15 Dec 2016
University research into technologies for future helicopters and other vertical lift aircraft is getting a boost from a U.S. Army, Navy and NASA partnership.
The Army, Navy and NASA have designated colleges in Georgia, Maryland and Pennsylvania as national vertical lift centers.
The Army's Aviation Development Directorate, Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC), NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate in Washington, and the Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR) selected multi-university teams led by Georgia Tech in Atlanta, the University of Maryland in College Park, and Pennsylvania State University in State College as Vertical Lift Research Centers of Excellence (VLRCOE).
“The program focuses on expanding the frontiers of knowledge in research areas where the vertical lift community has enduring needs,” said Mahendra Bhagwat, program manager for the Army. “It couples state-of-the-art research programs at academic institutions with broad-based graduate education programs to increase the supply of scientists and engineers in vertical lift technology.”
The VLRCOE program, which continues the Army's support of rotorcraft centers of excellence that started in 1982, is a collaborative effort between government and academia. Its goal is to develop, evaluate, demonstrate and test advanced vertical lift technologies. That includes aeromechanics, structures and materials, flight dynamics and control, advanced vertical takeoff and landing design and concepts, vibration and noise control, propulsion, affordability, safety and survivability, and human factors engineering.
“NASA and our military partners have made a major commitment to advancing vertical lift research and training of the next generation of vertical lift researchers,” said Susan Gorton, project manager for the NASA’s Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology Project at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
“Our joint investment of more than $22 million over five years will help improve the safety, performance and affordability of civilian and military helicopters and other vertical lift aircraft and lead to innovative concepts that are quieter and easier to fly.”
“The Navy is also interested in advanced rotorcraft research,” said Ken Iwanski, program officer for the Office of Naval Research. “Additionally, our needs include the study of how helicopters are employed and can be better integrated into shipboard operations and other naval applications.”
The multi-university teams also include faculty researchers and students from Iowa State University in Ames; Ohio State University in Columbus; Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Washington University in St. Louis; Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona; University of California at Davis; University of Tennessee, Knoxville; United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland; University of Texas at Arlington; University of Texas in Austin; and Texas A&M University in College Station.
International academic partners, including the University of Liverpool in Great Britain, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Technical University Munich in Germany, and Roma Tre University in Italy, will also collaborate on basic research.
The university centers of excellence are jointly funded by the Army at about $3 million a year, the Navy at about $1 million annually and NASA at $500,000 a year. The five-year agreements will be administered by the Army Contracting Command located at Fort Eustis, Virginia.
Image: Penn State University is one of three colleges in the U.S. to be named a national vertical lift center via a partnership between the U.S. Army, Navy and NASA.