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Aerospace Design and Structures

Advancing a new generation of tiltrotors

By Cristina Riso and Rafael Palacios|December 2022

The Structural Dynamics Technical Committee focuses on the interactions among a host of forces on aircraft, rocket and spacecraft structures.

In April, NASA’s X-59 supersonic aircraft was brought back to Lockheed Martin’s Palmdale, California, facility after the completion of ground tests, including structural proof and calibration tests at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas, facility. NASA plans to fly this experimental aircraft over selected communities in the coming years at supersonic speeds to demonstrate how the sonic boom noise level could be reduced to a quieter and more acceptable thump. During the proof test, the aircraft underwent 25 proof (up to 125% design limit load) and calibration (up to 80% design limit load) load conditions to demonstrate structural integrity and airworthiness. Ground vibration and structural coupling tests are planned for late 2022 in preparation for first flight.

Also in April, Airbus completed the wind tunnel testing on the scaled model of its eXtra Performance Wing demonstrator in the low-speed wind tunnel in Filton, England. The flight version of the wing will be integrated on a Cessna Citation VII business jet and be flown in representative flight conditions, with a first flight targeted for early 2024. Some key technologies were introduced at a smaller scale through Airbus’ AlbatrossONE project, which in 2020 tested semi-aeroelastic hinged wings that unlock during flight when experiencing gusts or turbulence.

In June, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the Aviation and Missile Center — both part of DEVCOM, the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command — collaborated with NASA to complete initial wind tunnel testing of the TiltRotor Aeroelastic Stability Testbed, or TRAST. This 2.4-meter tiltrotor was developed to conduct fundamental research on whirl flutter and test new tiltrotor configurations, including interchangeable hubs, wing extensions and tips outboard of the pylon, interchangeable spars, springs and tuning masses. Future wind tunnel tests will explore the effect of changes in flap pitch coupling on tiltrotor stability. 

Also in June, the European Commission-funded Advanced Testbed for Tiltrotor Aeroelastics project passed its critical design review. ATTILA is a collaboration between Politecnico di Milano in Italy and NLR in the Netherlands to design and manufacture an instrumented aeroelastically scaled cantilevered half-wing with a powered nacelle-proprotor system based on Leonardo’s next-generation civil tiltrotor design. The design results from two and a half years of effort trading off the desired flutter characteristics, proprotor stability and structural load limits. Tests at the German-Dutch Wind Tunnels are planned for 2023.

The University of Maryland conducted multiple whirl flutter tests of a 1.4-meter advanced swept-tip tiltrotor with interchangeable blades, hubs and wings, an electric drive and high-bandwidth electric actuation. In August, tests in the university’s Glenn L. Martin Wind Tunnel reached 200 knots, 1,400 revolutions per minute and 50 degree pitch angles, with parameter variations not achievable in flight: with and without wing airfoils, free and locked gimbal, powered and unpowered rotor, and straight and swept-tip blades. The data will help refine and validate rotorcraft comprehensive codes in government, industry and academia to design faster and lighter tiltrotors.  

2022 Year in Review

Aerospace Design and Structures

A large rocket booster is being assembled inside a facility, surrounded by scaffolding and machinery, with several red clamps securing its upper section.

Multiple structures take shape

A collage of two images. Left: A rocky, sandy landscape under a pale sky. Right: The shadow of a four-legged object with two protruding antennas cast on a similar sandy surface.

Space tourism flights show off distinctly different designs approaches

Two technicians in blue helmets work on large machinery components inside an aircraft engine bay, ensuring maintenance and inspection.

Researchers advance probabilistic analysis for greater efficiency and safety

Aerospace Outreach

A spacecraft launches into the night sky, with bright flames and smoke emerging from its base, flanked by structures on either side.

James Webb Space Telescope and Artemis I launch top year’s accomplishments

A vibrant image of the Carina Nebula, showcasing bright stars and colorful gas clouds in space, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. The scene features shades of blue, orange, and pink.

A year of seeing the unseen

A robotic rover, equipped with scientific instruments and cameras, navigates a rocky, barren landscape on Mars.

A year of space tourism flights, planetary exploration and limited air travel

Aerospace Sciences

A heat transfer simulation graph showing heat flow in kW/m² along a model's nose, represented by a color gradient from blue (low) to red (high), with distance marked in cm on the x-axis.

Experimental-numerical campaigns give insight into complex fluid phenomena

A rocket with flames and smoke trailing from its engines ascends vertically against a clear blue sky.

The challenge of access to space

Computer simulation of an aircraft with colorful aerodynamic streamlines and vortices illustrating airflow patterns around the wings and body of the plane.

Powerful new capabilities emerge across the community

Aircraft Technology, Integration and Operations

A small twin-propeller aircraft is stationed on the concrete floor of a hangar, with both hangar doors open allowing sunlight to enter.

Flight milestones and lessons learned from X-plane programs

A single-engine propeller aircraft with registration number G-MXTE is flying over a landscape with rolling hills and sparse vegetation.

737 MAX 10, NASA’s Ingenuity and others make first flights

A usaf t-38 talon jet, labeled as

Efficiency and capability drive flight testing in 2017

Engineering and Technology Management

Atmospheric picture of space

A century ago, aviation became an industry

Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine for ULA’s Vulcan

Profits dip in aerospace, defense sectors

Solar Impulse 2

A year that caught public’s notice

Information Systems

A man in a uniform is seated in the cockpit of an aircraft, looking at the control panels. The cockpit is filled with various screens and instruments.

Enabling advances in aircraft operations

Close-up of a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked at the International Space Station against the backdrop of space.

Digital avionics guide accomplishments in aeronautics and astronautics

Person in a pilot suit wearing a helmet with a visor and oxygen mask, standing in front of a large grid-windowed building.

Improving physiological monitoring sensor systems for pilots

Integration

A futuristic concept airplane with a sleek, wide body design and angled wings flies above the clouds.

Hybrid electric concepts move toward demonstration

Close-up of a mechanical device showing labeled components: a nozzle, a plate with cooling holes, and a cooling air plenum, against a textured background.

Marching toward the 2030 vision of CFD

A gray top hat floats in space, emitting a stream of white smoke-like substance over a red, rocky planet surface.

Progress toward the 2030 vision of CFD

Program Committees

A large cylindrical object is positioned in the center of an industrial facility with yellow overhead cranes and metallic structures.

Space Launch System keeps pace

Tests at the Lockheed Martin Low Speed Wind Tunnel in Ohio

Going green moves to higher gear

NASA Electric Aircraft Testbed in Sandusky, Ohio

Electric efforts gaining power

Propulsion and Energy

Atmospheric picture of space

Safety enhancements abound

A jet engine exhausts flames and hot gases, emitting an intense orange glow against a dark background.

Advancements continue in rotating detonation engines

A close-up view of a gold-wrapped James Webb Space Telescope instrument inside a test chamber, surrounded by various technical equipment and cables.

Variety grows and performance improves in space electric propulsion

Space and Missiles

Two scientists in lab coats examining plants in a vertical indoor farm with pink led lights.

Next steps in sustaining human presence in space

A satellite in space emits a red laser beam towards an observatory on Earth, depicted with an inset zoomed view of the observatory telescope.

A year of firsts: optical communications, autonomy and hacking

A dark background with a horizontal yellow and orange glowing strip on top and a field of small white dots below. A similar vertical glowing strip is on the right side.

Microgravity research aids long-duration human space missions

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Advancing a new generation of tiltrotors