Information aware flight path design for flow field estimation and performance investigation of active flow control aircraft controllers

This thesis discusses the feasibility and performance of implementing a COTS reciprocating piston compressor for a developed active flow control (AFC) actuation framework to quantify the aerospace-relevant performance ramifications of control architecture and compressor operational choices as well as the design and implementation of a systematic framework for specifying measurement trajectories for wind field structure system identification.Three Active Flow Control architectures are studied under varying compressor operation schedules: supply volume metering (SVM), exit area metering (EAM), and a combined approach (VAM). The analysis framework in this study integrates internal pneumatic actuation and discharge dynamics, an experimentally-calibrated compressor pressure and thermal dynamics model, three feedback control architectures, and flight dynamics models. The framework is implemented in simulation to provide a user-friendly tool for linking AFC architecture choices to achievable flight trajectories. Actuator performance is evaluated using actuation time, output, compressor duty cycle, and specific energy consumption. Aircraft tracking performance is evaluated as usable time and slalom centerline deviation. The analysis indicates that exit area metering provides the best efficiency and run time with some structural drawbacks, while the combined approach provides the best flight-tracking performance at the expense of additional complexity.This thesis also develops a systematic framework for specifying UAS-borne wind measurement trajectories based on information recovery. The framework quantifies information-richness in terms of wind field parameters and uses an initial flow structure estimate to construct a least squares optimization approach, including two alternative definitions of parameter information. The framework is implemented via dynamic programming within a flight dynamics and gust response simulator. The test cases include an isolated rotational (tornadic) flow structure and one embedded in a uniform wind field. The results indicate that an approach that optimizes based on observed flow gradients provides improved parameter estimate accuracy over one using only estimated flow structure gradients

Quantitative Assessment of Sun Louver Design Performance

Conventional wisdom holds that carefully designed exterior louver systems tuned to a building’s earth latitude and its glass wall’s compass orientations do a better job of regulating sunlight than interior louver systems due to the intuition-friendly observation that exterior systems reflect or shade the sunlight before it ever enters the building. A multi-criteria, multi-variable analysis performed on a 3600 SF multipurpose space came to different conclusions. The results showed that when accounting for such design criteria as carbon footprint, glare, optimal daylighting and solar heat gain of the interior, tuned exterior louvers perform well against some measures but fared poorly in others, making the decision between types of louver systems a matter of setting performance priorities and aesthetic preference in any given building. This paper summarizes a student’s independent research study in which she tested her studio project’s arrangement of sun louvers in a large multipurpose space, measuring a number of factors with a goal of determining the best design. Four interdisciplinary faculty collaboratively reviewed her research from architectural, structural, and environmental perspectives. For the analysis, Cove Tool, eQUEST, Tally, and EC3 software were used to test the performance of various louver layouts. A series of separate studies investigated whether the presence of louvers, their solar orientation, the location of the louvers relative to the glass wall, and louver spacing impacted daylighting and energy performance and carbon footprint reduction. All louver studies were compared to a reference design of exposed non-louvered glass, specified to meet minimum code standards. While some results followed widely accepted logic regarding the design of sun louvers, many differences in performance were either not as dramatic as expected, or positive performance results in one category were offset by negative performance results in another. In the end it is evident in this study that the detailed refinements of louver design do not dramatically affect daylight, energy, or carbon footprint performance in a way that would provide designers with clear performance directives, in the absence of preset priorities, so such factors as aesthetic intent may ultimately take on a decisive role

The Impact of Material Lifespan on Carbon Analysis

Carbon impact estimation software programs have simplified the processes for evaluating the carbon contribution of proposed buildings and can be relatively accurate down to building assembly. However, the simplifying assumption that a building’s embodied carbon is entirely a function of the production and installation, while a building’s carbon-in-use is the province of a building’s operational life can lead to misleading results, and hence, faulty decisions, when the lifespans of a building’s individual materials differ greatly from the building’s lifespan. The primary study became a way to point out those disparities between material life expectancy and carbon impact by studying the impact of three alternative roof assemblies

Design guidelines for sustainable biological field stations

ArchitectureBotan

Structural system selection for a building design based on energy impact

A building structure�s ecological impact due to the embodied carbon in the building materials chosen has become an increasingly prominent factor in the selection of building structural systems. Understanding the relative embodied carbon of different structural systems allows students to make informed decisions in the design process that better achieve the increasingly demanding goal of producing sustainable architecture. The inclusion of this topic in academia has the benefit of giving students experience with energy assessment tools that could be utilized in the profession upon their graduation.This paper presents an overview of and assesses the relative utility of three emerging life cycle assessment tools (ATHENA, EC3, and TALLY) for comparing the carbon impact of timber, steel, and concrete as a building�s structural system. It includes an exploration of incorporating these tools into the classroom to allow students to arrive at a decision for the building structural system based on the total embodied carbon of the design. To round-out its assessment, the paper includes a literature review of similar research being incorporated into undergraduate education.A case study that forms the backdrop of this research is the work of a student in our Graduate Certificate Program (first author of this paper). He utilized a section of an existing project designed in the capstone studio as a baseline design for each of the three assessment tools, altering only structural materials in each design iteration. The paper�s conclusions and recommendations derive largely from the results of this student�s project.Architectur