Monday, January 30, 2017
Wichita State University's National Institute for Aviation Research has joined NASA's Advanced Composite Consortium (ACC), a public-private partnership focused on advancing knowledge about composite materials
and improving the performance of future aircraft.
The ACC was established in 2015 in support of the Advanced Composites Project, part
of the Advanced Air Vehicles Program of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.
The project's goal is to reduce product development and certification timelines for
composites infused into aeronautics applications.
The consortium is managed by the National Institute of Aerospace and also includes
the Federal Aviation Administration, Aurora Flight Sciences, The Boeing Co., Collier
Research, General Electric Aviation, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Orbital ATK, University
of South Carolina McNair Center and United Technologies Corp.
"Our experience and understanding of composite material properties and certification
processes will add to the already strong intellectual membership," said Royal Lovingfoss,
associate director of NIAR's Composites and Advanced Materials Lab. "The collaborative
experience will bring new ideas to the forefront and allow for a sharing of information
that will benefit the aviation community as a whole."
Member organizations in the consortium participate in research focused on three areas:
prediction of life and strength of composite structures, rapid inspection of composites
and manufacturing process and simulation.
The consortium is finishing research projects associated with Phase 1 of the program,
which were designed to perform assessments of technology available in the three focus
areas and identify deficiencies and strengths of these technologies.
In Phase 2, starting in 2017, the consortium will move to extend the technology capabilities
through 10 project areas that will develop specific improvements in predictive structural
design analysis; inspection accuracy and prediction; and manufacturing techniques
and computational tools.
"NASA is committed to transforming aviation through cutting-edge research and development,"
said Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission
Directorate in Washington. "This partnership will help bring better composite materials
into use more quickly and help maintain American leadership in aviation manufacturing."
The mission of Wichita State University is to be an essential educational, cultural
and economic driver for Kansas and the greater public good. WSU enrolls about 14,500
students and offers more than 50 undergraduate degree programs in more than 150 areas
of study in six undergraduate colleges. The Graduate School offers an extensive program
including more than 40 master's degrees that offer study in more than 100 areas; a
specialist in education degree; and doctoral degrees in applied mathematics; audiology;
chemistry; communication sciences and disorders; human factors and community/clinical
psychology; educational leadership; nursing practice; physical therapy; and aerospace,
electrical, industrial and mechanical engineering. WSU's Innovation Campus (http://wsuinnovationcampus.org)
is an interconnected community of partnership buildings, laboratories and mixed-use
areas where students, faculty, staff, entrepreneurs and businesses have access to
the university's vast resources and technology.
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Contact: Tracee Friess, director of communication, research and technology transfer, 316-978-5597 or tracee.friess@wichita.edu.