Thursday, December 31, 2009

UK DBF 2010

In the fall 2009 as part of senior design 16 seniors in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Kentucky decided to take on the annual American Institure of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Design Build Fly(DBF) competition.
DBF is a mission based competition where university from around the world compete to design build an fly their aircraft against other in a series of predrfined missions:
This years competition is baseball themed and has three missions:
Mission 1
Distance: 2 Laps
Payload: Empty
Score: Flight Time, Weight
Mission 2
Distance: 3 Laps
Payload: Random 6-10 Softballs, .44 lbs each
Score: Load Time, Weight
Mission 3
Distance: 3 Laps
Payload: Team selects 1-5 Baseball bats, each 1-1.25 lbs
Score: Flight Time, Number of Bats


In addition to this the aircraft and all associated tools, batteries, and accesories must fit in a 2'x2'x4' box.
The team will also document the design and testing process in a 60 page report as part of the competition.