OpportunityTitle: Basic Research in Rotorcraft Technology
Description: The Office of Naval Research (ONR), Naval Air Warfare and Weapons Department (ONR 35) is interested in receiving technical and cost proposals for conduct of basic research in technology areas relevant to rotorcraft. As basic research, proposed projects should develop new scientific knowledge, improve theoretical understanding, and provide a basis for advances in rotorcraft technology. Research topics should focus on basic scientific issues inspired by rotorcraft technology needs and having the potential for making significant contributions towards Navy research thrusts and DoD goals and missions. Technology transfer and the partnering of this research with the US rotorcraftindustry, U.S. Navy, other Government organizations (e.g., U.S. Army, NASA, FAA) and other academic institutions are encouraged. The proposed research should emphasize innovative, creative basic research rather than application of existing technologies. Projects should not be directed at specific aircraft or systems, and need not offer immediate or specifically identifiable improvements in rotorcraft technology. Projects that merely apply engineering methods to develop or evaluate unusual vehicle configurations or components are not of interest under this Announcement. Although software development per se is not a goal of this announcement, projects demonstrating new methods via their software implementation will be considered. Proposals are sought in the following three research thrust areas: 1. Advanced Aerodynamics for Ship/Aircraft Dynamic Interface 2. Aeromechanics 3. StructuresThese research thrust areas are described below. In the first thrust area, Advanced Aerodynamics for Ship/Aircraft Dynamic Interface, proposals are sought only in the specific topic areas listed. In the Aeromechanics and Structures thrust areas, sample topic areas are provided to illustrate the scope envisioned for research in that thrust area. These areas are of interest to the Navy; however, innovative proposals addressing other relevant topics not specifically listed will receive consideration as well. 1.6.1 Advanced Aerodynamics for Aircraft/Ship Dynamic Interface The Navy seeks to understand and rectify the physical and numerical modeling deficiencies that prevent the use of current ship/aircraft Dynamic Interface (DI) simulations for the prediction of operational envelopes. The two fundamental deficiencies are considered to be: (1) predicting the fully-coupled, non-linear aerodynamic interaction between the ship and aircraft and (2) doing so at execution speeds that would allow the simulation to be used for design purposes (real-time speed is considered a minimum requirement). Ultimately, this requires capturing all the fidelity of current Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations (with additional models to account for rotor/airwake coupling) at execution speeds one thousand times faster than current high performance computing (HPC) capabilities.This thrust area seeks to develop advanced physics-based rotor modeling techniques that capture the full interaction of the rotor system with a time-varying, turbulent air stream. New and innovative numerical techniques that exploit the capabilities of extremely large scale parallel processing systems are required as well. Proposals are sought only in the following specific topics areas: 1. Helicopter rotor aerodynamics in the near field of structures with and without ambient wind. 2. Novel, efficient computational approaches to solving the Navier-Stokes equations, including turbulence modeling, mathematics for massively parallel computation, and possible incorporation of multiple disciplines such as structures and chemistry. 1.6.2 Aeromechanics The Navy is interested in advancing the state of the art in rotorcraft technology in areas that will improve performance, safety and survivability, and operational costs. The technical disciplines associated with Aeromechanics have been identified as areas that present technical issues relevant to progress in these aspects rotorcraft technology. In the context of this Announcement, these disciplines include Dynamics, Aeroelasticity, Aerodynamics, and External Acoustics. Advances are sought in these areas that could lead to &#149; significant improvements in vehicle speed, range, payload, and/or high-altitude performance &#149; reduced vibration and dynamic component loads, and/or reduced weight penalty for vibration control measures &#149; improved handling qualities that may expand operational capabilities and/or provide improved safety and survivability Sample topic areas include, but are not limited to: 1. Enabling technologies for variable-geometry, variable speed, and stoppable-rotor systems 2. Aerodynamic flow control and/or on-blade control actuation 3. Control algorithms for on-blade actuation 4. Unsteady aerodynamics and dynamic stall 5. Aircraft control systems for shipboard operations 6. Hub drag reduction 7. Fixed-system drag reduction and vibration control 8. Efficient, reduced-order modeling of rotor aerodynamics and aeromechanics 1.6.3 Structures The Structures research thrust area addresses aspects of aircraft structures unique to rotorcraft, in particular those operating in the Naval environment such as maintainability, corrosion resistance, and crash safety. Advances in the Structures thrust area could lead to more efficient, lightweight, and durable structures with favorable fatigue and damage tolerance properties. Significant developments could also provide enabling capabilities for advanced vehicle and system concepts. Sample topic areas include, but are not limited to: 1. Innovative, efficient methods for determining useful life remaining in rotorcraft dynamic components and principal structural elements 2. Fracture mechanics-based damage tolerance methodology for metallic and composite structures 3. Prediction of high strain rate, progressive failure of composite structures in high impact and crash events. 4. Methods for determining and improving the durability and damage tolerance of composite structures. 5. Analytical methods for evaluating defects in thick composite components. 6. Lightweight, corrosion resistant structural materials and systems suitable for rotorcraft operating in the marine environment 7. Composite structures with high (&gt;6.0) post-buckled ratios
GrantorContactEmailDescription: Business Point of Contact
GrantorContactText: Casey Ross