A statistical analysis of the roll rate of a launch vehicle under the influence of random fin misalinements
Launch vehicle under influence of random fin misalignments, predicting roll rate by statistical analysis
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Launch vehicle under influence of random fin misalignments, predicting roll rate by statistical analysis
Misalignment estimation software system /MESS/ for in-flight celestial and inertial reference attitude sensor alignment and calibration on OAO
A high speed rotor, supported by gas-lubricated foil bearings, is free from self-excited whirl and displays no loss of load capacity when vibrated at frequency equal to the rotational speed. It is demonstrated that in addition to tolerance of geometrical imperfections, misalignment and foreign particles, the foil bearing performs well at elevated temperatures and accommodates appreciable temperature gradients. The foil bearing is endowed with superior wipe-wear characteristics and the flexibility of the foil accounts not only for the stability of the foil bearing, but also for its accommodation of, and compensation for, distortion, contamination, and contact.
An angular momentum desaturation method for momentum exchange devices of orbiting spacecraft is described. The specific application of the method is to the Skylab which contains three double-gimbaled control moment gyros for precise attitude control and maneuvering. It is assumed that the attitude reference is inertially fixed and that two of the vehicle principal moments of inertia are much larger than the third. Gravity gradient torques and resultant angular momentum accumulation are developed for small deviations from the reference. The assumed moment-of-inertia distribution allows desaturation about all axes with only two attitude angles each for the two axes with large moments of inertia. The necessary desaturation maneuvers can be decoupled for a special set of orbital coordinates. All maneuvers are made during the night portion of the orbit, and the percentage utilized for desaturation is selectable. Expressions for the attitude angle commands are developed assuming infinite vehicle rates. The effect of finite rates introduces an efficiency into the desaturation. Expressions for this efficiency are developed and means for compensation are treated. Arbitrary misalignments between geometric vehicle axes and principal moment-of-inertia axes are permissible. An angle bias about the sun line minimizes the angular momentum accumulation about the sun line projection into the orbital plane. Adaptive desaturation maneuver limiting consistent with the available maneuver momentum is included.
Practical problems applicable to the selection, design, and lubrication of rolling-element bearings are presented and discussed. Design and selection criteria are based upon materials and processing factors such as melting practice, metalworking, and heat treatment. Environmental factors are considered such as bearing misalignment and speed. Selection of a lubricant is based upon elastohydrodynamic lubrication principles in addition to lubricant type and chemistry.
An analytical investigation is presented of the effect of unmodeled measurement system errors on the accuracy of aircraft stability and control derivatives identified from flight test data. Such error sources include biases, scale factor errors, instrument position errors, misalignments, and instrument dynamics. Two techniques (ensemble analysis and simulated data analysis) are formulated to determine the quantitative variations to the identified parameters resulting from the unmodeled instrumentation errors. The parameter accuracy that would result from flight tests of the F-4C aircraft with typical quality instrumentation is determined using these techniques. It is shown that unmodeled instrument errors can greatly increase the uncertainty in the value of the identified parameters. General recommendations are made of procedures to be followed to insure that the measurement system associated with identifying stability and control derivatives from flight test provides sufficient accuracy.
The classical treatment of circular, hydrostatic, orifice-regulated thrust gas bearings, in which perfectly plane bearing plates are assumed, is extended to include axisymmetric, but otherwise arbitrary, plate profiles. Plate curvature has a strong influence on bearing load capability, static stiffness, tilting stiffness, and side force per unit misalignment angle. By a suitable combination of gas inlet impedance and concave plate profile, the static stiffness can be made almost constant over a wide load range, and to remain positive at the closure load. Extensive measurements performed with convex and concave plates agree with theory to within the experimental error throughout and demonstrate the practical feasibility of using curved plates.
Practical problems applicable to the selection, design, and lubrication of rolling-element bearings are presented and discussed. The solutions to these problems are based upon the new ASME Engineering Design Guide - Life Adjustment Factors for Ball and Roller Bearings. Design and selection criteria are based upon materials and processing factors such as melting practice, metalworking, and heat treatment. Environmental factors considered include bearing misalignment and speed. Selection of a lubricant is based upon elastohydrodynamic lubrication principles in addition to lubricant type and chemistry.
An analysis is presented which deals with the effects of polarization mismatch errors on the accuracy of a phase interferometer used for position location of unknown emitters relative to known calibration emitters. Closed-form expressions for the induced phase difference between interferometer antennas are derived for several combinations of receiving and transmitting antenna polarizations. Errors contributed by mechanical misalignment between antennas, as well as effects of power loss attributable to polarization mismatch, are also considered. The analysis leads to the conclusion that circularly polarized interferometer and transmitter antennas are best suited for the position location application, if it is assumed that polarization tracking of the interferometer antennas is not available. It is shown that a reasonable amount of ellipticity can be tolerated before the phase error becomes significant.
In case two control moment gyros fail, attitude control of Skylab can be maintained with the thruster attitude control system. This results, however, in a severely increased fuel consumption, depleting the fuel in a few days. Therefore, an alternate concept was developed which does not have large fuel consumption under any circumstances. In this concept the attitude reference is commanded to oscillate in the orbital plane with twice the orbital frequency and the remaining control moment gyro controls about orbital north and about the minimum moment-of-inertia axis, while the thruster attitude control system controls rate only about the remaining axis. This rate control in conjunction with the restoring torque due to the gravity gradient will keep bounded the excursion of the minimum moment-of-inertia axis out of the orbital plane. This alternate concept has the additional advantage that it needs no information on the principal moment-of-inertia axes misalignment and is completely insensitive to star tracker failure. Proper phasing of the attitude reference oscillation even allows angular momentum desaturation, which is responsible for the insensitivity of the thruster fuel consumption to unknown disturbances, like vent torques and magnetic torques.
A critical appraisal is made of the design, research, development, and operation of the novel UTIAS implosion-driven hypervelocity launchers and shock tubes. Explosively driven (PbN6-lead azide, PETN-pentaerythritetetranitrate) implosions in detonating stoichiometric hydrogen-oxygen mixtures have been successfully developed as drivers for hypervelocity launchers and shock tubes in a safe and reusable facility. Intense loadings at very high calculated pressures, densities, and temperatures, at the implosion center, cause severe problems with projectile integrity. Misalignment of the focal point can occur and add to the difficulty in using small caliber projectiles. In addition, the extreme driving conditions cause barrel expansion, erosion, and possible gas leakage from the base to the head of the projectile which cut the predicted muzzle velocities to half or a third of the lossless calculated values. However, in the case of a shock-tube operation these difficulties are minimized or eliminated and the possibilities of approaching Jovian reentry velocities are encouraging.
The basic aspect of parallel-surface lubrication that distinguishes it from other areas of lubrication technology is that classical lubrication theory does not predict the existence of a stable hydrodynamic film for steady-state, isothermal, incompressible flow between smooth, parallel surfaces. Hydrodynamic films between apparently parallel surfaces have been observed in practice and are often essential for the reliable performance of thrust bearings and seals. In order to account for this fortunate discrepancy between classical theory and experiment, load-support mechanisms relating to accidential features characteristic of seal performance, which relax one or more of the assumptions in the classical theory and permit the theoretical prediction of load support are proposed. Some of the features that have been analyzed are vibratory effects such as wobble and bounce, surface waviness, nonsymmetric rotation resulting from various types of misalignment, lubricant density change, non-Newtonian lubricant effects, and surface roughness.
Problems in measurement of irregularities in angular velocity of rotating assemblies in memory devices with rigid and flexible magnetic data carriers are discussed. A device and method for determination of change in angular velocities in various frequency and rotation rate ranges are examined. A schematic diagram of a photoelectric sensor for recording the signal pulses is provided. Mathematical models are developed to show the amount of error which can result from misalignment of the test equipment.
The selection of a trim solution that provides the space shuttle with the highest level of performance and dynamic control in the presense of wind disturbances and bias torques due to misalignment of rocket engines is described. It was determined that engine gimballing is insufficient to provide control to trim the vehicle for headwind and sidewind disturbances, and that it is necessary to use aerodynamic surfaces in conjunction with engine gimballing to achieve trim. The algebraic equations for computing the trim solution were derived from the differential equations describing the motion of the vehicle by substituting the desired trim conditions. The general problem of showing how the trim equations are derived from the equations of motion and the mathematical forms of the performance criterion is discussed in detail, along with the general equations for studying the dynamic response of the trim solution.
Program status is reviewed for development of an 8-cm structurally integrated ion thruster for application to attitude control and stationkeeping of synchronous satellites. The system is designed to achieve a thrust level of 1 and 2 mlb at a beam voltage of 1200 V, a propellant-utilization efficiency of 85%, and electrical efficiency of 75%. Thrust vectoring will be implemented by a dished-gird roll misalignment system. Design features are incorporated which ensure thruster life of 20,000 hours, with 10,000 thruster-start cycles and 100,000 beam-deflection cycles.
The design and construction is described of a package of X-ray telescopes launched in the NASA satellite Copernicus (OAO-3), which began stellar observations in September 1972. It contains three grazing incidence reflectors covering a range of wavelengths from 0.3 to 8 nm, and having a combined collecting area of 40.9 sq cm, with angular resolutions up to 1 minute of arc. This is believed to be the first satellite application of such reflectors in stellar X-ray astronomy. A collimated detector of wavelengths 0.1-0.3 nm has a 17.8 sq cm collecting area. A visible light star tracker detects package misalignment if this should occur.
The SAS-C spacecraft is stabilized by a momentum biased reaction wheel and passive nutation damper. A closed-loop low-speed spacecraft spin rate control system is included which uses a single-axis gyro and a variable speed range on the reaction wheel. Dynamic instability can result from interactions among the gyro, damper, and spacecraft dynamic unbalance. This instability may be aggravated by gyro angular misalignment, gyro error signals, and spacecraft nutations. Analytic eigenvector, and digital computer analyses of the coupled systems are presented. Mechanisms for instability are described as well as the effects that gyro error signal, tilt, and spacecraft dynamic unbalance produce on control system performance.
A wind tunnel force and moment test of the space shuttle launch vehicle was conducted. The wind tunnel model utilized a triple balance such that component aerodynamics of the orbiter, external tank, and solid rocket booster was obtained. The test was conducted at an angle of attack range from -10 deg to 10 deg, and angle of sideslip range from -10 deg to 10 deg, and a Mach number range from 0.6 to 4.96. Simulation parameters to be used in future launch vehicle wind tunnel tests were investigated. The following were included: (1) effect of orbiter -ET attach hardware; (2) model attachment (spacer) effects; (3) effects of grit on model leading surfaces; and (4) model misalignment effects. The effects of external tank nose shape was studied by investigating five different nose configurations. Plotted and tabulated data is reported.