METU - DEPARTMENT OF AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

REGULATIONS FOR DOCTORAL QUALIFYING EXAMINATION

Doctoral Qualifying Examination Committee

The procedure followed during the doctoral qualifying examinations in Aerospace Engineering Department, METU is decided by the "Doctoral Qualifying Examination Committee" consisting of 5 faculty members and it is monitored via periodical meetings of every three years. Other faculty members can also attend these meetings and decisions made in the committee meetings become valid after the approval in the Departmental Faculty Meeting.

Doctoral Qualifying Examinations take place by following the procedure given below which is also advertised in the department web page. The candidates take the exams based on the rules and regulations valid at the time of their application.

Application

• The doctoral qualifying examinations are offered twice a year in the months of May and November, and are conducted according to Part 28 of the METU "Graduate Education Regulations".
• The Ph.D. students who hold Masters of Science degrees are required to take the doctoral qualifying examination within the first 5 academic semesters. Those who are accepted with Bachelor of Science degrees are required to take the doctoral qualifying examination within the first 7 academic semesters. The candidates who fail the examination for the first time, can take it once more in the following semester. Those who fail in both examinations are dismissed from the Ph.D. program.
• Doctoral qualifying examinations are conducted in English.
• Ph. D. students who would like to take the qualifying examination must submit a petition to the Chair of the Aerospace Engineering Department two months prior to the examination date (before the end of March/September). The candidate must attach the original copy of the document of English proficiency exam or any other exam approved by the university senate to the petition, and indicate his/her Major and Minor fields of study, three Major Specialization subjects and one Minor Specialization subject. The study fields and specialization subjects are to be selected under the supervision of the candidate's advisor. The examination process commences following the approval of the application by the department.
• The candidates are not required to complete their coursework fully prior to their doctoral qualifying examination.
• The locations and the dates of the doctoral qualifying examinations are announced in the beginning of May and November.

Examination Jury

The doctoral qualifying examination is conducted by an "examination jury" consisting of 5 faculty members. The four members of the jury, excluding the supervisor of the candidate, are proposed by the candidate's advisor and assigned by the Doctoral Qualifying Examination Committee not later than 6 weeks before (mid-April/mid-October) the examination. There should be two faculty members experienced in Major and Minor fields chosen by candidate in the jury. Only one of the members of the jury could be non-departmental. In case of having two advisors, only one of the advisors could be a jury member. It is preferable that the exam questions are prepared by the jury members but in case of necessity other faculty members may also asked to provide some exam questions. The oral exam is proceed by the jury members. The jury members may organize a meeting before the oral exam in order to discuss how the oral examination will take place. If there is any, the candidate's second advisor can also attend the oral exam but he/she is not allowed to ask any questions, to make any comments and/or contributions to the oral exam grade. The advisor of the candidate is fully responsible from both gathering of the exam questions from the nominated faculty members and all other arrangements related to the examination.

Examination Fields

The doctoral qualifying examination comprises the subjects and the courses in the following four major aerospace engineering fields:

• Aerodynamics
• Aerothermodynamics and Propulsion
• Aerospace Structures
• Flight Mechanics and Control The content and the coursework of every major field are grouped under two categories:
  1. Core Subjects
  2. Specialization Subjects
  The core and specialization subjects for each major field are listed in detail in the following sections of the report.

  Every candidate sitting for the doctoral qualifying examination must nominate two of these fields, one as Major and one as Minor. In the examinations, candidates are fully responsible from all the core subjects in both the Major and the Minor fields they selected. In addition, they have to select three specialization subjects of the Major Field (selected with his/her supervisor and approved by the Doctoral Qualifying Examination Committee) and one specialization subject of the Minor Field. The specialization subject selected for the minor field must be different from the specialization subjects selected for the major field. At most two of the specializati on subjects may involve non-departmental courses taken from other departments.

  Exam

  Exams are performed in two main categories as written and oral. The written examination is performed in two sessions;

  • 1^st Session: 3 questions from the Core Subjects of the Major Field, and 3 questions from the Core Subjects of the Minor Field,(6 questions in total for this session)
  • 2^nd Session: 3 questions from the Specialization Subjects of the Major Field, 1 question from the Specialization Subjects of the Minor Field, and 1 question from Mathematics. (5 questions in total for this session)

  In the written examinations, candidates are provided with two questions from each of the examination subjects and each of which solvable within 30 minutes and they must choose one of them to answer. Candidate is expected to answer 11 questions in total (6 questions in 1^st and 5 questions in the 2^nd session) during the written examinations and is given 3 hours and 2.5 hours for the 1st and the 2nd sessions respectively. The written examinations take place in the announced days for all candidates and there must be at least one full day break between the successive written exams.

  Following these exams, the candidate sits for the oral exam in which he/she is responsible from all the subjects all the subjects in both major and minor fields covered during the written ones. Oral exam is offered at least one full day after the completion of the final written exam. Each member of the jury asks questions to the candidate. The oral examination is expected be completed within 2.5 hours. The candidate is not informed about his/her performance just after the oral exam as successful/unsuccessful. All jury members deliver oral exam grade of the candidate, which is out of 10, with a closed envelope to the Doctoral Qualifying Examination Committee. The final decision of being successful/unsuccessful from the doctoral qualifying examination is then announced by the Doctoral Qualifying Examination Committee.

  Aerodynamics

  I. Core Subjects:
  • Fluid Mechanics - AE244
  • Aerodynamics I - AE341
  • Aerodynamics II - AE342
  II. Specialization Subjects:
  • Computational Aerodynamics - AE443
  • Hypersonic Flows - AE445
  • Introduction to Helicopter Aerodynamics and Helicopter Design - AE446
  • Turbulence Modeling for Engineering Flows - AE540
  • Advanced Computational Fluid Dynamics - AE541
  • Turbulent Boundary Layers - AE542
  • Internal Fluid Mechanics - AE543
  • Advanced Airfoil and Propeller Theory - AE544
  • Advanced Fluid Mechanics - AE545
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics on Unstructured Grids - AE546
  • Experimental Aerodynamics - AE547
  • Fundamentals of Aerodynamic Noise - AE548
  • Linear Stability Theory and Laminar-Turbulent Boundary-Layer Trans. - AE549
  • Aircraft Icing - AE716

  Aerothermodynamics and Propulsion

  I. Core Subjects:
  • Thermodynamics - AE231
  • Heat Transfer - AE331
  • Propulsion Systems II - AE435
  II. Specialization Subjects:
  • Aircraft Engine Design - AE438
  • Introduction to Rocket Technology - AE442
  • Hypersonic Flows - AE445
  • Space Propulsion - AE477
  • Advanced Engine and Process Thermodynamics - AE531
  • Advanced Aircraft Engine Design - AE532
  • Advanced Heat and Mass Transfer - AE534
  • Combustion in Engines - AE538
  • Advanced Combustion in Engines - AE539
  • Internal Fluid Mechanics - AE543
  • Fundamentals of Aerodynamic Noise - AE548
  • Physics of Gases - AE577
  • Non equilibrium Gas Dynamics - AE578
  • Theory and Measurement of Turbomachinery Flows - AE711
  • Computer Simulation Using Particles - AE717

  Aerospace Structures

  I. Core Subjects:
  • Dynamics - AE262
  • Applied Elasticity - AE361
  • Aerospace Structures - AE362
  II. Specialization Subjects:
  • Design of Aerospace Structures - AE462
  • Mechanical Vibrations - AE463
  • Finite Element Applications in Aerospace Structures - AE464
  • Theory of Plates - AE562
  • Wave Analysis and Wave Propagation in Structures - AE564
  • Experimental Analysis of Vibrating Structures - AE568
  • Aeroelastic Effects in Structures - AE 714
  • Composite Materials in Aerospace Structures - AE 569
  • Fatigue and Fracture of Aerospace Structures - AE 718
  • Constitutive Modeling of Engineering Materials - AE 720

  Flight Mechanics and Control

  I. Core Subjects:
  • Flight Mechanics - AE372
  • System Dynamics - AE383
  • Automatic Control Systems I - AE384
  II. Specialization Subjects:
  • Automatic Control Systems II - AE483
  • Inertial Navigation Systems - AE484
  • Spacecraft Dynamics - AE486
  • Computer Assisted Analysis of Aircraft Performance, Stability and Control - AE489
  • Applied Orbital Mechanics - AE554
  • Automatic Flight Control Systems - AE581
  • Robust Control in Aerospace Systems - AE582
  • Helicopter Dynamics, Stability and Control - AE584

  Mathematics

  The doctoral qualifying examination candidates are responsible for the selected topics from the contents of the AE501/AE502 courses listed below:
• AE501: Matrix algebra. Tensors. Complex analysis. Calculus of variations.
• AE502: Power series solutions of ordinary differential equations.Eigen-value and boundary-value problems. Fourier and Laplace transforms. Green's functions. Partial differential equations.