• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Michigan Aerospace Engineering
  • News & Events
  • Alumni & Friends
  • Contact Us
  • About
    • Message from the Chair
    • Mission
    • History
    • Facts & Figures
    • FXB Building
    • Department Publications
    • Visit Us
    • Contact Us
    • Faculty Search
  • Culture
    • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
    • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Resources
    • Outreach & Partnerships
    • Student Life
    • Student Teams & Projects
    • Student Organizations
  • Research
    • Research Areas
      • Aerodynamics & Propulsion
      • Autonomous Systems & Control
      • Computation
      • Space Systems
      • Structures & Materials
      • Sustainable Aviation
    • Shared Facilities
    • Multidisciplinary Centers
    • Research Opportunities for Students
      • Graduate Research
      • Undergraduate Research
  • Undergraduate
    • Program Overview
    • Admissions
    • Degree Requirements
    • Scholarships
    • Study Abroad
    • Co-ops & Internships
    • Current Undergraduate Students
      • Declaring
      • Advising
      • Sequential Undergraduate/Graduate Studies (SUGS) Program
      • Undergrad Courses
      • Teaching Labs
      • Undergrad Awards
  • Graduate
    • Master of Science in Engineering
    • Master of Engineering
    • Doctor of Philosophy
    • Admission Guidelines & Planning
    • Application Process
    • Funding
    • Current Graduate Students
      • Grad Courses
      • Aero 590 Projects
      • Grad Awards
  • People
    • Faculty
      • Core Faculty
      • Research Faculty
      • Adjunct Faculty
      • Emeritus Faculty
      • Affiliated Faculty
    • Staff
    • News & Events
    • Alumni & Friends
    • Contact Us

PhD students win 1st and 2nd place in AIAA Aviation’s MDO Student Paper Competition

Congratulations to Anil Yildirim and Sicheng He, PhD students in the MDO Lab who won 1st and 2nd place in AIAA Aviation’s MDO Student Paper Competition!

Written by: Michigan Aerospace Engineering

July 20, 2019

Congratulations to Anil Yildirim and Sicheng He, PhD students in the Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) Laboratory who won first and second place in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Aviation’s MDO Student Paper Competition! 

anil yildirim

Anil Yildirim wins first place in the MDO Student Paper Competition at AIAA Aviation 2019.

Yildirim is a PhD candidate in aerospace engineering and scientific computing who has been working with the MDO Lab since 2017. Currently, he is developing algorithms for MDO applications. His winning publication, “Aeropropulsive design optimization of a boundary layer ingestion system” discusses a concept in which “the main propulsion system or an auxiliary fan is used to ingest the wake generated by the aircraft to improve aeropropulsive performance.” Specifically, Yildirim’s research focused on optimized designs that demonstrate how shaft power, thrust, and stagnation pressure distribution at the wake are related. In the next stage of his research, Yildirim will continue working on the STARC-ABL configuration described in his paper and he will perform more design studies to better understand the design of boundary layer ingestion systems.

Sicheng He

Sicheng He wins second place in the MDO Student Paper Competition at AIAA Aviation 2019.

The second place winner, Sicheng He (BSAE ‘13, MSAE ‘15) is a longtime Wolverine who started his undergraduate career with UM Aerospace in 2012 UM-SJTU (Shanghai Jiao Tong University) dual degree program. His paper, “A coupled Newton–Krylov time-spectral solver for wing flutter and LCO prediction,” deals with new methods of solving for high-fidelity flutter boundary results. These results can prove useful in understanding how to prevent flight disturbances due to wing flutter. He is a fifth-year PhD student preparing to complete his degree in December 2019. His short-term goal is to apply the algorithm in the awarded paper to next-generation aircraft design; eventually, he aspires to become a professor and research ways to improve aircraft safety and efficiency.

Yildirim and He credit and thank MDO Lab Director and Aerospace Professor Joaquim Martins and the other co-authors in their papers (Justin S. Gray, Charles A. Mader, Eirikur Jonsson) for their help in securing their awards. Yildirim’s work was funded by the NASA Transformational Tools and Technologies, and Advanced Air Transport Technology projects. 

This video explains the STARC-ABL configuration as described in Yildirim’s paper on the design of boundary layer ingestion systems.

MEDIA CONTACT

Michigan Aerospace logo

Michigan Aerospace Engineering

Communications Team

ae-social@umich.edu

Explore: Aerospace Engineering Awards Campus & Community Students Graduate Students Honors and Awards Joaquim Martins Video

Footer

Michigan Engineering
  • News & Events
  • Giving
  • COVID-19 Updates
  • Contact Us
  • U-M Engineering Home
  • Strategic Vision
  • Graduate and Professional
  • Undergraduate
  • U-M Engineering Research News

© 2023 The Regents of the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA Privacy Policy | Non-Discrimination Policy | Campus Safety

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube