Flight Refuelling Ltd, Wimborne, UK, 2003 – 2004

Roles

Hose response flight test analysis and modelling ; Fuel system water hammer protection design and analysis

Skills demonstrated

Physical systems simulation ; Control system development ; Flight test data analysis ; Rapid development

Tools and technologies

Fortran ; Excel Visual Basic for Applications ; FlowMaster fluid systems modelling software.

Data sources

30 Hz test rig data ; Engineering drawings (written in Russian!) ; 10 Hz flight test data ; Video analysis ; Flight crew notes.

Activities

Hose response flight test analysis and modelling

Rapid optimisation of hose tension logic for an in-flight refuelling system. Data analysis from daily flight tests with US Marine Corps to create updated control system logic and data in time for the next day’s flights. Required fusion of measured data, video analysis and synthesis of flight crew written logs, combined with use of computational models which I built in Visual Basic under Excel.

Tools and technologies: Fortran, Excel Visual Basic for Applications

Data sources: 10 Hz flight test data; video analysis; flight crew notes.

Fuel system water hammer protection design and analysis

Sizing of fuel system surge bottles for an in-flight refuelling system. Dynamic modelling of the tanker and receiver fuel systems in FlowMaster and experimental design for validation.

Tools and technologies: FlowMaster fluid systems modelling software, Excel.

Data sources: 30 Hz test rig data; engineering drawings (written in Russian!).