Rainer Groh

Aerospace Engineering Blog

Besides the computer, the invention of the modern airplane is the invention of the 20th century.

The technical story of flight is, and continues to be, of incredible human effort and ingenuity, and requires tremendous advances in science and engineering.

This blog discusses the dream of human flight and the past and present ordeals to perfect it. You’ll find articles on a broad range of aerospace topics which are categorised below. Each of the series below provides an interesting perspective on a specific topic in aerospace engineering.

I hope you learn something from these blog posts.

Rocket Science
  1. A History of Rocket Science
  2. Operating Principles of Rockets
  3. Fuels, Engine and Nozzle Design
  4. Supersonics and Nozzles
  5. Lightweight Rocket Shells
Jet Engines
  1. The Birth of the Jet Engine
  2. Jet Engine Design and Optimisation
  3. The Compressor
  4. The Turbine
  5. Turbine Cooling
  6. Thrust Reversal
  7. The Scramjet
  8. Afterburning
Composite Materials
  1. An Introduction to Composites
  2. Composites Manufacturing and Autoclave Manufacturing
  3. Sandwich Panels
  4. Composites and Wind Turbines
  5. Non-destructive Testing of Composites
  6. Variable Stiffness Composites
  7. Developments in Composites
  8. Carbon Nanotube Hierarchical Composites
Aircraft Design & Behaviour
  1. History: From Wright Flyer to Space Shuttle
  2. Breguet Range Equation
  3. Natural Evolution of Airplanes
  4. Antifragile Aircraft Design
  5. From Gliders to WWII Fighters
  6. Complexity, Risk and Failure
  7. Why Are Aircraft Not Made of Glass?
  8. Aircraft Electrification
  9. Shape-Adaptive Aircraft
Aircraft Structures
  1. A Brief History of Aircraft Structures
  2. Loads Acting on Aircraft
  3. Milestones in Structural Design
  4. De-Havilland Comet Disaster
  5. The Mystery of Wing Twisting
  6. Variable Geometry Chevron for Noise Reduction
Aerodynamics & Control
  1. On Boundary Layers
  2. Boundary Layer Separation
  3. Reducing Skin-Friction Drag by Laminar Flow
  4. What Creates Lift?
  5. The von Kármán Vortex Street
  6. The Navier-Stokes Equation
  7. Wind-Tunnel Testing
  8. Aeroelasticity
  9. Wingtip Vortices
  10. Control and Stability of Aircraft
  11. The Atmosphere
Human Fallibility
  1. An Introduction
  2. A Case Study

Fun, Miscellaneous Pieces

Not about a specific topic, and not particularly technical. Basically me having fun with different topics related to aerospace engineering: