Helicopter Noise Reduction Topic Of Winning Entry

NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, in cooperation with the American Helicopter Society (AHS) has selected the first winner of the Lichten Internship Award... a study that could lead to quieter whirlybirds in the skies over an airport near you in the future.

Eric Greenwood II from the University of Maryland, University Park, was selected based on his paper, "Helicopter External Noise Radiation in Turning Flight: Theory and Experiment," according to a NASA.

The award supports NASA's goal of enhancing the education of qualified US engineering students in fields of interest to the agency's aeronautics program, including fundamental research, particularly in subsonic rotary wing technologies.

Greenwood will receive an eight-week, NASA-sponsored internship that will be split between Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA and Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. Both centers actively research helicopter noise as part of NASA's Subsonic Rotary Wing Project. Greenwood will spend the summer participating in NASA rotary wing science and technology projects.

The challenge of the Subsonic Rotary Wing Project is to develop validated physics-based multidisciplinary design and analysis tools for rotorcraft, integrated with technology development, enabling rotorcraft with advanced capabilities to fly as designed for any mission.

The Supersonics Project is a broad-based effort designed to develop knowledge, capabilities and technologies that support all vehicles that fly in the supersonic speed regime.

Greenwood graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering (aerospace option), in 2005. He has specialized in rotorcraft acoustics for his graduate program in aerospace engineering.

FMI: www.aeronautics.nasa.gov