NITROS — Network for Innovative Training on ROtorcraft Safety

Results in brief

Network for Innovative Training on ROtorcraft Safety

Helicopters are used in applications providing a valuable contribution to society and economic growth. Today, the service of helicopters includes, search and rescue, coastguard, firefighting, disaster relief, territorial control, monitoring and inspection, heavy-lift support to construction and other sectors, aerial filming and media support. In the future, helicopters and other vertical flight vehicles are expected to see widespread use. However, several issues are to be addressed to increase the use of rotorcraft. In particular, aspects related to complexity of the operations and safety are of primary importance, due to the fact that in the last 20 years helicopter accident rates remained unacceptably high, when compared to fixed-wing aircraft. The complexity of the phenomena involved in rotorcraft flight calls for the training of engineers with a genuine multidisciplinary background. The goal of NITROS is to train a new generation of aerospace engineers capable of developing innovative approaches in a unique cross-disciplinary research and training program encompassing Control Engineering, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Modelling and Simulation, Structural Dynamics and Human perception cognition and action. NITROS objectives include: 1) Develop a detailed framework for rotorcraft modelling integrating rigid-body and aeroservoelastic modelling features capable of dealing with structural or propulsion/mechanical system failures in rotorcraft. 2) Understand how humans can safely and efficiently be interfaced with rotorcraft technology. 3) Enhance the understanding of the complex aerodynamic environment in which the rotorcraft are working, often in hostile conditions of wake encounter threats, interactions with obstacles, icing and brownout. NITROS is expected to inject a fresh new safety-centred approach in the rotorcraft engineering community, aligned with the European Union endeavour to reduce the rate of aviation accidents. All these goals can be reached by exposing the young researches to a dynamic network composed by some of the most renewed European engineering schools and research centres working in the rotorcraft field along with industrial partners including manufacturers, operators and certification entities.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Helicopters and the other vertical flight vehicles, like tilt-rotors, compound helicopters, hybrids and rapidly expanding class of easy to fly vertical take-off personal vehicles, are expected to see widespread use in the future especially as means of transport, exploiting the formidable capability to provide point-to-point connections.However, if the expansion of the usage of rotorcraft vehicles were to follow the pace of grow followed by the fixed-wing public transport in the last years, there are several issues that need to be addressed urgently to increase the use and the public acceptance of rotorcraft. In particular, aspects related to complexity of the operations and safety are of primary importance, due to the fact that in the last 20 years helicopter accident rates, worldwide, remained unacceptably high, especially when compared with fixed-wing aircraft.The complexity of the phenomena that rule the functioning of rotorcraft calls for the development of engineers with a genuine multidisciplinary background. The key objectives of the NITROS training network are: to train the next generation of European aeronautical scientists and engineers on this type of flying machines developing the entrepreneurial attitude in them that is essential to introduce disruptive technological innovations; to train engineers to avoid overlooking the impact that their design choices may have on flight safety; to introduce innovations in rotorcraft design that will enhance the safety of helicopters, to obtain a significant reduction of the accident rate; to create a network of excellence of European institution dedicated to rotorcraft. All these goals can be reached by exposing the young researches to a dynamic network composed not only by some of the most renewed European engineering schools and research centres working in the rotorcraft field, but also to a good mix of industrial partners composed by rotorcraft manufacturers, operators and certification enitites.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

POLITECNICO DI MILANO · MilanoCoordinatorItaly
CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY · CrawleyUnited Kingdom
EUROCONTROL - EUROPEAN ORGANISATION FOR THE SAFETY OF AIR NAVIGATION · Bruxelles / BrusselBelgium
LEONARDO - SOCIETA PER AZIONI · RomaItaly
MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV · MUNCHENGermany
Renewable Ltd · LondonUnited Kingdom
STICHTING KONINKLIJK NEDERLANDS LUCHT - EN RUIMTEVAARTCENTRUM · AmsterdamNetherlands
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT · DelftNetherlands
THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL · LIVERPOOLUnited Kingdom
UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW · GlasgowUnited Kingdom

NITROS · Network for Innovative Training on ROtorcraft Safety

Results in brief

Network for Innovative Training on ROtorcraft Safety

Project objective

Participants

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