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    Welcome to the University of Alabama's premier Aeroelasticity and Control Research Group.  To get started, simply select a link at the left for pages containing video clips demonstrating the software we are using to research various levels of aeroelasticity and stability.

Flight Dynamics^[G] and Aeroelasticity are separate disciplines that both deals with the motion of aircraft, with flight dynamics solely dealing with rigid^[G] body motion and aeroelasticity solely dealing with the elastic^[G] motion of the aircraft. Both have their own set of assumptions to justify their coverage of the analysis of the aircraft motion. Note that these simplifying assumptions had been made well before powerful computers were available. Hence, our challenge is to see what we miss by making these assumptions. In some stage of this project, we want to unify these two disciplines.

About the group:

     Members:

• Dr. Ilhan Tuzcu, Aerospace Engineering Mentor

• Dr. Phillip Bradford, Computer Science Mentor

• Martha Addison, Aerospace Engineering Student researcher

• Shameka Dawson, Computer Science Student Researcher

• Jared Lauridsen, Website Designer(student, Computer-Based Honors Program)

    Objectives:

• Use a unified formula for flight dynamics and aeroelasticity to obtain a model of a flexible aircraft;

• To reduce the model's complexity and create software to simulate the model;

• Design a robust feedback control that stabilizes the reduced and complex models;

What's coming up:

    We're currently under construction

    Videos demonstrating our software

    Access to our open source software

Contact us:  UAFlexWingGroup@gmail.com