This category hosts engineering animated models in MS Excel. Excel is particularly valuable in engineering being inexpensive and ubiquitous. In my career I managed to solve difficult engineering problems by building animated simulations where engineers using other, much more expensive software, failed. Unlike dedicated engineering software, excel is not a “black box”, which means that you develop your models from scratch using basic principles, calculations and charting. This leads to a much better understanding and control of the problem.
Excel is a great software for engineering calculations because it can combine data tables, charts and even engineering formulas under the same application.As far as civil engineering is concerned, Excel can do regular calculations such as cost estimates, schedule and cost control, and markup estimation, as well as structural calculations of reactions, stresses, strains, deflections, and slopes. Excel can deal with difficult problems, charting, and report generation.
This is a video preview of an Excel animated PLL model. There is an error in the sound track: it’s Voltage Control Oscillator not Variable Control Oscillator. You can download the Excel Model or check out the series of tutorials about how to code this model from scratch here: 1, 2, 3a, 3, 4. [sociallocker][/sociallocker] Read More... "A Phase Locked Loop (PLL) Model – video preview"
This is a video preview of the Fourier transform model presented on this blog before. A tutorial explaining the creation of such a model was posted here too. [sociallocker][/sociallocker] Read More... "A Basic Fourier Transform Calculator in Excel – video preview"
This is an improved version of the Aeroscope – the “Aeroscope_4”. It runs about 50% faster. If you start the model by clicking the green “Fly_by_settings” button you can fly hands-free and adjust parameters during the flight. You can at any time click the red dot in the center of the chart and start the joystick macro, which means that… Read More... "The Aeroscope – video preview #2 and an improved Excel file (#4)"
In this version, the vertical joystick movement controls the incidence of both the main wing and the horizontal stabilizer (opposite variation) and the horizontal movement of the joystick controls the position of the center of mass. [sociallocker][/sociallocker] Read More... "The Aeroscope – center of mass position control by joystick"
This is an upgraded version of the aeroscope. Besides improving of certain aspects of the old version, this version has both the main wing and the horizontal stabilizer controlled by a virtual joystick (presented on this blog before and used extensively). The horizontal movement of the joystick controls the angle of attack of the main wing and the vertical movement… Read More... "The Aeroscope – an upgraded version controlled by virtual joystick"
This is the “Aeroscope”, an oscilloscope style 2D dynamic flight simulator. It uses a the glider model designed in the previous tutorial. The glider is fully adjustable so you can change different parameters during the flight. Just hit “Run_pause” and the model will start. Reset it using the red button whenever you wish or whenever it breaks the convergence. For… Read More... "The Aeroscope – a preliminary version of a 2D flight simulator based on real physics"
This section updates an angle formula so that the virtual glider can now perform both backward and forward loops, as well as inverted flight. [sociallocker][/sociallocker] Longitudinal Aircraft Dynamics #11- 360 full coverage – loops by George Lungu – This section fixes an angle issue so that the virtual aircraft will now be able to perform both backward and forward loops. Upgrading… Read More... "Longitudinal Aircraft Dynamics #11 – full 360 degree operation – aerobatics, inverted flight and loops – FINAL"
This section of the turorial finalizes the main dynamics calculations and implements the numerical method for approximating the glider trajectory. At this point, the model is already functional but with a crude interface. [sociallocker][/sociallocker] Longitudinal Aircraft Dynamics #10- the numerical method by George Lungu – This section deals worksheet implementation of the numerical setup for a dynamic modeling of the flight. The… Read More... "Longitudinal Aircraft Dynamics #10 – implementing the numerical method"
This tutorial finalizes the implementation of the forces and momenta acting on the plane. It also initiates some hand testing and validation of the overall dynamics of the plane. [sociallocker][/sociallocker] Longitudinal Aircraft Dynamics #9- finalizing the dynamics – preliminary validation by George Lungu – This section continues with the dynamics formulas governing our 2D plane. Worksheet lever calculation formulas: – Copy… Read More... "Longitudinal Aircraft Dynamics #9 – more about forces and momenta – preliminary validation and testing"
This section continues the worksheet implementation of the dynamics formulas for aerodynamic forces and momenta. [sociallocker][/sociallocker] Longitudinal Aircraft Dynamics #8- worksheet implementation of the real dynamics by George Lungu – This section continues with the dynamics formulas governing our 2D plane. Worksheet implementation of the force calculation formulas: – We will calculate these forces in a new area of the worksheet.… Read More... "Longitudinal Aircraft Dynamics #8 – worksheet implementation of the dynamics equations (c)"
This section continues the worksheet implementation of the dynamics formulas. [sociallocker][/sociallocker] Longitudinal Aircraft Dynamics #7- worksheet implementation of the real dynamics by George Lungu – This section continues with the dynamics formulas governing our 2D plane and their worksheet implementation. Some Reynolds number corrections: – We introduced one single named cell for the Reynolds number (Re) when in fact there… Read More... "Longitudinal Aircraft Dynamics #7 – worksheet implementation of the dynamics equations (b)"
In this section, the parameters cl, cd and cm are scaled back to the force of lift, drag and the pitching moment of the aircraft. After that, the numerical modeling scheme is described together with the macros behind it. At the end, the formulas for the angles of attack of the wing and the horizontal stabilizer are introduced. [sociallocker][/sociallocker] Longitudinal Aircraft Dynamics #6- worksheet… Read More... "Longitudinal Aircraft Dynamics #6 – worksheet implementation of the dynamics equations (a)"
This is an addition to a previous post, introducing the reader to different ways of calculating the moment of a force and the torque of a couple. This information will be useful in aircraft dynamics models. Calculating the moment of force by George Lungu – This tutorial presents a few ways of calculating the moment of force or torque. It… Read More... "Moment of Force and Torque Calculation"
This section finalizes the aircraft (glider) by inserting the wing, the horizontal stabilizer and a center of gravity (CG) sprite in the layout. [sociallocker][/sociallocker] Longitudinal Aircraft Dynamics #5- putting the glider together by George Lungu – This section puts together the fuselage, main wing and stabilizer with the proper scale, shift and rotation determined by the input parameters. Scaling and… Read More... "Longitudinal Aircraft Dynamics #5 – finishing the aircraft"