Adjustable geometry blown surface prototype and aircraft conceptual design. Distributed electric propulsion (DEP) enables a high degree of coupling between the aerodynamics and propulsion…

This federal contract award, valued at $28,741.61, was issued by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center to the National Institute of Aerospace Associates (NIA), a non-profit research institute. The contract is for the development of a prototype system and conceptual aircraft design focused on distributed electric propulsion (DEP) technologies. The goal is to improve the coupling between aerodynamics and propulsion to achieve enhanced performance and capabilities that cannot be realized through isolated wing and propulsion systems. The prototype will feature an adjustable geometry to enable rapid testing of design iterations. No set-aside designation was used for this cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order. NIA has a long history of supporting NASA's aeronautics research, particularly in the areas of computational fluid dynamics, electric propulsion, and conceptual design studies for advanced air transport technologies.

Adjustable geometry blown surface prototype and aircraft conceptual design. Distributed electric propulsion (DEP) enables a high degree of coupling between the aerodynamics and propulsion characteristics of aircraft wing systems. Tight coupling of these two disciplines offer opportunities to improve the performance and achieve capabilities that cannot be achieved with isolated wing and propulsion solutions. Higher-order analysis using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools was accomplished in previous work to capture these highly coupled effects with analysis tools that have been calibrated to validation datasets from prior aero-propulsive wind tunnel tests. Testing of specific DEP systems is desired to improve the state of the art to achieve very high lift at low speeds, and at static conditions while entraining flow to maximize the systems lifting characteristics. At the same time high cruise efficiency is desired, along with excellent control characteristics throughout the flight envelope. This research will develop a bench test prototype to characterize a specific DEP configuration to better understand the aero-propulsive characteristics. Previously, a centrifugal fan system was designed to enable a distributed blowing system over surfaces of a vertical take-off and landing (vtol) conceptual aircraft with an ultra-low noise signature. A lift system was designed and found to perform well according to computational analysis. A full-scale short span prototype section of the lifting device is desired. The prototype shall have an adjustable geometry so that geometric iterations can be tested quickly. A plenum will be designed to be fabricated by NASA larc. A portable, high mass-flow air source will be fabricated with parts machined by NASA larc. A method for measuring the forces and moments acting upon the prototype shall be devised. An aircraft conceptual design shall be created using the component performance as characterized by previous computational analysis. Concept analysis shall include a battery weight estimate with special consideration given to the high power-density required for the component technologies. Concept shall be designed as a technology demonstrator for a full-scale manned single seat aircraft.