Engineering Management and Systems Engineering
Public Dissertation Defense
Doctoral Candidate: Christopher James Jackson
Location: Zoom Meeting
Saturday, July 25, 2026, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM EDT
Director: T. Steven Cotter
INCORPORATING THE EFFECTS OF RELIABILITY AND SAFETY MARGIN INTO THE FUNCTIONAL PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A HYPERSONIC AIRCRAFT WING CONTROL SURFACE
Abstract
The discipline of aerospace engineering has historically relied upon the arithmetic formulation of the margin of safety calculation as the primary evaluation technique with regard to the airworthiness of proposed design solutions. This formulation consists exclusively of inputs that are relevant only to the static and dynamic context of the overall design problem statement, is often based upon highly specific expected worst-case load scenarios and is almost completely devoid of consideration of the more stochastic influences of often equal or greater importance (i.e., material batch quality, artisan competence, time-advanced design contexts, etc.). Utilizing Markov Chain Monte Carlo Bayesian linear regression, this research will examine the relationship between reliability and safety margins as predictors of performance on aircraft component airworthiness utilizing a hypersonic aircraft wing control surface as a test case, thus further contributing to the deliverability of a functional engineering solution. Once developed, the underlying methodology established by this research can be refined to further incorporate additional performance factors that will contribute to the deployment of more reliable aerospace designs.
Biography
Now a Senior Mechanical Engineer with Collins Aerospace, Christopher Jackson previously taught within the College of Engineering and Technology at East Carolina University for three academic years. Prior to teaching, he had worked for over nine years in aircraft material and process analysis, certification, and reliability as an employee of Spirit AeroSystems and also General Dynamics Information Technology. Additionally, he had five years of employment with Naval Air Systems Command aboard Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, including positions in structural engineering for both the H-53 and C-130 aircraft, as well as serving as the Industrial Logistics Analysis Branch Head. He holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and Master of Engineering degrees from North Carolina State University, and has also taken and passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (F.E.) examination.