Plasma Fairings for Quieting Aircraft Landing Gear Noise, Phase II

The plasma fairing technology directly addresses research/technical challenges for two NASA projects under the NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate: (1) Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project (research challenge: reduce aircraft noise by 1/8 compared with current standards); and (2) The Fixed Wing Project - Quieter Low-Speed Performance (research challenge: reduce perceived community noise by 12 dB cum with minimal impact on weight and performance). While the main thrust of this SBIR work is to develop Plasma Fairings for reducing landing gear noise, these fairings can be effectively configured to reduce noise caused by the high-lift devices such as wing flaps and slats. Other potential NASA applications of the plasma technology include lift enhancement and drag reduction on aircraft wings, high angle-of-attack operation using plasma actuators as lifting devices, enhanced performance and efficiency of propulsion (S-ducts, inlets) and aerodynamic (control surfaces) systems at both on- and off-design conditions, and improved cycle efficiency of NASA's air-breathing propulsion systems. Potential non-NASA applications for the plasma actuators include design of revolutionary subsonic and hypersonic aerospace vehicles for commercial and military (DoD) purposes, use in turbomachinery systems, noise-control on landing gears of commercial aircraft, design of smart wind turbine rotor blades, drag reduction on ground vehicles, smart helicopter rotor blades, tip-casing clearance flow control for reduced turbine losses, control of flow surge and stall in compressors, and turbulent transition control experiments. More »