GW Professor to Help NASA, U.S. Air Force Develop New Aircraft

Professor of Engineering and Applied Science Andrew Cutler will join colleagues from the University of Virginia and Stanford University to help create scramjet engines through the Center for Hypersonic Combined Cycle Flow Physics.

By Julia Parmley

Imagine taking measurements in the exhaust of gas fumes produced by the engine of a hypersonic airplane. That’s
exactly the kind of experiment Professor of Engineering and Applied Science Andrew Cutler will conduct as part of a multiinstitutional team in the Center for Hypersonic Combined Cycle Flow Physics, a newly created institute led by the University of Virginia and supported by a five-year, $10 million contract from
NASA and the United States Air Force.

With colleagues from the University of Virginia and Stanford University, Dr. Cutler will conduct experiments and gather data to help create scramjet engines, which will be used to propel aircraft into space at speeds greater than Mach 5—five times the speed of sound. He will conduct his research in laboratories at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., and the University of Virginia. Colleagues in the institute from the University of Pittsburgh, North Carolina State University, Cornell University, Michigan State University, and the State University of New York at Buffalo will then use the data to develop computational models used to design scramjets.

“I am very excited for this opportunity and to be part of such a good research team,” says Dr. Cutler. “When you are able to collaborate with researchers like this, you can make progress that might be impossible otherwise.”

Dr. Cutler and his team will explore the area of propulsion, while researchers in two other NASA and Air Force-funded centers will investigate the materials and structures necessary to build the engine and the external aerodynamics involved. Dr. Cutler’s team beat out nearly 30 other submissions to participate in the center.

“NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory have made a major commitment to advancing foundational hypersonic research and training the next generation of hypersonic researchers,” says James Pittman, principal investigator for the
Hypersonics Project of NASA’s Fundamental Aeronautics Program at NASA’s Langley Research Center. “Our joint investment of $30 million over five years will support basic
science and applied research that improves our understanding of hypersonic flight.”

Calling the physics of flows in scramjet engines “extremely complicated,” Dr. Cutler says he will draw on his background in fluid mechanics, high-speed flows and combustion to conduct his research. Other researchers on the propulsion project will
develop mathematical models and computational codes that will capture the effects of combustion and turbulence on these flows.

“One of the main reasons GW is involved is because of our experimental capabilities,” says Dr. Cutler. “No one else in the world has quite our expertise and skills, and I am looking forward to this great challenge.”

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu