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Future Aviation
Introduction
To assure our Nation's long-term aeronautical leadership we must look to
a future of value-based competition. With a strong partnership among
industry, academia, and government, there has been an incredible history
of innovation and technological breakthroughs. By exploring high-risk
technology areas that can revolutionize air travel and create new
markets for U.S. industry, technology will continue its role as an
economic engine.
Consider a future in which people everywhere can quickly, easily, and
inexpensively travel wherever their lives lead them. Imagine personal
aircraft that are as easy to fly as driving a car. Imagine flying to see
family, friends, or customers across the Pacific in less than 5 hours,
instead of today's 10 hour flights. Simply put, the U.S. must bring to
market products that dramatically benefit the traveling public.
Creating radically new tools and work environments, in which engineers
and designers develop their ideas and products will be key in achieving
this future. Accelerating the introduction of new technologies, as well
as understanding their risks, costs, and benefits, will allow the U.S.
aerospace industry to maintain its competitive edge.
The revolution that began in 1903 has taught us that advancements in
transportation not only change our mobility, but change our world as
well. Like the transcontinental railroad before it, this vast
improvement in transportation was dwarfed by the changes that followed
in trade and society in general. Revolutionary technologies for
transportation will once again push the frontiers of aviation and space
for the benefit of our Nation and the world.
NASA General Aviation Program
The goal of the NASA General Aviation Program is to provide doorstep to
destination travel at four times the speed of highways to 25 percent of
the nation's suburban, rural, and remote communities by 2007 and more
than 90 percent by 2022. To accomplish this goal NASA and its partners
have invested in the revolutionary technologies necessary not only to
build the next generation of vehicles for business and personal air
transportation but also to train the average person to safely operate
them. To bring this type of transportation capability to the average
person, the vehicles must be easier and safer to operate and the related
training simplified and reduced in cost (both in time and money).
Follow-on investments are now being made to create the infrastructure,
referred to as the Small Aircraft Transportation System, which is also
necessary for reaching our goal. The 21st century impact of these
revolutionary technologies will be to provide mobility, accessibility,
quality of life, and economic equity throughout the nation's suburban,
rural and remote communities.
Providing high-speed transportation to suburban, rural and
remote communities.
NASA POC:
Henry W. (Hank) Jarrett
757-864-1917
H.W.Jarrett@larc.nasa.gov
Web Site:
http://agate.larc.nasa.gov/
Partnering To Expedite Introduction Of New Technologies
There are growing requirements from aircraft and airport operators,
pilots, and civic planners for improved Communication, Navigation, and
Surveillance (CNS) supported services. The goal of this effort is,
through government and industry partnering, to expedite the introduction
of improved CNS and ATC services and their associated regulations,
certification criteria, standards, and procedures. This may be a
formidable task, since, traditionally, certification and approval alone
have taken 5 to 10 years.
Major acquisitions are already underway to provide global
satellite-based navigation (GPS) and air traffic management services, as
well as aeronautical data link communications. Key benefits include
improved surveillance, cockpit situation awareness, aircraft routing,
public safety services, and instrument flight rule (IFR) access to
general aviation facilities. Government and industry teams have been
formed to test and implement new aviation technology:
- Safe Flight 21
- Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympic Games, for example, GPS IFR routes and approaches
- Helicopter operations in the Gulf of Mexico
- Helicopter GPS precision approaches
- New design standards for heliports and vertiports
- Regulatory standards for civil tiltrotor.
FAA is evaluating the following NASA programs to determine regulatory
and infrastructure development needs:
- Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments (AGATE)
- Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS)
- Short-Haul Civil Transport (SCT).
Recent accomplishments include:
- Expedited development of nonprecision approaches for helicopters
- Aviation security and ATC services for the Atlanta Olympics
- Implementation of a GPS grid navigation system in the Gulf of Mexico
- Approval of the use of night vision goggles for low altitude en route operations.
This government and industry team approach is significantly reducing the
government costs and time required for implementing new aviation
technology.
FAA POC:
Steve Fisher
202-493-4684
Steve.Fisher@faa.gov
General Aviation Propulsion Program
NASA's General Aviation Propulsion (GAP) program is well on the way to
turning vision into reality. At the beginning of the GAP program in
1996, NASA promised to bring a new era to small aircraft by flight
demonstrating revolutionary new engines in the year 2000. These
radically advanced engines will form the basis for the general aviation
industry to produce similarly advanced affordable engines for the
commercial market soon after the GAP program is completed.
IC Engine Element: Teledyne Continental Motors and their industry team,
in cooperation with NASA, have designed a highly advanced 200-horsepower
compression ignition engine. The engine uses jet fuel and is priced at
half the cost of current engines. Careful consideration has been given
to making this engine the smoothest and quietest piston engine ever
flown in a general aviation aircraft. The first aircraft installation is
expected at this time next year.
Turbine Engine Element: Williams International and their
industry team, in cooperation with NASA, have designed a radically new
turbofan engine that will make turbine engines affordable for small
general aviation aircraft. The FJX-2 was designed to maintain excellent
turbine engine performance characteristics while being price competitive
with piston engines. The first aircraft installation is planned early in
the year 2000.
Flight demonstrations of the FJX-2 and the GAP piston engine are planned
for the Experimental Aircraft Association's Airventure ï00 Airshow.
A low-cost turbofan engine powers the V-Jet II demonstrator aircraft.
NASA POC:
Peter Batterton
216-433-3912
P.G.Batterton@grc.nasa.gov
AvroTec Flight Monitor
A large, high brightness flight situation display that every pilot can
afford!
Real-time 3-D GPS position...weather conditions...aircraft performance-all
available on a crisp, intuitive display. The AvroTec flight monitor,
developed in part with help from a NASA Small Business Innovative
Research contract, provides a modular situation awareness system that is
affordable for every level of aircraft. A large 10.4-inch LCD screen,
VGA quality graphics, and a portrait screen 9best for chart
presentation) make the AvroTec highly readable. Adjustable backlighting
enables readability in every light condition, from glaring high-altitude
sunlight to the darkest, moonless night. A proprietary remote input
device designed by pilots for ergonomics and unambiguous signals can be
installed right where the pilots hand naturally rests. This unique input
device allows the pilot to control all flight monitor functions with no
"head-down" time. Easy to install, convenient to maintain, the AvroTec
flight monitor offers affordable value in all aspects.
Teamed with Avidynes break-through modular, open systems software, the
AvroTec makes real economy of limited panel space by using the same
screen to display an expanding range of information. The system readily
supports ongoing upgrades as new functions become available and as
product enhancements emerge.
The AvroTec flight monitor is the foundation for NASA's Highway in the
Sky initiative, which will develop affordable glass cockpits for
single-engine, single-pilot airplanes by 2001.
Civil Tiltrotor Aircraft
NASA's Civil Tiltrotor project is developing the most critical
technologies for overcoming the inhibitors to a scheduled civil
tiltrotor airliner. There are two major benefits of a CTR:
A tiltrotor aircraft can add additional capacity to an airport
and reduce delays.
- Significant reduction door-to-door trip times for passengers by
circumventing ground and air congestion
- Expansion of the capacity and reduction of the runway congestion at
the busiest airports by permitting some short-haul traffic (trips of
less than 500 miles) to shift to tiltrotors, freeing runway space for
larger aircraft.
Civil Tiltrotor research is developing the most critical vehicle
technologies for a civil tiltrotor:
Utilizing simultaneous non-interfering approaches.
- Efficient, low-noise proprotor
- Integrated cockpit for minimum pilot workload during low-noise
approaches and departures near congested terminal areas
- Safe and cost effective one-engine-inoperative emergency contingency
power capability.
- A Jan 1999 FAA study indicates that one tiltrotor vertiport at
Newark International Airport can provide 50% as much delay reduction as
a new runway.
- The difference in up front infrastructure costs ($3B for the average
new runway versus $17M for a vertiport added to the airport) makes the
tiltrotor an attractive prospect.
NASA POC:
Dr. John Zuk
650-604-6568
jzuk@mail.arc.nasa.gov
Low-Cost, Light-Weight Composite Wing Structure Technology
The Advanced Stitching Machine prototype is a technological
paradigm
shift featuring revolutionary processing combined with
high-speed
stitching capability for composite wings.
Composites offer the potential for lower weight, more aerodynamically
efficient, and lower cost airframe structures that lead to reduced
airframe production and operation costs. These factors contribute
significantly to airline Direct Operating Cost, which, in turn, is a
major factor in the overall cost of air travel. Historically, the
biggest barriers to the use of composites in commercial jet transports
have been the issues of high cost and low damage tolerance associated
with composite primary airframe structure. Starting in the late 1980's,
a joint NASA/Industry endeavor was embarked upon to develop textile
composites technology approaches that would provide a paradigm shift in
cost and damage tolerance to overcome these barrier issues. In 1995,
building on the results of this earlier work at the subcomponent level,
the Airframe Materials & Structures (AFMS) element of NASA's Advanced
Subsonic Technology (AST) Program was initiated to design, fabricate
and test full-scale wing box structure. The overall goal of the AFMS
element is to demonstrate a 25 percent weight and 20 percent cost
reduction in wing box primary structure compared to today's best
aluminum wing box technology, while meeting airline and FAA requirements
for structural performance, damage tolerance, maintainability and
reparability. The technology development to date has focused on
extremely innovative and cost effective techniques for stitching dry
textile fabric preforms and then curing them with a resin film infusion
process. This will make it possible to significantly reduce the cost of
fabricating composite primary wing structure, and also provide greatly
improved damage tolerance, due to the through the thickness stitching of
very large components in an automated process. This development effort
is scheduled for completion at the end of FY99 with the testing of a
full-scale (40-ft. long), semi-span wing box.
NASA POC:
Dr. David E. Bowles
757-864-3095
d.e.bowles@larc.nasa.gov
Supersonic Passenger Jet
NASA and industry partners have developed a concept for a
next-generation supersonic passenger jet that would fly 300 passengers
at Mach 2.4-more than twice the speed of sound. As envisioned, the
High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) would cross the ocean in less than
half the time of current subsonic jets, have a range of 5,000 nautical
miles, and charge a ticket price less than 20 percent above comparable,
subsonic flights. The HSCT would use conventional fuel and existing
airport infrastructure.
An artist's concept of a future envrionmentally friendly,
economically
viable supersonic transport.
Market research indicates that passengers are willing to spend up to 20
percent more for an airline ticket on a supersonic aircraft compared to
subsonic aircraft. Industry forecasts of market demand indicate that an
aircraft with the performance specifications of the HSCT will have a
market size large enough to be economically viable and that the
potential market size for a fleet of HSCTs could be as large as 1,500
aircraft. The High Speed Research (HSR) Program was initiated in 1990 to
develop the high risk, high payoff airframe and propulsion technologies
required for U.S. industry to make an informed product launch decision.
The HSR Program to date has developed technologies for a technology
concept aircraft which met industry's need for a product launch decision
in by 2010. Recently, the major industry manufacturer made a decision
that the development of an economically viable HSCT was not feasible
before 2020. As a result of the lack of industry's financial
participation in the program, an orderly phase-out of the HSR program is
planned for the end of fiscal year 1999. Fundamental research will
continue in key technology areas and, if future advancements in
technology improve the business case for an HSCT, the need for another
focused program to follow HSR will be evaluated.
NASA POCs:
Dr. Alan W. Wilhite
757-864-2982
A.W.Wilhite@larc.nasa.gov
Dr. Robert J. Shaw
216-977-7135
Robert.J.Shaw@grc.nasa.gov
New Turbine Airfoil Alloy Developed for Supersonic Application
A new single-crystal nickel-base alloy has been developed in NASA's High
Speed Research (HSR) program to meet 9000-hot-hour life goal of the
supersonic engine. The alloy offers 50 of temperature advantage over
current production blade alloys. Several commercial engine (PW 4000,
CF6, F110) turbine blades have been successfully cast from the new
HSR-developed alloy. The new alloy has the potential to be used in the
next generation of high-performance subsonic engines requiring higher
turbine inlet temperature.
New Turbine Airfoil Alloy
NASA POC:
Dr. Ajay K. Misra
216-433-8193
A.K.Misra@grc.nasa.gov
Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) Acoustic Tile
Noise suppression in the high speed civil transport (HSCT) engine nozzle
requires use of bulk absorbers. Ceramic matrix composite (CMC) tiles
have been developed to protect the bulk absorber from hot gases in the
nozzle. In order to attain noise suppression, the CMC tiles must have a
large number of regularly spaced holes. Processing technologies have
been developed in the HSR program to fabricate 100 percent HSCT size CMC
tiles. Structural integrity of CMC tiles has been proven in Large Scale
Model (LSM) engine tests and hot acoustic rig tests. The CMC tiles offer
significant weight savings compared to metallic liners.
CMC tiles have been developed to protect the
bulk absorber from
hot gases in the nozle, in
order to attain noise suppression.
NASA POC:
Dr. Ajay K. Misra
216-433-8193
A.K.Misra@grc.nasa.gov
PETI-5 Composite and Adhesive
Phenylethynyl Terminated Imide or PETI-5 is a novel chemical material
that was developed for the High Speed Research (HSR) program. The
program required a composite matrix and structural adhesive that are
easily processable, exhibit high strength and low weight, are resistant
to aircraft fluids while under stress, and are able to withstand
temperature of 177 degrees Celsius for 60,000 hours. Before PETI-5, no materials met
these stringent requirements. PETI-5, developed in both composite and
adhesive forms, provides two enabling technologies for high-strength
applications on the high-speed civil transport. The chemistry of PETI-5
involves the preparation of oligomers, or low-molecular-weight imide
materials, that are endcapped with phenylethynyl, or latent reactive
groups. Because the oligomers have low molecular weight, PETI-5 is
easily processed. In fact, in HSR program demonstrations of this
technology, PETI-5 sandwich and skin stringer subcomponents as large as
6 by 10 feet have been fabricated. Various prepreg and adhesive product
forms of PETI-5 are commercially available from Cytec Fiberite, Inc.
Because of the unique combination of attractive properties, PETI-5
should find applications on many future aerospace vehicles. PETI-5 was
the winner of the NASA Commercial Invention of the Year Award for 1998.
NASA POC:
Paul M. Hergenrother
757-864-4270
p.m.hergenrother@larc.nasa.gov
Next-Generation Design Cycle
NASA's Next-Generation Design Cycle goal has a twofold purpose: (1)
Reduce the design cycle for new commercial aircraft by 50 percent within
10 years and 75 percent within 25 years, while increasing the design
confidence, and (2) Provide experimental aircraft and advanced concepts
to support NASA's goals. Reaching the goal will dramatically affect the
cost of developing new commercial aircraft. What is more, higher quality
aircraft designs lead to lower operational costs. Many of the
anticipated design tools are also expected to benefit other commercial
airline operations as well. Although written in terms of commercial
aircraft, the work can affect all aircraft, spacecraft, and space
transportation vehicles. The work for attaining the goal is divided into
four elements:
Simulation, analysis, and validation: This element relates to the
development of more effective models and simulations, improved analysis
techniques, and improved human interface. Integrated environments: The
tools developed need to be integrated in an environment that allows
geographically dispersed people to work in harmony. This will combine
the technologies into a validated, intelligent, cohesive, seamless,
life-cycle design and development capability.
Process innovations: This element address the processes needed to
improve our design cycles and generate advanced concepts and
experimental vehicles. Most of this work will be achieved through other
Government agencies and industry.
Technology and process demonstrations: This element addresses the need
to explore new technologies and evaluate their utility in real world
applications. Small, low-cost demonstrations provide the assessments
that are essential to reduce time for future developments. This element
also provides a setting for demonstrating developments from the other
elements.
APNASA
The APNASA (Average Passage NASA) software code, developed through a
collaborative effort between the Lewis Research Center and General
Electric Co., is an example of a next-generation design tool that
increases design confidence and cuts aircraft development cycle time in
half. The code modeled the aerodynamic interactions between the GE90
engine's 50 blade rows of turbomachinery using a three-dimensional
Navier-Stokes analysis. The simulation was executed on cost-effective
workstation clusters. Results from the simulation will be compared with
experimental data from the GE90 to verify that the code. Once verified,
the code will be used during the design of follow-on versions of the
GE90 engine.
The axisymmetric simulation of a full engine, showing
pressure-gradient interactions, will be compared to actual
engine data
to verify accuracy.
Successfully performing this simulation met a major milestone within the
High Performance Computing and Communications program's Numerical
Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS). The goal of the NPSS program is to
perform a full three-dimensional multidisciplinary simulation of an
entire aircraft engine in less than a day. The next milestone in the
program will be to model an aircraft engine's performance including
chemically reacting, three-dimensional flow in the combustor.
NASA POC:
Dr. John Adamczyk
(216) 433-5829
Intelligent Synthesis Environment
Intelligent Synthesis Environment (ISE) is a new initiative being
undertaken within NASA. It is expected to be the primary program
offering solutions to the Next Generation Design Cycle goal, but is not
limited to the Office of Aero-Space Technology. ISE will develop the
capability for scientists and engineers to work together in a virtual
environment, using simulation, to model the complete life-cycle of a
product/mission before commitments are made to produce physical
products. In doing this, ISE will help revolutionize the way aircraft,
spacecraft, and space transportation vehicles are designed by providing
new modeling tools and methods to enable rapid, in-depth computation of
system life cycles in a networked environment.
Two of the primary ISE efforts are (1) collaborative engineering
environments (CEE) and (2) rapid synthesis and simulation tools (RSST).
In CEE, geographically-distributed, collaborative teams will apply
user-ready, state-of-the-art tools to life cycle assessments of
Enterprise-focused mission applications and will develop advanced
engineering processes that will be able to exploit the advanced design
and analysis tools. In RSST, activities will be initiated to provide the
new modeling tools and methods for engineering and science systems, thus
enabling the rapid, in-depth computation of system life cycles in a
networked environment.
Immersive simulation hardware being used to study the structural
dynamics of an airframe.
The ISE program is designed to meet the needs of NASA, but the
technologies and tools produced will have many implications in
commercial settings. Some of the planned products include immersive
multisensory hardware and software useful in training and simulation
environments, and smart engineering tools capable of increasing design
confidence and eventual aircraft reliability, distributed computing
technologies permitting multisite training.
NASA POC:
Dr. John B. Malone
757-864-1100
j.b.malone@larc.nasa.gov
Web Site:
http://ise.larc.nasa.gov/
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