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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 181 records · Page 10

A Chebyshev spectral collocation method using a staggered grid for the stability of cylindrical flows

A staggered spectral collocation method for the stability of cylindrical flows is developed. In this method the pressure is evaluated at different nodal points than the three velocity components. These modified nodal points do not include the two boundary nodes; therefore the need for the two artificial pressure boundary conditions employed by Khorrami et al. is eliminated. It is shown that the method produces very accurate results and has a better convergence rate than the spectral tau formulation. However, through extensive convergence tests it was found that elimination of the artificial pressure boundary conditions does not result in any significant change in the convergence behavior of spectral collocation methods.

Khorrami, Mehdi R.↗

A simplified method of elastic-stability analysis for thin cylindrical shells I : Donnell's equation

The equation for the equilibrium of cylindrical shells introduced by Donnell in NACA Technical Report no. 479 to find the critical stresses of cylinders in torsion is applied to find critical stresses for cylinders with simply supported edges under other loading conditions. It is shown that by this method solutions may be obtained very easily and the results in each case may be expressed in terms of two nondimensional parameters, one dependent on the critical stress and the other essentially determined by the geometry of the cylinder. The influence of boundary conditions related to edge displacements in the shell median surface is discussed. The accuracy of the solutions found is established by comparing them with previous theoretical solutions and with test results. The solutions to a number of problems concerned with the buckling of cylinders with simply supported edges on the basis of a unified viewpoint are presented in a convenient form for practical use. (author)

Batdorf, S B↗

Matrix methods for determining the longitudinal-stability derivatives of an airplane from transient flight data

Three matrice methods are developed and presented for determining the longitudinal-stability derivatives from transient flight data. In these methods the expressions for some of the stability derivatives are in the form generally used in stability calculations. The first method requires the combination of four measurements in time-history form, two of which must be incremental elevator deflection and incremental tail load and the other two measurements can be chosen from a possible three, namely incremental load factor, pitching velocity, and angle of attack. The method demonstrates the use of the tail load to separate the pitching-moment derivatives and to determine the downwash derivative. (author)

Donegan, James J↗

A pseudospectral Legendre method for hyperbolic equations with an improved stability condition

A new pseudospectral method is introduced for solving hyperbolic partial differential equations. This method uses different grid points than previously used pseudospectral methods: in fact the grid are related to the zeroes of the Legendre polynomials. The main advantage of this method is that the allowable time step is proportional to the inverse of the number of grid points 1/N rather than to 1/n(2) (as in the case of other pseudospectral methods applied to mixed initial boundary value problems). A highly accurate time discretization suitable for these spectral methods is discussed.

Tal-Ezer, H.↗

A pseudospectral Legendre method for hyperbolic equations with an improved stability condition

A new pseudospectral method is introduced for solving hyperbolic partial differential equations. This method uses different grid points than previously used pseudospectral methods: in fact the grid points are related to the zeroes of the Legendre polynomials. The main advantage of this method is that the allowable time step is proportional to the inverse of the number of grid points 1/N rather than to 1/n(2) (as in the case of other pseudospectral methods applied to mixed initial boundary value problems). A highly accurate time discretization suitable for these spectral methods is discussed.

Tal-Ezer, Hillel↗

Langley Stability and Transition Analysis Code (LASTRAC) Version 1.2 User Manual

LASTRAC is a general-purposed, physics-based transition prediction code released by NASA for Laminar Flow Control studies and transition research. The design and development of the LASTRAC code is aimed at providing an engineering tool that is easy to use and yet capable of dealing with a broad range of transition related issues. It was written from scratch based on the state-of-the-art numerical methods for stability analysis and modern software technologies. At low fidelity, it allows users to perform linear stability analysis and N-factor transition correlation for a broad range of flow regimes and configurations by using either the linear stability theory or linear parabolized stability equations method. At high fidelity, users may use nonlinear PSE to track finite-amplitude disturbances until the skin friction rise. This document describes the governing equations, numerical methods, code development, detailed description of input/output parameters, and case studies for the current release of LASTRAC.

Chang, Chau-Lyan↗

A parametric study of planform and aeroelastic effects on aerodynamic center, alpha- and q- stability derivatures. Appendix B: Method for computing the strucutral influence coefficient matrix of nonplanar wing body tail configurations

The method used in computing the structural influence coefficient matrix of the computer program of Reference 1 (appendix A of the Summary Report) is reported. This matrix is computed for complete wing-body-tail configurations by assuming that all major airplane components can be structurally represented by a slender beam called the elastic axis. A structural influence coefficient is defined as the rotation about the Y-stability axis at panel j induced by a unit load on panel k. A description of how a structural breakdown is performed in detail is included.

Roskam, J.↗

Stability of stationary barotropic modons by Lyapunov's direct method

A new Liapunov stability condition is formulated for the shallow-water equations, using a gage-variable formalism. This sufficient condition is derived for the class of perturbations that conserve the total mass. It is weaker than existing stability criteria, i.e., it applies to a wider class of flows. Formal stability to infinitesimally small perturbations of arbitrary shape is obtained for two classes of large-scale geophysical flows: pseudo-eastward flow with constant shear, and localized coherent structures of modon type.

Sakuma, H.↗

Robust, Practical Adaptive Control for Launch Vehicles

A modern mechanization of a classical adaptive control concept is presented with an application to launch vehicle attitude control systems. Due to a rigorous flight certification environment, many adaptive control concepts are infeasible when applied to high-risk aerospace systems; methods of stability analysis are either intractable for high complexity models or cannot be reconciled in light of classical requirements. Furthermore, many adaptive techniques appearing in the literature are not suitable for application to conditionally stable systems with complex flexible-body dynamics, as is often the case with launch vehicles. The present technique is a multiplicative forward loop gain adaptive law similar to that used for the NASA X-15 flight research vehicle. In digital implementation with several novel features, it is well-suited to application on aerodynamically unstable launch vehicles with thrust vector control via augmentation of the baseline attitude/attitude-rate feedback control scheme. The approach is compatible with standard design features of autopilots for launch vehicles, including phase stabilization of lateral bending and slosh via linear filters. In addition, the method of assessing flight control stability via classical gain and phase margins is not affected under reasonable assumptions. The algorithm s ability to recover from certain unstable operating regimes can in fact be understood in terms of frequency-domain criteria. Finally, simulation results are presented that confirm the ability of the algorithm to improve performance and robustness in realistic failure scenarios.

Orr, Jeb. S.↗

Frequency-response method for determination of dynamic stability characteristics of airplanes with automatic controls

A frequency-response method for determining the critical control-gearing and hunting oscillations of airplanes with automatic pilots is presented. The method is graphical and has several advantages over the standard numerical procedure based on Routh's discriminant. The chief advantage of the method is that direct use can be made of the measured response characteristics of the automatic pilot. This feature is especially useful in determining the existence, amplitude, and frequency of the hunting oscillations that may be present when the automatic pilot has nonlinear dynamic characteristics. Several examples are worked out to illustrate the application of the frequency-response method in determining the effect of automatic-pilot lag or lead on critical control gearing and in determining the amplitude and frequency hunting. It is shown that the method may be applied to the case of a control geared to airplane motions about two axes.

Greenberg, Harry↗

On the validity of the modified equation approach to the stability analysis of finite-difference methods

The validity of the modified equation stability analysis introduced by Warming and Hyett was investigated. It is shown that the procedure used in the derivation of the modified equation is flawed and generally leads to invalid results. Moreover, the interpretation of the modified equation as the exact partial differential equation solved by a finite-difference method generally cannot be justified even if spatial periodicity is assumed. For a two-level scheme, due to a series of mathematical quirks, the connection between the modified equation approach and the von Neuman method established by Warming and Hyett turns out to be correct despite its questionable original derivation. However, this connection is only partially valid for a scheme involving more than two time levels. In the von Neumann analysis, the complex error multiplication factor associated with a wave number generally has (L-1) roots for an L-level scheme. It is shown that the modified equation provides information about only one of these roots.

Chang, Sin-Chung↗

A parametric study of planform and aeroelastic effects on aerodynamic center, alpha- and q- stability derivatives. Appendix C: Method for computing the aerodynamic influence coefficient matrix of nonplanar wing-body-tail configurations

Expressions are derived for computing the aerodynamic influence coefficient matrix for nonplanar wing-body-tail configurations. An aerodynamic influence coefficient is defined as the load in lbs. induced on a panel as a result of a unit angle of attack on another panel. Fuselage, wing and tail thickness are assumed to be small with the result that the thickness effect on the flow-field is negligible. The method for determining the aerodynamic influence coefficient matrix is based on the lifting solution to the small perturbation, steady potential flow equation.

Roskam, J.↗