Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/T24159/01
Title:	Optimising Handling Qualities for Future Tilt Rotor Aircraft
Principal Investigator:	Padfield, Professor GD
Other Investigators:	Walker, Dr DJ
Researcher Co-Investigators:	Dr N Cameron
Project Partners:	BAE Systems DSTL Eurocopter National Aerospace Laboratory NLR ONERA
Department:	School of Engineering
Organisation:	University of Liverpool
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 February 2005	Ends:	31 July 2008	Value (£):	356,864
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Control Engineering
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Aerospace, Defence and Marine
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
One of the drivers to the improvement goals in safety and operational capability, set out in ACARE's Vision 2020, is the provision of improved flight HQs particularly in poor weather and reduced visual ranges. Tilt rotor/wing aircraft present a special challenge to the handling qualities (HQ) engineer, to be addressed in the proposed research, and conducted within the Flight Science and Technology Research Centre. These aircraft will have to meet both fixed and rotary wing requirements and also fly well in the so-called conversion corridor, when the nacelles and wing(s) are fixed at some intermediate setting. The conversion process itself requires special HQ criteria. Preliminary research already conducted at Liverpool under European Commission funding has identified that flight control augmentation is essential to confer satisfactory HQs on such aircraft. The proposed research will build on this work, developing new criteria where existing standards have proved inadequate, filling criteria gaps, and examining novel integrated control/display concepts that ease the pilot workload when flying in degraded visual conditions. The Liverpool flight simulator will be the principal test facility for criteria substantiation and augmentation systems development and assessment, with particular attention to steep approaches in degraded visibility, low speed manoeuvring in a cluttered environment, large manoeuvres within the conversion corridor and load alleviation in high speed cruise. A new handling qualities toolkit will be developed to facilitate rapid assessment during the design process and mufti-variable optimisation techniques will be exploited to ensure the simultaneous achievement of several design goals.
Key Findings
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Organisation Website:	http://www.liv.ac.uk