Plasma Fairings for Quieting Aircraft Landing Gear Noise

This Phase II SBIR project deals with the design, development, and testing of a "Plasma Fairing" to reduce noise on the Gulfstream G550 landing gear. The plasma fairing will use single dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD) plasma actuators to reduce flow- separations and impingement around the landing gear, which are the dominant sources of landing gear noise. The Phase I project successfully demonstrated the feasibility of the plasma fairing concept on a generalized tandem cylinder configuration that shared important features of key sections of the G550 landing gear, specifically the relationship between the strut and the torque arm. The Phase II extends the concept to a more complex geometry: G550 landing gear. We will develop aeroacoustic simulations using University of Notre Dame's state-of-the-art plasma actuator model and Exa Corporation's flow solver PowerFLOW, coupled with experiments in an anechoic wind tunnel with both aerodynamic and acoustic measurements on a scaled G550 nose gear model to design and optimize a Plasma Fairing configuration that provides significant noise reduction on the G550 landing gear. We anticipate a technology readiness level (TRL) of 5 at the end of the Phase II project.

The plasma fairing technology directly addresses research/technical challenges for two NASA projects under the NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate: (1) Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project (research challenge: reduce aircraft noise by 1/8 compared with current standards); and (2) The Fixed Wing Project - Quieter Low-Speed Performance (research challenge: reduce perceived community noise by 12 dB cum with minimal impact on weight and performance). While the main thrust of this SBIR work is to develop Plasma Fairings for reducing landing gear noise, these fairings can be effectively configured to reduce noise caused by the high-lift devices such as wing flaps and slats. Other potential NASA applications of the plasma technology include lift enhancement and drag reduction on aircraft wings, high angle-of-attack operation using plasma actuators as lifting devices, enhanced performance and efficiency of propulsion (S-ducts, inlets) and aerodynamic (control surfaces) systems at both on- and off-design conditions, and improved cycle efficiency of NASA's air-breathing propulsion systems.

Potential non-NASA applications for the plasma actuators include design of revolutionary subsonic and hypersonic aerospace vehicles for commercial and military (DoD) purposes, use in turbomachinery systems, noise-control on landing gears of commercial aircraft, design of smart wind turbine rotor blades, drag reduction on ground vehicles, smart helicopter rotor blades, tip-casing clearance flow control for reduced turbine losses, control of flow surge and stall in compressors, and turbulent transition control experiments.

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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