{"id":5009,"date":"2022-11-30T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T10:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mub.eps.manchester.ac.uk\/science-engineering\/?p=5009"},"modified":"2023-06-21T09:15:17","modified_gmt":"2023-06-21T08:15:17","slug":"building-the-worlds-largest-foamboard-aircraft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mub.eps.manchester.ac.uk\/science-engineering\/2022\/11\/30\/building-the-worlds-largest-foamboard-aircraft\/","title":{"rendered":"Building the world’s largest foamboard aircraft"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When you think of what you want a plane to be, the first words that come to mind are often safe, fast, strong and reliable. Usually, the words largest and lightweight aren\u2019t high on the list. Foam and board almost certainly aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, here within the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering (MACE)<\/a>, there\u2019s a project ongoing that\u2019s looking to build the world\u2019s largest foamboard plane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project academic lead is Professor Bill Crowther<\/a>, an aerospace engineer who specialises in the applications of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Beginning in 2019, the foamboard plane project has one aim: to build the largest possible model aircraft that can be made from foam board. Specifically, the plan must be within the UK Civil Aviation Authority ‘Open’ category, which limits maximum weight to 25kg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt started as a summer intern project where a number of students were tasked with exploring the creative possibilities of building aerospace structures from foam board,\u201d Bill says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLittle did we know that three years later we would build and fly the world\u2019s largest foamboard plane.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why foam board?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To put your mind at ease, no one is suggesting foam board should be used for commercial transport aircraft. But why foam board for this project?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill explains: \u201cFoam board is a relatively inexpensive composite craft material made of a polystyrene foam backed with paper. Parts are easy to cut by hand or in a laser cutter and lend themselves to fast assembly using hot glue. The material has excellent structural properties in that it is relatively strong and stiff for its weight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other excellent property foam board has is you design with it in a very similar way that you would with advanced materials used in most other aircraft, like carbon fibre. Foam board is therefore an inexpensive way for engineers to test design principles that could be applied to real-life aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will it fly?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A maiden test flight was booked for June 2022 at the Snowdonia Flight School as part of a second-year MACE Aerospace Field Course. The course saw over 100 second-year aerospace engineers take part in a series of practical workshops, equipping them with the knowledge to build and test rockets, drones, and fixed wing aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The star attraction, though, was the giant foamboard plane that had taken over half of the hangar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe greatest risk of this aircraft was that the structure was just strong enough to survive a flight. It was scary!\u201d Bill adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou put hundreds of hours into a project and you could destroy it in an instant!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There on-hand to witness the flight was Daniel Koning, a master\u2019s student who had spent some of his summers working on the foamboard plane. He, too, was nervous:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we had put it all together, we were thinking to ourselves \u2018does it really look like something that will fly?\u2019 and the answer was \u2018no, it didn\u2019t\u2019. You have an airframe, but apart from that, everything is theoretical. It\u2019s all just numbers and models until it actually flies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the moment of truth. Would it fly..?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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