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Get the most interesting and important stories from the 窪蹋勛圖厙 of 窪蹋勛圖厙.A team of Pitt engineers will put their know-how and nascent dance skills on display for thousands of spectators this Saturday at the Red Bull Flugtag.
The event kicks off at 10 a.m. on the North Shore as part of the EQT 窪蹋勛圖厙 Three Rivers Regatta.
Flugtag (pronounced FLOOG-TOG) translates to flying day in German and is a chance for aspiring aviators to put their skills and humor to the test. Teams participating in the Flugtag will be graded on three things: flight distance, craft creativity and showmanship.
Ryan Blair, a 2017 mechanical engineering alumnus of the Swanson School of Engineering, said the Pitt team has dubbed itself the Roc-ettes a play on the Panther mascots nickname and the Rockettes, the popular high-kicking precision dance ensemble.
We started watching YouTube videos of Flugtag competitions and wanted to capture the showmanship. We thought, whats Pitt related? Blair said.
The team considered the Cathedral of Learning or Benedum Hall for inspiration, but then went to athletics and landed on Roc. As for the ette? For our introduction videothat we made, we did a little bit of the kicking and line dancing, Blair said. The Roc-ettes are Blair and Pitt engineering studentsRina Zhang, Nicholas Bertani, Chad Foster, Paul Gatto, Theo Schwarz and Mason Lazarcheff.
Theyll be competing among 37 teams, including others with 窪蹋勛圖厙-inspired names such as Mr. Rogers Friendly Skies and Peng-Wings, a Stanley Cup-powered craft.
The Roc-ettes will push their homemade flying machine off a 22-foot-high flight deck without the help of engines or external power sources, which are not allowed in the competition. One pilot must remain in the craft as it sails off the edge over the Allegheny River.
We used principles, basic engineering aspects simplifying design, making sure its safe, and finding suppliers and vendors thats everything we learned in school, and were applying that, Blair said.
Pitt Aero, a student group for engineers interested in aerospace, was instrumental in the teams ability to enter the competition. The group focuses on research, design and manufacturing of radio-controlled planes, in order to compete in events such as the Society of Automotive Engineers annual aerospace competition, Blair said. Pitt Aero also builds smaller unmanned, 100-inch wingspan planes for the society's heavy-lift competition, mainly using balsa and aluminum.
For the Red Bull Flugtag, however, the team had to go a little bigger than 100 inches.
It turns out its a hugely different problem to design a 24-foot wing to carry a whole person and aim for distance, saidSchwarz, a senior mechanical engineering student. On the engineering side, it meant learning a lot from scratch.
Creating the craft
Blair gave a technical rundown of what the team went through to come up with its craft.
We start off by estimating our takeoff velocity and weight, then idealize a free body diagram applying expected drag and lift forces to see how the plane would fly, Blair said.
Next, we optimize the plane to increase stability and lift and reduce drag, he said. While doing this, we design for manufacturability and transportation.
Were not just winging it, Blair said. Were actually going through the engineering calculations.
The Swanson School has been great in helping with resources in terms of equipment, vendors to order from and professors to help when we had questions, he continued. Theyve been very supportive.
Schwarz said that while a mechanical engineering degree is a great background, the specifics of designing this craft were brand new to the team.
Thats why Im doing it. This is a chance for me to prove if I have what it takes to design an aircraft if all the research and engineering background is enough to make a product that works, Schwarz said. And well find out on Saturday."
See how they did in our coverage of the event.