SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Chain rigidity”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 37 records · Page 2

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2001

SRS Computer Animation and Drive Train System

The spinning rocket simulator (SRS) is an ongoing project at Oral Roberts University. The goal of the SRS is to gather crucial data concerning a spinning rocket under thrust for the purpose of analysis and correction of the coning motion experienced by this type of spacecraft maneuver. The computer animation simulates a virtual, scale model of the component of the SRS that represents the spacecraft itself. This component is known as the (VSM), or virtual spacecraft model. During actual physical simulation, this component of the SRS will experience a coning. The goal of the animation is to cone the VSM within that range to accurately represent the motion of the actual simulator. The drive system of the SRS is the apparatus that turns the actual simulator. It consists of a drive motor, motor mount and chain to power the simulator into motion. The motor mount is adjustable and rigid for high torque application. A digital stepper motor controller actuates the main drive motor for linear acceleration. The chain transfers power from the motor to the simulator via sprockets on both ends.

Arthun, Daniel↗

NASA NTRS1974

On the dynamics of chain systems

A computer-oriented method for obtaining dynamical equations of motion for chain systems is presented. A chain system is defined as an arbitrarily assembled set of rigid bodies such that adjoining bodies have at least one common point and such that closed loops are not formed. The equations of motion are developed through the use of Lagrange's form of d'Alembert's principle. The method and procedure is illustrated with an elementary study of a tripod space manipulator. The method is designed for application with systems such as human body models, chains and cables, and dynamic finite-segment models.

Huston, R. L.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Linked-List-Based Multibody Dynamics (MBDyn) Engine

This new release of MBDyn is a software engine that calculates the dynamics states of kinematic, rigid, or flexible multibody systems. An MBDyn multibody system may consist of multiple groups of articulated chains, trees, or closed-loop topologies. Transient topologies are handled through conservation of energy and momentum. The solution for rigid-body systems is exact, and several configurable levels of nonlinear term fidelity are available for flexible dynamics systems. The algorithms have been optimized for efficiency and can be used for both non-real-time (NRT) and real-time (RT) simulations. Interfaces are currently compatible with NASA's Trick Simulation Environment. This new release represents a significant advance in capability and ease of use. The two most significant new additions are an application programming interface (API) that clarifies and simplifies use of MBDyn, and a link-list infrastructure that allows a single MBDyn instance to propagate an arbitrary number of interacting groups of multibody top ologies. MBDyn calculates state and state derivative vectors for integration using an external integration routine. A Trickcompatible interface is provided for initialization, data logging, integration, and input/output.

MacLean, John↗

NASA NTRS1991

A recursive approach to the equations of motion for the maneuvering and control of flexible multi-body systems

Interest lies in a mathematical formulation capable of accommodating the problem of maneuvering a space structure consisting of a chain of articulated flexible substructures. Simultaneously, any perturbations from the 'rigid body' maneuvering and any elastic vibration must be suppressed. The equations of motion for flexible bodies undergoing rigid body motions and elastic vibrations can be obtained conveniently by means of Lagrange's equations in terms of quasi-coordinates. The advantage of this approach is that it yields equations in terms of body axes, which are the same axes that are used to express the control forces and torques. The equations of motion are nonlinear hybrid differential quations. The partial differential equations can be discretized (in space) by means of the finite element method or the classical Rayleigh-Ritz method. The result is a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations of high order. The nonlinearity can be traced to the rigid body motions and the high order to the elastic vibration. Elastic motions tend to be small when compared with rigid body motions.

Kwak, Moon K.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Dynamics and control of coordinated multiple manipulators

A technique is presented for controlling multiple manipulators which are holding a single object and therefore form a closed kinematic chain. The object, which may or may not be in contact with a rigid environment, is assumed to be held rigidly by robot end-effectors. The derivation is based on setting up constraint equations which reduce the 6 x n degrees of freedom of a manipulators each having six joints. Additional constraint equations are considered when one or more of the degrees of freedom of the object is reduced due to external constraints. Utilizing the operational space dynamics equations, a decoupling controller is designed to control both the position and the interaction forces of the object with the environment. Finally, simulation results for the control of a pair of two-link manipulators are presented.

Hayati, S. A.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Position and force control of coordinated multiple arms

A technique is presented for controlling multiple manipulators which are holding a single object and therefore form a closed kinematic chain. The object, which may or may not be in contact with a rigid environment, is assumed to be held rigidly by n robot end-effectors. The derivation is based on setting up constraint equations which reduce the 6 x n degrees of freedom of n manipulators each having six joints. Additional constraint equations are considered when one or more degrees of freedom of the object are reduced due to external constraints. Utilizing the operational space dynamic equations, a decoupling controller is designed to control both the position and the interaction forces of the object with the environment. Simulation results for the control of a pair of two-link manipulators are presented.

Hayati, Samad A.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Recursive mass matrix factorization and inversion: An operator approach to open- and closed-chain multibody dynamics

This report advances a linear operator approach for analyzing the dynamics of systems of joint-connected rigid bodies.It is established that the mass matrix M for such a system can be factored as M=(I+H phi L)D(I+H phi L) sup T. This yields an immediate inversion M sup -1=(I-H psi L) sup T D sup -1 (I-H psi L), where H and phi are given by known link geometric parameters, and L, psi and D are obtained recursively by a spatial discrete-step Kalman filter and by the corresponding Riccati equation associated with this filter. The factors (I+H phi L) and (I-H psi L) are lower triangular matrices which are inverses of each other, and D is a diagonal matrix. This factorization and inversion of the mass matrix leads to recursive algortihms for forward dynamics based on spatially recursive filtering and smoothing. The primary motivation for advancing the operator approach is to provide a better means to formulate, analyze and understand spatial recursions in multibody dynamics. This is achieved because the linear operator notation allows manipulation of the equations of motion using a very high-level analytical framework (a spatial operator algebra) that is easy to understand and use. Detailed lower-level recursive algorithms can readily be obtained for inspection from the expressions involving spatial operators. The report consists of two main sections. In Part 1, the problem of serial chain manipulators is analyzed and solved. Extensions to a closed-chain system formed by multiple manipulators moving a common task object are contained in Part 2. To retain ease of exposition in the report, only these two types of multibody systems are considered. However, the same methods can be easily applied to arbitrary multibody systems formed by a collection of joint-connected regid bodies.

Rodriguez, G.↗

NASA NTRS1997

Summary of Research/Publications

Summary of research/publications include:(1) Comment on broadening of water microwave lines by collisions with helium atoms; (2) Calculations of ion-molecule deuterium fractionation reactions involving HD; (3) Ab initio predictions on the rotational spectra of carbon-chain carbene molecules; (4) Theoretical IR spectra of ionized naphthalene; (5) Improved collisional excitation rates for interstellar water; (6) Calculations on the competition between association and reaction for C3H+ + H2; (7) Theoretical infrared spectra of some model polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: effect of ionization; (8) Calculations concerning interstellar isomeric abundance ratios for C3H and C3H2; (9) New calculations on the ion-molecule processes C2H2+ + H2 C2H3+ + H and C2H2+ + H2 C2H4+; (10) Anisotropic rigid rotor potential energy function for H2O-H2; (11) A correlated ab initio study of linear carbon-chain radicals CnH (n=2-7); (12) Ab initio characterization of MgCCH, MgCCH+, and MgC2 and pathways to their formation in the interstellar medium; (13) Why HOC+ is detectable in interstellar clouds: The rate of the reaction between HOC+ and H2; (14) A correlated ab initio study of the X 2A 1 and A 2E states of MgCH3; (15) On the stability of interstellar carbon clusters: The rate of the reaction between C3 and O; and (16) The rate of the reaction between CN and C2H2 at interstellar temperatures.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1999

Polymer mobility in cell walls of cucumber hypocotyls

Cell walls were prepared from the growing region of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) hypocotyls and examined by solid-state 13C NMR spectroscopy, in both enzymically active and inactivated states. The rigidity of individual polymer segments within the hydrated cell walls was assessed from the proton magnetic relaxation parameter, T2, and from the kinetics of cross-polarisation from 1H to 13C. The microfibrils, including most of the xyloglucan in the cell wall, as well as cellulose, behaved as very rigid solids. A minor xyloglucan fraction, which may correspond to cross-links between microfibrils, shared a lower level of rigidity with some of the pectic galacturonan. Other pectins, including most of the galactan side-chain residues of rhamnogalacturonan I, were much more mobile and behaved in a manner intermediate between the solid and liquid states. The only difference observed between the enzymically active and inactive cell walls, was the loss of a highly mobile, methyl-esterified galacturonan fraction, as the result of pectinesterase activity.

NASA Discipline Plant Biology↗

NASA NTRS2002

Rotationally Molded Liquid Crystalline Polymers

Rotational molding is a unique process for producing hollow plastic parts. Rotational molding offers low cost tooling and can produce very large parts with complicated shapes. Products made by rotational molding include water tanks with capacities up to 20,000 gallons, truck bed liners, playground equipment, air ducts, Nylon fuel tanks, pipes, toys, stretchers, kayaks, pallets, and many others. Thermotropic liquid crystalline polymers are an important class of engineering resins employed in a wide variety of applications. Thermotropic liquid crystalline polymers resins are composed of semirigid, nearly linear polymeric chains resulting in an ordered mesomorphic phase between the crystalline solid and the isotropic liquid. Ordering of the rigid rod-like polymers in the melt phase yields microfibrous, self-reinforcing polymer structures with outstanding mechanical and thermal properties. Rotational molding of liquid crystalline polymer resins results in high strength and high temperature hollow structures useful in a variety of applications. Various fillers and reinforcements can potentially be added to improve properties of the hollow structures. This paper focuses on the process and properties of rotationally molded liquid crystalline polymers. This paper will also highlight the interactions between academia and small businesses in developing new products and processes.

Rogers, Martin↗

NASA NTRS2017

Flexible Proteins at the Origin of Life

Almost all modern proteins possess well-defined, relatively rigid scaffolds that provide structural preorganization for desired functions. Such scaffolds require the sufficient length of a polypeptide chain and extensive evolutionary optimization. How ancestral proteins attained functionality, even though they were most likely markedly smaller than their contemporary descendants, remains a major, unresolved question in the origin of life. On the basis of evidence from experiments and computer simulations, we argue that at least some of the earliest water-soluble and membrane proteins were markedly more flexible than their modern counterparts. As an example, we consider a small, evolved in vitro ligase, based on a novel architecture that may be the archetype of primordial enzymes. The protein does not contain a hydrophobic core or conventional elements of the secondary structure characteristic of modern water-soluble proteins, but instead is built of a flexible, catalytic loop supported by a small hydrophilic core containing zinc atoms. It appears that disorder in the polypeptide chain imparts robustness to mutations in the protein core. Simple ion channels, likely the earliest membrane protein assemblies, could also be quite flexible, but still retain their functionality, again in contrast to their modern descendants. This is demonstrated in the example of antiamoebin, which can serve as a useful model of small peptides forming ancestral ion channels. Common features of the earliest, functional protein architectures discussed here include not only their flexibility, but also a low level of evolutionary optimization and heterogeneity in amino acid composition and, possibly, the type of peptide bonds in the protein backbone.

Flexible protein↗

NASA NTRS1991

Unified formulation of dynamics for serial rigid multibody systems

There has been a growing interest in the development of new and efficient algorithms for multibody dynamics in recent years. Serial rigid multibody systems form the basic subcomponents of general multibody systems, and a variety of algorithms to solve the serial chain forward dynamics problem have been proposed. In this paper, the economy of representation and analysis tools provided by the spatial operator algebra are used to clarify the inherent structure of these algorithms, to identify those that are similar, and to study the relationships among the ones that are distinct. For the purposes of this study, the algorithms are categorized into three classes: algorithms that require the explicit computation of the mass matrix, algorithms that are completely recursive in nature, and algorithms of intermediate complexity. In addition, alternative factorizations for the mass matrix and closed form expressions for its inverse are derived. These results provide a unifying perspective, within which these diverse dynamics algorithms arise naturally as a consequence of a progressive exploitation of the structure of the mass matrix.

Jain, Abhinandan↗

NASA NTRS1992

Towed Articulated Housing For Geophysical Measurements

Snakelike articulated string of rigid shells towed by helicopter, boat, kite or balloon, carries scientific instruments over land and sea surfaces. Nested shells connected to internal chain by bolt covered by preceding cone. String articulates readily to negotiate obstacles, but locally stiff to lie across a narrow crevasse.

Burke, James D.↗

NASA NTRS2015

An Efficient Solution Method for Multibody Systems with Loops Using Multiple Processors

This paper describes a multibody dynamics algorithm formulated for parallel implementation on multiprocessor computing platforms using the divide-and-conquer approach. The system of interest is a general topology of rigid and elastic articulated bodies with or without loops. The algorithm divides the multibody system into a number of smaller sets of bodies in chain or tree structures, called "branches" at convenient joints called "connection points", and uses an Order-N (O (N)) approach to formulate the dynamics of each branch in terms of the unknown spatial connection forces. The equations of motion for the branches, leaving the connection forces as unknowns, are implemented in separate processors in parallel for computational efficiency, and the equations for all the unknown connection forces are synthesized and solved in one or several processors. The performances of two implementations of this divide-and-conquer algorithm in multiple processors are compared with an existing method implemented on a single processor.

Multibody dynamics↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Framework for Sense and Follow Convoys for Collective Autonomous Mobility

Convoys are collections of vehicles that share similar velocity profiles. In the sense-and follow convoy construct, a vehicle can follow a member of an existing convoy resulting in convoy chaining. We prove conditions under which this can occur such that the resulting convoy chain is bounded and the velocities of all members converge to the leader velocity through locally distributed control algorithms. To assess the approach, we utilize a six degree-of-freedom rigid body vehicle dynamics model for each agent. A dynamic inversion based control law is used to track the desired trajectory generated by the convoy algorithms. To simulate the system, we utilize Unity, a cross-platform game engine, where 3-dimensional terrain, building, and vehicle data can be visualized. Numerous simulations are presented to illustrate the concept.

convoys↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Framework for Sense and Follow Convoys for Collective Autonomous Mobility

convoys↗

NASA NTRS1990

Recursive dynamics for flexible multibody systems using spatial operators

Due to their structural flexibility, spacecraft and space manipulators are multibody systems with complex dynamics and possess a large number of degrees of freedom. Here the spatial operator algebra methodology is used to develop a new dynamics formulation and spatially recursive algorithms for such flexible multibody systems. A key feature of the formulation is that the operator description of the flexible system dynamics is identical in form to the corresponding operator description of the dynamics of rigid multibody systems. A significant advantage of this unifying approach is that it allows ideas and techniques for rigid multibody systems to be easily applied to flexible multibody systems. The algorithms use standard finite-element and assumed modes models for the individual body deformation. A Newton-Euler Operator Factorization of the mass matrix of the multibody system is first developed. It forms the basis for recursive algorithms such as for the inverse dynamics, the computation of the mass matrix, and the composite body forward dynamics for the system. Subsequently, an alternative Innovations Operator Factorization of the mass matrix, each of whose factors is invertible, is developed. It leads to an operator expression for the inverse of the mass matrix, and forms the basis for the recursive articulated body forward dynamics algorithm for the flexible multibody system. For simplicity, most of the development here focuses on serial chain multibody systems. However, extensions of the algorithms to general topology flexible multibody systems are described. While the computational cost of the algorithms depends on factors such as the topology and the amount of flexibility in the multibody system, in general, it appears that in contrast to the rigid multibody case, the articulated body forward dynamics algorithm is the more efficient algorithm for flexible multibody systems containing even a small number of flexible bodies. The variety of algorithms described here permits a user to choose the algorithm which is optimal for the multibody system at hand. The availability of a number of algorithms is even more important for real-time applications, where implementation on parallel processors or custom computing hardware is often necessary to maximize speed.

Jain, A.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Layered Thermal Insulation Systems for Industrial and Commercial Applications

From the high performance arena of cryogenic equipment, several different layered thermal insulation systems have been developed for industrial and commercial applications. In addition to the proven areas in cold-work applications for piping and tanks, the new Layered Composite Insulation for Extreme Environments (LCX) has potential for broader industrial use as well as for commercial applications. The LCX technology provides a unique combination of thermal, mechanical, and weathering performance capability that is both cost-effective and enabling. Industry applications may include, for example, liquid nitrogen (LN2) systems for food processing, liquefied natural gas (LNG) systems for transportation or power, and chilled water cooling facilities. Example commercial applications may include commercial residential building construction, hot water piping, HVAC systems, refrigerated trucks, cold chain shipping containers, and a various consumer products. The LCX system is highly tailorable to the end-use application and can be pre-fabricated or field assembled as needed. Product forms of LCX include rigid sheets, semi-flexible sheets, cylindrical clam-shells, removable covers, or flexible strips for wrapping. With increasing system control and reliability requirements as well as demands for higher energy efficiencies, thermal insulation in harsh environments is a growing challenge. The LCX technology grew out of solving problems in the insulation of mechanically complex cryogenic systems that must operate in outdoor, humid conditions. Insulation for cold work includes equipment for everything from liquid helium to chilled water. And in the middle are systems for LNG, LN2, liquid oxygen (LO2), liquid hydrogen (LH2) that must operate in the ambient environment. Different LCX systems have been demonstrated for sub-ambient conditions but are capable of moderately high temperature applications as well.

thermal conductivity↗