MAE 478 Aerospace Systems Design I

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Information resouces play a very important role in the brainstorming process:

• Finding alternative solutions – there is never one solution to the problem
• There is no right or wrong answer to solving the problem
• How did others solve or try to solve the problem(s)?
• Has your problem been solved?
• Has someone already invented what you are trying to invent?
• What is the market for your design?

Using the library's databases and other information resources will assist you in trying to answer these questions espeically in the conceptual phase of the design process.

Check the main Enginering guide for more resources.

Use these databases to find technical information.

Use these databases to find manufacturers, market potential, costs etc.

Access the Business Research Toolkit to find more databases.

When you have tried all the appropriate databases from the library and still have not found the information you need, try Google Scholar - you may be able to unearth that nugget of information you need!

Watch this video  to set your user preferances so you can connect to full-text at CSULB.

Is your article not available at CSULB?

Put in a request through CSU+ straight from OneSearch to get full-text of any article. 

You can request an item directly if you can't find it in OneSearch.

Need more information? Visit Borrow From Another Library, our interlibrary services page.

OneSearch is the CSULB library catalog. In addition to searching the CSULB collection, you can also search and request physical items from the CSU libraries.  Use OneSearch to find books, eBooks, CD's, DVD's, videos, journal titles and other material available in the CSULB and the other CSU Libraries.

We also have access to many government publications via  OneSearch that are freely available on the Internet. Government publications are important for many engineering disciplines.

Please see box on right hand side to search OneSearch and the box below for guides and video tutorials.

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The major EBook collections for Engineering are below. The individual titles from these collections are included in OneSearch. 

Quick Links

University of Pittsburgh has an excellent description of Google Books

Useful for searching the contents of books.

Example: UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles).  Popular topic for Aerospace capstone project

If full-text is not available in Google Books search COAST/LINK + to see if book is available or request via Illiad.

All these reference books are located on the first floor of the Library in the Reference collection. They cannot be checked out; please make photocopies OR SCAN relevant pages.

AIAA Aerospace Design Engineers Guide 1998 TL551 .A32 2003

Aircraft Conceptual Design Synthesis 2000 TL671.2 .H635 2000        

Aircraft Design: a Conceptual Approach TL671.2.R29 2012.

Airplane Design (by Jan Roskam) TL671.2 .R67 1986 8 parts                                                                  

pt. I. Preliminary sizing of airplanes -- pt. II. Preliminary configuration design and integration of the propulsion system -- pt. III. Layout design of cockpit, fuselage, wing, and empennage, cutaways and inboard profiles -- pt. IV. Layout of landing gear and systems -- pt. V. Component weight estimation -- pt. VI. Preliminary calculation of aerodynamic, thrust, and power characteristics -- pt. VII. Determination of stability, control, and performance characteristics, FAR and  military requirements -- pt. VIII. Airplane cost estimation, design, development, manufacturing and operating.

The Aviation & Aerospace Almanac 2002 TL501 .A95 2002 

Fundamentals of aircraft and airship design TL671.2 .N5 2010 

Handbook of Fluid Dynamics TA357 .H2858 1998      

Jane's all the world's aircraft 2002/03  TL501 .J3 (previous volumes can be requested via ORCA) 

Standard Handbook for Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineers 2003 TL509 .S6642003

Marks Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers TJ151 .M4 2007

Mechanical Engineer’s Handbook TJ151 .M3953 2001     

Technical Reports are part of Gray Literature or "Grey Literature."

Their main characteristics are:

• Numbered report series
• Published by government agencies, university departments and companies
• Describe unsuccessful as well as successful research
• Not peer-reviewed
• First place a development or innovation is reported
• Increasingly available online only
• Rich with technical information

TRAIL Technical Report Archive & Image Library (TRAIL) is an initiative led by the University of Arizona in collaboration with CRL and other interested agencies to identify, digitize, archive, and provide access to federal technical reports issued prior to 1975.  

Virtual Technical Reports Collections (University of Maryland Libraries provides links to full-text or searchable extended abstracts of technical reports, preprints, reprints, dissertations, theses, and research reports in all disciplines.