Academic Project Portfolio
University of Cincinnati
SEDS Senior Spacecraft Design
Zachary T. Kier served as an Assistant Project Manager and Technical Lead for the UC AEEM 2009 Senior Spacecraft Design team that competed in the Praxis, Inc. Battle of the Rockets 2009. At the University of Cincinnati the senior capstone experience is designed to provide students the opportunity to own a project from its inception to its conclusion. This project based, multi-quarter experience allows the application of classroom skills towards a tangible goal which includes all the challenges present in an actual project. Zachary was responsible for allocating and managing resources both from within the University and partnering companies. He worked to collaborate with industrial contacts to reduce material cost to the team and obtain access to strategic services. Building on five years of composites experience he led the design, fabrication, and testing of the continuous composite materials for the airframe, fins, nose, and structural bulkheads.
Composite materials have been gaining significant trust in the aerospace industry in recent years. Composites offer significant opportunities for increasing strength-to-weight performance, while offering flexibility in manufacturing and load-specific material design. Currently, the industry standards for high-performance composite materials are carbon fiber reinforced epoxies. Carbon/epoxy composites are of particular interest for their high strength and extremely high stiffness. The stiffness of carbon/epoxy composites make them an advantageous choice for an airframe structure that will be subjected to high loading and vibration while requiring low weight. While carbon composites have gained widespread acceptance in the aerospace industry there has been a renewed interest in increasing the performance of composites through developing new, high-performance, polymeric fibers and fabrics for composite reinforcement. Fibers such as Kevlar®, Spectra®, and Zylon® are slowly finding more applications, though their acceptance as quality reinforcements by the aerospace industry has yet to be seen.
It is fitting to experiment with state-of-the-art materials, processes, and designs as emerging engineers; there is less to be gained by doing things that simply follow the status-quo. For the purpose of this project two main types of composite were used. The first type of composite was for use in the rocket airframe. This composite had to provide adequate longitudinal strength to handle launch loads, withstand deployment forces, reduce mass as compared to commercial components, and withstand repeated transportation and handling. For these reasons braided biaxial carbon composites were because of their commercial availability and seamless part fabrication. Each section of the airframe was optimized for strength and weight by varying the fiber angle and number of plys. The second primary composite type consists of flat panels that are, for the most part, loaded in multiple directions and the composite is designed as a compromise between weight, strength, cost, and ease of fabrication resulting in the use of vinyl foam core Zylon® composite.
In both cases UHMW polyethylene tooling was utilized for ease of fabrication, low tooling cost, and good dimensional tolerance. In addition, the large coefficient of thermal expansion of UHMW PE in combination with a wax surface treatment and polyvinyl alcohol ensured easy release, particularly important for the cylindrical airframe.
Composite materials have been gaining significant trust in the aerospace industry in recent years. Composites offer significant opportunities for increasing strength-to-weight performance, while offering flexibility in manufacturing and load-specific material design. Currently, the industry standards for high-performance composite materials are carbon fiber reinforced epoxies. Carbon/epoxy composites are of particular interest for their high strength and extremely high stiffness. The stiffness of carbon/epoxy composites make them an advantageous choice for an airframe structure that will be subjected to high loading and vibration while requiring low weight. While carbon composites have gained widespread acceptance in the aerospace industry there has been a renewed interest in increasing the performance of composites through developing new, high-performance, polymeric fibers and fabrics for composite reinforcement. Fibers such as Kevlar®, Spectra®, and Zylon® are slowly finding more applications, though their acceptance as quality reinforcements by the aerospace industry has yet to be seen.
It is fitting to experiment with state-of-the-art materials, processes, and designs as emerging engineers; there is less to be gained by doing things that simply follow the status-quo. For the purpose of this project two main types of composite were used. The first type of composite was for use in the rocket airframe. This composite had to provide adequate longitudinal strength to handle launch loads, withstand deployment forces, reduce mass as compared to commercial components, and withstand repeated transportation and handling. For these reasons braided biaxial carbon composites were because of their commercial availability and seamless part fabrication. Each section of the airframe was optimized for strength and weight by varying the fiber angle and number of plys. The second primary composite type consists of flat panels that are, for the most part, loaded in multiple directions and the composite is designed as a compromise between weight, strength, cost, and ease of fabrication resulting in the use of vinyl foam core Zylon® composite.
In both cases UHMW polyethylene tooling was utilized for ease of fabrication, low tooling cost, and good dimensional tolerance. In addition, the large coefficient of thermal expansion of UHMW PE in combination with a wax surface treatment and polyvinyl alcohol ensured easy release, particularly important for the cylindrical airframe.
Integrated Spacecraft Engineering
Zachary led the University of Cincinnati Integrated Spacecraft Engineering project team, Beyond Kaos, through the conceptual design phase to design a spacecraft for Google Lunar X-Prize. The Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP) is a $30 million international competition focused on privately funded teams with a goal of safely landing a robot on the surface of the Moon and conducting a mission set pre-defined by the GLXP Committee. One prime constraint established by the GLXP is the availability of the full $20 million first prize until December 31, 2012, with an additional $5 million available from various bonus prizes. This left teams just over 4 years to design and develop a craft to successfully land on the moon with budgets far less than those typically seen by government entities. Ultimately, the drive and passion of those teams who choose to compete will play a significant role in determining the success of the mission. As one of these teams, Beyond Kaos developed a low cost system to win the GLXP while mitigating risk and increasing likelihood of success with a focus on the development of the Cruise Stage/Lander Vehicle (CRAFT) for transporting rover to lunar surface.
