simulation models and optimum kite and system designs. The current lack of understanding is therefore seen as a...

The Use of Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Actuators for Low-Speed Flow Control