Watfly eVTOL
The Watfly Atlas eVTOL is an Ultralight class "flying car" intended to be usable in day to day life and to be able to land and park on a driveway or in a parking lot. I worked with WatFly to develop their first full scale prototype. First, I modelled the motion of the vehicle to ensure stability of both the overall platform and the free-hanging cockpit in MATLAB. I used the model to determine aerodynamic parameters. I then designed a wing and overall package that met the criteria from the dynamics model in CFD.
Vehicle Model
I modelled the pitch motion of the vehicle and the cockpit in MATLAB simulink in order to verify that the standard stability equations/assumptions would work for a vehicle with a significant portion of its mass hanging in the cockpit like pendulum. I then used this model to develop stability control mechanisms and to calculate desired flap authority. Finally, I used the model to design systems to damp the motion of the cockpit using active control and passive gyroscopes.
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Aerodynamics
Once aerodynamic targets had been set I had the challenge of designing an aircraft that could cruise at 60mph while being stable and able to fit within a standard parking space. In order to do that, I ended up using principles of high lift airfoils to design one that had a high enough Cl, a large enough AoA range, and a rearward enough CoP to meet the requirements.
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