Due to lack of interest, the April 2014 courses have had to be cancelled. If you've registered on any of the courses, please contact Coventry University for a full refund of course fees. We apologise for any inconvenience.
Following the success of the first series of courses, held in April 2013, the LAA and Coventry University are proud to offer a third series of specialist courses designed for LAA members.
| The five design courses run in the first series and the three stress courses run in the second series are being repeated in April 2014. Comments from previous delegates have been taken on board and the courses have been adjusted to make them even more useful and relevant to LAA members. The series outlined below aims to supplement the practical courses that the LAA runs through the Educational Trust. The courses will be delivered by experts from Coventry University and will be held in Coventry University’s new £55m Engineering & Computing building. |
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Coventry University and the LAA are currently working together on a number of initiatives, including:
- Undergraduate research project support
- Delivering high value specialist courses tailored to develop the aircraft design and manufacturing skills of LAA members
- Supporting student teaching through guest lectures
- Steering undergraduate and postgraduate course content
- Future light aircraft research opportunities
The Courses
Light Aircraft – Landing Gear/System Design
7 April 2014
Coventry University
Cost: LAA members £250 per module or £1000 for all 5 'design' courses - includes lunch
| 09.00-09.30 | Registration/Refreshments |
| 09.30 | Start |
| 12.00-13.00 | Lunch |
| 17.00 | Finish |
The aim of this course is to give an introduction to the theory and practice of designing an aircraft system through practical examples and simulation exercises. The course will focus on practical approaches to sizing and designing a landing gear system including performing safety and reliability analysis. The course will also introduce structural sizing calculations including basic kinematic analysis and structural and actuation loading.
This course aims to help you:
- Predict forces and movement within complex mechanisms such as landing gear or control runs using kinematic analysis methods.
- Predict structural loading and actuation power requirements
- Perform sizing calculations for suspension and shock absorber arrangements
- Predict and assess landing and taxiing forces and suspension deflection.
- Perform essential brake sizing calculations including actuation forces and predicted temperature rise.
- Use open source maths software to perform static and dynamic analysis, simplifying conversions between units, saving time and improving accuracy.
- Perform a safety and reliability analysis using functional hazard, fault tree, dependence diagram and failure modes and effects analysis methods.
Light Aircraft - Design for Manufacture & Project Management
8 April 2014
Coventry University
Cost: LAA members £250 per module or £1000 for all 5 'design' courses - includes lunch
| 09.00-09.30 | Registration/Refreshments |
| 09.30 | Start |
| 12.00-13.00 | Lunch |
| 17.00 | Finish |
This one-day course aims to develop your understanding of the processes involved in analysing a product’s design and preparing for its manufacture. The course will include a wide selection of lean methods for manufacture and assembly, and key approaches for project management, risk management and budgetary control. The course will make use of the university's CNC machine metrology workshop facilities.
This course aims to help you:
- Understand how to analyse a product design for its economic manufacture.
- Understand how Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Manufacture (CAM) can work in an example produced in the university’s Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) machine shop.
- Appreciate metrology measurement techniques through a visit to the university’s metrology workshop.
- Apply product design features and techniques that facilitate economic and reliable assembly.
- Apply the Lean principles and methodology such as 5S to the workshop environment.
- Estimate manufacturing costings & budgets using component estimation techniques.
- Plan projects using free software tools to produce Gantt charts and network diagrams.
- Manage project risks such as cost and time overruns using risk analysis and management tools and techniques.
- Use financial forecasting and monitoring techniques to manage overall project costing and product value.
Light Aircraft - Aerodynamic Theory & Wind Tunnel Testing
9 April 2014
Coventry University
Cost: LAA members £250 per module or £1000 for all 5 'design' courses - includes lunch
| 09.00-09.30 | Registration/Refreshments |
| 09.30 | Start |
| 12.00-13.00 | Lunch |
| 17.00 | Finish |
This course aims to provide an introduction to aerodynamic theory and aerodynamic effects whilst showing how calculations can compare with wind tunnel test results. The course will provide an appreciation of aerodynamic effects and give an introduction to the theory and practice of scale model testing. In particular, the course aims to provide a practical insight into the changes in aerodynamic behaviour as the angle of attack is varied.
This course aims to help you:
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Light Aircraft - Aerodynamic Simulation (Introduction to Computational Fluid Dynamics)
10 April 2014
Coventry University
Cost: LAA members £250 per module or £1000 for all 5 'design' courses - includes lunch
| 09.00-09.30 | Registration/Refreshments |
| 09.30 | Start |
| 12.00-13.00 | Lunch |
| 17.00 | Finish |
This course aims to provide a practical introduction to CFD, with a particular focus on how CFD can aid in the design of light aircraft through a series of practical examples. Additionally, only bespoke open-source software will be used. This will enable participants to commence applying CFD to support their design efforts without the need to pay large licensing fees.
This course aims to help you:
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Light Aircraft - Flight Simulation Analysis
11 April 2014
Coventry University
Cost: LAA members £250 per module or £1000 for all 5 'design' courses - includes lunch
| 09.00-09.30 | Registration/Refreshments |
| 09.30 | Start |
| 12.00-13.00 | Lunch |
| 17.00 | Finish |
This one day course will give an introduction to the theory and practice of flight simulation testing and an appreciation of performance effects. In particular, it will offer a practical insight into the changes in performance behaviour as the design of an aircraft is changed.
This course aims to help you:
- Design a flight simulation test setup to measure aircraft performance.
- Identify appropriate testing inaccuracies.
- Interpret flight simulation test results to evaluate performance.
- Compare measured and theoretical aircraft performance.
- Identify and quantify factors affecting aircraft performance.
Light Aircraft – Fundamental Structural Analysis
14th April 2014
Coventry University
Cost: LAA members £250 per module or £625 for all 3 'stress' courses - includes lunch
| 09.00-09.30 | Registration/Refreshments |
| 09.30 | Start |
| 12.00-13.00 | Lunch |
| 17.00 | Finish |
The aim of this course is to provide an introduction and overview of the main topics required for carrying out fundamental (static) structural calculations with an emphasis on aerospace structures. The course will contain three major topics: principles of solid mechanics, performing solid mechanical calculations and shear panels. The course will contain a mixture of miniature lectures as well as practical worked examples, including applying theory via manual calculations and demonstration of physical testing using the university’s strength test facilities.
This course aims to help you:
- Understand and apply fundamental principles of solid mechanics required for stress and strain (beam) analysis, such as material mechanics, degrees of freedom, free-body diagrams, equations of equilibrium, moments of inertia.
- Compare theoretical calculations to physical test results obtained in the university’s strength test facilities.
- Perform fundamental linear static analysis using free body diagrams and set up the equations of equilibrium.
- Understand and apply shear panel analysis for bending, shear and torsion analysis of thin walled structures.
Light Aircraft – Introduction to Finite Element Method (FEM)
15 April 2014
Coventry University
Cost: LAA members £250 per module or £625 for all 3 'stress' courses - includes lunch
| 09.00-09.30 | Registration/Refreshments |
| 09.30 | Start |
| 12.00-13.00 | Lunch |
| 17.00 | Finish |
The aim of this day course is to provide an introduction and overview of the Finite Element Method (FEM). The day will build on the foundations of solid mechanics, and will emphasise the link between solid mechanics and FEM. The fundamentals of FEM will be explained and attendees will learn how to perform fundamental FE-based Analysis (FEA), including post-processing of results. Attendees will gain an appreciation of the extent to which FEM can be used for design, development and validation. Furthermore, the course will compare the capability of open source and commercial FEM software.
This course aims to help you:
- Understand the fundamentals of FEM and the link to solid mechanics.
- Choose an appropriate simulation strategy including element type, size and modelling simplifications.
- Perform linear static Finite Element Analysis (FEA) using 1D elements (beams), 2D elements (shells) and 3D elements (solids) - including post-processing.
- Appreciate the importance of mesh (and general model) refinement.
- Perform FE based vibration analysis to obtain natural frequencies.
Light Aircraft – Composite Material Stress Analysis
16 April 2014
Coventry University
Cost: LAA members £250 per module or £625 for all 3 'stress' courses - includes lunch
| 09.00-09.30 | Registration/Refreshments |
| 09.30 | Start |
| 12.00-13.00 | Lunch |
| 17.00 | Finish |
The aim of this day course is to provide an introduction and overview of composite material stress analysis. The day will commence with an overview of the mechanics of composite materials and how they differentiate from isotropic materials. Following this, the day will continue with a practical example: a Finite Element (FE) software based modelling and stress analysis assignment. The final part of the day will be spent focusing on optimisation of composite / laminate / ply layups for design of composite materials. In addition an appreciation of the physical practicalities of composite manufacture will be explained during a visit the university’s composite workshop.
This course aims to help you:
- Understand the fundamental principles of the mechanics of composite materials and how these are applied in the finite element method (FEM) modelling of the material.
- Perform a composite stress analysis (using FE software).
- Post-process the results of an FE composite stress analysis.
- Optimise the composite / laminate / ply lay up - using FE Analysis (FEA).