Design/Build/Fly Aircraft Work

I manufacture airframe structure for Gator Design/Build/Fly, including the carbon fiber fuselage, using positive carbon fiber molding to lay up parts.

Through iterative geometry optimization and carbon-fiber composite fabrication, we reduced airframe drag by 18% and body weight by 34%, while keeping layup quality, part fit, and structure strong enough to survive a competition airframe.

I model lifting-surface aerodynamics in ANSYS Fluent and XFLR5 to predict stall behavior and optimize control-surface sizing. On Prototype 1, a standard layout with one nose wheel and two rear wheels, I checked lift, induced and viscous drag, surface velocity, pressure, and downwash to understand how the airframe would behave before flight.