ICAS 2014: a round-up of day three

10 September 2014

The third day of the international congress ICAS 2014 has drawn to a close. The TsAGI press service provides an overview of the key events.

As usual, the congress began with a plenary session.

SAFRAN Director for Research and Technology Eric Bachelet presented a report on mechanisms for the optimal use of energy in a plane. In his speech he emphasized that nowadays more and more advances in applied physics and related research are required, and dialogue between aircraft designers is becoming more important than ever.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes Vice President Michael Sinnett, continuing the plenary session, spoke about new aircraft configurations. He reviewed the first steps in changing aircraft architecture. In particular, Mr. Sinnett noted airframe noise reduction as one of the most important tasks in this area.

The plenary program also included a report on new NASA concepts to create a more environmentally friendly aircraft, authored by Fayette Collier, manager of the American space agency’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project. This project aims to expand the market for new solutions for the design of commercial aircraft while simultaneously meeting national targets for reducing noise levels, emissions and increasing efficiency by 2025.

Jean Botti, technical director of Airbus Group, highlighted the main activities of the French Aviation Group aimed at expanding the boundaries of breakthrough research in aeronautics. Mr. Botti paid special attention to Airbus cooperation with the Russian aviation industry. “Both on Earth and in space, our vision for the aerospace revolution will promote comprehensive human progress”, he said.

The development of algorithms, the study of boundary layer transition, hyper-sound, aero-acoustics, structural analysis, management of the hypersonic boundary layer, aircraft aerodynamics, aeroelasticity, flight control, and the impact of ice and water on flight safety — all these issues were addressed in reports from TsAGI scientists. Congress participants were presented with the results of joint research by the Russian aviation science center and leading industry research organizations — the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Moscow Physical-Technical Institute.

On September 10 there was a meeting of the workshop “History of Aeronautics”, which was included in the program of ICAS for the first time in 2014 at the initiative of the Zhukovsky Central Aero-hydrodynamic Institute. Dmitry Sobolev and Yuri Kuzmin from the Vavilov Institute of the History of Science and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences talked about the contribution of different countries to the development of the design and manufacture of aircraft, and Vitaly Lebedev highlighted the history of the first Russian airports — in St. Petersburg. The workshop was also attended by representatives from the foreign scientific community. Managing Director of ALR (Switzerland) and a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society (UK) George Bridel, in his speech, presented the Swiss view of the milestones in aeronautics and aviation science. The workshop also included Robert van der Linden — Head of the Department of Aeronautics at the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution (USA), which houses the world’s most extensive collection of aircraft and spacecraft. He presented a paper on “Creating modern aircraft: the United States government and business, 1918-2014”. At the end of the workshop, Mr. van der Linden said: “I hope that the inclusion of the history workshop will be useful for the Congress. It is very important to know the past, realize the present and anticipate the future.”

In turn, ICAS Program Committee Member and TsAGI Chief Scientific Officer Gennady Amiryants said: “We are pleased that the Russian initiative to highlight the main stages of development of the world of aviation and aviation science was supported and the ICAS program has a new history workshop. The congress covers a wide range of topics related to the development of modern aeronautics, but it is very important to look into the past of science and technology, without which, as we know, there is no future. We hope that research on ‘The History of Aeronautics’ will be included in the main program in the future and will be one of the most significant in subsequent ICAS congresses.”

The International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences is a non-profit scientific organization with the mission to support international cooperation and the free exchange of information and ideas, including the organization of regular international congresses on all areas of aerospace science and technology. This is the only independent international organization in the field of aeronautics, bringing together 30 countries and most of the key world organizations and companies in the sector. Russia (previously the USSR) has been a member of ICAS since 1976. The country’s interests are represented in the organization by the Zhukovsky Central Aero-hydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI). This year the congress is being held in Russia for the first time, with TsAGI as its organizer.

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