AIAA Honors NASA Dryden, Navair Engineers for Best Research Paper
April 20, 2004
Release: 04-22
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has honored three aerospace engineers, two from NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and the third from the Navy’s Air Systems Command, for presenting the best technical report at this year’s AIAA Aerospace Sciences Conference.
Michael Jacob Vachon and Ronald J. Ray of NASA Dryden at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and Carl Calianno of the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), Patuxent River, Md., were cited for their paper, “Calculated Drag of an Aerial Refueling Assembly through Airplane Performance Analysis.” Their report, presented at the 42nd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting & Exhibit in Reno, Nev., early this year, was named Best Paper by the AIAA’s Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Technical committee.
The 18-page technical report was based on their work in the Automated Aerial Refueling (AAR) flight research project at NASA Dryden last year. The project focused on developing accurate analytic models, from actual flight test data, to aid in development of the design of an autonomous aerial refueling system that could be used by either piloted aircraft or autonomously operated unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the future.
As part of the research, Vachon, Ray and Calianno calculated the aerodynamic drag of an aerial refueling assembly. A specially instrumented F/A-18A airplane, equipped with a standard Navy air refueling hose and paradrogue mounted to its centerline pylon, was used to obtain accurate fuel flow measurements and to determine engine thrust. As the paradrogue assembly was deployed and stowed in-flight, changes in the calculated thrust of the airplane occurred and were equated to changes in vehicle drag attributable to the drag of the paradrogue assembly. The AAR flight test data were also corroborated with wind tunnel data and represent the first-ever quantitative investigation of the drag of a fully integrated aerial refueling system during flight. The results support the development of accurate aerodynamic models to be used in refueling simulations and control laws for fully autonomous refueling.
Vachon and Ray are employed in the Propulsion and Performance Branch of the Research Engineering Directorate at NASA Dryden. They, along with NAVAIR’s Calianno, will receive their Certificates of Merit at an annual awards luncheon during the 2004 AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference in Providence, R.I., later this year.
(An abstract of their report, No. NASA-TM-2004-212043, may be viewed on-line at /centers/dfrc/DTRS/2004/index.html. The paper is also available from the AIAA web site at www.aiaa.com, report No. AIAA-2004-0381.)
-NASA-