Mechanical and Aerospace Systems Research Group
 

Image of Vilius Portapas

Vilius Portapas

Assistant Professor of Flight Dynamics and Control, Faculty of Engineering

Contact

Biography

Vilius joined the University of Nottingham in January 2022 as an Assistant Professor of Flight dynamics and control. He teaches on Year 2 "Dynamics and flight mechanics" (MMME2030) module and leads Year 3 "Advanced flight dynamics" (MMME3043) module. He is part of G2TRC research group and his research focuses on modeling, simulation and piloted simulation trials of flying vehicles.

Prior to joining the University of Nottingham, Vilius spent three years at the University of the West of England, Bristol, where he taught flight and piloting related subjects, and was a principal investigator on the UKRI funded Future Flight Challenge project.

Vilius obtained his PhD degree in Aerospace engineering from Cranfield University, after being awarded MRes degree in Fluid dynamics by the von Karman Institute of Fluid Dynamics and MSc degree in Aircraft piloting by Vilnius Tech university. He has also held his commercial pilot licence with multi-engine and instrument ratings since 2013.

Expertise Summary

Vilius has acquired experience in and may provide expertise on the following topics:

  1. Modeling and simulation of flying vehicles - development of flight dynamic models in MATLAB/Simulink environment.
  2. Piloted simulation trials - testing of flying/handling qualities.
  3. Real-time simulations.
  4. Piloted aircraft assessments.

Teaching Summary

Vilius is teaching on the following modules:

  1. MMME2030 "Dynamics and Flight Mechanics" - flight mechanics part of the module
  2. MMME3043 "Advanced Flight Dynamics" - full module

He also leads flight test course activities using the National Flying Laboratory Centre aircraft at Cranfield University.

Research Summary

Vilius' research focuses on flight dynamics modelling and handling qualities analysis of advanced air mobility systems, in particular electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft and high aspect… read more

Selected Publications

Current Research

Vilius' research focuses on flight dynamics modelling and handling qualities analysis of advanced air mobility systems, in particular electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft and high aspect ratio flexible wing aircraft.

Past Research

Previously, Vilius was a principal investigator on UWE Bristol's contributions towards UKRI Future Flight Challenge Phase 2 project "Dock to Dock (D2D) Hydrogen eVTOL Freight Transportation" (Innovate UK Ref. no.: 71499) and led modelling and simulation activities of an eVTOL aircraft. Prior to that he worked on modelling and simulation, and piloted simulation trials of aeroelastic wing aircraft as a PhD student at the Dynamics, Simulation and Control group, Cranfield University.

Future Research

Vilius is expanding his research activities in advanced air mobility domain and is looking for PhD students interested in AAM.

Mechanical and Aerospace Systems Research Group

Energy Technologies Building
The University of Nottingham, Jubilee Campus
Triumph Road, NG7 2TU


telephone: +44 (0)115 74 86398
email:mas@nottingham.ac.uk