Christopher Ramsburg, Avery Hodges English 1103 Professor Raymond 3 October 2013 Aerodynamics Proposal We chose aerodynamics for

our semester long project with the idea of trying to combine what will be a future research project for engineering, with a project for English. This peaks our interests because we are both engineers and the study of aerodynamics will be a vital part of our future. Due to our love of automobiles we felt this would be a very appropriate topic of choice. To start off we will talk about what aerodynamics are and how they affect the everyday life of the average person. One of the more prominent ways in which it affects us is when we hop in our cars to go somewhere. Whether we realize it or not our cars are some of the most aerodynamic objects in the world (ScienceDaily). This is one of the largest factors as to how much you spend when filling up your vehicle with fuel. Lots of research and development is put into manufacturing automobiles with great aerodynamics because they know the consumer is looking for as best fuel economy as possible out of certain vehicles. Each part of a vehicle is put through extensive testing in a wind tunnel to ensure maximum efficiency. For this section we plan on research how aerodynamics are tested and what all goes into building the car you are driving to ensure maximum fuel economy. This is of interest to us in that we both thoroughly enjoy the operation of vehicles so it will be a topic which is of great interest to us. Another topic we will research is the aerodynamics of planes. This is something which nearly every person will experience in their lifetime. We will research how testing is done to ensure that every plane will successfully take off and land over and over again. For this section

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we will conduct extensive research of why aerodynamics are so important to an airplane as well as how different planes rely on aerodynamics in different manners. For example, how a commercial passenger plane will act differently than a fighter jet under rough weather conditions. With this we will briefly talk about the causes of turbulence and how it can be dealt with. This will probably be the section with the most information and most extensive research due to the nature of the topic. Being that Avery is a mechanical engineer, this topic will be very relevant to his future studies, therefore becomes a great topic to gain more knowledge on. The last topic we will cover will be how aerodynamic play a major effect on the design of bridges. This is a very important part of everyday life because whether you drive or not you are sure to cross a bridge at some point in your travels. For this section we will look into depth of how this played an effect on the Tacoma-Narrow Bridge. We will also talk about how they test bridges now days to ensure that doesnt happen again. We will then look at the safety of bridges today and why you now dont have to worry about an event like a bridge collapsing because of aerodynamics today. Since Christopher is a civil engineer we chose this topic in order to provide a research section which will be relevant to the field of study he will partake. For our conclusion we will wrap up all the topics which were covered. Along with this we will go over a brief description of what aerodynamics is to recap the rest of the presentation and then offer to answer question about the presentation from. For our research we plan on utilizing numerous sources to ensure our information is valid and reliable. We will also ensure to provide plenty of pictures to assist in the explanation of our topics as well as to help the class understand and visualize what we are presenting to them. We will include diagrams of how air flows around certain objects as well as pictures of different methods used for testing aerodynamics. In addition to the pictures we will provide

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various different types of charts and tables to properly display the information we are trying to express. In order to insure all work is completed we will divide the work evenly having a specific deliverable due each time we meet ensuring a quality final result.

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Works Cited Huston, Dryver, and Harold Bosch. "Aerodynamic Design of Highway Structures." Federal Highway Administration. U.S. Department of Transportation, 08 Apr 2011. Web. 2 Oct 2013. <http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/96winter/p96wi46.cfm>. "ScienceDaily." Automotive Aerodynamics. ScienceDaily. Web. 1 Oct 2013. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/a/automotive_aerodynamics.htm>. "What is Aerodynamics." Nasa Education. Nasa, 14 Dec 2011. Web. 1 Oct 2013. <http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/what-is-aerodynamics-58.html