Consortium TEK (Portugal)  The ASDS division of the TEKEVER Group provides the Aeronautics, Space, Defense and Security markets with innovative technology that enables their modernization and evolution through better communication, information and action means in a continuous, sustainable and cooperative way. TEKEVER ASDS invests significantly in the research and maturing of low maturity, disruptive technologies that may then be integrated into the design and development of innovative userdriven products and solutions. TEKEVER ASDS has coordinated multiple national projects (e.g. on UAVs) and was involved indirectly in an EDA project involving other group companies. DLR (Germany)  DLR is Germany's national research centre for aeronautics and space. Its extensive research and development work in aeronautics, space, transportation and energy is integrated into national and international cooperative ventures. DLR’s research portfolio ranges from fundamental research to innovative development of the applications and products of tomorrow. In this way, DLR contributes the scientific and technical know-how that it has gained, thus enhancing Germany’s industrial and technological reputation. DLR operates large-scale research facilities for the center’s own projects and as a service provider for clients and partners. Approximately 6200 people work for DLR; the center has 29 institutes and facilities at 13 locations in Germany. The DLR Institute of Composite Structures and Adaptive Systems is located in Braunschweig and has internationally acknowledged expertise in the design and realization of innovative composite structures and adaptive systems. The research contributes to the entire process chain of the development of highperformance composite structures. This DLR Institute with its 110 staff members has vast experience and proven expertise in development, design and manufacturing of lightweight fiber composite materials, adaptive Systems, and multifunctional Materials and has more than 15 years experience in the realization of morphing aircraft systems. This experience involves automated wing generators, sizing tools for composite morphing structures, development of morphing skins, investigation of auxetic structures as well as compliant mechanisms, demonstration and experimental validation of morphing aircraft systems. ARA (United Kingdom)  The Aircraft Research Association (ARA) is an independent, non-profit distributing research and development organisation situated in Bedford, UK. ARA has over 50 years’ experience in wind tunnel testing and aerodynamic research. Its capabilities include the wind tunnel testing of aerospace models; analysis of test data; design and manufacture of high precision models and test rigs; and development and application of CFD computer codes for aerodynamic design and performance assessment. ARA qualifies as a Research Organisation under EU rules. Its processes are BS_EN ISO 9001:2008 certified. ARA coordinated the FP4 project AIRPORT, and has successfully participated in a number of EU FP6 and FP7 projects with emphasis on meshing and applied CFD, namely REMFI, FLIRET, NACRE, HISAC, MDOW (NGCW), DREAM, ADIGMA, IDIHOM and SADE, which focuses on the development of morphing airframe techniques for the design of seamless high lift systems. ARA is particularly active within the Clean Sky Joint Undertaking, where ARA is coordinator for ADOCHA, IDOHAP, LOSPA, DEAFCON, CARD and participates in CLARET, VELOCIRAPTOR. Five of these develop innovations in the design and manufacturing of wind tunnel models including active flow control. UBI (Portugal)  University of Beira Interior (UBI) is a public higher education institution structured in faculties, departments, research units, centres, and services which endeavour to meet its goals in teaching, research, and service to the community. Its faculties include Sciences, Engineering, Social and Human Sciences, Arts and Languages, and Health Sciences. Teaching is delivered to more than 7000 undergraduate and postgraduate students according to the three-cycle Bologna structure. The Department of Aerospace Sciences (DCA) of UBI is dedicated to teaching and R&D activities in the field of Aeronautics and Space. Presently, DCA offers two courses: a 5-year integrated MSc degree in Aeronautical Engineering and a PhD degree in Aeronautical Engineering. The teaching domains within DCA focus on five main areas: Aerodynamics & Propulsion, Aircraft Structures & Materials, Air Transport Management, Satellites, and Dynamics and Control of Aircraft Systems. These areas involve a staff of 9 Professors (PhD). DCA supports the Aeronautics and Astronautics Research Center (AeroG), member of the Portuguese Associated Laboratory for Energy, Transport and Aeronautics (LAETA), dedicated to research and technology development in the fields of Aeronautics and Space. It’s activities are grouped into four main areas: Multidisciplinary Optimization of Aircraft Configurations; Optimal Control; Aerodynamics and Propulsion; and Satellites. The research laboratories of DCA and AeroG are organized in the following areas: Aerodynamics and Propulsion, Structures and Vibrations, Avionics and Control, Anemometry, Materials, and Computational Fluid Dynamics. UBI has in the past few years gained expertise in aircraft design in general, particularly in UAV design and new aircraft concepts development, in morphing wing design and development and in composite materials. Some of its achievements include a new wing-tail arrangement for reduced induced drag, a four-hour endurance MAV and a telescopic wing UAV, among others. CU (United Kingdom)  Cranfield University is a postgraduate research institute dedicated to focused fundamental research and in applying it to meet the needs of society and industry. Its research, teaching and technology development functions are closely linked to industry, public and defence sectors across the UK, Europe and internationally. The School of Engineering has established activity in aerospace sciences, process engineering, turbomachinery, power and propulsion, simulation and computational engineering, photonics and optical engineering, mechanics and structures, automotive engineering, human factors and safety, and air transport engineering. SU (United Kingdom)  Swansea University is a research led university that has a range of colleges including Engineering, Science and Medicine. Recent investments in the University include the £30M Institute of Life Sciences, the £16M Institute of Advanced Telecommunications, £10Mof supercomputing facilities, and the ASTUTE project concerned with manufacturing, funded by £14M from the Convergence European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government. All of these facilities and the interdisciplinary environment provides a perfect opportunity for researchers to collaborate beyond their traditional areas of research. The project will be undertaken within the Civil and Computational Engineering Centre (C2EC) in the College of Engineering. The C2EC is well known for its innovative research in the area of computational mechanics and has maintained the highest national research rating since the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) was started in the UK. Swansea University is often considered as one of the birthplaces of Finite Element Analysis, and Prof Olgierd C Zienkiewicz from Swansea wrote the first ever textbook on the finite element method. Hence the C2EC is very well known to computational researchers from all over the world. Swansea University hosts an Advanced Investigator grant from the European Research Council entitled "Optimisation of Multi-scale Structures with Applications to Morphing Aircraft" (OMSAMA). This project has funding of €2.5M and runs for 5 years from May 2010. The aim of the project is provide a step change to existing design methods of morphing aircraft by developing a framework where multi-scale and multi-physics modelling and optimisation may be achieved efficiently. The project considers models of different fidelity, and significantly improves the way in which these different models communicate. INVENT (Germany)  The INVENT GmbH is located in Braunschweig in northern Germany. INVENT offers a qualified know-how in the field of high performance fibre composites, allowing for manufacturing from prototypes and samples up to delicate flight hardware. Further on even more unique composite types like Kevlar or structures made out of renewable/natural fibres (Hemp) can be handled as well. Its products are mainly sold to aerospace industry, but there are also automotive and railway OEMs among INVENT’s regular customers. The company is privately owned and has a staff of about 65 qualified employees. To provide an excellent quality for its parts INVENT’s personnel is acquainted in detail with state of the art manufacturing processes like SLI- (Single-Line-Injection), RTM- (Resin Transfer Moulding), winding- or prepreg-procedures. Thus, the employees are ideally able to economically produce fibre composite structures with innovative production engineering. The philosophy of INVENT is based on the efficient transfer of innovative technologies between basic research and industry. Together with HPS, there exists an optimum perspective for future supply of space equipment such as highly stable antenna reflectors, sandwich panel structures for satellites, struts for truss works or deployable booms. In this regard a clean room for manufacturing these delicate parts has been installed in 2006. METU (Turkey)  METU has five faculties, comprising 37 departments, with 47 undergraduate programs. Additionally there are 5 graduate schools with 98 M.Sc. and 55 Ph. D. programs. Since its foundation, METU, as an international research university, has been the leading university in Turkey in terms of depth and breadth of international ties and the amount of funds generated from international research projects. METU actively took part in and managed many NATO, NSF, Jean Monnet, INCO, EUMEDIS, EU, Erasmus Mundus ECW, Leonardo and Socrates projects. English as the language of instruction in all its degree programs has greatly facilitated METU's efforts to accommodate international students and researchers. METU is a member of many associations and networks dealing with international education and exchange such as EUA, EAIE, IIE, GE3, CEASAR, SEFI, CIEE. METU has always been committed to a ‘quality culture’. The Faculty of Engineering has all its thirteen undergraduate programs accredited by ABET. The Structures & Materials Research Group of the Department of Aerospace Engineering has an expertise in the research areas of smart structures and their applications on the active vibration control and morphing aircraft structures. Within the framework of a national project called “Aeroservoelastic Analysis of the Effects of Camber and Twist on Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Mission-Adaptive Wing’”, the research group of aerodynamicists and structural engineers indigenously designed an air vehicle with mission adaptive wing having unconventional control surfaces with open section trailing edges which are capable of both camber and twist change. TUD (Netherlands)  Research in the field of design and optimisation of lightweight structures demands a thorough knowledge and understanding of structural mechanics, numerical analysis, design, and optimisation methods, as well as modern materials and production methods. The Aerospace Structures chair lead by prof. Zafer Gurdal from Delft University of Technology historically has a world class reputation in these areas and aims to maintain its status. The current research activities of the chair focus on the development and extend the use of state-of-the-art numerical tools to design and optimize aerospace structures, and efficiently analyze their behavior under different types of loading. Experimental methods are also used to assess the accuracy of the numerical methods and gain deeper insight into the physical nature of realistic structures. Significant experience is present with variable stiffness composite materials, their production, impact resistance and buckling behaviour, buckling of thin-walled shells, topology optimisation, testing of smart materials in our adaptive materials lab, and aeroelastic design. The chair of Aerospace Structures currently employs 15 people, amongst who are 3 professors. Furthermore, there are 20 PhD students and 30 MSc students. |
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