Andrew Margules

The research that Andrew Margules is currently conducting is in the area of Passively Actuated Deformable Airfoils. The largest presence of airfoils today is contained within the aerospace and transportation industries. Like those on commercial and military aircraft, the basic teardrop airfoil shape is augmented with a series external structures which aid in take-off, landing, and cruising flight. While they perform specific and important functions, they add additional weight to a system which is highly immersed in weight management. What his research is looking into, is trying to find a way to develop an internal structure for an airfoil that would provide similar shape change, without the added external mechanisms. To do this, he is using two different computational software packages. COMSOL Multiphysics allows for the examination of the fluid-structure interaction of the airfoil and moving air. Using different internal rib structures, a goal of finding an appropriate structure is hoped to be achieved. In addition, he is using the computational fluid dynamics package Fluent to help visualize velocity and pressure fields over deformed and undeformed airfoil shapes. If this software was not available through the academic research cluster, this research would be an extremely slow process. The governing physics behind these simulations is complex enough that without the computing power of the cluster, he does not believe that they would be able to perform it. In the last twenty or so years, a focus has shifted from passive actuation to active actuation. Hopefully, this research will help to launch a renewed interested in this field.