Starting in April 2001, SILENCE(R) cost €111 million ($151 million), with 50% of the funding provided by the European Commission and the rest by industry. Originally a 48-month project, it was extended to six years and ultimately involved 51 European companies, universities and research institutes. Its goal was to demonstrate technologies to reduce jet-engine noise while controlling cost, weight and performance.
The partners included Snecma, the project's co-ordinator, as well as engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce, airframer Airbus, the UK's Qinetiq and the Dutch, French and German aerospace research agencies, as well as Trinity College Dublin, Alenia, Dassault, Dornier, Messier-Dowty, Turbomeca and Vibratec.
SILENCE(R) was a EU Fifth Framework "integrated platform" research programme. Its objectives were the validation of individual technologies, the identification of the applicability of those technologies over the product range and a cost-benefit analysis of their use.
Several previous EU-funded research projects fed into SILENCE(R). These included: RESOUND - reduction of engine source noise through understanding and novel design RANNTAC - reduction of aircraft noise by nacelle treatment and active control, which studied turbomachinery noise and RAIN, which was an investigation into airframe-related noise.
Source: Flight International
