Story ID: 368 SAE
SAE Tackles Supersonic Flight Standards
By: James Wynbrandt
Caption: Engineering org also highlights initiatives on electric aircraft, additive manufacturing and digital data
Word Count: 630
If it’s cutting-edge technology, the place the world has gone for technical expertise for more than a century is SAE International, and at Farnborough International Airshow 2018 the association is highlighting its current initiatives in supersonic flight, electric aircraft, additive manufacturing, and digital data, among other efforts.

A consensus-based engineering organization with more than 128,000 members around the globe, SAE (Hall 3, Stand 3766) sets technical standards for the aerospace and other industries, and has a full program, key personnel, and array of information on hand at the show.

Recent supersonic business jet development activity and U.S. efforts to create a regulatory framework for civil supersonic flight have helped make faster-than-sound travel “a key focus area for the near future,” said David Alexander, director SAE Aerospace Standards. “We’re now starting to get the industry around the table” to discuss standardization needs relating to the current major barrier to supersonic flight: “Noise levels over populated areas,” Alexander said. Noise issues also impact the nascent commercial drone and urban aerial mobility industries, and SAE is developing recommendations for noise from all these sources, not noise limit standards themselves, but “standards for the measurement and modeling of noise,” Alexander said. Such data collection and analysis has previously been limited to airport environments, helicopters, and airplanes in flight he said, and the associated research will open more varied locations to study.

Additive manufacturing is another hotbed of next-generation industrial development SAE is supporting. Its Aerospace Material Specification subcommittee on Additive Manufacturing (AMS AM), established in 2015, was formed partly in response to a request from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration for industry standards the agency could use in certifying these “very novel materials” in aerospace applications.

The subcommittee has released its first suite of specifications—four in all—covering two materials: an aluminum alloy and additive titanium, setting the approach SAE will use in standardizing such materials for aerospace applications. Each will have one spec for the production of the feedstock (in these cases aluminum powder and titanium coil) and one spec for the production process in which the feedstock becomes a part.

The International Air Transport Association’s engineering and maintenance group recently asked SAE to create a new subcommittee for standardizing polymers’ AM use, such as for cabin parts.

With interest in electrical motors for aircraft continuing to expand, a new standards committee, AE-9, convened in March, is investigating standards for materials that may find application in these powerplants. The new committee “bolsters the SAE standards advancing more-electric aircraft and hybrid-electric propulsion, adding an important new technical constituency in electrical materials—including those at the nano level—to the global SAE aerospace community,” Alexander said. He cited graphene, a lightweight, super-strong nanomaterial, as among those the committee will examine. Chaired by Rolls-Royce, the new subcommittee held its first meeting last month.

A new steering group on digital data represents another fledgling SAE initiative. “The rationale is, with the ever growing digital technologies and the explosive amount of data,” that issues relating to “its landscape for use” may be necessary and beneficial. Stakeholders include EASA, the FAA and other regulatory agencies, and airframe and major component manufacturers. Honeywell has been named the current chair, with SAP filling the vice chair slot.

SAE is hosting a flight line reception at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust (FAST) Museum, the historic facility located within walking distance of the show site, on July 17, from noon to 7 p.m. SAE officers and staff members will meet and greet guests and are available to answer questions about the organization and its work. A buffet lunch and opportunity to watch the airshow from the vantage point of its hillside location are also offered.