Thesis topic evolution

Many of us, engineering students undergo the following dilemma when it comes to selecting the final thesis. In this blog you will read about how my topic has been evolved during the years, what ideas were circling my mind during the semesters, until the final version of the work was chosen. Because it's just not that simple to choose.

Looking back at my 5th semester (3rd year on BSc studies), I knew that I would like to do 'something related to Aircraft Design'. Later in that year, I become more interested in landing gears and I imagined doing some design related to them.

Optimized trapezoidal strut

In the 6th semester, I was to choose an Intermediate Engineering Project (or a so-called pre-engineering thesis). This was the time when I first had to choose a topic wisely because it could have an effect on my final thesis. I was looking for a supervisor, who could give me a task about landing gears and this is how I made a project on a static analysis and a preliminary design of a UAV's landing gear.

In the following semester, I was about to continue this project and make a dynamic analysis as well and with more calculations involved, however I resigned from this topic. This was the time when I had an opportunity to work for an aircraft manufacturing company, doing some practical work for them. I was interested in structural design and I signed up for FEA (Finite Element Analysis) of an agricultural aircraft's control surface. Just before beginning the work in October 2015, I was offered an actual task about the vertical tail which has undergone some modifications and its calculations were required by the company.

Buckling calculation of stringers on the
vertical tail (Extract from thesis)

In December, the topic of my thesis was called: Structural analysis of PZL-106BT Aircraft’s Vertical Tail with a CAD/CAE Based Multidisciplinary Process. This is when the fun began with the introduction to the Multidisciplinary process. As I started working on the thesis, the work became more and more specific. I changed the main focus about the calculated case, and renamed the topic to: Multidisciplinary Structural Analysis of the Vertical Tailplane of PZL-106BT Aircraft.

This wasn't the end however, as I kept on working till May 2016, when the final topic became clear. The thesis is called: Finite Element Analysis of the Vertical Tailplane of PZL-106BT Aircraft with a CAD/CAE Based Multidisciplinary Process.

Flowchart of software compatibility for FEA (Extract from Thesis)

This would be all of my engineering thesis' evolution over the last two years. On the following timeline, this evolution is shown.

Others with similar studies might have similar workflow but for those who can't decide easily, I advise to try many things to find out about you real interests and to enjoy the work you have chosen. All the best for your future work.

More about the thesis will be presented in another article, or at special request.