SAE AERO DESIGN® EAST COMPETITION A SENIOR DESIGN PROJECT 

PREPARED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF 

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN 

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Alan Abad, Oscar Villatoro, Hernando Buendia, Jose Garzon

Department of Mechanical and Materials EngineeringFIU, Miami, Florida

Design Team Alan Abad• Design of fuselage• Stress analysis of fuselage• Construction of prototype• Report and presentation development 

Hernando Buendia• Design of payload assembly • Stress analysis of payload assembly• Construction of prototype• Report and presentation development 

Oscar Villatoro• Study and selection of materials• Stress analysis of wings• Construction of prototype• Report and Presentation development

Jose D. Garzon• Design of wings• Flow analysis of wings• Construction of prototype• Report and presentation development

Advisor: Professor Andres Tremante

Problem Statement

• Design, create, build and test a Remote Controlled  (RC) airplane for an international competition

• Objective is to come up with the optimal RC airplane design which will carry a given payload  while flying successfully through specified circuit

Time Line

Tentative schedule for timely project completion

Metrics 

Aircraft Specification

Aircraft Dimension Requirement Max 200 inches

Gross Weight Limit 55 pounds

Payload Bay Limit 5” x 5” x 10”

Engine Requirements O.S. .61FX

Fuel Tanks 350cc

Fuel 10% nitro methane

Radio 2.4 GHz radio

Battery 500mAh

Metrics Performance Requirements

Time Limit for take off 3 minutes

Takeoff Zone 200 feet

Circuit 360°

Landing Zone 400 feet

Wing Placement Alternatives

• High Wing• Low Wing• Mid Wing• Twin Wing Biplane

Airfoil Design Alternatives

• Flat bottom:  Mostly used for trainer, slow and easy to handle. Poor with inverted flight

• Semi-symmetrical:  Good lift, especially under-cambered airfoils

• Symmetrical:  Use for aerobatics airplanes

 Wing Design Alternatives

• Wing Design I:  Semi-symmetrical, constant cross-sectional area

• Wing Design II: Semi-symmetrical, decreasing cross-sectional area with wing tip

• Wing Design III:  Semi-symmetrical, biplane

Feasibility Study

StabilityWing Placement low medium high High Wing     ✔Mid Wing   ✔  Low Wing ✔    Twin Wing     ✔       

ManeuverabilityAirfoil Shape low medium high Flat Bottom ✔    Semi-Symetrical   ✔  Symetrical     ✔       

LiftWing Design low medium high Constant x-sec area   ✔  Decreasing x-sec area ✔    biplane     ✔

Proposed Design

• Wing Type:Biplane

• Wing Profile:Semi-symmetrical airfoils ( under – cambered)

• Tail:T-type tail

Conclusion

• An RC airplane will be design and constructed for an international competition

• CFD and structural analysis will be performed on the finished design

• Based on the results, the proposed design will be improved in order to achieve the best performance