Variable-Fidelity Aeroservoelastic Analysis Tool for Concept Evaluation, Design and Wind-Tunnel Test Support

Ongoing work in advanced air-vehicles, such as ultra-light-weight truss-braced and elastically tailored concepts is beginning to provide the insight necessary to meet NASA's N+3 transport system goals. Unfortunately, contemporary analysis methods are unsuited for aeroservoelastic analysis of such configurations suffering from accessibility, usability, fidelity or resource constraints. Design tools have typically been developed using configuration dependent low-fidelity approaches that are unsuitable to reliably analyze advanced configurations. Contemporary aeromechanics solvers (i.e. viscous compressible Computational Fluid Dynamics coupled to Finite Element structural models) can analyze advanced concepts, but require significant user input to support advanced configurations, not to mention extensive computational resources. What has long been needed is an approach that bridges the middle ground to enable aeroservoelastic analysis at the "appropriate level of fidelity for the problem at hand", while reliably permitting the novel application of aeroelastic knowledge to new concepts, in addition to supporting wind-tunnel and flight tests by enabling the efficient investigation of flight dynamics, flutter, stability and control. By exploiting Continuum Dynamics Inc.'s extensive experience developing fully-coupled aeromechanics methods, we propose the development of a new rapid, reliable, variable–fidelity first-principles physics-based aeroservoelastic analysis to support concept evaluation, wind-tunnel/flight testing and design.

The proposed effort directly supports NASA's Fundamental Aeronautics Program's work on structural efficiency by developing a variable–fidelity first principles physics-based aeroservoelastic analysis tool for concept evaluation, design and wind-tunnel support. Specifically, this proposed tool would directly address the program needs by being able to evaluate new concepts to provide insight into state-of-the-art advances into aeroelasticty, to undertake aeroservoelastic analysis "at the appropriate level of fidelity for the problem at hand" and to efficiently undertake the development of mathematical models of wind-tunnel test articles to predict flight dynamics, stability, flutter, control issues and how to predict and alleviate gust loads. The proposed effort supports NASA's N+3 subsonic (and supersonic) transport system goals along with more general long-term advanced aircraft systems design/analysis as well as active aerodynamics, flow control and load control concepts.

A successful SBIR effort will produce a variable–fidelity first principles physics-based aeroservoelastic analysis tool for the design, analysis and evaluation of advanced air-vehicle concepts and components. Significant commercialization opportunities are anticipated from licensing the new modeling tool and validated software components to major air-vehicle manufacturers and other branches of the government involved in air platform development and support. In addition, because of the physics based nature of this tool, it will be able to support to design and development of emerging technologies such as unsteady flow control devices and distributed active control systems under development to enhance the performance of current and next generation air-vehicles

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 5) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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