“Steel flies”, a competition of a scientific nature – and at the same time lots of fun. Providing some entertaining moments in the Bremen ÖVB Arena, 14 teams from Darmstadt, Dortmund, Kassel and Bremen were competing against each other to see who could construct the longest flying steel glider. Would Bremen be able to utilize its “home advantage”?
This time it was the turn of (BIAS), the Bremen Institute for Applied Steel Technology, to organize the 15th nation-wide competition. During the prize presentation the honorary patron of the event, Professor Frank Vollertsen, commended the well thought-through designs submitted by the different teams. Students from the TU Darmstadt, for instance, came up with a real eye-catcher – a cleverly designed tri-plane nicknamed “The Steel Baron”. This quite rightly earned them the prize for innovation, although they couldn’t manage to keep the bird in the air for any length of time.
Design incorporating ultra-thin steel foil
The competition rules are very demanding. The ultra light-weight gliders must be made of steel, must not weigh more than 44 grams, and have to fit into a box one cubic meter square. During the flight they have to carry a cargo comprising a metal nut. The somewhat outlandish gliders must have airframes covered in ultra-thin steel foil. Their designers had to come to grips with factors involving aerodynamics, uplift, center of gravity, and wing profile: All in all, a thoroughly scientific approach.
Smooth gliding as well as crash landings
The gliders were launched from the ten-meter high second tier in the ÖVB Arena. On the day, spectators could observe everything from tailspins to crash landings, and thankfully also some smooth gliding. On the day before, the teams had to present their models and explain the designs to their hosts at BIAS. These were the main criteria evaluated by the jury, whereby Professor Vollertsen pointed out that “there must be a clear correlation between design and flight time.” In the end, the first place went to the Bremen team. Students from the Bremen Institute for Mechanical Engineering (bime) managed to get their design to fly the longest. Their light-weight model glider weighed just 33 grams, and they managed to keep it in the air for 28 seconds. Second place also went to the University of Bremen. Students from BIAS kept their model flying for 22 seconds. Dr. Rainer Salomon from the research association Forschungsvereinigung Stahlanwendung (FOSTA), which has been sponsoring over the years, sums things up with his verdict “It was a very successful event.”
Read the press release of bime (in German language) here: http://idw-online.de/de/news594914
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https://plus.google.com/106100102421360351321/postsIf you would like to obtain more information on this topic, please contact:
University of Bremen
Bremen Institute of Beam Technology (BIAS)
Katja Nonnenkamp-Klüting
Communication
Phone: +49 421 218-58078
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