January 29, 2009

TSi wins Phase II Navy SBIR Award for Advanced Comprehensive Rotorcraft Load Prediction Tool

Techno-Sciences, Inc., in collaboration with Professor Inderjit Chopra of the Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center at the University of Maryland at College Park have been awarded a Phase II SBIR contract by the U.S. Navy to develop a comprehensive, predictive analysis tool to quantify helicopter rotor and dynamic component stresses. According to TSi's Principal Investigator, Dr. Gang Wang, the TSI/UMD Advanced Rotorcraft Load Prediction (ARLP) tool leverages the capabilities developed in the Phase I SBIR effort and is based on combined analytical and experimental approaches. The SBIR team will work in Phase II to refine the coupled aerodynamic/structural framework with experimental flight test measurements of stresses, accelerations, and loads, to iteratively improve the analytical predictions via an integrated optimization scheme. In addition to enabling improved vehicle performance through optimized design, the ARLP will provide valuable information to the Navy and to other operators on critical component useful service lives. This health usage monitoring approach will serve as the foundation for condition-based maintenance that is expected to result in significant reductions in the total ownership costs of helicopters.