Hey everyone, Im thinking a bit ahead here, but I figure its a good idea to get started early. Im currently a ME undergrad soon to be junior with an interest in AE. Senior year we have to do a year long design project and I was thinking about doing something involving AE... the only problem is im having quite a bit of trouble thinking of ideas. Would you guys care to lend some suggestions or possible topics to research that I could maybe pull a potential project out of? Im really stumped here as to what I could do that would fit the time line of a year. My original thought was to design and build a small liquid fuel rocket but ive heard that is very dangerous/risky if you arent exactly sure what you are doing. Plus im also not sure how I could base a year long project off of that if I didnt have any specific tests thought up to run. I guess my main problem here is that im not too well versed in aerospace engineering topics, but im trying to learn. So any suggestions guys?
go to aiaa.org and look at their student design competitions. these would serve as a great senior project. I did the air-breathing engine design competition my senior year. It was a paper design, but some of their competitions actually require building something. You should do one of these during your junior year for practice. Some of these are individual and some are team based. they have RFP's that are pretty detailed and lay out exactly what is required by the design.