The Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) annually competes in the open class division of theSAE Aero Design Competition, where the goal is to takeoff within a set distance, fly a complete loop,and successfully land, while carrying the most cargo with a radio-controlled airplane. Compositeshave been successfully used by the student design teams in all components of the airplanes tominimize the weight of the plane while maintaining the strength required to support the aerodynamicloads during flight and the impact loads upon landing. Cantilevered wings have exceeded spans ofthirty feet and supported moments of thirty-three hundred foot-pounds using a Selig 1223 airfoil. Unidirectionaland bi-directional carbon fiber cloth is used to provide the desired characteristics.This paper focuses on the undergraduate educational, laboratory, and testing aspects of usingcomposites in an engineering curriculum as applied to aerospace applications. Students gainvaluable hands-on experience through the design and testing of composite structures, needing to notonly to design the airplanes, but also acquire the construction and testing techniques to verify andimplement their design. Since the properties of composite structures are difficult to model and thus topredict how and when failures will occur (being dependent on both design and construction skills),students are forced to move beyond simple tensile tests of homogenous materials and manage theadditional design variables found in composite structures.
展开▼
