Aeronautical Engineering Aeronautical Engineering

Aeronautical Engineering:

Aeronautical Engineering is the branch of science and engineering that deals with the study and engineering of flying vehicles operating within the Earth's atmosphere like aircrafts, helicopters, gliders etc.

 

Introduction to Aeronautical Engineering:

Aeronautical engineering is derived from Aeronautics. Aeronautics is a combination of Greek words aero and nautics. Aero means air or sky and nautics means to sail. Aeronautical Engineering encompasses the design, manufacture, fabrication and maintenance of flying vehicles like Airplanes, Helicopters and missiles etc. Airplanes and Helicopters have become the prime source of traveling these days through long distances. Aeronautical engineering study the science behind these flying vehicles, how they fly, how there is designed, how they would be manufactured and how they will be operated. Aeronautical Engineers work as a team to develop these amazing flying vehicles. Aeronautical Engineering is a sub-branch of Aerospace Engineering focuses solely on flying vehicles which operate in the Earth's atmosphere while in Aerospace Engineering the focus is also on flying vehicles or spacecrafts that operate outside the earth's atmosphere.

 

What is the study of Aeronautical Engineering?

The study of Aeronautical engineering involves learning the science, technology and engineering behind the design, manufacture, maintenance and operation of flying vehicles like airplanes, helicopters, gliders and missile systems etc.

Some of the elements of Aeronautical engineering are:

  • Fluid mechanics – the study of fluid flow around objects. Specifically aerodynamics concerning the flow of air over bodies such as wings or through objects such as wind tunnels.
  • Aerodynamics –
  • Statics and Dynamics (engineering mechanics) – the study of movement, forces, moments in mechanical systems.
  • Mathematics – in particular, calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra.
  • Electrotechnology – the study of electronics within engineering.
  • Propulsion – the energy to move a vehicle through the air (or in outer space) is provided by internal combustion engines, jet engines and turbomachinery, or rockets . A more recent addition to this module is electric propulsion and ion propulsion.
  • Control engineering – the study of mathematical modeling of the dynamic behavior of systems and designing them, usually using feedback signals, so that their dynamic behavior is desirable (stable, without large excursions, with minimum error). This applies to the dynamic behavior of aircraft, spacecraft, propulsion systems, and subsystems that exist on aerospace vehicles.
  • Aircraft structures – design of the physical configuration of the craft to withstand the forces encountered during flight. Aerospace engineering aims to keep structures lightweight.
  • Materials science – related to structures, aerospace engineering also studies the materials of which the aerospace structures are to be built. New materials with very specific properties are invented, or existing ones are modified to improve their performance.
  • Solid mechanics – Closely related to material science is solid mechanics which deals with stress and strain analysis of the components of the vehicle. Nowadays there are several Finite Element programs such as MSC Patran/Nastran which aid engineers in the analytical process.
  • Aeroelasticity – the interaction of aerodynamic forces and structural flexibility, potentially causing flutter, divergence, etc.
  • Avionics – the design and programming of computer systems on board an aircraft or spacecraft and the simulation of systems.
  • Software – the specification, design, development, test, and implementation of computer software for aerospace applications, including flight software, ground control software, test & evaluation software, etc.