Hypersonic Turbulence Models Research | USAFA BAA 2015 CALL 0005

Opportunity Information: Apply for USAFA BAA 2015 CALL 0005

The Hypersonic Turbulence Models Research opportunity (USAFA BAA 2015 CALL 0005) is a Department of Defense effort run through the U.S. Air Force Academy to solicit unclassified research white papers, with full proposals invited later if requested. Submissions are expected to avoid proprietary content; if an applicant does include proprietary material, the burden is on the submitter to clearly mark those sections according to the instructions in USAFA-BAA-2015 Amendment 0003. The call is positioned as a research and development grant/cooperative agreement/contract pathway, meaning the government is open to funding work under multiple instrument types depending on the project and negotiations.

At its core, the call sits under the Hypersonic Vehicle Simulation Institute (HVSI), which supports the DoD High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP). The main motivation is to significantly improve the realism, reliability, and usefulness of computational simulations for hypersonic vehicles. HPCMP is focused on accelerating progress in both high-performance computing software and hardware so the DoD can model hypersonic systems more effectively during research, design, and acquisition. In practical terms, the government is looking for work that helps move hypersonic simulation beyond isolated research codes and toward robust, production-quality capabilities that can be used by government teams and their academic and industry partners.

The scope is broad but clearly centered on computational simulation advances for hypersonic flight. The opportunity highlights improvements to numerical methods, physics and engineering models, and end-to-end simulation approaches that capture key aerothermodynamic and propulsion phenomena. While the title emphasizes turbulence models, the listed technical areas show that the government is interested in coupled, high-fidelity modeling across the hypersonic environment, including turbulence, boundary layer transition, fluid-structure-thermal interactions (where aerodynamic loads, structural response, and heating affect each other), non-equilibrium chemistry (important at high temperatures where air can dissociate and ionize), material ablation (heat shield or surface recession and its effects), and combustion (relevant to air-breathing hypersonic propulsion). Projects that connect these physics to better predictive simulation tools and workflows align with the call’s intent.

HVSI’s stated objectives provide a good sense of what a strong research concept would aim to deliver. Beyond generating new science, the program wants to (1) help develop and document a national vision for hypersonic vehicle simulation, (2) co-fund work that fills gaps not currently covered by DoD, DOE, NASA, or industry efforts but is still critical to DoD hypersonic simulation goals, (3) transition research results into production-quality simulation software that can be broadly used by government, academia, and industry acquisition partners, (4) establish or contribute to a national repository of verification and validation (V&V) data for hypersonic simulations, and (5) provide computational resources that enable a measurable leap forward in simulation capability. That emphasis on transition, V&V, and measurable capability improvements indicates the program is not only looking for theory, but also for work that can be tested, validated, shared, and integrated into usable tools.

Administratively, the opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding under Science and Technology and other R&D (CFDA 12.800) and is open to essentially any applicant type, subject to any additional eligibility clarifications in the full announcement. The posting lists an award ceiling of $2.4 million, with an expectation of about five awards. White papers were due by 4:30 PM Mountain Time on October 15, 2018, reflecting an initial down-select approach where concise white papers are evaluated first, and full proposals may follow by invitation. Overall, this call is best read as an applied computational hypersonics program: it wants advances in turbulence and related high-speed flow physics, but it especially values work that improves predictive simulation credibility, leverages high-performance computing, and transitions into shared, production-ready tools and datasets for the broader defense hypersonics community.

• The Department of Defense, Air Force Academy in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Hypersonic Turbulence Models Research" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.800.
• This funding opportunity was created on Sep 13, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 15, 2018 White papers due by 1630 Mountain time. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2,400,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 5 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for USAFA BAA 2015 CALL 0005

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