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Date of Submission

Spring 4-27-2022

Project Type

Senior Design

Minor

Aerospace Engineering

Department

Engineering Technology

Committee Chair/First Advisor

Dr. Adeel Khalid

Abstract

The Fire-Fighting Owl is a single seat, co-axial helicopter that will fly in a fleet to carry water to extinguish wildfires in local communities. This helicopter was designed to fly in hard- to-access areas and has a water tank which is designed to be refilled at small local water sources in order to prevent wildfires from spreading during a mission. The helicopter was designed with bearingless rotors in order to decrease maintenance and increase ease of operations. The helicopter was also designed with co-axial rotors in order to eliminate the need for a tail rotor to allow for a smaller footprint. Using Solidworks, the helicopter assembly was created and tested through computational fluid dynamic analysis. The flow trajectory was analyzed to ensure the rotor design was directing flow as needed and calculate the thrust. Hand calculations were completed in order to determine certain parameters needed in order to confirm the design was meeting the requirements specified by NASA. Calculations were completed to design a pump which could pull 2,000 gallons per minute. The Fire-Fighting Owl can transport approximately 8,000 gallons of water to affected areas over a 24-hour period. Through design and analysis, the Fire-Fighting Owl met all of the requirements needed to be operational and aid in the containment of wildfires.

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