Cooperative Agreement NNX13AB81A

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) award of $192,283 to Northeastern University supports collaborative research to model the influence of turbulence on flow-induced instabilities of large flexible structures, with a focus on wind turbine blades. The research aims to develop a novel dynamic model for fluid-structure interaction (FSI) systems that accounts for the effects of turbulence on the onset and post-critical behavior of aeroelastic instabilities in...

This $255,843 National Science Foundation project grant under the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program will fund research and development of an integrated high lift propulsor to enable affordable and energy-efficient advanced air mobility aircraft designs. Wayfarer Aircraft Research and Development Inc. will conduct wind tunnel experiments and computational fluid dynamics simulations from August 2022 to July 2023 to characterize aerodynamic interactions between a propeller and wing...

Seaflight Technologies Inc. will develop novel aerodynamic circulation control technologies for electric aircraft wings through this $275,000 National Science Foundation Project Grant awarded under the NSF Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084). The one-year project will advance research and development of high-lift wing designs using electric jet circulation control to increase maximum lift coefficients and enable longer range for small electric aircraft. Computational...

This Project Grant award of $414,978 from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) supports fundamental research at the University of Akron to advance the understanding of flow control mechanisms using tunable flexible materials. The research aims to develop new methods for mitigating flow separation over aircraft wings and turbine blades, which can lead to reduced lift and undesirable pressure fluctuations. Key aspects of the project include: (1) performing...

This $450,000 Project Grant was awarded on March 15, 2025 by the Air Force Research Laboratory under the Air Force Defense Research Sciences Program (CFDA 12.800) to Georgia Tech Research Corp. The research aims to develop adaptive flutter suppression technology for a virtually controlled aeroelastic wing using active aerodynamic distributed bleed. The 3-year program will involve wind tunnel investigations by Georgia Tech and its subcontractor Earthly Dynamics, LLC to elucidate the fundamental...

This National Science Foundation award provides $267,114 to the University of California, Los Angeles through December 2025 to advance research on estimating and controlling gust-induced aerodynamics. The project aims to develop reinforcement learning techniques to mitigate the challenges posed by large-amplitude fluid disturbances, or gusts, encountered by energy and propulsion systems with lifting surfaces such as wind turbines, aircraft, and turbomachinery. Researchers will leverage prior...

The National Science Foundation awarded a $309,527 project grant to Florida Atlantic University for investigation of multi-scale turbulence coupling by goal-oriented adaptive surface modulation. The grant is funded through the NSF's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) and will support research from May 2021 through April 2025. The Engineering program seeks to improve quality of life and economic strength by fostering innovation and excellence in engineering research. This project aims to advance...

This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant award under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) provides $365,447 to the University of Massachusetts to conduct research on modeling the influence of turbulence on flow-induced instabilities of large flexible structures, with a focus on wind turbine blades. The project aims to develop a novel dynamic model for fluid-structure interaction systems that can accurately account for the effects of turbulence on the onset and post-critical behavior...

This Project Grant award of $474,874 from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) supports collaborative research by The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) to enable engineers to use small-scale models in lower-cost wind tunnels while capturing the full-scale behavior of rotating wakes. The research aims to validate the hypothesis that rotor thrust and induced power coefficient can sufficiently replicate vortex wake turbulence and stability across scales....

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) provides $292,738 to the University of Arizona to conduct research on the internal structure of leading-edge vortices and their relation to Kelvin-Helmholtz instability on swept-back wings. The goal is to develop a theoretical model to explain recent observations and explore potential flow control techniques using periodic excitation near the wing apex. The research will utilize a flat plate cranked...