Lectures & Reading

 
 

The text is an excellent reference book, which you will find useful for many years. You won't understand everything written there the first time you read it: no one does. You are expected to browse the indicated pages in the text, find the material relevant to what we discuss in class, and read those things in detail. Read the other things given there too, but don't get discouraged if they seem to be "over your head": you'll learn these things in detail in later courses. One important trait of AEs is that we learn what we need from many different areas, as we need it, even if we are not yet "experts" in those areas. The notes taken in class, on the other hand, are expected to be mastered in detail: yes, including the derivations.
 
 

Note on Web-Based Learning: Or, "Why should I go to class?"

You will find "a lot of" the course notes on the Web. You are expected to read that. However, the instructor in this course is the one who put those notes there, and hence knows that it is there. He feels free to spend class time on conveying things that are NOT on the web, if and when appropriate, and checking using the exams, assignments etc. whether these have been learned properly. Attendance is mandatory, both physical and mental, and unexplained absence will be considered as a sure sign of sloppiness. It will be held against you with zero sympathy.
 
 
 
Lecture
Topics
Textbook pages
1
Welcome to Aerospace Engineering; history.

 

xix - xx, Chap. 1 (p.1 - 45) Yes, that's right: that's 47 pages.
2
Today's Dreams in Various Speed Ranges
Chapter 2: p. 46-50. 
3-4
Designing a Flight Vehicle: Route Map of Disciplines. Mission Specification & T.O.W.
p. 390 - 394.

 

5
Force Balance during flight 
p. 319 - 324.
6
Earth's Atmosphere
Chap. 5: p. 66 - 76; p.422-425.
7-8
Aerodynamics: lift, drag, static & stagnation pressure, Cp, AR, sources of drag, Speed for Minimum Drag 
Chap. 6-9: p.77 - 91, 128-136, 137-155.Chap. 11: p. 177-192.
9
Wing Loading and cruise design point; Dimensional Analysis
Chap. 3: p. 51-59., revise p. 38-45.
10-12
Propulsion. Selecting engines; gas turbine cycle; thrust & Tsfc; sfc; thermal and propulsive efficiency. Rockets, ramjets, turbojets, turbofan, turboprop & turboshaft engines; thrust lapse rate; maximum vs. continuous thrust 
Chap. 17: p. 337 - 364.
13-16
Performance: equations of motion; steady level flight, climb, gliding, takeoff, landing; Range, fuel consumption, Endurance, Best speed & altitude.
Chap. 15: p. 256-285; 290 - 305.

 

19-21.
Stability & Control 
Chap. 16: p.306-331.
22-23.
Structures; deformations, strengths, materials, g-factor 
Chap. 18: p. 373 - 394. 

 

24-26.
High speed flight: speed of sound, Mach angle, shocks; shuttle & meteor cases; Flight at subsonic, transonic & supersonic speeds
Chap.12: p.193 - 216; Chap.19: p. 395- 401.

 

27-29.
Space flight: velocity increment; specific impulse, mass ratio; Kepler's Laws; orbit transfers 
Chap.20: p.402-421.