Inquiry and Engineering: Gliders
Towing a glider in flight.Copyright 2006 TMakovic, Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Glider_in_flight.JPG
Student teams design, build and test small-sized gliders to maximize flight distance and an aerodynamic ratio, applying their knowledge of fluid dynamics to its role in flight. Students experience the entire engineering design process, from brainstorming to CAD (or by hand) drafting, including researching (physics of aerodynamics and glider components that take advantage of that science), creating materials lists, constructing, testing and evaluating—all within constraints (works with a launcher, budget limitation, maximizing flight distance to mass ratio), and concluding with a summary final report. Numerous handouts and rubrics are provided.
Engineers are responsible not just for creating products, but for creating products that meet very specific criteria. For example, aeronautical engineers cannot create any flight craft that they imagine. Rather, they are presented with a set of limitations—compatibility with existing launching mechanisms, size requirements for storage and/or runway availability, design specifications such as anticipated flight time and budget considerations so the design is competitive in the market. Identifying the specifications and limitations is just the first step of the overall design process. Engineers then research the task, including known solutions for the specific problem. With this background knowledge, possible solutions are imagined, developed and then planned out more thoroughly. Prototypes of the best ideas are created, tested and evaluated for performance. If a design does not meet the criteria, the design is reimagined and the process starts anew.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Follow the steps of the engineering design process to design a glider based on certain limitations.
- Construct and test a glider model.
- Use fluid dynamics concepts to evaluate and discuss glider performance.