Eidetics Awarded NASA Dryden SBIR Phase I Contract for Enhanced NLF Air Foil  Pressure Recovery with Boundary Layer Mixing Devices Program

December 14, 1998 - Eidetics Corporation was recently awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research contract sponsored by NASA Dryden. The Phase I program, entitled Enhanced NLF Airfoil Pressure Recovery with Boundary Layer Mixing Devices was one of 345 proposals selected from a total of 2,335 proposals submitted.

"The Phase I research has shown that Boundary Layer Mixing Devices are capable of preventing separation in an adverse pressure environment, with laminar flow conditions upstream. This capability makes BLMDs well suited to enhancing the pressure recovery of an extremely aggressive NLF airfoil design. A relationship between device drag and the ability of BLMDs to overcome larger adverse pressure gradients has been observed. A variety of BLMDs were tested during the Phase I research, and the effects of size, shape, spacing and location were quantified.

Phase II research will concentrate on the design of a new family of NLF airfoils that take advantage of BLMDs. The knowledge gained in the Phase I research will be used to create a design toolkit that integrates with existing inverse airfoil design software. The result will be a new software design tool and an airfoil design service capability."