STTR PHASE II, TITLE: SCALED MODEL TECHNOLOGY FOR FLIGHT RESEARCH OF GENERAL AVIATION AIRCRAFT. PROPOSED EF…

Public award description

STTR PHASE II, TITLE: SCALED MODEL TECHNOLOGY FOR FLIGHT RESEARCH OF GENERAL AVIATION AIRCRAFT. PROPOSED EFFORT: FROM STUDIES IT HAS BECOME OBVIOUS THAT THE KEY ENABLERS FOR FUTURE GROUNDBREAKING PROGRESS IN GA ARE NOT ONLY INCREASED AFFORDABILITY BUT ALSO OTHER CRITICAL REQUIREMENTS SUCH AS IMPROVED PERFORMANCE AND FUEL EFFICIENCY; IMPROVED SAFETY; EASE OF OPERATION; DRASTIC REDUCTION OF NOISE; ACCEPTABLE PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATION. THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF NEW GA AIRCRAFT, WITH NOVEL TECHNOLOGIES FOR ADDRESSING THESE ISSUES, REPRESENTS A DAUNTING CHALLENGE BECAUSE OF THE SCOPE OF THE RADICAL DESIGN CONSTRAINTS DUE TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF EASE OF MANUFACTURING AND MAINTENANCE, NOISE CONTROL, DRASTICALLY IMPROVED SAFETY, AND EFFICIENCY. THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT OF A SCIENTIFICALLY BASED TOOL BOX FOR SCALED MODEL RESEARCH, ONCE VALIDATED FOR A TYPICAL GA AIRCRAFT SUCH AS THE CIRRUS SR22 WITH A RELATIVELY LARGE SCALE MODEL, WILL ALLOW FOR DRASTICALLY MORE COST-EFFECTIVE INVESTIGATIONS OF FUTURE GA AIRCRAFT CONCEPTS AND WILL ALSO CONSIDERABLY REDUCE THE COST ASSOCIATED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF NOVEL TECHNOLOGIES FOR GA . SPECIFIC KEY INNOVATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROPOSED APPROACH ARE; MODEL AS LOW-COST TEST-BED FOR FUTURE GA CONCEPT AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT. DUE TO THE RELATIVELY LARGE SCALE TO THE VALIDATION MODEL, CHANCES ARE HIGH THAT AERODYNAMIC, DYNAMIC AND AEROELASTIC TESTING OF CRITICAL DESIGN PARTS OF NEW GA CONCEPTS CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED WITH SATISFACTORY FIDELITY.; LARGE EMPTY SHELL COMPOSITE STRUCTURE AND MODULAR DESIGN TO ALLOW FOR FLEXIBLE PLACEMENT OF FLIGHT HARDWARE AND ADJUSTMENT OF MOMENTS O INERTIA; USE OF STATE-OF-THE-ART PREDICTION AND SIMULATION TOOLS AS WELL AS WIND/WATER TUNNEL EXPERIMENTS IN DESIGN AND DATA EVALUATION OF DYNAMICALLY SCALED MODEL RESEARCH. THE COST ASSOCIATED WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW AIRCRAFT, AND ESPECIALLY WITH THE TESTING REQUIRED FOR FAA APPROVAL OF NEW AIRCRAFT AND AIRCRAFT TECHNOLOGIES, IS VERY HIGH AND HINDERS AND/OR STALLS EFFORTS BY GA-COMPANIES TO BRING NEW ADVANCED AIRCRAFT OR ADVANCED AIRCRAFT TECHNOLOGIES TO THE MARKET. ANY EFFORT OF IMPLEMENTING NOVEL TECHNOLOGIES IS FINANCIALLY RISKY AND SUFFOCATES WHATEVER HEALTHY INITIATIVE AND INNOVATIVE IDEAS EXIST IN THE AVIATION INDUSTRY.