Ohio State Wins AFRL Award to Establish Collaborative Center for Aeronautical Sciences
A team led by researchers at The Ohio State University has been selected by the Aerospace Systems Directorate to collaborate with its Computational Sciences Center. The goal is to develop and apply pioneering computational technologies for the design of future Air Force systems. The research will generate robust and reliable tools that exploit current and emerging supercomputer systems for reliable, high-fidelity, multi-disciplinary analysis of flight in all speed regimes. The target environments encompass diverse phenomena associated with long-endurance highly maneuverable low speed vehicles, as well as the harsh conditions encountered in hypersonic flight for space-related missions. Research at Ohio State will generate enabling insight into non-linear phenomena associated with turbulence, aero-acoustics and optics, fluid-structure interactions, plasma-based flow control and supercomputing technologies. According to Aerospace Engineering Professor Datta Gaitonde, who is the Principal Investigator, the payoff will be substantial. "In addition to fostering new concepts for revolutionary design advances, the research will lift limits on current systems, reduce life-cycle costs and enhance reliability," he said.
The five-year Collaborative Center, initially funded at $2.5 million, will be a national resource for the advancement of aeronautical science, while fostering the growth of the next generation of aerospace researchers. In addition to faculty and students in Ohio State’s mechanical and aerospace engineering and computer science and engineering departments, the University of Minnesota and Virginia Tech will partner with Ohio State in this endeavor.
About the Aerospace Systems Directorate
The largest and newest of eight Technology Directorates, the Aerospace Systems Directorate develops advanced technologies for propulsion, power and airframes. Its goals are to realize future systems as well as to sustain current systems by enhancing their safety, affordability and capability. Recent areas of research include hypersonic propulsion engines, unmanned vehicles, next generation airframes, collision avoidance, and aircraft energy optimization.
About the AFRL Aerospace Systems Directorate (AFRL/RQ) Computational Sciences Center
Professor Datta V. Gaitonde is the John Glenn Chair in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department. Prior to joining the department in 2010, he was Technical Area Leader of the High‐Speed Flows Group in the Computational Sciences Branch of the Air Vehicles Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright‐Patterson AFB, OH. He received his PhD from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ in 1989. His research focuses on understanding and controlling fluid phenomena encountered in all speed regimes. Recent areas of research include shock/boundary layer interactions, laminar‐turbulent transition, drag and heat transfer prediction, scramjet-based airframe propulsion integration and various types of plasma-based flow control. He is a Fellow of the Air Force Research Laboratory and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and is a member of the ASME and APS.
