An Introduction to Flight

In this week’s blog post, we continue our discussion of the mathematics of aerospace engineering (and all engineering fields in general). We will combine fundamental concepts in differential calculus with mathematical structures called sequences and series to create nice functions that can allow engineers and mathematicians to approximate the values of weird and wonky … [Read more...] about The Mathematics of Aerospace Engineering: Part 3 (Sequences, Series, & Taylor Polynomials)

Having studied math for more than fifteen years, one fact I have learned is that there is always more math to learn. In the case of aerospace engineering (and all other engineering disciplines), there is some really useful and interesting math that goes beyond single-variable calculus and ordinary differential equations. In this post, we will explore this new, difficult, and … [Read more...] about The Mathematics of Aerospace Engineering: Part 2 (Multivariable Calculus & Intro to Partial Differential Equations)

I hope that my readers had an amazing summer, and I look forward to discussing more aerospace engineering topics this fall. In this week’s blog post, I will explore a topic that I began to research this June: propulsion mechanisms for high-speed aircraft. In particular, we will explore ramjets and scramjets, which can propel aircraft and missiles into the hypersonic regime, or … [Read more...] about Ramjets, Scramjets, and Propulsion for High-Speed Flight

For my last blog post of the semester, I thought I would give a brief history of my interest in aviation.  The story begins when I was four or five years old when my parents would take me to airports to watch planes take off and land. I remember being fascinated by the concept of a metal human creation lifting off the ground and traveling between continents at hundreds … [Read more...] about A Brief Interlude: How I Became Passionate about Aviation

Gliders are airplanes without engines, and they have been commonplace in the aviation industry for more than 120 years. Indeed, gliders predated the 1903 Wright Flyer. They are also nice, relatively simple planes that freshmen aerospace engineering students can investigate.  My Introduction to Aerospace Engineering class had its own glider project last semester, and I … [Read more...] about Gliding Flight