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The development of the longitudinal restraint mechanism for the PATRIOT missile system is reviewed. Two approaches for the restraint pin design are discussed: an initial ordnance mechanism, and a passive fly-away mechanism. Because of reliability problems and a desire to reduce cost the fly-away restraint mechanism was chosen.
The design development of the Sprint 2 and the Improved Sprint 2 Missile System umbilical system is reviewed. Unique system requirements, umbilical designs considered to meet the requirements, and the problems encountered and solutions derived during the design and development testing of the selected systems are described.
Four blunted ogive-cylinder missile models with a length-to-diameter ratio of 10.4 were tested at transonic speeds and large angles of attack. The configurations are: body, body with tail panels, body with canards, and body with canards and tails. Forces and moments from the entire model and each of the eight fins were measured over the pitch range of 20 deg to 50 deg and 0 deg to 45 deg roll. Canard deflection angles between 0 deg and 15 deg were tested. Exploratory vapor screen flow visualization testing was also performed. Sample force and moment data are reported along with observations from the vapor screen tests.
Vortex sheet development in the flow field of a missile was investigated by approximating the sheets in the cross-flow plane with short straight-line segments having distributed vorticity. In contrast with the method that represents the sheets as lines of discrete vortices, this distributed vortex method produced calculations with a high degree of computational stability.
A wind tunnel investigation was made at free stream Mach numbers from 1.70 to 2.86 to determine the effects of fixed and free rolling tail fin afterbodies on the static longitudinal and lateral aerodynamic characteristics of a cruciform canard controlled missile model. The effect of small canard roll and yaw control deflections was also examined. The results indicate that the fixed and free rolling tail configurations have about the same lift curve slope and longitudinal stability level at low angles of attack. For the free rolling tail configuration, the canards provide conventional roll control with no roll control reversal at low angles of attack. The free rolling tail configuration reduced induced roll due to model roll angle and canard yaw control.
Blunted ogive cylinder missile models with a length-to-diameter ratio of 10.4 were tested at transonic speeds and large angles of attack in an 11 foot transonic wind tunnel. The configurations are: body, body with tail panels, body with canards, and body with canards and tails. Forces and moments from the entire model and each of the eight fins were measured over the pitch range of 20 deg to 50 deg, and roll angles of 0 deg to 45 deg and canard deflection angles between 0 deg and 15 deg. The Reynolds number ranged from 3.9 x 10 to the 6th power per meter. Large side forces and yawing moments were observed for some of the test cases involving a symmetric geometry.
An investigation was conducted of a monoplanar maneuverable missile concept having a nose forebody with a circular cross section and a centerbody and afterbody with elliptical cross sections. The tests involved several component changes and were conducted in the low Mach number test section of the Langley Unitary Plan wind tunnel at Mach numbers of 1.60, 2.16, and 2.86, at angles of attack ranging from -4 degs to 28 degs and at sideslip angles ranging from -4 degs to 8 degs. The most significant result was that at the highest Mach number (2.86), the configuration with the infrared nose produced nearly twice the axial force as the same configuration with the radar nose. The cranked wing had a destabilizing effect on the longitudinal stability and had no effect on the lateral-directional stability. The nose strakes had no effect longitudinally and were detrimental to the lateral-directional stability.
A parametric experimental wind-tunnel investigation was made at supersonic Mach numbers to provide design data on a ram-air-spoiler roll-control device that is to be used on forward-control cruciform missile configurations. The results indicate that the ram-air-spoiler tail fin is an effective roll-control device and that roll control is generally constant with vehicle attitude and Mach number unless direct canard and/or forebody shock impingement occurs. The addition of the ram-air-spoiler tail fins resulted in only small changes in aerodynamic-center location. For the ram-air-spoiler configuration tested, there are large axial force coefficient effects associated with the increased fin thickness and ram-air momentum loss.
The design development was traced for the sprint 2 and improved sprint 2 missile system (ISMS) umbilical system. The unique system requirements, umbilical designs considered to meet the requirements, and the problems encountered and solutions derived during the design, and development testing of the selected systems are described. The sprint 2 development effort consisted of design, analysis, and testing activities. The ISMS effort involved the performance of an extensive trade study to determine the optimum design to meet the ISMS conditions.
An approach developed to improve the ground instrumentation time tagging accuracy and adapted to support the Minuteman ICBM program is desired. The Timing Insertion Unit (TIU) technique produces a telemetry data time tagging resolution of one tenth of a microsecond, with a relative intersite accuracy after corrections and velocity data (range, azimuth, elevation and range rate) also used in missile guidance system analysis can be correlated to within ten microseconds of the telemetry guidance data. This requires precise timing synchronization between the metric and telemetry instrumentation sites. The timing synchronization can be achieved by using the radar automatic phasing system time correlation methods. Other time correlation techniques such as Television (TV) Line-10 and the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GEOS) terrestial timing receivers are also considered.
The results of pressure distribution tests conducted in the Langley Unitary Plan wind tunnel are presented. The data were obtained for three sets of cruciform aft-tail control surfaces on a wingless missile model at Mach numbers of 1.60, 2.36, and 3.70 for angles of attack from -4 degrees to 20 degrees, model roll angles from 0 degrees to 90 degrees, and tail deflections of 0 degrees and 15 degrees. The test Reynolds number used was 6.6 million per meter.
Pressure coefficients were obtained in the Langley Unitary Plan wind tunnel for a wingless missile with a clipped delta tail. The angle of attack was varied from -4 deg to 20 deg, model roll angle was varied from 0 deg to 90 deg in 22.5 deg increments, and tail deflections were 0 deg to - 15 deg. The pressures were measured on two adjacent tail surfaces using 91 pressure orifices per tail surface. Results are presented in plotted and tabular form.
Three missile body shapes tested at Mach numbers of 1.50, 2.16, and 2.86 with angles of attack up to 30 degrees are described. The flow characteristics for each body shape are examined. The measured aerodynamic forces and moments are presented. The use of flow visualization techniques are described and the results such as vortex effects are discussed.
A three dimensional model for the steady flow past missile and aircraft nose shaped bodies is presented based on augmenting a potential solution with a wake composed of vortex filaments. The vortex positions are determined by the requirement that they, in some sense, align with the flow. The aerodynamic loads on the body are compared with experimental values and used to evaluate the model. The vortex positions compare well with flow visualization results for slender bodies at high angles of attack. The approximations in the wake near the body cause peaks in the force distributions more severe than in the measured values. For given vortex strengths and body attachment points multiple steady vortex positions were not found.
A compilation of reference material is presented on the Langley Research Center's efforts in developing advanced military aircraft and missile technology over the past twenty years. Reference material includes research made in aerodynamics, performance, stability, control, stall-spin, propulsion integration, flutter, materials, and structures.
An investigation was made of the forces and moments on the cruciform aft-tail control surfaces of a wingless missile model to determine the variation of panel load and center of pressure with angle of attack, tail deflection, model roll angle, and Mach number. Also, a limited force-moment and surface-pressure investigation was made on a noncircular aft end. These investigations were made in a unitary plan wind tunnel at Mach numbers of 1.60, 2.36, and 3.70 and at a Reynolds number per meter of 6,600,000. The cruciform aft-tail results indicate very little variation in the center of pressure for the highly loaded windward tail. The noncircular aft-end test results indicate no significant effect of the fin unporting on the fin loads.
Friction measurement results obtained on the gypsum surface runways at Northrup Strip, White Sands Missile Range, N. M., using an instrumented tire test vehicle and a diagonal braked vehicle, are presented. These runways were prepared to serve as backup landing and retrieval sites to the primary sites located at Dryden Flight Research Center for shuttle orbiter during initial test flights. Similar friction data obtained on paved and other unpaved surfaces was shown for comparison and to indicate that the friction capability measured on the dry gypsum surface runways is sufficient for operations with the shuttle orbiter and the Boeing 747 aircraft. Based on these ground vehicle friction measurements, estimates of shuttle orbiter and aircraft tire friction performance are presented and discussed. General observations concerning the gypsum surface characteristics are also included and several recommendations are made for improving and maintaining adequate surface friction capabilities prior to the first shuttle orbiter landing.
Four conceptual hypersonic missile configurations were examined experimentally and theoretically. Two of the concepts employed twin module bottom-mounted engines and two were designed for upper surface inlets or engines with the intent of reducing the vehicle observables. The tests were conducted at Mach 6 and Reynolds numbers of 6 to 7.5 x 10 to the 6th per foot. Flow field surveys in the vicinity of the engine inlet were made on all configurations and force and moment tests were conducted on three of the vehicles. Stability and control characteristics of the bottom-mounted engine configurations which incorporated slender, low wings were dominated by strong vortices that promoted severe pitchup tendencies. The shock layer and flow quality in the vicinity of the bottom-mounted engine inlets were dependent on nose shape. The spatula-like upper surface engine concept demonstrated good performance and had uniform flow entering the engine inlet, while the upper surface inlet concept with a highly swept forebody incurred large gradients due to interactions with leading edge shocks.