Information Pasteboard
Weekly reports of meetings at NAL, snippets of R&D activity, conference announcements and other features of popular interest
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News and Events #IP 828 28 July - 3 Aug 2008 Report on Fifth ISSS International Conference on Smart Materials, Structures and Systems
The area of smart materials has been one of the most dynamic and expanding scientific areas during the last two decades. The major interest has been towards exploring materials for engineering and aerospace applications. The specific areas include development of new sensor and actuator materials, processing and characterization of smart materials, constitutive modeling, newer methods of analyses, device design and fabrication, electronics and packaging, smart structural design for optimum power and performance, and development of control algorithms. The Fifth ISSS International Conference on Smart Materials, Structures and Systems was held from 24 - 26 July 2008, at National Science Seminar Complex IISc, Bangalore. The conference was sponsored by Institute of Smart Structures and Systems (ISSS), Indian Space Research Organization, Indian Institute of Science, and co-sponsored by various other institutes, research organizations and professional bodies. The topics covered in the conference were: Adaptive materials, Sensors and actuators, Design, Modeling and simulation, MEMS design, Electronics and packaging, Signal processing techniques and Applications. The conference had 3 plenary and 20 invited talks from internationally known experts in the areas. There were over 100 contributed papers presented in three parallel sessions. The conference had about 300 participants. There were 13 exhibitors and advertisers in the relevant areas. NAL was one of the exhibitors. As a part of this conference, students paper contest was conducted in the areas of micro-, nano-, and smart technologies. Five finalists were selected for the award. In concluding session, the plans for future activities in the areas of smart materials and technologies were discussed The inaugural function started with a welcome address by Dr. A R Upadhya, President ISSS, who outlined the growth of ISSS since its formation in 1998 and the role it has played in bringing together the Smart systems and MEMS community. Dr G Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO and Secretary, Department of Space delivered the presidential address. Dr. V K Aatre, former scientific advisor to Raksha Mantri and visiting professor, IISc, discussed the activities on ISSS and National Program on MEMS and Smart Structures. Prof. P Balaram, Director, IISc, released the proceedings and souvenir, and inaugurated the exhibition. Prof, S G Dhande, Director, IIT Kanpur, delivered the inaugural address and summarized the various activities going in IIT Kanpur especially on sensors and actuators useful to railways. Dr. P S Nair, chairman, organizing committee, presented the theme of the conference. In the end, Dr. C D Sridhar, secretary, organizing committee, concluded the inaugural session by thanking the gathering. Anjana Jain #IP 827 21- 27 July 2008 The Yukti of Classical Indian Science “What does one do when one turns 75?”, I asked Professor Roddam Narasimha (RN). “Oh, I suppose one waits to turn 76 … and one continues to do fluid dynamics!”. RN spoke to us at the Flosolver Lab.; he was at NAL to deliver what’s now simply called his “birthday lecture”. It’s an event about which RN has mixed feelings: while it’s always a great pleasure to return to the S R Valluri Auditorium and meet old friends, including dear old “Rao” Valluri himself, it is rather embarrassing to deliver one’s own birthday lecture year after year. “Somehow or the other Dr U N Sinha and the rest of you always manage to get me here”, RN said resignedly. But it was a reticence that no one else in the packed auditorium shared; in fact, the lecture evoked great excitement and curiosity. ”I’m sure Prof RN will, as always, have something new and astounding to tell us”, NAL Director Dr A R Upadhya predicted as he welcomed his illustrious predecessor. RN’s lecture, titled, The Yukti of Classical Indian Science, started with the intriguing poser: Have you ever wondered why all the science that we learn and practice seems to have originated in the West? Why do our textbooks talk of Newton, Faraday or Gauss, but not of Aryabhata, Brahmagupta or Madhava? Why is it that the distinctly modern scientific revolution occurred in Europe, and not in India or China? Why, as Joseph Needham asked, did the science of Galileo emerge in “Pisa but not Patna or Peking?” Was there ever a truly Indian science? Till about 1600 or so (“till Newton came along”), and for the best part of 14 centuries till then, Indian and Chinese science was actually ahead. But then something went terribly wrong; it was almost as if an entire past was mysteriously wiped out. In an enthralling lecture, RN discussed the likely reasons for the abrupt demise of the golden age of Indian science some 400 years ago. The ‘foreign invasions’ hypothesis doesn’t particularly impress RN; the hypothesis that India’s caste system may have caused it doesn’t win RN’s favour either. “It’s really more to do with how Indians did science, about what Indians thought of science … and in my readings of the history of Indian science there’s one word that keeps cropping up: Yukti.” Yukti is about putting things together, about unifying, about skillful and ingenious practices (“smart ways” in today’s lingo). Yukti, RN argued, was always Indian science’s underlying paradigm. While the European method was based on hypotheses, generalizations, deductions and abstraction, the Indian method was based on observation, examination and ingenious specific solutions or inferences. What was ‘proof’ for the Greeks was ‘yukti’ to the Indians. With yukti, Indian science took impressive strides: it was possible to combat disease, make accurate astronomical calculations, calculate the surface area of spheres, do interpolation and calculus, and even be the first to prove the Pythagoras theorem. But ‘general’ questions were rarely posed, and solution ideas were never taken to the limits. So when Newton triggered off the West’s inexorable wave of learning and scholarship, Indian science was overwhelmed and eventually completely submerged. The fact that, till 1700 or so, the East in general was strong and prosperous, the status quo was comfortable, and there was no great internal pressure to change the global order, must also have contributed to hasten the demise. It was therefore another brilliant and enjoyable RN lecture, and, seeing his continuing good form, it’s easy to predict that NAL won’t let RN get away from these birthday lectures; there have already been over a dozen, and each one has been a rich and delightfully fulfilling experience. Srinivas Bhogle Mr Shyam Chetty has been nominated as Head of the Flight Mechanics & Control Division (FMCD) and Dr Girija Gopalarathnam as Deputy Head of the Division Twenty second Familiarisation Programme – 21st -24th July 2008 The Familiarisation Programme was initiated in the year 1997 with the objective of providing a bird’s eye view to all the new employees of the activities and important R&D projects at NAL. Dr A R Upadhya, Director, NAL gave an invigorating talk at the inaugural function of the twenty second Familiarisation Programme. He welcomed the entrants and quipped about the pleasure of seeing so many young faces (rather than gray hair) which had of late become a rare sight in NAL. He spoke about NAL‘s high degree of competence achieved in the entire range of aerospace disciplines. He added that NAL, celebrating its golden jubilee, is a premier lab of the country with a good work culture, freedom and flexibility. He also assured all of them that there is no hierarchy and advised them to openly interact with the seniors and make the best use of their rich experience and knowledge. Dr A R Upadhaya also proudly mentioned that India was on par or close to its western counterparts and a a high technical solution provider to many laboratories such as ISRO, Navy,IAF, DRDO etc. The Familiarisation Programme organsied by KTMD over the years is very popular with all the NAL freshers. It is immensely beneficial, as it gives them an opportunity to understand the various facets of ongoing aerospace research at NAL. Amitha and Shailaja
An Australian Patent no. 2006201026 has been granted to patent application “An improved process for the manufacture of Strontium Doped Lanthanum Manganite (LSM) Ceramic Powder suitable for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Applications” invented by Mr. A Udayakumar, Scientist, Material Science Division. With this, NAL holds 14 foreign granted patents. #IP 826 14 - 20 July 2008 Report on the Indo-US Workshop on systems, technologies and opportunities for enhanced regional air transportation in India: 8-10 July 2008 A workshop on regional air transportation was held at Eagleton Resorts between 8th-10th July 2008. This workshop was organized by NAL as part of its Golden Jubilee Year celebrations along with support from the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum. Support was also provided by AR&DB and Satyam Computers for the workshop. The principal investigators for the workshop were Dr. Kota Harinarayana, Raja Ramanna Fellow, NAL and Prof. R. John Hansman, Director of the International Centre for Air Transportation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA. Participants included faculty from MIT, Purdue, Carnegie Mellon University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Stevens Institute of Technology,senior scientists and administrators from FAA and NASA and industry experts from P&W, Rollys Royce, Honeywell etc. Indian participants included academics from JNCASR, CSTEP, IISc, IIT Kanpur, IIT Mumbai, IIM Bangalore, CSTEP etc. From the industry, RITES, Honeywell India, Satyam Computers, Mahindra Aerospace, TCS, CRL etc participated. In addition to NAL, R&D institutions like ADA, ADE and operators such as Air Deccan, Air India participated. The Ministry of Civil aviation was represented by Joint Secretary, Mr. Arun Mishra. The goals of the workshop included understanding the socio-economic aspects of regional air transportation, developing a set of requirements for the type regional aircraft and associated ground infrastructure, identification of a set of core and enabling technologies and studies on the infrastructure status and future trends. The workshop commenced with a welcome by Dr. Kota Harinarayana, introduction to the workshop by Prof. John Hansman, remarks by Dr. J.J. Issac of NAL and the role of Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) by Dr. Norman Neuriter of the IUSSTF. In the inaugural talk, Capt Gopinath spoke about how Air Deccan was conceived and how the emphasis was on regional air connectivity. Capt Gopinath believed that the present situation with high fuel costs were in fact an opportunity for developing turbo prop aircraft with systems and products suited to India reducing operational costs. On behalf of NAL Dr. Satish Chandra thanked Capt Gopinath, the US participants, sponsors and others who made this workshop possible. On day one, Session 1 consisted of studies on socio-economic aspects of regional air transportation, competition from other modes of transport like railways,issues of development and economic multiplier effects from air connectivity etc. The demography of India, the large number of airstrips and the need to provide linkages using regional transport aircraft was discussed. Session 2 was about developing a set of requirements for regional air transportation systems. Emphasis was on a systems approach and architectures for regional air transportation including operational concepts towards a conflict free, energy efficient, environmentally friendly air transportation System. The session also included talks on operational issues for regional aircraft, modelling of air traffic networks and maintenance requirements of a New Generation Regional Aircraft. The session culminated with a presentation on the requirements of New Generation Regional Transport Aircraft. On day two, Session 3 and 4 (9th July 2008) involved core and enabling technology. Prof. Hansman commenced the sessions with a talk on operational concepts and technological opportunities for regional air transportation. Prof Raj Reddy described concepts from the automotive sector which had used intelligent systems and its use in air transportation. Prof. Narasimha provided insights into aerodynamic concepts that would be required to enhance the performance of new generation regional transport aircraft. Discussion on fuel issues related to the environment and costs and the need for drag reduction was discussed. In continuation, next generation propulsion systems were described including reduction in fuel burn and noise levels. Again, the workshop saw discussions on systems issues, use of multi-disciplinary optimization (MDO) Approaches and optimization issues. Use of super Hydrophobic Coatings, Integrated Vehicle Health Monitoring, Structural Health Monitoring was emphasized as technologies that would be required for a new generation regional aircraft. On board technologies like WAAS, synthetic and enhanced vision, information fusion were noted as important to achieve efficiencies in operation of regional aircraft apart from the use of low cost composites. A cultural program on 9th July 2008 included demonstration of Bharathanatyam and Yakshagana and provided the participants a glimpse of the Indian cultural diversity. On day 3, (10th July 2008), the session commenced with Mr. Arun Mishra, the Joint Secretary for Civil Aviation (Ministry of Civil Aviation) describing planning for India’s regional air transportation. Dr. Bradford from FAA (USA) provided an overview of the air transportation system modernization in the USA, while Dr. Toner from NASA discussed the role of fundamental R&D in NextGen, a concept of air transportation system for the USA. In continuation, Dr. Sridhar of NASA discussed simulation and optimization methods for regional traffic management. The session concluded with a talk on airport infrastructure networks. A panel discussion chaired by Prof. Arunachalam elicited considerable response. Many participants considered the workshop of high value in terms of the topics covered and the urgent need to develop systems and technologies to ensure that regional air transportation was viable and fulfilled the desire of many communities to be connected. In particular, a number of participants supported the idea of continuation of interaction and collaboration in the area. In Prof. John Hansman’s terms, he said “All of the comments I received were extremely favorable and I think a number of interesting connections have been made. I was particularly pleased that there was real appreciation on the Indian side for the need to look at the systems issues including the operational and infrastructure issues. Several people, after the workshop, commented that this was a significant change in thinking and that the workshop had “opened peoples eyes”. Dr. Upadhya, Director, NAL in conclusion said that the workshop had proved useful to NAL and thanked all the participants from the US, India and the organizers of the workshop. In summary, the workshop provided two major insights : 1) the system’s approach to aviation (air transportation) and its value in adding efficiencies and 2) the need for core and enabling technologies that would be required to develop a next generation regional transport aircraft. There appear possibilities of working jointly on a number of new research areas based on the discussions at the workshop and interactions with the Indo-US S&T Forum. #IP 825 7 - 13 July 2008 One Day Workshop on Aero- dynamics for Regional Transport Aircraft In any aircraft design activity, aerodynamic design is the starting point. The requirements are analyzed and the same is transformed into basic configuration. The first few things that are frozen are the wing area, empty weight, fuel weight etc. A thorough understanding of the requirements always leads to a better design. Towards this, a one day workshop on aerodynamics for Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA) was held at NAL on 19 June 2008. The ambitious RTA project aims to develop high technology low cost regional turbo-prop 70-seat aircraft which should be able to operate from unprepared short runways. These objectives place a stringent requirement on aerodynamic design. It also aims to incorporate laminar flow wing, which, in the presence of propeller wake results in a formidable aerodynamic challenge. A group of experts from around the country took part in this workshop to discuss some of these issues. The response was excellent. In all, about 55 experts attended the meeting. Representatives from IISc, JNCASR, HAL, ADA, IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur, Mahindra-Plexion and Zeus-Numerix were present. Dr A R Upadhya, Director, NAL, welcomed the members and spoke on the plans of NAL to take up this project. Dr Kota Harinaraya spoke on the requirements and his plans to induct new technologies. He said that in view of the rising fuel price, it is now time to look back into the use of turbo-props for larger aircraft like RTA with even up to 100-seat. He also stressed the need on use of Natural Laminar Flow (NLF) wing and a need to reduce drag substantially. Prof. Narasimha gave a number of suggestions on almost every aspect of this aircraft. He said that price of oil, increasing power of computers, environmental concerns like climate change, emissions and noise and globalization are the major factors in design of new aircraft. As regards the rise in oil price, drag reduction becomes four times more attractive. Insofar as globalization is concerned, it is now necessary for foreign collaboration which should enable faster delivery, reduced risk and enhance market reach (branding). He stressed on the need for aerodynamic technology that is simple in terms of first-cost but otherwise sophisticated. The aerodynamic technology must also ensure ease of maintenance. He stressed on the need for integrated aerodynamic approach. He said that NAL should launch a major CFD initiative. Finally, he said that this project has to address environmental concerns including noise and emissions (both national and international standards). Dr Arvamudhan, NAL presented details of various configuration studies carried out so far. He discussed the base line configuration in detail. He said that short take-off and landing were the primary design drivers. The key technologies are NLF, drag reduction using riblets etc. and optimized wing and winglet. Mr Vineeth of C-CADD spoke on the SARAS experience with particular focus on wind tunnel tests, estimates and flight tests. Mr Jayasimha of HAL spoke on their experience at HAL. He had a number of very practical and useful suggestions to make. He said that the design tools included CAD tools and analysis tools included CFD based methods. However, it is important to use simple models while accounting for all the effects. He was of the opinion that quality has to be built into the process. He also said that it is better to use known technology rather than depend on unproven developments. Prof. Sengupta presented on the NLF design aspects. He said that the fuselage accounted for most of the drag and hence the reduction of the same is crucial. As regards the wing, passive devices may help delay transition. NAL team presented results on the high lift device and propeller studies. IISc team also discussed the high lift device analysis. Some discussions were also held on multi-disciplinary optimization. Also, experimental work from EAD was presented. Some aspects of drag reduction were presented. Overall, the workshop provided a good platform for an engaging and exciting discussion on aerodynamic aspects related to aircraft. Experimental, design, computational and flight aspects were covered. Vidyadhar Mudkavi Congratulations
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Mr Benudhar Sahoo, Scientist B, Materials Science Division, NAL has been awarded Ph.D degree in chemistry(materials science) from the Visvesvaraya Technological University(VTU), Belgaum, for the thesis titled “Study on Synthesis of Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) and Lead Magnesium Niobate (PMN) powders and fabrication of sensors and actuators” under the guidance of Dr P K Panda, Sc EII, Materials Science Division
