SBIR/STTR Research Award
A Comprehensive Rapid-Assessment-of- Flutter/Ejection-Loads (RAFEL) Software System for Aircraft /Store Compatibility
Award amount
$99,719Program and phase
SBIR · Phase IAward year
2001Award details
- Awarding agency
- Department of Defense
- Branch
- Air Force
- Recipient company
- ZONA TECHNOLOGY INC
- Proposal award date
- Not reported
- Contract end date
- Not reported
- UEI
- LYMKH9UK64J7
- Solicitation number
- Not reported
- Topic code
- Not reported
Research abstract
For aircraft /store compatibility, a comprehensive software system requested by the Air Force for rapid assessment of flutter and ejection loads (RAFEL) poses challenging requirements. With ZAERO aeroelastic software as a base, ZONA can establish a RAFELsystem satisfying all AF's requirements. Specifically, ZONA will develop RAFEL in Phase I with: a) solution accuracy with flutter solution robustness via ZONA's g-method, high-fidelity ZONA aerodynamic wing-body modeling, extended flutter/unsteadyaerodynamic range covering subsonic/transonic and supersonic Mach numbers; b) computation efficiency for massive store/aircraft combinations; and c) rapid selection of critical cases of flutter, ASE instability, LCO and ejection loads. RAFEL programarchitecture contains three subsystems: i) unified aerodynamic influence coefficients (UAIC) matrix system of ZAERO to substantially reduce repetitive computing effort; ii) massive store management (MSM) system for effective data management of UAICassembly; iii) a data mining system for rapid screening MSM data and selection of all critical cases. Selected test cases for RAFEL validation include three distinctive F-16/store cases in transonic flight. ZONA is committed to work closely with AF inPhase II to achieve a fully integrated RAFEL system in a distributed computing environment with added capability in flutter-mode tracking, optimum store-release scheduling, minimized ejection loads and a GUI system.ZONA envisions that the fully integratedRAFEL system will be a unique product for aircraft compatibility analysis surpassing all existing engineering tools.(1) ZONA plans to package RAFEL system for commercialization with AF/CRADA.(2) ZONA will market RAFEL in parallel to ZAERO aeroelastic software system.(3) Potential customers include DoD, Aerospace/Defense industry and private sectors.(4) RAFEL can apply to military/commercial/ GA aircraft and future fighters/UCAVs
Technology keywords
Not reported
Other awards by this recipient
Verified by the same UEI. These are other public SBIR/STTR award pages, not a merged company record.
- Generation of CFD-Based Structurally Independent Aerodynamic Influence Coefficient Matrix
- Generation of CFD-Based Structurally Independent Aerodynamic Influence Coefficient Matrix
- Bayesian-Based Probabilistic Limit Cycle Oscillation Prediction of Aircraft with Stores
- Discrete Time State-Space Aeroservoelastic Modeling using FUN3D
- Bayesian-Based Probabilistic Limit Cycle Oscillation Prediction of Aircraft with Stores
Research funding history
96 SBIR/STTR records share this UEI (1997–2021). Reported award amounts total $29,806,305. Reported amounts are not federal obligations.
Phases: Phase I, Phase II
Agencies: Department of Defense, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation