I spent 3 years in highschool doing independent research, mostly focusing the application of 3D printing in aviation. This was mostly inspired by the works of 3DLabPrint, as I was fascinated with the idea of flying a 3D printed RC airplane. This was when I learned most of what I know about aeronautics today, in addition to the various computational tools associated with the research. In 12th grade I presented my paper about compliant variable-camber wings to the Regeneron Science Talent Search research competition, and placed in the top 300 semifinalists in the US!

After enrolling in university, I took up research with the Duke Aerolasticity Team, under supervision of Dr. Luisa Serafim and Earl Dowell. I was tasked to collect windtunnel pressure data for an airfoil section under "nonlinear" conditions. This meant studying the airflow as the wing changed its angle of attack, as air has elastic properties and doesn't immediately change in-phase with surrounding objects.

Being able to study and conduct both methods of obtaining aerodynamic data (CFD and windtunnel) has vastly expanded my view in aeronautics, as this is what aerospace engineers use in the real world. It was an honor to be able to work with such a talented team (Dr. Serafim also noted working in tandem with researchers at NASA) on novel research projects.

[2023-24] Intern at Duke Aeroelasticity

Co-author of upcoming paper by Luisa Serafim & Earl Dowell

As previously mentioned, the premise of Dr. Serafim's research is to study the elastic behavior of air as an aircraft wing is undergoing nonlinear conditions, and to develop a computational method to predict for this phenomenon. Of course, it is possible to use large-scale CFD simulations to simulate airfoils under non-static conditions, but this process can be incredibly time-consuming.

My job was to take physical data using a windtunnel to validate Dr. Serafim's computational results. I began working with a senior student (Josh Kramer) before collecting data independently, whenever additional runs were required. The rigid airfoil was mounted to a stepper motor, allowing motor programs to physically simulate nonlinear conditions (rapid changes in angle of attack, and oscillations at different frequencies) at different windtunnel speeds (15-30 m/s).

A second airfoil was also created with a large control surface, which would be mounted to the stepper motor. For each series of motor programs, the airfoil was also statically mounted at different angles of attack (0, +6 deg, -6 deg).

In summary, I took a bunch of windtunnel data for the rigid airfoil. I was responsible for the assembly and tube-routing of the control-surface airfoil, as well as all its data collection. There were some structural challenges with the 3D printed airfoil base, but I am proud to say that I fabricated the aluminum baseplates for both airfoils entirely by hand (rotary tool, drill press, and a ton of sanding) due to delays with the CNC.

In an engineering dynamics class we were tasked to do a short research paper on a physical system, and I settled on the infamous "3-body system". Of course I wasn't planning to analytically derive a general formula, but instead create a simulation program capable of plotting out the trajectories of three celestial objects in real time.

There's this neat library called SciPy that allows for numerical solving of first order differential equations. Deriving a series of 18 first-order differential equations allowed the plot of 3 bodies in 3D space. The cool thing about this program is that it doesn't stop at 3 bodies. When two bodies inelastically collide, their combined momentum and mass form a new single body, resulting in a now 2-body system.

Although I primarily worked on the program, my co-authors helped a ton in developing the paper. Thank you, Nimaye Garodia, Samuel Obeng, and Jackie Ong, for spending countless midnights helping deliver this project to fruition.

Abstract: A 3D printed aircraft wing was designed so that the camber of the wing can be altered to achieve different aerodynamic characteristics. Finite Element Analysis was used to simulate stress on aircraft, in order to test the compliance of the 3D printed wing. Computational Fluid Dynamics was used to simulate airflow over the wing at various levels of camber and angle of attack, and aerodynamic data was obtained to determine the optimal wing configuration at different flights situations, such as takeoff, landing, and cruising.

I would like to revisit this project in the future, using composite materials as the compliant material instead of PLA plastic. Using such materials like fiberglass and/or carbon fiber would provide much better strength/weight characteristics, while keeping the favorable compliant properties. Using Duke's windtunnel might also prove useful in collecting/validating the CFD data obtained from the original research project.

(Also the servo solution was a rather quick and dirty solution to the cambering mechanism, and I would very much like to devise a more elegant solution to the monstrosity on the right)

Abstract: A tandem aircraft was designed with 3D printing in mind to demonstrate the aerodynamic and structural benefits of such an aircraft. The elimination of downwash, which decreases lift, and iterative internal wing design will result in favorable flight characteristics. The aerodynamics of the aircraft were enhanced by altering the aircraft’s wing placement to minimize downwash. Structural optimization was applied to the aircraft’s wings by implementing different curved wall designs, which resulted in the wing having an improved strength-to-weight ratio.

This project was more of an excuse for me to keep designing 3D printed planes for fun. That being said, I enjoy describing my thought process of design and analysis in the research paper. The plane would never become a reality, but served as a foundation for my most advanced 3D printed plane (the p40).

Abstract: Deviation from internal design of traditional 3D printed aircraft wings will improve strength and weight characteristics by implementing and optimizing curved wall placement. Curved wall and tapering skin thicknesses will be designed in accordance to stress concentrations along a wing. While stress differences between curved wall designs were negligible, they were significantly better than the traditionally designed wing. By applying the curved wall design to 3D printed wings, increased strength will be achieved.

This was when I started learning how to use basic FEA, which ended up being incredibly useful in my later projects.