@article{BoehnischBraunMuscarelloetal.2024,
  author    = {B{\"o}hnisch, Nils and Braun, Carsten and Muscarello, Vincenzo and Marzocca, Pier},
  title     = {About the wing and whirl flutter of a slender wing-propeller system},
  series = {Journal of Aircraft},
  journal   = {Journal of Aircraft},
  publisher = {AIAA},
  address   = {Reston, Va.},
  issn      = {1533-3868},
  doi       = {10.2514/1.C037542},
  pages     = {1 -- 14},
  year      = {2024},
  abstract  = {Next-generation aircraft designs often incorporate multiple large propellers attached along the wingspan (distributed electric propulsion), leading to highly flexible dynamic systems that can exhibit aeroelastic instabilities. This paper introduces a validated methodology to investigate the aeroelastic instabilities of wing-propeller systems and to understand the dynamic mechanism leading to wing and whirl flutter and transition from one to the other. Factors such as nacelle positions along the wing span and chord and its propulsion system mounting stiffness are considered. Additionally, preliminary design guidelines are proposed for flutter-free wing-propeller systems applicable to novel aircraft designs. The study demonstrates how the critical speed of the wing-propeller systems is influenced by the mounting stiffness and propeller position. Weak mounting stiffnesses result in whirl flutter, while hard mounting stiffnesses lead to wing flutter. For the latter, the position of the propeller along the wing span may change the wing mode shapes and thus the flutter mechanism. Propeller positions closer to the wing tip enhance stability, but pusher configurations are more critical due to the mass distribution behind the elastic axis.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{MoehrenBergmannJanseretal.2024,
  author    = {M{\"o}hren, Felix and Bergmann, Ole and Janser, Frank and Braun, Carsten},
  title     = {Assessment of structural mechanical effects related to torsional deformations of propellers},
  series = {CEAS Aeronautical Journal},
  journal   = {CEAS Aeronautical Journal},
  publisher = {Springer},
  address   = {Wien},
  issn      = {1869-5590 (eISSN)},
  doi       = {10.1007/s13272-024-00737-7},
  pages     = {22 Seiten},
  year      = {2024},
  abstract  = {Lifting propellers are of increasing interest for Advanced Air Mobility. All propellers and rotors are initially twisted beams, showing significant extension-twist coupling and centrifugal twisting. Torsional deformations severely impact aerodynamic performance. This paper presents a novel approach to assess different reasons for torsional deformations. A reduced-order model runs large parameter sweeps with algebraic formulations and numerical solution procedures. Generic beams represent three different propeller types for General Aviation, Commercial Aviation, and Advanced Air Mobility. Simulations include solid and hollow cross-sections made of aluminum, steel, and carbon fiber-reinforced polymer. The investigation shows that centrifugal twisting moments depend on both the elastic and initial twist. The determination of the centrifugal twisting moment solely based on the initial twist suffers from errors exceeding 5\% in some cases. The nonlinear parts of the torsional rigidity do not significantly impact the overall torsional rigidity for the investigated propeller types. The extension-twist coupling related to the initial and elastic twist in combination with tension forces significantly impacts the net cross-sectional torsional loads. While the increase in torsional stiffness due to initial twist contributes to the overall stiffness for General and Commercial Aviation propellers, its contribution to the lift propeller's stiffness is limited. The paper closes with the presentation of approximations for each effect identified as significant. Numerical evaluations are necessary to determine each effect for inhomogeneous cross-sections made of anisotropic material.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ThomaGardiFisheretal.2024,
  author    = {Thoma, Andreas and Gardi, Alessandro and Fisher, Alex and Braun, Carsten},
  title     = {Improving local path planning for UAV flight in challenging environments by refining cost function weights},
  series = {CEAS Aeronautical Journal},
  journal   = {CEAS Aeronautical Journal},
  publisher = {Springer},
  address   = {Wien},
  issn      = {1869-5590 (eISSN)},
  doi       = {10.1007/s13272-024-00741-x},
  pages     = {12 Seiten},
  year      = {2024},
  abstract  = {Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) constantly gain in versatility. However, more reliable path planning algorithms are required until full autonomous UAV operation is possible. This work investigates the algorithm 3DVFH* and analyses its dependency on its cost function weights in 2400 environments. The analysis shows that the 3DVFH* can find a suitable path in every environment. However, a particular type of environment requires a specific choice of cost function weights. For minimal failure, probability interdependencies between the weights of the cost function have to be considered. This dependency reduces the number of control parameters and simplifies the usage of the 3DVFH*. Weights for costs associated with vertical evasion (pitch cost) and vicinity to obstacles (obstacle cost) have the highest influence on the failure probability of the local path planner. Environments with mainly very tall buildings (like large American city centres) require a preference for horizontal avoidance manoeuvres (achieved with high pitch cost weights). In contrast, environments with medium-to-low buildings (like European city centres) benefit from vertical avoidance manoeuvres (achieved with low pitch cost weights). The cost of the vicinity to obstacles also plays an essential role and must be chosen adequately for the environment. Choosing these two weights ideal is sufficient to reduce the failure probability below 10\%.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SchopenNarayanBeckmannetal.2024,
  author    = {Schopen, Oliver and Narayan, Sriram and Beckmann, Marvin and Najmi, Aezid-Ul-Hassan and Esch, Thomas and Shabani, Bahman},
  title     = {An EIS approach to quantify the effects of inlet air relative humidity on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells: a pathway to developing a novel fault diagnostic method},
  series = {International Journal of Hydrogen Energy},
  volume    = {58},
  journal   = {International Journal of Hydrogen Energy},
  number    = {8},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Amsterdam},
  isbn      = {0360-3199 (print)},
  issn      = {1879-3487 (online)},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.ijhydene.2024.01.218},
  pages     = {1302 -- 1315},
  year      = {2024},
  abstract  = {In this work, the effect of low air relative humidity on the operation of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell is investigated. An innovative method through performing in situ electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is utilised to quantify the effect of inlet air relative humidity at the cathode side on internal ionic resistances and output voltage of the fuel cell. In addition, algorithms are developed to analyse the electrochemical characteristics of the fuel cell. For the specific fuel cell stack used in this study, the membrane resistance drops by over 39 \% and the cathode side charge transfer resistance decreases by 23 \% after increasing the humidity from 30 \% to 85 \%, while the results of static operation also show an increase of ∼2.2 \% in the voltage output after increasing the relative humidity from 30 \% to 85 \%. In dynamic operation, visible drying effects occur at < 50 \% relative humidity, whereby the increase of the air side stoichiometry increases the drying effects. Furthermore, other parameters, such as hydrogen humidification, internal stack structure, and operating parameters like stoichiometry, pressure, and temperature affect the overall water balance. Therefore, the optimal humidification range must be determined by considering all these parameters to maximise the fuel cell performance and durability. The results of this study are used to develop a health management system to ensure sufficient humidification by continuously monitoring the fuel cell polarisation data and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy indicators.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{FayyaziSardarThomasetal.2023,
  author    = {Fayyazi, Mojgan and Sardar, Paramjotsingh and Thomas, Sumit Infent and Daghigh, Roonak and Jamali, Ali and Esch, Thomas and Kemper, Hans and Langari, Reza and Khayyam, Hamid},
  title     = {Artificial intelligence/machine learning in energy management systems, control, and optimization of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles},
  volume    = {15},
  number    = {6},
  publisher = {MDPI},
  address   = {Basel},
  doi       = {10.3390/su15065249},
  pages     = {38},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {Environmental emissions, global warming, and energy-related concerns have accelerated the advancements in conventional vehicles that primarily use internal combustion engines. Among the existing technologies, hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles and fuel cell hybrid electric vehicles may have minimal contributions to greenhouse gas emissions and thus are the prime choices for environmental concerns. However, energy management in fuel cell electric vehicles and fuel cell hybrid electric vehicles is a major challenge. Appropriate control strategies should be used for effective energy management in these vehicles. On the other hand, there has been significant progress in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and designing data-driven intelligent controllers. These techniques have found much attention within the community, and state-of-the-art energy management technologies have been developed based on them. This manuscript reviews the application of machine learning and intelligent controllers for prediction, control, energy management, and vehicle to everything (V2X) in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The effectiveness of data-driven control and optimization systems are investigated to evolve, classify, and compare, and future trends and directions for sustainability are discussed.},
  language  = {en}
}
@inproceedings{ThomaStiemerBraunetal.2023,
  author    = {Thoma, Andreas and Stiemer, Luc and Braun, Carsten and Fisher, Alex and Gardi, Alessandro G.},
  title     = {Potential of hybrid neural network local path planner for small UAV in urban environments},
  series = {AIAA SCITECH 2023 Forum},
  booktitle = {AIAA SCITECH 2023 Forum},
  publisher = {AIAA},
  address   = {Reston, Va.},
  doi       = {10.2514/6.2023-2359},
  pages     = {13 Seiten},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {This work proposes a hybrid algorithm combining an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) with a conventional local path planner to navigate UAVs efficiently in various unknown urban environments. The proposed method of a Hybrid Artificial Neural Network Avoidance System is called HANNAS. The ANN analyses a video stream and classifies the current environment. This information about the current Environment is used to set several control parameters of a conventional local path planner, the 3DVFH*. The local path planner then plans the path toward a specific goal point based on distance data from a depth camera. We trained and tested a state-of-the-art image segmentation algorithm, PP-LiteSeg. The proposed HANNAS method reaches a failure probability of 17\%, which is less than half the failure probability of the baseline and around half the failure probability of an improved, bio-inspired version of the 3DVFH*. The proposed HANNAS method does not show any disadvantages regarding flight time or flight distance.},
  language  = {en}
}
@inproceedings{AltherrConzenElsenetal.2023,
  author    = {Altherr, Lena and Conzen, Max and Elsen, Ingo and Frauenrath, Tobias and Lyrmann, Andreas},
  title     = {Sensor retrofitting of existing buildings in an interdisciplinary teaching project at university level},
  series = {Tagungsband AALE 2023 : mit Automatisierung gegen den Klimawandel},
  booktitle = {Tagungsband AALE 2023 : mit Automatisierung gegen den Klimawandel},
  editor    = {Reiff-Stephan, J{\"o}rg and J{\"a}kel, Jens and Schwarz, Andr{\´e}},
  publisher = {le-tex publishing services GmbH},
  address   = {Leipzig},
  isbn      = {978-3-910103-01-6},
  doi       = {10.33968/2023.04},
  pages     = {31 -- 40},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {Existing residential buildings have an average lifetime of 100 years. Many of these buildings will exist for at least another 50 years. To increase the efficiency of these buildings while keeping costs at reasonable rates, they can be retrofitted with sensors that deliver information to central control units for heating, ventilation and electricity. This retrofitting process should happen with minimal intervention into existing infrastructure and requires new approaches for sensor design and data transmission. At FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences, students of different disciplines work together to learn how to design, build, deploy and operate such sensors. The presented teaching project already created a low power design for a combined CO2, temperature and humidity measurement device that can be easily integrated into most home automation systems},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{LaarmannThomaMischetal.2023,
  author    = {Laarmann, Lukas and Thoma, Andreas and Misch, Philipp and R{\"o}th, Thilo and Braun, Carsten and Watkins, Simon and Fard, Mohammad},
  title     = {Automotive safety approach for future eVTOL vehicles},
  series = {CEAS Aeronautical Journal},
  journal   = {CEAS Aeronautical Journal},
  publisher = {Springer Nature},
  issn      = {1869-5590 (Online)},
  doi       = {10.1007/s13272-023-00655-0},
  pages     = {11 Seiten},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {The eVTOL industry is a rapidly growing mass market expected to start in 2024. eVTOL compete, caused by their predicted missions, with ground-based transportation modes, including mainly passenger cars. Therefore, the automotive and classical aircraft design process is reviewed and compared to highlight advantages for eVTOL development. A special focus is on ergonomic comfort and safety. The need for further investigation of eVTOL's crashworthiness is outlined by, first, specifying the relevance of passive safety via accident statistics and customer perception analysis; second, comparing the current state of regulation and certification; and third, discussing the advantages of integral safety and applying the automotive safety approach for eVTOL development. Integral safety links active and passive safety, while the automotive safety approach means implementing standardized mandatory full-vehicle crash tests for future eVTOL. Subsequently, possible crash impact conditions are analyzed, and three full-vehicle crash load cases are presented.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{BergmannMoehrenBraunetal.2023,
  author    = {Bergmann, Ole and M{\"o}hren, Felix and Braun, Carsten and Janser, Frank},
  title     = {On the influence of elasticity on swept propeller noise},
  series = {AIAA SCITECH 2023 Forum},
  journal   = {AIAA SCITECH 2023 Forum},
  publisher = {AIAA},
  address   = {Reston, Va.},
  doi       = {10.2514/6.2023-0210},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {High aerodynamic efficiency requires propellers with high aspect ratios, while propeller sweep potentially reduces noise. Propeller sweep and high aspect ratios increase elasticity and coupling of structural mechanics and aerodynamics, affecting the propeller performance and noise. Therefore, this paper analyzes the influence of elasticity on forward-swept, backward-swept, and unswept propellers in hover conditions. A reduced-order blade element momentum approach is coupled with a one-dimensional Timoshenko beam theory and Farassat's formulation 1A. The results of the aeroelastic simulation are used as input for the aeroacoustic calculation. The analysis shows that elasticity influences noise radiation because thickness and loading noise respond differently to deformations. In the case of the backward-swept propeller, the location of the maximum sound pressure level shifts forward by 0.5 °, while in the case of the forward-swept propeller, it shifts backward by 0.5 °. Therefore, aeroacoustic optimization requires the consideration of propeller deformation.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{Pfaff2023,
  author    = {Pfaff, Raphael},
  title     = {Braking distance prediction for vehicle consist in low-speed on-sight operation: a Monte Carlo approach},
  series = {Railway Engineering Science},
  volume    = {31},
  journal   = {Railway Engineering Science},
  number    = {2},
  publisher = {SpringerOpen},
  issn      = {2662-4753 (eISSN)},
  doi       = {10.1007/s40534-023-00303-7},
  pages     = {135 -- 144},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {The first and last mile of a railway journey, in both freight and transit applications, constitutes a high effort and is either non-productive (e.g. in the case of depot operations) or highly inefficient (e.g. in industrial railways). These parts are typically managed on-sight, i.e. with no signalling and train protection systems ensuring the freedom of movement. This is possible due to the rather short braking distances of individual vehicles and shunting consists. The present article analyses the braking behaviour of such shunting units. For this purpose, a dedicated model is developed. It is calibrated on published results of brake tests and validated against a high-definition model for low-speed applications. Based on this model, multiple simulations are executed to obtain a Monte Carlo simulation of the resulting braking distances. Based on the distribution properties and established safety levels, the risk of exceeding certain braking distances is evaluated and maximum braking distances are derived. Together with certain parameters of the system, these can serve in the design and safety assessment of driver assistance systems and automation of these processes.},
  language  = {en}
}