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- Have you ever wondered how something like this
turns into something like that?
Find out next on "Real World."
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- Here at NASA, everything begins with an idea.
But somebody has to take that idea
and turn it into a vehicle that flies.
A physical model is a great way to begin.
Models allow engineers to test their ideas
before a full-scale version is even built.
Let's check in with Kevin McClain
at NASA's Langley Research Center
so he can show us how these models are made.
- So to make a physical model,
we start with an idea that's given to us by a researcher
or an engineer, and we sit down,
and we talk about what we want to build
and what those parameters of that test is gonna be.
So for a physical model, math is very important,
'cause there's a lot of different variables
that could come up where you need to know
the different weights of materials
compared to what a finished product's gonna be
at your end weight of the model.
Then you're going into measuring what dimensions,
so every part of that model has to be measured and constructed
to a specific scale.
So if you start with an actual airplane in real time,
you need to know how to dynamically scale that down
or just scale it down to the ratios compared
with the fractions of different parts
and how things move within space.
And then you need to know, like,
for when you're cutting materials to actually put into
these laminates or these skins,
you have to know what a hypotenuse is gonna be
so you can actually put everything together
and splice in really weird kind of contours
that are gonna be in your model,
'cause nothing's ever gonna be perfectly straight.
So, there's a lot of different geometry
that goes into creating air foils.
Most of our physical models we build here in the model shop.
If they're not tested here on Center,
we do send them elsewhere.
And here on Center, we can put it in NTF,
and that's a cryogenic tunnel,
so it can get really, really cold,
and see--kind of substitute what happens when a plane gets
really, really high in the atmosphere.
And then we have, like, some of the three-D printed models.
They go into our low-speed tunnels,
which can be 12 foot, or our spin tunnel.
The spin tunnel looks at what happens in a flat spin
if a model's falling out and it stalls.
How well can that model gain its kind of footing back
and start flying again without crashing?
Or how bad does it crash?
So a model can help make a prediction by allowing us
to visualize and understand what happens
when we put something that we've never done before
into a situation or an environment
that we just can't understand.
- Technicians use math to build more than just physical models.
They're building prototypes to bring innovative
new ideas to life.
- Whether it's a physical model or a computer simulation,
researchers use math to take an idea from concept to flight.
I'm Mishay, and I'll see you next time on "Real World."
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