Researchers to build, test parts in new lab
- Photos: Take a tour of the facility
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Brian Smyers, one of the Air Force Research Laboratory project engineers, discusses the difference equipment on Tuesday Nov. 11, at a new testing lab called Facility for Innovative Research in Structures Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — The Air Force Research Laboratory has a new facility for testing structures that could be part of the aircraft and spacecraft of decades to come.
The Facility for Innovative Research in Structures Technology (FIRST) gives engineers a place to build, test and break parts and materials that may or may not become ingredients of future space vehicles or manned and unmanned aircraft.
"They dream it up in their labs, have it fabricated and then bring it in here," Maj. Brian Burns, deputy director of the structures division within the AFRL's Air Vehicles Directorate, said Tuesday, Nov. 18.
He is overseeing the facility, a 10,000-square-foot space built into the corner of Building 65, a five-story-tall, 1944 building that has been used since World War II to test the strength and durability of airplane bodies and parts.
Decades ago, engineers physically loaded weight onto airplane wings or other structures to determine what stress the parts could ensure before breaking. Now, computers run tests that subject parts and materials to extreme stresses to help researchers decide whether they are suitable for future air or space vehicles.
Concept parts tested in the FIRST facility may not appear in flying vehicles for years, or ever be used if they fail the tests, said Brian Smyers, one of the AFRL project engineers who has worked since 2005 with the 88th Air Base Wing's civil engineering unit at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to make the facility a reality. The facility allows its researchers to do all the building and testing of concept parts on site, Smyers said.
The facility is to have approximately a dozen personnel dedicated to it, including military, civilian and contractor staff. They are to be supplemented by researchers from the University of Dayton, Wright State University and other universities nationwide who bring concepts chosen for testing.
FIRST facility
Cost: $3 million.
Construction: Begun in 2007, completed in September.
Prime contractor: Rhecors General Contractors, Fairborn.
Startup: Some experiments have begun; full operation expected to start in January.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
