The ability to quickly estimate flight vehicle behavior in an operational environment is particularly important since engineers from a variety of disciplines require accurate predictions in order to plan flight test experiments, expand aircraft operating envelopes safely, and have access to diagnostic methods when problems arise. In order to minimize risks, and to maximize compatibility with present NASA efforts and personnel, the innovative software to be created and marketed through this effort will be written to "seamlessly" interface with the NASA STARS suite of codes. This approach will also allow a focus on the new and innovative techniques to be implemented during this effort without the need to reproduce analysis tools which are already highly developed and validated. At the same time, this increases commercial viability of the product due to the broad distribution and familiarity with the STARS codes in the government and academic sectors. The products ultimately produced from this effort will have the capability for CFD-based multi-disciplinary analysis of flight vehicles including linear and non-linear aeroservoelastic analysis. Special emphasis will be placed on developing tools which may be used by engineers in a flight test environment where rapid turnaround times are critical. POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) : Multidisciplinary modeling techniques and software proposed will reduce the design cycle time resulting in significant savings in R&D. Potential dual-use application will include the design of all types of commercial aircraft, jet engines, automobile and engine components, and civil engineering structures. Significant effort will be made to promote commercialization of the products developed in Phase I and Phase II for application in general aviation aircraft manufacturing industry, where the cost of R&D makes a great portion of the total budget and businesses are eager to adopt tools and methods to reduce design cycle time and cost.
