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GTRI
is a member of the Academic Center for Aging
Aircraft, a consortium of academic units
focused on research topics supporting the
challenges of aging aircraft.
LandMARC helped establish the ACAA, which was
officially formed in 2001 with an agreement
between GTRI, Texas A&M University's Texas
Center for Advanced Technology (TCAT) and
the University of Dayton Research Institute
(UDRI). Working with the Joint Council on
Aging Aircraft, the ACAA is coordinating
research topic identification and selection with
the JCAA's steering groups.
LandMARC is currently involved
in three research projects:
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Project #2004-2: Prognostics for Dynamic Components
The accumulating data
collected by the Integrated Vehicle Health Monitoring (IVHM) systems for the Navy H-60 must be
quickly processed to identify emerging trends before the failures occur. Data driven, soft-computing
based (e.g., neural nets, fuzzy logic) and physics based algorithms are capable of processing data
for rapid identification of trends. They are also generally small enough to be used in the Navy's
client-server environment to provide maintenance personnel with time critical information and FST
personnel with the ability to monitor trends more effectively than is possible today.
This project seeks to enhance the H60 IVHM system by:
- Developing recommendations for IVHM system improvements, including an improved Data Management structure.
- Developing improved algorithms for diagnostics related to the selected subsystem. These algorithms may be suitable
for inclusion in IVHM onboard software.
- Recommending a framework for off-line data storage and processing to perform diagnostic and prognostic analysis.
Project #2004-5: Improving NDI Techniques to Detect Flaws in External Fuel Tanks
External fuel tanks for the H-53 helicopter are constructed from filament
wound composites over a thin aluminum inner shell. Over time, contaminants
in the fuel react with small imperfections in the shell coating, causing
corrosion in the aluminum liner. This corrosion weakens the liner and requires
labor intensive replacement of the entire inner lining.
The objective of this project is to develop improved methods of Non Destructive Inspection (NDI) that can identify
corrosion defects in the liner while they are still limited enough to be corrected with minor repair,
either in the field or at the depot.
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Project #2005-2 Materials Testing In Support of Photostripping
The Navy’s SBIR program has identified a promising new technology to remove paint from H-60 main rotor blades during depot inspection and repair. The objective of this project is to support the US Army by providing material testing and analysis that determines the effect of the photostripping process on test samples, using microscopy, electron microscopy and thermal analysis. |
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Project #2005-4 Improved Rotor Head Seals
The main rotor heads of the CH-47 are experiencing higher than normal failure rates in Operation Iraqi Freedom due to the extreme heat and dust in the operational environment. The objective of this project is to identify new polymers that offer increased resistance to wear and test several candidates to offer to DLA and the US Army as alternative materials.
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