Events Calendar

Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Seminar Series

Speaker: John Vassberg, Chief Aerodynamicist of Boeing Research and Technology, Long Beach, CA

Talk Title: Boomerang Flight Dynamics

Series: Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Seminar Series

Abstract: Aerodynamic characteristics and flight dynamics of boomerangs are investigated. A basic aerodynamic model, developed in the 1960's, is expanded upon using Blade Element Theory. The new aerodynamic model is coupled with a gyroscope model for rudimentary analyses. Some significant findings are made regarding the radius of a boomerang's circular flight path, the required inclination angle of its axis-of-rotation, its trim state, as well as its dynamic stability. These discoveries provide a basic understanding of how the interplay between aero-dynamic forces and moments, and gyroscopic precession combine to return the boomerang to its rightful owner by way of a circular flight path.
A traditional V-shaped boomerang design is developed as a case study for further detailed analyses. Unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes solutions provide accurate aerodynamic characteristics of the subject boomerang. The high-fidelity aerodynamic model is coupled with the equations of motion to provide accurate six-degree-of-freedom simulations of boomerang flight dynamics. Boomerang orientation during its flight trajectory is described by the classical Euler angles.

Biography: Dr. John Vassberg is the Lead Aerodynamicist and Engineer of the Boeing Commercial Airlines Design Center in Southern California. Prior to this, he was Chief Aerodynamicist of Boeing's Research & Technology organization. He is a Boeing Technical Fellow, an AIAA Fellow, and recipient of the AIAA Aerodynamics Award in 2012. Dr. Vassberg actively supports various Boeing Commercial Airlines, Boeing Defense Systems, and Boeing Research and Technology airplane design programs. During his 32-year career at Boeing, Dr. Vassberg has developed, matured, transitioned, and applied numerous computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods and aerodynamic technologies. In order to accomplish this, he has worked about half of his career in aerodynamic research and technology groups and the other half in aircraft program development organizations. Dr. Vassberg holds over a dozen Patents related to aerodynamic technologies, and has authored over 100 publications. In addition, Dr. Vassberg has introduced and developed new fields of numerical simulation including: in-flight refueling hose-drogue dynamics, towed-decoy dynamics, fast surface-paneling techniques, and globally-elliptic meshing methods.

Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Valerie Childress