ZEIT4013 is a 6 Unit of Credit elective course that introduces students to the fundamental physical problems of hypersonic flight and hypersonic testing, as well as touching on the scientific, tactical, strategic, political, and societal aspects of hypersonic technologies. The course features a variety of assessment types, with a presentation, poster, quiz, formal report, and weekly questions.
The presentation focuses on the background of a researched hypersonic system, whilst the poster presentation is an exhibition for aerodynamic analysis of the system. Presentation skills make up a significant portion of the marks for those assessments. The quiz task is designed for students to learn and apply the fundamental physical principles of hypersonic flight, including but not limited to, analysis of shocks and expansions, boundary layers, high-temperature effects and heating, and rarefied gas effects. The final task will be a formal report based upon the design of a hypersonic ground test experiment for the chosen system. Additionally, as a component to tutorials a weekly question and answer will be collected.
The course follows on from the third-year aerodynamics course ZEIT3503 with some knowledge of compressible flow assumed. The course also assumes that the students have a preliminary knowledge of fluid and thermofluid principles, acquired in the two second-year core fluids courses for aeronautical and mechanical engineers, ZEIT2500 and ZEIT2503.
