Horizon

Horizon is a 3D printed, morphing, flying-wing aircraft intended to demonstrate yaw-control

Yaw Control

The purpose of this aircraft is to demonstrate yaw control. It accomplishes this by deflecting its parabolic, compliant control surfaces individually to minimize drag, while using the induced drag to control yaw.

Launch System

I was responsible for developing the launch system along with another graduate student. Due to weight and runway length constraints, a landing gear was not possible so bungee launch was used.

A combination of two 25 ft bungee cords launched horizon with 4g peak acceleration to its 60 ft/s cruising speed in roughly 2 seconds.

Manufacturing

Horizon is printed using additive manufacturing of PLA, better known as 3d printing. This is accomplished by splitting the airframe into 24 sections and connecting them together using 1mm carbon fiber rods and epoxy.

Part of my responsibilities on this project was to develop and complete the manufacturing process for assembling this 10ft wingspan aircraft. As part of my efforts in the assembly, I reduced the assembly time from over 20 hours to 7.5 hours.

Aircraft Printing

Aircraft Assembly

Airframe Testing

During this project, we conducted wind tunnel testing, fatigue testing, and a structural test to failure.

Wind tunnel testing for Horizon was intended to determine the thrust produced by the ducted fans with their optimized shape. Part of my responsibility was to conduct and document these tests with three graduate students. The results of this test was that the motors did not meet the specification given by the manufacture and motors were replaced.

Fatigue testing was completed on the sections of the airframe that were most likely to fail in fatigue. It was determined that the full duration of all flights could be completed without fatigue failure.

Structural test to failure was accomplished by loading the wing without carbon fiber spars to over 2g to ensure that it would survive the flight loads. After the addition of carbon fiber rods to the wing spar, the aircraft passed the test.

Flight Testing

Throughout the design process, we test flew the aircraft 9 times, iterating on the design each time. *My favorite videos are starred*

FT1: Glide Test

FT2*: Flutter Failure

FT3: Signal Loss

FT4: Stall on Launch

FT5: Signal Loss

FT6: Stall in M2

FT7: Impact Failure

FT8*: Successful M2 Flight

FT9*: Sucessful M4 Demo with flutter failure

My Role

As part of this multi-year project, I had many roles. I was the assembly lead for the program at times supervising two other undergraduates. I developed, built, and tested the launch system. I modeled the fuselage of the aircraft using SolidWorks. I was in charge of the battery and camera system both on the ground and the onboard cameras. I also conducted many ground tests including wind tunnel routines, fatigue tests, and wing strength tests.

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