RFRL has had significant activity in the development of future projects. The majority of the projects are unsolicited requests from customers due to previous work or the facility's unique capabilities. The RFRL has a very high proposal acceptance rate. The following are brief descriptions of current and future projects:

Seemann Composites

RFRL supported Seemann Composites in several projects. This work has led to the activation of the large Baron autoclave, located in the RFRL Annex.

duPont Aerospace, Inc.

RFRL is ending the second year of a three year project supporting duPont Aerospace Inc., El Cajon, CA, for the development of a 4,000 lb., vertical take-off, high-speed cruise demonstrator aircraft. This project is supported by the Office of Naval Research. RFRL's primary responsibility is to produce molds for the project. All of the wing and tail molds are complete and work on a large set of fuselage mold is underway. This project is supported by all the RFRL research engineers, staff, and students.

Naval Surface Warfare Center

Support of Door Design Phase II - RFRL was part of the ONR-funded composite helicopter hangar project. The project scope was to prepare large test specimens and to support the design of the large composite hagar doors. RFRL has been asked to continue the support of the door design and development in Phase II. This project required close coordination with Seemann Composites (Gulfport, MS), and Bath Iron Works (Bath, ME).

Office of Naval Research

High Temperature Response of Composite Structure, Task S.6 - The structural integrity of composite structures at elevated temperature are being investigated. The work is part of a focus of the Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center. One of the concerns associated with the use of composite materials in ship topside structures is fire performance. It is well-known that mechanical properties of polymer matrix composite material systems degrade as the temperature of the material increases. The project consists of experimentally determining the visco-elastic analogs to the elastic constants, incorporation of transverse shear effects for visco-elastic materials, and comparison of the final experimental results with theoretical and analytical results.

Bosch Aerospace, Inc.

RFRL supports Bosch Aerospace, Inc., in the development of a Cycloidal Propeller System under a Navy Phase I SBIR. The project concept is to generate thrust in any direction in the plane of the propeller rotation. The current requirements for VTOL operations for aircraft and unmanned systems have created an interest in re-visiting this previously undeveloped concept. There is also interest in installing these propellers on lighter-than-air vehicles. The Phase I study demonstrates the basic concept with meaured force data. The Phase II SBIR was awarded to Bosch Aerospace, Inc., and RFRL will support the project with extensive aerodynamic modeling and support of experiments to further define the capabilities of the concept.

Parameter Estimation

The RFRL Cessna Agwagon is being modified as a test vehicle to conduct research in the field of frequency domain parameter estimation. Parameter estimation is a process of measuring the imput and output states of a system and then deriving a model of the system from the measured values. Traditionally, this has been accomplished in the time domain. However, recent work has shown that the frequency domain offers certain advantages and may produce better models of the system than those available using time domain methods. This project will develop RFRL expertise in frequency domain parameter estimation, and coupled with simulation, will investigate optimal input strategies to achieve the best results. The software package CIFER (Comprehensive Identification from Frequency Responses) necessary for this project was published from the U. S. Army using Hearin grant funds. The work is currently funded internally by the Department of Aerospace Engineering.

Helicopter In-House Funded Projects

RFRL obtained membership for MSU Research Coporation into the Rotorcraft Industry Technology Association (RITA) and the National Rotorcraft Technology Center (NRTC). This paves the way for future applied research from both government and industry. NRTC is based at NASA-Ames Research Center in Sunnyvale, CA. In addition, a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U. S. Navy was completed. This agreement initiates a three to six year cooperative research program with the Naval Postgraduate School to provide active duty military officers, obtaining a M. S. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, to work at RFRL as research engineers during the summers. As part of this CRADA, overhaul and delivery of a U. S. Navy OH-6 Cayuse helicopter was completed. The turbine-powered aircraft is slated for manned helicopter flight research at RFRL. The helicopter underwent its overhaul in Tupelo, MS, and arrived at MSU during the Fall 2000 semester.

Remote Sensing-NASA Stennis

RFRL is working with the MSU Remote Sensing group to establish platforms for sensors that collect research data. A small grant was awarded by NASA Stennis to explore current activity in the regiaon, to define options and requirements for platforms.

National Science Foundation

RFRL is currently upgrading the multi-axis controller for the Arboga due to computer obsolescence. A state-of-the-art controller was found to replace the current unit and this will give RFRL a tool for a wide range of automation tasks. Concurrently, with this upgrade, the Department of Industrial Engineering requested RFRL to assume responsibility for an NSF grant to explore application of neural nets for improved automation on CNC operations. Accurate Automation, Inc., (Chattanooga, TN) a leader in neural net applications, is a sub-contractor for the project.

U. S. Army Space and Missle Defense Command

High Performance Materials and Processes (HIPERMAP) - This two-pronged project for the U. S. Army is to develop a long-duration (24 hour+) UAV from an emerging carbon glider design (Lighthawk). The second project is to apply aerospace composite technology to reduce the weight and signature of current metal cabinet enclosures for ground-based radar systems.

National Center for Advanced Manufacturing (NCAM, University of New Orleans)

Size Effects in Ply-and Sub-laminated-Level Fiber Composite at Cryogenic Temperatures - This project will investigate the material testing of composites at cryogenic temperatures to check on degradation of stress/strain properties. Potential uses are composite fuel tanks for space launch vehicles. The impact of extreme temperatures on composite materials will be studied. Three baseline laminates are being studied: one non-structural, and two structural laminates. The material utilized are typical graphite/epoxy and all tests will be conducted at cryogenic temperatures. The results of these experiments should lead to a better understanding of scaling issues at low temperatures.

Fabrication of Composite Hydrogen Fuel Tank - This project, also involving space launch operations, will survey the best practices of composite lap-joint bonding and will investigate reasons for failure of the X- 33 tank design. In addition, slip forming of liquid fuel tank structures will be examined.

Seemann Composites

RFRL is supporting Seemann Composites in the development of a large composite structure for the U. S. Navy. This is a two-year project and will begin in early 2002.

FAA Technical Center - Airworthiness Assurance Center of Excellence

Ethanol as a Substitute Fuel for General Aviation 100LL - This project is for the modification of the PA-30 aircraft to accept Continental IO-360ES, which is the instrumentation of both engines, one engine to run on 100LL and the other on ethanol. After a 200-hour flight test program, performance and enginewear will be compared.

Damper Free Rotor Design Based on Blade Root-End Nonlinear Stiffness Characteristics

Recent work performed by MSU faculty has resulted in roto rdesign methodology for exploring helicopter ground and air resonance stability with the goal of eliminating lead/lag dampers. Although this damperless rotor approach has been tested in simulation, no laboratory experimentation has been performed to date to verify the theory. For this reason, MSU proposes work which will outline the necessary simulation, bench testing, ground and flight-testing that will be required to complete a viable technology demonstration of the damperless rotor concepts presented. Flightlab, the state-of-the-art simulation environment, has recently been procured to validate the design methodology in simulation prior to flight test.

A Straightforward Approach to Carefree Manuevering for Helicopters

This proposed project will define the future utility of pilot-in-the-loop stick force feedback, referred to as "carefree maneuvering" in the literature. The method proposed, using the existing beep trim systems in deployed helicopters, will provide a simple path for flight envelope cueing. Instead of employing expensive programmable inceptors capable of on-the-fly variable stick force gradient changes, the movement of the stick force neutral point through the beep trim system is proposed.

A Multi-Mission Ground Vehicle with Limited Airborne Capability

The U. S. Army's tactical radar systems might be categorized as "mobile", but are far from moving targets. Many of today's mobile radar platforms require deployment transport, setup, and initialization, prior to successful operation. If detected by the enemy, these systems must be shut down and readied for transport prior to relocation. With link-13 and the coming advent of the tactical data link, combine system weight and size, fluid movement of tactical radar is possible. The development of a multi-mission ground vehicle with limited airborne capability would greatly enhance the combat survivability of our forward-deployed radar systems. The sponsor will be the Aviation and Missle Command. Dr. Robert King will be the principal investigator in partnership with Booz-Allen-Hamilton of Huntsville, AL.

Muliple External Load Capability for the Blackhawk Series Helicopter

Multi-hook cargo transport devices improve the efficiency of helicopter operations through the selective delivery and retrieval on multiple external payloads in a single mission. With more than one cargo hook, the helicopter's external load capacity is greatly enhanced by minimizing the number of "empty" trips back to the logistics center. Unlike commercial long-line multi-hook devices on the market today, MSU is proposing a flush-mounted system that allows Blackhawk ground taxi capability on prepared surfaces, but eliminated the vulnerability of high HOGE external load operations in the battlefield. The potential sponsor is the U. S. Army and the principal investigator will be Dr. Robert King.