Aurea Dynamics

Overview

Aurea Dynamics is a student competition team actively competing in the GoAero competition, a challenge to design a full-scale search and rescue eVTOL with stages and prizes through 2027. We are a small student team working in partnership with HiPeR Lab at UC Berkeley, and sponsored by Mitsubishi HC Capital. Stage 2 (1/3 Scale vehicle) has been built and the submission is under review.

MY ROLE

I have been a key contributor in the design of a general ladder airframe and joints to connect carbon fiber spars. I have also led all CFD efforts, utilizing a sponsorship with Luminary Cloud to analyze fuselage performance.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Our aircraft was designed with the GoAero Fly-Off missions in mind, incorporating the following features:

Tube truss frame: carbon-fiber (CF) lightweight, rigid structure;
6 fixed motors and propellers: balancing efficiency and maneuverability;
Tilt-Body & Lift-Generating Fuselage: Vehicle is designed to pitch down ~30 degrees in flight, allowing for fast horizontal speed across long distances and acceleration. Rotors are allowed to dedicate thrust horizontally due to the fuselage being shaped like an airfoil (NACA 4418) to support lift generation.
Modular Landing Gear: Angled CF tubes with TPU isolation sleeves form a semi‑compliant A‑frame can be altered for longer length and uneven-terrain landings;
Rail-Payload System: internal rail‑drawer plate allows for fast load/unload and tight CG control; designed for two operators to load/unload with ≤30 s inputs:

FIRST FLIGHT FOOTAGE

A GIF from the first ever vehicle flight (1/3 scale without fuselage), many improvements are on the way!

Example CFD Visualizations From Different Fuselage Orientations

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