The faculty conducts classes in classrooms in Learned Hall and in the Milt Sills Flight Briefing Room in the Garrison Flight Research Center (Hangar #1) at the Lawrence Municipal Airport. The Department has laboratory facilities in Learned Hall, Nichols Hall, the Garrison Flight Research Center and Hangar #2 (also at the Lawrence Municipal Airport).
Most of the Aerospace Engineering Department classes are given in Learned Hall. All classrooms in Learned Hall are equipped with overhead projectors and screens. Rooms 3051 and 3052 Learned Hall are equipped as multi-media classrooms with computer projection systems and connections to the Internet. The Department also has a multi-media teaching facility, the Aerospace Vehicle Design Laboratory, 3101 Learned Hall wherein all students have a computer at their seat. This room is used for classes for which students are expected to learn to use engineering software. A portable computer projection system is also available for use in any room not equipped with a computer projector. The School of Engineering Committee of Department Scheduling Officers assigns all classrooms in Learned Hall.
The Aerospace Engineering Department has laboratory facilities in Learned Hall, Nichols Hall and at the Lawrence Airport. These facilities support the Department's undergraduate and graduate education and research missions.
The Closed Circuit Subsonic Wind Tunnel has a 36" by 51" test section and a maximum speed of 185 mph. This tunnel is equipped with a six-component strain-gage balance and a PC-based LabView data acquisition system. The Department's laser Doppler velocimeter and hot-wire anemometer can be used in this tunnel. Flow visualization techniques include a laser light sheet, smoke, helium bubbles, and surface oil streak-line methods. A computerized, two-axis traversing system is available for flow field mapping. The test section and operator's station is located in Room 1080 of Learned Hall. Coordinator: M. Ewing
The Open Circuit Subsonic Wind Tunnel has a 21" by 30" test section and a maximum speed of 120 mph. This tunnel is useful for fundamental fluid mechanics experiments due to its low turbulence factor. The Department Laser-Doppler velocimeter, hot wire anemometer, and helium bubble system can be used in this tunnel. Coordinator: D. Downing
The Supersonic Wind Tunnel has a 2" by 3�" test section with a Mach number range of 1.5 to 3.0. The tunnel is a blow-down type equipped with a Schlieren system and pressure-measuring equipment. This tunnel is located in Room 1082, Learned Hall. Coordinator: S. Farokhi
The Water Tunnel has a 60' long open channel, 29" wide and 34" deep. Water is pumped to the channel at a rate of 1500 gal/min. The maximum water speed is about 1 ft/sec. This facility is mainly used for flow visualization by using dye injection around models. The water tunnel is located in Room 1033, Learned Hall and is shared with the Department of Civil Engineering. Coordinator: R. Taghavi
The Structural Dynamics and Acoustics Laboratory in Room 1139, Learned Hall includes a variety of vibration and sound measurement and excitation equipment, and the associated fixturing. The data acquisition/control capabilities include 32 channels of input and 8 of control output in one unit, as well as a PC-based system with 2 channels of input and 2 of output. Sensors include over 32 accelerometers, 32 microphones and a scanning laser vibrometer. Excitation is provided by an electodynamic shaker and a modal hammer. Coordinator: M. Ewing
Mechanical Testing Facilities are shared with the Mechanical and Civil Engineering. These facilities provide testing capabilities for articles ranging from material coupons to large-scale structures. Available test equipment includes 50 kip and 20 kip MTS servo-hydraulic test machines, a 110 kip Instron servo-hydraulic test machine, 60 kip and 24 kip Baldwin hydraulic test machines and instrumentation including extensometers, load cells, strain gages and digital data acquisition systems. Additional equipment for experimental stress analysis includes a reflection polariscope and a portable four beam Moir�' interferometer. Coordinator for AE: R.Hale
The Composites Materials Laboratory is a shared facility with the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The composite lay-up facility is a 430 square foot "clean room� with a 64 square foot lay-up table and 23 cubic feet of -20� F material cold storage. The composite tooling and processing laboratory encompasses 540 sq. ft., and contains a radial diamond saw, 7" diamond blade precision sectioning saw, 9" abrasive cutter, two hydraulic specimen mounting presses, orbital and vibrating polishers, a microhardness tester and 100 sq. ft. of laboratory workbench space. Sample inspection and documentation is aided with a Nikon Epiphot inverted reflected light photomicroscope capable of magnification to 1000X, with Polaroid and 35mm film or digital video capture. Composite manufacturing equipment includes a filament winding machine, and an electronically controlled filament plate winder. The composite curing facility includes an autoclave for curing thermoset and thermoplastic composite materials, a 75 ton electrically-heated platen press and electronically controlled ovens. The autoclave is rated to 350 psi and 700� F and has a usable space of 12" x 12" x 36". The small oven is rated to 700� F and has a usable space of 20"x20"x18". The composite materials laboratory also houses an electronically controlled walk-in curing oven capable of 500� F, with a usable space of 60"x72"x120".
The Department of Civil Engineering provides access to the Engineering Microanalysis Laboratory, which is equipped with a Philips 515 Scanning Electron Microscope, an ELMDAS Digital Image Acquisition System, and an EDAX PV-9900 Energy Dispersive Spectrometer with light element capability. Specimens are coated using a Technics Hummer X Sputter Coater. Coordinator for AE: R. Hale
The Nondestructive Evaluation Laboratory is a shared facility with the Department of Civil Engineering. Available equipment includes a digital 3-axis immersion ultrasonic scanning system with capabilities for A-scan, B-scan and C-scan testing in through-transmission or pulse-echo mode. Current equipment provides a scanning envelope of 30" x 36" x 48". In addition, the laboratory houses a combination digital acoustic emission acquisition and analysis, and low frequency ultrasonic generation, acquisition and analysis system. Acoustic emission and ultrasonic inspection capabilities are enhanced by state-of-the-art data acquisition software running on PC workstations. Finally, the laboratory has an ultrasonic flaw detector. These systems are used for laboratory and field-testing and inspection of materials and structures. Coordinator for AE: R. Hale
The Instrumentation Laboratory in Room 1082A, Learned Hall, is equipped with 10 PC-based LabView data acquisition workstations for instructional purposes. A unique coaxial cable network is used to share the electrical signals either generated or sensed at the instructor�s workstation with the 9 student workstations. Coordinator: M. Ewing
The Aerospace Vehicle Design Laboratory is used for teaching classes in which design software is integral with the class. The lab has 24 workstations arranged in four tiered rows with 6 computers in each row. Software includes Unigraphics and Catia softare for AE 421, PATARN/NASTRAN for AE 508, AeroCADD and AAA for AE 521 and STK for AE 560, AE 523 and AE 765. Two projection screens support a presentation computer and a conventional transparency projector. Two black and white and two color printers are available. A conference table is available for small team meetings. Coordinator: M. Ewing
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The Satellite Development Lab is located in Nichols Hall, which is otherwise devoted to the Information Technology and Telecommunications Center. The lab is dedicated to the development of small satellites and is outfitted with the necessary electronics assembly and test benches.
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The Garrison Flight Research Center is located at the Lawrence Municipal Airport. The Center is home to the Kansas Flight Test Center and a number of the AE Flight Research Lab research teams. The Garrison Center includes a 1800 sq ft hangar bay, several labs and office space for up to 20 graduate students and 9 faculty and staff.
The hangar bay houses the Cessna 182RG, the Cessna 172 aircraft and the structural load frame described below. Other facilities on the first floor include the UAV Lab, the Machine Shop, the Simulator Lab and 3 offices. The facilities on the second floor include the Milt Sills Flight Briefing Room, the Kansas Flight Test Lab Director�s office, a visiting researcher office with seating for 3 and the Flight Instrumentation Lab.
The Cessna 182RG has an experimental aircraft certification and is primarily used to support hyperspectral aerial photographic imagery. It is also used for flight testing whenever aircraft modifications are required. Coordinator: D. Downing
The Cessna 172 is a 4-passenger aircraft used primarily to conduct flight tests which do not require aircraft modification, such as those conducted in AE 732, Flight Testing. The aircraft is also used for flight orientation flights for students. Coordinator: D. Downing
The Structural Load Frame is a 35' x 35' test bed located in the Garrison Flight Research Center hangar at the Lawrence Airport. This test bed is capable of point loads up to 4,000 pounds. Associated with the test floor is a steel frame capable of static testing full-scale aircraft as large as a Raytheon Baron. The frame is also used to conduct acoustic testing on full-scale aircraft fuselage components. Coordinator: M. Ewing
The airport Machine Shop has basic machine tools for supporting aircraft and engine maintenance and modification. These tools include a vertical mill, lathe, cutoff saw and band saw. Coordinator: A. Pritchard
The UAV Lab is home base for the several small UAVs used for training and flight testing. The lab is used to store the small UAVs and the associated instrumentation, data acquisition systems and flight controllers. The lab has an electronics bench used to outfit the UAVs for flight. Coordinator: R. Colgren
The Flight Simulator Lab houses the AST 4000 Flight Simulator. This fixed base, two-seat simulator is outfitted with both Cessna 172 and Cessna 182 instrument clusters and throttle quadrants. Setups for other aircraft, including the Beech King Air are also available. Coordinator: D. Downing
The Flight Instrumentation Lab is used to develop and test instrumentation for flight test. Specialized equipment includes a Tilt Table for calibrating accelerometers and a Rate Table for calibrating gyros and rate sensors. Coordinator: D. Downing
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Hangar #2, a 2500 sq ft building at the Lawrence Municipal Airport, houses the Vehicle Manufacturing Facility, the Mal Harned Propulsion Laboratory and the Free Jet Test Stand.
The Vehicle Manufacturing Facility includes all the equipment necessary to manufacture and assemble flight vehicles made of aluminum, wood or laminated composites. Equipment for metal-working include a 4-foot wide break, a 4-foot wide shear, 3 riveting stations with a dedicated compressed air supply, and a drill press. Woodworking is enabled by a small band saw, a jig saw and a band sander in a room specially designed to capture airborne wood particles. The reconfigurable workspace of approximately 2500 sq ft is ideal for assembly of aircraft with wing spans up to 40 feet. Coordinator: M. Ewing
The Mal Harned Propulsion Laboratory consists of an engine test cell capable of testing gas turbine or reciprocating engines with up to 8,000 pounds of thrust. The control room is equipped with basic engine testing instrumentation. Coordinator: R. Taghavi
The Free Jet Test Stand is used to conduct experimental research on free jets, plane shear layers, nozzles, diffusers and combustor geometries from low subsonic to supersonic speeds. The high-pressure air supply for this facility is provided by a turbine engine compressor. Coordinator: R. Taghavi
All computing facilities used by AE students (as well as faculty and staff) are PC-based. The School of Engineering Computer Services (SoECS) unit purchases, installs and maintains all computers, printers and local area network hardware and software. There are two computer labs dedicated to AE students: the Aerospace Vehicle Design Lab and the Design Lab Annex (described in section B-6.2.1, above). Both are secured by cipher locks, the codes for which are given to students in the courses requiring the software installed there. Other AE students have access to the several computer labs made available by the School.
All School computer users have access to a basic package of personal productivity software, to include MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint & Access), Internet Explorer, Adobe Acrobat, MathCad and MatLab. The following professional software is installed on all computers in the Design Lab and Design Lab Annex (with the AE course requiring the course indicated in parenthesis):
