An Analysis of the Effects of the Aviation Industry in the United Arab Emirates

This research project analyzes the effects that the aviation industry has had on the Middle Eastern country of the United Arab Emirates. The UAE, in particular its largest city Dubai, has seen explosive growth in tourism, travel, and all-around economic status in recent decades. The country’s geographic position in the Middle East has offered unique conveniences and challenges on the path to development. Emirati-based airlines such as Emirates and Etihad Airways as well as the airports where they are based have been very financially prosperous in the 21st century. Our research study uses Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reports, travel & tourism contribution studies, and OPEC statistic bulletins of the years 1995 - 2018 to correlate the recent economic success of the United Arab Emirates with the growing aviation sector and analyzes additional cultural impacts of the industry on Emirati culture, such as the decrease on economic reliance of fossil fuels

Additively Manufactured Morphing Structures with Embedded Smart Actuators

Observing volant creatures has demonstrated that adapting the shape of the wing to the changing flight environment increases flight efficiency and performance. Current aerial vehicles have stiff aerodynamic surfaces that limit any adapting capability. The development of the concept of fully morphing structures is enabling the creation of bio-inspired, adaptable structures with outstanding performance. However, current morphing structures suffer from poor implementation that often brings more drawbacks than advantage to the final product. This research focuses on an effective implementation of morphing technology to fully realize it\u27s potential. This can be achieved by employing a novel additive manufacturing method that can fabricate morphing structures with integrated and distributed actuation systems. Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are one of the most intensively studied soft, smart actuators due to their promising electromechanical properties. As such, this project utilizes DEAs as the primary material for the morphing structure. Preliminary work has been completed in selecting and validating the additive manufacturing method as well as material selection and improvement. The main goal of this research is to implement additive manufacturing coupled with morphing structures to design, build and test a fully morphing wing structure suitable for small aerial vehicles

Additively manufactured unimorph dielectric elastomer actuators: Design, materials, and fabrication

Dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) is a smart material that holds promise for soft robotics due to the material’s intrinsic softness, high energy density, fast response, and reversible electromechanical characteristics. Like for most soft robotics materials, additive manufacturing (AM) can significantly benefit DEAs and is mainly applied to the unimorph DEA (UDEA) configuration. While major aspects of UDEA modeling are known, 3D printed UDEAs are subject to specific material and geometrical limitations due to the AM process and require a more thorough analysis of their design and performance. Furthermore, a figure of merit (FOM) is an analytical tool that is frequently used for planar DEA design optimization and material selection but is not yet derived for UDEA. Thus, the objective of the paper is modeling of 3D printed UDEAs, analyzing the effects of their design features on the actuation performance, and deriving FOMs for UDEAs. As a result, the derived analytical model demonstrates dependence of actuation performance on various design parameters typical for 3D printed DEAs, provides a new optimum thickness to Young’s modulus ratio of UDEA layers when designing a 3D printed DEA with fixed dielectric elastomer layer thickness, and serves as a base for UDEAs’ FOMs. The FOMs have various degrees of complexity depending on considered UDEA design features. The model was numerically verified and experimentally validated through the actuation of a 3D printed UDEA. The fabricated and tested UDEA design was optimized geometrically by controlling the thickness of each layer and from the material perspective by mixing commercially available silicones in non-standard ratios for the passive and dielectric layers. Finally, the prepared non-standard mix ratios of the silicones were characterized for their viscosity dynamics during curing at various conditions to investigate the silicones’ manufacturability through AM