Currently viewing the tag: "Technology"
Throughout the last four decades the exploitation of fibre-reinforced plastics (FRP) in engineering structures has been steadily diversifying from sports equipment and high performance racing cars, to helicopters and most recently commercial aeroplanes. Composite materials are essentially a combination of two or more dissimilar materials that are used together in order to combine best properties, […]
Although the exploitation of advanced composite materials in the aerospace industry is steadily increasing, high strength metallic materials, particularly aluminium alloys, are still the first choice for large-scale fleets such as the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 737. Since the introduction of stressed-skin “semi-monocoque” aircraft structures in the 1930’s the structural design philosophy has developed […]
In engineering the devil lies in the detail. However the best solution can often be found in the most simplest of designs! Leonardo DaVinci knew all about it when he wrote: Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication! On an aircraft up to two tons of extra weight is added by the entertainment […]
For many years engineers have been trying to harness mechanical work from thermal energy by taking advantage of the crystallographic phase change of shape memory alloys (SMA’s). SMA’s can exhibit strains of up to 8% actuated by a transformation of the internal crystal structure from martensite to austenite as the metal is heated. This solid […]
The exploitation of conventional, continuous fibre-reinforced plastics in engineering structures has been steadily diversifying from sports equipment and high performance racing cars, to helicopters and most recently commercial aeroplanes. The main benefits of composite materials, such as their excellent specific strength and stiffness properties, must be viewed with respect to in-plane fibre-direction applications. However, if […]
In a previous post I introduced the concept of skin-friction and pressure drag, and discussed the contradicting aerodynamic conditions to minimise either of the two types of drag. Overall the minimum resistance of slender shapes (such as aerofoils) to a fluid is attained with an attached laminar […]
In a previous post I introduced the concept of boundary layer separation and how aquatic animals actively or passively morph their skins to delay this phenomenon. As a brief recap, when flow over a surface encounters an adverse pressure gradient (i.e. the fluid pressure increases in […]
Put frankly, the Space Shuttle is probably the most powerful machine ever constructed. One of the earliest astronauts aptly described the Shuttle as “A very beautiful butterfly bolted to a bullet”!
During launch the three solid-rocket boosters output 37 MILLION horsepower sucking fuel through a 17-inch diameter pipe at a rate that would empty an Olympic […]
The Battle of Hastings in 1066 marked the last successful conquer of the British Isles. In the summer of 1940 the Spitfire prevented the most recent attempt of invasion and marked one of the turning points in WWII. Between July and October 1940 an astonishing 747 Spitfires were delivered of which 361 were destroyed and […]
Since the early days of human intelligence the dream of flying and the idea that we are not alone in this universe has possessed the human mind. In the second century AD the Greek writer Lucian describes a trip to the moon in his book Vera Historia, in which Lucian’s ship is caught in a […]
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