| Description |
Man has always wanted to fly. To be suspended above the ground, supported by nothing other than the air, has preoccupied his thoughts from time immemorable. This desire thus forms the most basic inspiration for the work which follows. The concept of using pressure vessels as buoyancy devices came upon me rather suddenly. When contemplating upon finding the ultimate lift fluid, the answer was quite obvious: nothing at all. Therefore, a vacuum would provide a more buoyant "fluid" than anything else. Yet, the idea was not original, as I was to eventually discover. Nevertheless, I endeavored to pursue an analysis, seeking 10 bound the problem if possible, but rather unsure of the path I was to follow. My thoughts took me through several phases as ideas began to germinate. Finally, I settled on analysing idealized, thin-walled spheres as the basic pressure vessel. All of my analysis consisted of simple, well known equations, put together with algebraic manipulations. In hindsight, I see that I could have performed their necessary analysis within a matter of perhaps half an hour. Yet I had taken months in working through the equations and in fact, when the final important equation emerged from my work, I had discarded it as an erroneous result. Later, discussion with a colleague clarified its true importance. Like mud being washed from a diamond, its importance suddenly became clear. Throughout my work on this project, I vascillated between believing that current materials could fulfill the required structures, and believing that they could not. It was not until the final result, which did indeed bound the problem, that I was finally convinced that current materials could. More important than the results of my work, however, was the feeling that I had identified a problem, and worked toward a solution. In so doing, I feel that I have obtained at least a sampling of the thought processes associated with creative and useful analysis. Although my work has ended, it is my hope that further study and investigation on the subject will be motivated. I thank my Advisor and Supervisor, Dr. Gary A. Flandro, for his enthusiasm, guidance and inspiration, without whom I might never have emerged from my doubts and discouragements. Finally, I reiterate my inspiration of this project: to dream of flying, of soaring heights and billowed clouds, and of touching a farther shore. |
