School of Engineering Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 155 Towards Developing a Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Framework of Microsatellites Supervisor: LIEM, Rhea Patricia / MAE Student: LEE, Conan / SENG Course: UROP1000, Summer The current state-of-the-art approach for designing intricate and complex systems is Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO). In contrast to conventional design approaches that rely on engineering intuition and experience, MDO employs an automated process to model tradeoffs and attain optimal performance by solving interconnected subsystems using computational architectures. This study aims to derive a framework for the deployment and design of microsatellites constellations, which can serve as a platform for the advancement of future experimental smart sensing systems for purposes such as communication and geomonitoring. MDO enables these systems to attain a broad spectrum of designs, potentially leading to significant reductions in launch and development costs by considering mission-specific requirements in the design process. A comprehensive literature review was undertaken, which entailed an in-depth analysis of the governing subsystems and the initial formulation of the optimization problem. This review highlights the cutting-edge research endeavors of other scholars, to identify the areas of interest for further development in the projects’ duration. Active Support to Experimental Studies for Research in Aero-acoustics Supervisor: REDONNET, Stephane / MAE Student: YEUNG, Siu Ting / AE Course: UROP1100, Spring This UROP project consisted in conducting an experimental test campaign to characterize the aerodynamics of badminton shuttlecocks, whether natural (feather) or synthetic (plastic). The test campaign was conducted in HKUST’ small-scale, closed-vein aerodynamic wind tunnel. Each shuttlecock model was tested over a wide range of operating conditions (flow speed and incidence), alternative settings being also explored (modified shuttlecock and/or mounting conditions). Upon specific postprocessing, the test results were analysed thoroughly, with a special attention paid to the aerodynamic features of the shuttlecock models (lift and drag coefficients, spinning rate, etc). This allowed to further highlight the intricacies of badminton shuttlecock’s aerodynamics. A journal publication is in preparation, which shall document all the findings.
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