♪
I'm Paul Orkwis, department head
in aerospace engineering.
I'm also Bradley Jones Professor
of Aerospace Engineering.
(Orkwis)
So aerospace engineering
really deals
with anything that flies.
We care about making
the aerodynamics,
the structures, the controls,
all of those sorts of things
for a vehicle
that's gonna fly.
Ohio's where the ideas
got started for aerospace.
Two guys in a bicycle shop.
In 1929,
we were the country's
second aeronautical
engineering program
and got started with help
from Orville Wright,
the first person to fly
and, more importantly,
land an airplane.
And then we also had
Neil Armstrong
on faculty for ten years
in the 1970s
after he walked on the moon.
(Armstrong)
That's one small step for man,
one giant leap for mankind.
The first person
to successfully fly and land
and the first person to step on
another celestial body.
I don't think anybody
matches us with that.
It is a very strong combination
of doing experimental work
and simulation.
(Villalva)
But these phenomena
are still very complicated,
so even the very most
powerful computers
cannot simulate everything.
So, you simulate
a lot of things,
and then you do experiments
to validate those simulations.
What is shown here are videos,
on the left, of an experiment,
and on the right
of a computer simulation
in which you are trying
to replicate that experiment.
For me, simulation
is exciting too,
but then wind tunnels
become a big part of this.
Our wind tunnels can go from
low speed to supersonic flow.
We have a tunnel that will reach
Mach 3 on a small scale.
We also have tunnels
where we're listening
to aircraft noise.
We're also testing things
like combustors,
which are the parts
in an engine
where the fuel mixes
with the air and burns,
and those places
are exciting,
because jet fuel's burning
and fire's coming out.
That's fun stuff.
We have two varieties
of detonation engine here.
One is the pulse
detonation engine.
It has been largely superseded
by this more advanced concept,
which is called
a rotating detonation engine.
So you have about
3,000 to 7,000 rotations
per second,
and it creates
a high-pitched screeching sound
like a velociraptor.
One of the main key components
that I love about my job
is that I get to light things
on fire on a regular basis,
and it's captured
under the envelope of science.
Also, the R.D.
is on the cutting edge
of propulsion in the world.
We start off with things
like mathematics and physics.
Mostly physics,
but you also use chemistry.
Most of the things that we do
are physics-based.
Now, it's gonna sound strange,
but English is another one.
One of our biggest
success factors
are people doing well
in AP English.
Because its not just about
making the technology.
You can be the greatest person
in the lab,
but you need to make sure you're
able to talk about stuff too.
(Orkwis)
Someone told me
when I was young,
"If your head goes up
when an airplane goes by,
that's when you know you'll be
an aerospace engineer."
Funding to purchase and make
this educational production
accessible was provided by the
U.S. Department of Education.
PH:1-800-USA-LEARN (V)
or WEB: www.ed.gov.
