Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

THE NEED: Air transport policies and aircraft manufacturers and operators demand for leaner, greener and safer aircraft transport systems as well as reduced development and operating costs has resulted in a need for a paradigm shift in aircraft design. The most promising approach to meet these targets is based on improving the global operational aircraft efficiency. To this end, the adoption of high aspect ratio configurations, lighter and tailored composites to increase payload, energy efficient propulsion systems, and advanced manufacturing has received considerable attention in the research community.  Despite the great technological improvements in the fields of emissions and noise reduction, similarities in both shape and configuration in current designs are evident because conventional configurations are optimized for cruise. Outside this range, aircraft performance is far from the optimal. Since the vast majority of commercial aircraft fly mostly in cruise, only with technology breakthroughs it will be possible to significantly increase efficiency. PROPOSED PROGRAM: The research program aims to improve the performance of complex multidisciplinary engineering systems through advances in mathematical and computational models, and experimental methods. The primary objective is to connect emerging mathematical models and enabling technologies with new designs and concepts of operations to achieve "Leaner, Greener and Safer" air transportation. From a greening perspective, aircraft propulsion technology is currently transitioning to cleaner, more efficient, and quieter solutions. Hybrid electric propulsion systems offer several potential benefits over conventional systems including a smaller environmental footprint, reduced fuel consumption, longer endurance and novel distributed propulsion architectures. The research program aims to develop models to quantify the performance of hybrid propulsion systems and validate and evaluate the computational models, first in a controlled laboratory setting, and finally test the architectures in flight using Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). From a safety perspective, the research program will continue to focus on structural health monitoring of aircraft composite structures as a continuation of the preceding NSERC DG. It aims to develop structural health monitoring procedures using progressive fatigue damage models based on strain and thermoelastic measurements. BENEFITS: The proposed research program will exploit the knowledge, expertise and experimental facilities at the Center for Aerospace Research in `design, build, test and fly' of UAS to buttress the development of green and safe aviation and related technologies. The proposed scientific methods and processes are both leading-edge academically and balanced for potential near-term industrial applications. The program will also provide exciting opportunities for training of HQP in areas of critical importance to the Canadian aerospace sector.