Army, Navy, NASA renew commitment to vertical lift research centers
NASA is continuing its support of university research into technologies for future helicopters and other vertical lift aircraft in partnership with the U.S. Army and Navy.
With their unique ability to take off and land from any spot, as well as hover in place, vertical lift vehicles are increasingly being contemplated for use in providing the public with new air travel options.
To that end, the agency has designated academic teams as Vertical Lift Research Centers of Excellence (VLRCOE).
A VLRCOE team led by Georgia Tech includes engineers from The Ohio State University, as well as University of Michigan, Washington University at St. Louis, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the University of Texas at Arlington, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The primary focus of this group will be to help NASA as well as the U.S. Army and Navy advance their understanding of the unique physics surrounding vertical lift flight.
“NASA and our military partners have invested and committed to vertical lift research and education for another five years to train the next generation of vertical lift engineers,” said Susan Gorton, manager of NASA’s Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology project.
Led by Matt McCrink, a research scientist at the Aerospace Research Center, the Ohio State team also was a key contributor during the initial VLRCOE project cycle five years ago. Many universities bid for positions on the three VLRCOE teams, but only a handful were selected for participation in the program. McCrink attributed Ohio State’s success to his team’s unique specialization.
“Our team is more focused on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and urban air mobility (UAM) concepts, rather than standard helicopters,” he explained. “That’s what makes us stand out.”
The composition of partner teams takes advantage of the different capabilities across different universities. For example, Georgia Tech’s team is leveraging their wind tunnel facilities, while the Ohio State team is able to bring their experience in flight testing to the table.
With a variety of tools at the overall VLRCOE team’s disposal, Ohio State and partners are preparing to develop the next version of a scaled rotorcraft, this time using enhanced measurement capabilities.
“Rather than flying the vehicle in an open field, we’ll be putting vehicles in urban environments more representative of those which might be encountered in package or passenger delivery missions,” McCrink said. “We’re looking at things like how does it interact with buildings, or landing pads? The results will be a lot more tangible.”
NASA’s vision for advanced air mobility (AAM) is to help emerging aviation markets safely develop a sustainable air transportation system that moves people and cargo between places previously not served or underserved by aviation using innovative vehicles such as vertical lift aircraft. Another benefit of the centers of excellence is that they will provide a source of highly qualified vertical lift research professionals for future industry and government employment.
Two more academic teams – led by Pennsylvania State University and University of Maryland – will investigate other aspects of vertical flight.
