The undersigned hereby certify that they have read and recommend to the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering for acceptance a thesis entitled "Cruise Performance Optimization of the Airbus A320 through Flap Morphing" by Martin Orlita in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
PREFACEApproximately one year ago I had almost all courses finished and my internship done, visiting my former professors in search of a master thesis topic. While I did enjoy specialized courses on aerodynamics, performance and optimization, it is not often one has the opportunity to combine almost the entire worth of one's Master track in pursue of a complex piece of work.Perhaps it was luck that while approaching the faculty elevator one day I met Leo Veldhuis and just out of curiosity asked him if he had an interesting topic to work on, which is how I got to know about the design efforts at the Fokker Aerostructures. At first the flap morphing sounded also like a narrow topic, but as I started digging in the literature I became overflown with ideas and connections to what I had learned before. By the time I met the people at Fokker I had a plan so big it would perhaps suit better a PhD research. I remember presenting them an enormous diagram of the individual components of my thesis coming together in a multi-level multi-objective optimization including cruise and high-lift, with large amount of variables and designer inputs. They simply commented that the plan was ambitious and I started to work.Piece by piece I realized that the world is not ideal and things do not always go as planned. Out of my huge diagram, blocks were slowly cut off, connections broken and in the end only a small piece remained. Although this sounds depressing, it took me some time to realize this was one of the best things that could happen. Finally after years of education I received the lecture I was missing. I have learned not to loose track of the underlying task and that a negative answer has at times no lesser value than a positive one. Thanks to the struggle I have learned great deal about aerodynamics compared to what I knew before, enjoyed countless conversations both on and off the topic and had the chance to see a bit of the engineering industry world which made me want even more to participate in it in the future.The greatest acknowledgement must go to my family for their love, limitless support and endurance concerning my studies. For providing the interesting research topic, demonstrations and always a pleasant stay at the Fokker Aerostructures I would like to thank Daniel Jansen, Ad Bastiaansen and their co-workers. For council, supervision and friendly debates I thank my main supervisor Roelof Vos and the head of the department Leo Veldhuis. Last but not least, my thanks go to my best friends, flatmates and colleagues at Kamertje 1 on the 6th floor who managed to stop me at the right times to keep an enjoyable balance between work and relax during the past year.
Martin Orlita Delft, August 2016 v
SUMMARYIn the era...