Since the 1970s, RPI students have been putting their engineering and design skills to use building lightweight composite aircraft. RPI’s Aircraft Design Studio, one of the only student-led undergraduate aircraft design courses in the country, has produced the RP1, a simple, open-cockpit sailplane, the RP2, a closed-cockpit sailplane that can be seen hanging from the ceiling of the Commons, and the RP3, a two-person sailplane. The next step for the Aircraft Design Studio is to develop a powered aircraft.
The main purpose behind these projects is to provide an educational experience in addition to the fun of building and constructing the airplanes. Project director Volker Paedelt believes "that the projects can put out engineers who not only can work in their distinctive field but are also able to do interdisciplinary work in civil engineering, aeronautical engineering, and material engineering."
In the summer of 2000, work began on the RP4 bushplane. The RP4 will be a single engine, short takeoff and landing, multi-use aircraft that will be capable of landing on rough airstrips, or on water when equipped with floats. The plane will be able to carry a sixteen-foot canoe, along with camping gear, tools, and equipment that one would like to bring to a remote location. The RP4 also comes with floats, which enables the plane to land on water. The plane will also have the facilities to land on a paved runway.
The RP4 project will be more utilitarian than its predecessors. While the RP4 could be used as a transport or rescue plane, it is primarily designed to be a recreational aircraft. The predominant design feature of this project is that it will have seats for a pilot and two passengers whereas the previous models were single-seat sailplanes. With a range of over 500 miles, RP4 will be able to fly up to a lake in Quebec with enough fuel for the pilot to return to Albany.
Over the course of the past academic year, 10 RPI students have worked on finalizing the preliminary RP4 design. With the help of former faculty advisor Professor Brian Thompson, who has since been replaced by Dr. Zvi Rusack and Paedelt, the group has constructed two full-sized fuselage mockups, tested two workable canoe loading procedures, laid out the cabin, and designed many of the ergonomic features of the RP4.
With the arrival of Rusack, the project participants are starting to take the project to a new level. Through the use of the rapid prototyping process, various scale models of RP4 components have been constructed from CAD drawings. These component models will be assembled into a one-tenth scale RP4 model that will be used for wind tunnel testing.
When the wind tunnel testing is finished and final calculations are made, the group will begin construction of the RP4. The group projects that the prototype will take to the skies within the next 10 years.
RPI is the only school offering a program of this magnitude at the undergraduate level in the entire country. RPI, through the RP4, gives students the opportunity to put together what they’ve learned in the classroom in the design of a real, working piece of machinery. The RP4 demonstrates that RPI is producing leading engineers in their fields, particularly at the undergraduate level, who can create an aircraft comparable to other aircraft being produced commercially today, and who use traditional techniques while also pioneering in the field. The RP4 also shows that RPI has a significant interest in allowing its students to work on hands-on projects in the fields of engineering and design.
The RP4 is a long-term project that will need students from various technical backgrounds in order to be successful. Although students currently working on the project are predominately aeronautical engineers, students from any discipline are encouraged to join the Aircraft Design Studio. Fields most closely related to this class are mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, materials engineering, and information technology. The project also could use students outside those disciplines who could come into the lab and work with materials and build certain aspects of the project. At present, people can come in and help build the model for wind tunnel testing—cutting, sanding, smoothing, and shaping the model.
"There is no current set date of completion, but in the past, projects have taken from two to 10 years to build. Due to the complexity of this project it is expected that it would take 15 to 20 years. At this point the main focus is establishing a strong foundation that future students can work upon," said team leader Karl Jaanimagi, who is dual-majoring in aeronautical and mechanical engineering.
Although the project expands over a long period of time, project material keeps up with the new industry composite materials to make sure that the project is on the cutting edge of new processes. To keep the project on the same course and to initiate new students into the project, students who have worked on the project from previous semesters relate their information to the newer students coming in.
No student works alone; there are groups for building the wing, the fuselage, the tail structure, the instrumentation, the layout, and the wind tunnel prototype. A group is composed of four or five students. At the end of the semester, each student has to hand in a complete report on what he has done. The Aircraft Design Studio can be taken as a course for up to four credits or simply for the experience.
During this semester, the group hopes to speed up the pace of the project. The construction of the models that will be going into the wind tunnels will commence soon, and from there a flying model will be constructed which will show if the current design fits the program’s goals.
Editor’s Note: If you are interested in becoming a part of the RP4 project, come to the lab to meet the current project team or contact Volker Paedelt at paedev@rpi.edu.
