Project number
25011
Organization
The New Nose Company, Inc.
Offering
ENGR498-F2024-S2025
The primary mission for this project was to develop better ways to deploy divers, submersibles and other payloads at sea. Secondary missions include maritime surveillance and search and rescue. To reach this goal, the team investigated the aerodynamic characteristics of two configurations of a BWB amphibious cargo seaplane: a baseline design and a variant equipped with catamaran-style floats. These configurations are intended for long-range offshore mission support, so the team optimized the design to meet these performance requirements and to maximize the coefficient of lift and minimize the coefficient of drag.
The team quantified the drag penalty introduced by the floats with computational fluid dynamics simulations and low-speed wind tunnel testing with a force balance and 3D-printed models. The students evaluated aerodynamic performance over a range of angles of attack at constant Reynolds numbers, which yielded key metrics such as lift, drag, pitching moment coefficients, and lift-to-drag ratios.
The team also explored alternate strategies for drag reduction and improved longitudinal stability. The results of these tests highlighted the aerodynamic penalties of float configurations and revealed opportunities for reducing drag while enhancing lift and stability through design refinements. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of optimizing the BWB seaplane concept for improved performance in future iterations.
The team quantified the drag penalty introduced by the floats with computational fluid dynamics simulations and low-speed wind tunnel testing with a force balance and 3D-printed models. The students evaluated aerodynamic performance over a range of angles of attack at constant Reynolds numbers, which yielded key metrics such as lift, drag, pitching moment coefficients, and lift-to-drag ratios.
The team also explored alternate strategies for drag reduction and improved longitudinal stability. The results of these tests highlighted the aerodynamic penalties of float configurations and revealed opportunities for reducing drag while enhancing lift and stability through design refinements. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of optimizing the BWB seaplane concept for improved performance in future iterations.