Space Sciences

Center for Aerospace Structures (CAS), continued

Sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, CAS has recently upgraded its high-performance computing laboratory with a 40-processor Origin 3200 system, which allows researchers to perform high-fidelity, multidisciplinary fluid/structure/control simulations of maneuvering fighters. These computationally intensive simulations will assist the Flight Test Center at the Edwards Air Force base in predicting the aeroelastic behavior of various F-16 configurations. They also will be used to validate a new signal processing technique developed at CAS to extract the vibration parameters of an accelerating aircraft from data collected during continuously varying flight conditions, greatly reducing the number of flight hours required for establishing the flutter envelope. Last May, the Air Force Test Pilot School performed two suites of accelerated flight tests designed by CAS for two different F-16 configurations, and met the set objectives using 2.5 times less sorties than when using the classical stabilized flight testing approach.

CAS also continues to advance the state-of-the-art of computational technology for the acoustic signature identification of submerged objects, the prediction of vibrational loads for components within larger systems, design optimization, active vibration control, and structural health monitoring.

http://caswww.colorado.edu