Active Flow Control with Adaptive Design Techniques for Improved Aircraft Safety, Phase II

The overall objective of this STTR effort is to evaluate and demonstrate the potential for well-designed, strategically-located synthetic jet actuators to provide improved aircraft safety by: (1) delaying wing stall and improving aircraft controllability at high angles of attack and (2) providing low-cost actuation redun-dancy to improve controllability in the event of a mechanical control surface failure. Delaying flow separa-tion (i.e., wing stall) and providing "back-up" control power could allow an aircraft to recover from adverse conditions (due to a control surface failure, pilot/autopilot error, etc.) that would otherwise result in a loss of control. Flow control studies have shown that synthetic jet actuators are efficient devices for controlling separated internal and external flows. However, an obstacle to the widespread application of synthetic jet actuators for practical flight control is that modulated input signals to achieve closed-loop flow control objectives have been shown to be complex. Barron Associates, the University of Virginia, and the University of Wyoming propose to develop a software toolbox for the creation of adaptive control systems for actuators having complex, nonlinear dynamics. The Phase II effort will culminate in a wind tunnel test that quanti-fies the safety improvement potential offered by adaptively-controlled synthetic jet actuators.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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