In most countries, governments are the\u00a0aerospace industry\u2019s\u00a0largest customers, and most engineers work on the design of\u00a0military\u00a0vehicles. The largest demand for aerospace engineers comes from the transport and\u00a0fighter aircraft, missile,\u00a0spacecraft, and general aviation industries. The typical aerospace engineer holds a\u00a0bachelor\u2019s degree, but there are many engineers holding master\u2019s or doctorate degrees (or their equivalents) in various\u00a0disciplines\u00a0associated with aerospace-vehicle design, development, and testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S.\u00a0National Aeronautics and Space Administration\u00a0(NASA) is a governmental organization that employs many engineers for research, development, testing, and procurement of military vehicles. Government agencies award and monitor industrial contracts ranging from\u00a0engineering\u00a0problem studies to design and fabrication of hardware. Universities receive limited funding, primarily for\u00a0analytical\u00a0research. Some of the larger institutions, however, are developing or expanding flight-research facilities and increasing faculty members in an effort to increase productivity in both research and testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\u00a0design\u00a0of a flight vehicle is a complex and time-consuming procedure requiring the\u00a0integration\u00a0of many engineering technologies. Supporting teams are formed to provide expertise in these technologies, resulting in a completed design that is the best compromise of all the engineering disciplines. Usually the support teams are supervised by a project engineer or chief designer for technical guidance and by a program manager responsible for program budgets and schedules. Because of the ever-increasing requirement for advanced\u00a0technology\u00a0and the high cost and high risk associated with complex flight vehicles, many\u00a0research and development\u00a0programs are canceled before completion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The design process can be dissected into five phases and is the same for most aerospace products. Phase one is a marketing analysis to determine customer specifications or requirements. Aerospace engineers are employed to examine technical, operational, or financial problems. The customer\u2019s requirements are established and then passed on to the\u00a0conceptual\u00a0design team for the second phase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The conceptual design team generally consists of aerospace engineers, who make the first sketch attempt to determine the vehicle\u2019s size and configuration. Preliminary estimates of the vehicle\u2019s performance, weight, and propulsion systems are made. Performance\u00a0parameters\u00a0include range, speed,\u00a0drag, power required, payload, and takeoff and landing distances. Parametric trade studies are conducted to optimize the design, but configuration details usually change. This phase may take from a few months to years for major projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Phase three is the preliminary design phase. The optimized vehicle design from phase two is used as the starting point. Aerospace engineers perform computer analyses on the configuration; then wind-tunnel models are built and tested. Flight control engineers study\u00a0dynamic\u00a0stability and control problems. Propulsion groups supply data necessary for engine selection. Interactions between the engine inlet and vehicle frame are studied. Civil, mechanical, and aerospace engineers analyze the bending loads, stresses, and deflections on the wing, airframe, and other components. Material\u00a0science\u00a0engineers aid in selecting low-weight, high-strength materials and may conduct aeroelastic and fatigue tests. Weight engineers make detailed estimates of individual component weights. As certain parameters drive the vehicle design, the preliminary designers are often in close contact with both the conceptual designers and the marketing analysts. The time involved in the preliminary design phase depends on the complexity of the problem but usually takes from six to 24 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Phase four, the detailed design phase, involves\u00a0construction\u00a0of a\u00a0prototype. Mechanical engineers, technicians, and draftsmen help lay out the drawings necessary to construct each component. Full-scale mock-ups are built of cardboard, wood, or other inexpensive materials to aid in the subsystem layout. Subsystem components are built and bench-tested, and additional wind-tunnel testing is performed. This phase takes from one to three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The final phase concerns\u00a0flight-testing\u00a0the\u00a0prototype. Engineers and test pilots work together to assure that the vehicle is safe and performs as expected. If the prototype is a commercial transport aircraft, the vehicle must meet the requirements specified by government organizations such as the\u00a0Federal Aviation Administration\u00a0in the\u00a0United States\u00a0and the Civil Aviation Authority in the United Kingdom. Prototype testing is usually completed in one year but can take much longer because of unforeseen\u00a0contingencies. The time required from the perception of a customer\u2019s needs to delivery of the product can be as long as 10 to 15 years depending on the complexity of the design, the political climate, and the availability of funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
High-speed computers have now enabled complex aerospace engineering problems to be analyzed rapidly. More extensive computer programs, many written by aerospace engineers, are being formulated to aid the engineer in designing new configurations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In most countries, governments are the\u00a0aerospace industry\u2019s\u00a0largest customers, and most engineers work on the design of\u00a0military\u00a0vehicles. The largest demand for aerospace engineers comes from the transport and\u00a0fighter aircraft, missile,\u00a0spacecraft, and general aviation industries. The typical aerospace engineer holds a\u00a0bachelor\u2019s degree, but there are many engineers holding master\u2019s or doctorate degrees (or their equivalents) in various\u00a0disciplines\u00a0associated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[391],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aerospace-engineering"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/workhouse.sweetdishy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/aerospace.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/workhouse.sweetdishy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/workhouse.sweetdishy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/workhouse.sweetdishy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workhouse.sweetdishy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workhouse.sweetdishy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/workhouse.sweetdishy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2449,"href":"https:\/\/workhouse.sweetdishy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448\/revisions\/2449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workhouse.sweetdishy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/workhouse.sweetdishy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workhouse.sweetdishy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workhouse.sweetdishy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}