Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Sullivan, W, Rani

Committee Member

Rais-Rohani, Masoud

Committee Member

Qatu, Mohamad

Committee Member

Lacy Jr., Thomas

Date of Degree

5-2-2009

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Aerospace Engineering

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

James Worth Bagley College of Engineering

Department

Department of Aerospace Engineering

Abstract

The details of an experimental investigation focusing on obtaining the static and vibration characteristics of a full-scale carbon composite wing and fuselage structural assemblies of an ultralight unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) are presented. The UAV has a total empty weight of 155-lb and an overall length of approximately 20.6t. A three-tier whiffletree system and the tail fixture were designed and used to load the wing and the fuselage in a manner consistent with a high-g flight condition. A shaker-table approach was used for the wing vibration testing, whereas the modal characteristics of the fuselage structure were determined for a freeree configuration. The static responses of the both structures under simulated loading conditions as well as their dynamic properties such as the natural frequency, damping coefficient and associated mode shapes were obtained. The design and implementation of the static and vibration tests along with the experimental results are presented in this thesis.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/16393

Comments

Wings||Static testing||Vibration analysis||Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)||Tracking (position)||Loads (forces)||Accelerometers||Fuselage

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