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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 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1986

Integrated aerodynamic/structural design of a sailplane wing

Using lifting-line theory and beam analysis, the geometry (planiform and twist) and composite material structural sizes (skin thickness, spar cap, and web thickness) were designed for a sailplane wing, subject to both structural and aerodynamic constraints. For all elements, the integrated design (simultaneously designing the aerodynamics and the structure) was superior in terms of performance and weight to the sequential design (where the aerodynamic geometry is designed to maximize the performance, following which a structural/aeroelastic design minimizes the weight). Integrated designs produced less rigid, higher aspect ratio wings with favorable aerodynamic/structural interactions.

Grossman, B.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Flight characteristics of a modified Schweizer SGS1-36 sailplane at low and very high angles of attack

A manned flight research program using a modified sailplane was conducted to very high angles of attack at the NASA-Ames. Piloting techniques were established that enabled the pilot to attain and stabilize on an angle of attack in the 30 to 72 deg range. Aerodynamic derivatives were estimated from the flight data for both low and very high angles of attack and are compared to wind tunnel data. In addition, limited performance and trim data are presented.

Sim, Alex G.↗
NASA NTRS1931

The Development, Design and Construction of Gliders and Sailplanes

This report explains and details the history of glider design and construction through the impetus of the Rhon Sailplane contests. Some of the topics considered include: whether the longitudinal stability (dynamic and static) is sufficient in the tailless typo and a consideration that the structural weight of sweptback wings would be greater than that of a corresponding normal wing.

Lippisch, A↗
NASA NTRS1974

A square root formulation for the combined state-parameter estimator with application to the identification of sailplane performance

A square root formulation is presented for the discrete combined state parameter estimation problem with linear plant dynamics, Gaussian random disturbances, and constant but uncertain parameters. The estimator is a combination of the classical Kalman filter and a maximum likelihood algorithm which maximizes the parameter log-likelihood function using a first order search routine.

Froidevaux, M. R.↗
NASA NTRS1979

An Exploratory Investigation of the Effect of Plastic Coating on the Profile Drag of a Practical-Metal-Construction Sailplane Airfoil

An exploratory investigation was performed in the Langley low-turbulence pressure tunnel to determine the effect of a plastic coating on the profile drage of a practical-metal-construction sailplaine airfoil. The mode was tested with three surface configurations: (1) filled, painted, and sanded smooth; (2) rough bare metal; and (3) plastic-coated. The investigation was conducted at Reynolds numbers based on airfoil chord of 1,100,000, 2,200,000, and 3,300,000 at a constant Mach number of 0.10. The results indicate that, at all three Reynolds numbers, the order of the drag values of the three surface configurations, starting with the highest drag, was: filled, painted, and sanded smooth; rough bare metal; and plastic-coated.

Somers, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Flight determination of the aerodynamic stability and control characteristics of the NASA SGS 1-36 sailplane in the conventional and deep stall angles-of-attack of between -5 and 75 degrees

The flight test procedure and the preliminary analysis of the results obtained from twenty manned flights of the SGS 1-36 in the high angles of attack Deep Stall region are discussed. A comparison of the flight determined stability and control derivatives, those of the wind tunnel, and the estimated aerodynamic data is also presented. Furthermore, deep stall dynamics response of the SGS 1-36 is discussed briefly to explain some of the unexpected flight observations.

Mahdavi, F. A.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Research on the exploitation of advanced composite materials to lightly loaded structures

The objective was to create a sailplane which could fly in weaker thermals than present day sailplanes (by being lighter) and to fly in stronger thermals than present sailplanes (by carrying more water ballast). The research was to tackle the interaction of advanced composites and the aerodynamic performance, the interaction of fabrication procedures and the advanced composites, and the interaction of advanced composites and the design process. Many pieces of the overall system were investigated but none were carried to the resolution required for engineering application. Nonetheless, interesting and useful results were obtained and are here reported.

Mar, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Initial Results from the Variable Intensity Sonic Boom Propagation Database

An extensive sonic boom propagation database with low- to normal-intensity booms (overpressures of 0.08 lbf/sq ft to 2.20 lbf/sq ft) was collected for propagation code validation, and initial results and flight research techniques are presented. Several arrays of microphones were used, including a 10 m tall tower to measure shock wave directionality and the effect of height above ground on acoustic level. A sailplane was employed to measure sonic booms above and within the atmospheric turbulent boundary layer, and the sailplane was positioned to intercept the shock waves between the supersonic airplane and the ground sensors. Sailplane and ground-level sonic boom recordings were used to generate atmospheric turbulence filter functions showing excellent agreement with ground measurements. The sonic boom prediction software PCBoom4 was employed as a preflight planning tool using preflight weather data. The measured data of shock wave directionality, arrival time, and overpressure gave excellent agreement with the PCBoom4-calculated results using the measured aircraft and atmospheric data as inputs. C-weighted acoustic levels generally decreased with increasing height above the ground. A-weighted and perceived levels usually were at a minimum for a height where the elevated microphone pressure rise time history was the straightest, which is a result of incident and ground-reflected shock waves interacting.

Haering, Edward A., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Science and Technology of Low Speed and Motorless Flight, Part 1

The proceedings of the Third International Symposium on the Science and Technology of Low Speed and Motorless Flight are reported. Twenty-eight papers were presented in the areas of low speed aerodynamics, new materials applications and structural concepts, advanced flight instrumentation, sailplane optimal flight techniques, and self launching and ultralight glider technology. These papers are included in the document along with another paper, which was not presented, on proposed definitions for various categories of sailplanes and gliders.

Hanson, P. W.↗
NASA NTRS1979

How accurate is NETTO

The historical origin and general history of vertical current total energy variometer, including its optimum airspeed selector ring are reviewed, and some later developments of it are discussed. Polars of three sailplanes of different spans are charted for straight and circling flight, then plotted to reveal their parabolic anomaly and the effect of circling flight sink rate. These effects are further analyzed for their influence on the transient compensation of NETTO variometers as well as the speed ring. Some other disturbances due to the quality of sailplane preparation and flight dynamics are listed. Conclusions are drawn about the problems to pilots from imperfect NETTO variometer compensation and its effect on the maximization of ground speed from the speed ring. A modification for improvements to the speed ring and computer is suggested.

Dupont, S.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Low-frequency pressure fluctuations in axisymmetric turbulent boundary layers

Measurements were made of wall pressure fluctuations under a turbulent boundary layer on the fuselage of a sailplane. Experiments with the sailplane offered a noise-free flow with a low free-stream turbulence level. In this environment the wall-pressure spectrum of a turbulent boundary layer with natural transition was found to drop off at low frequencies. Correlations between several wall-mounted microphones revealed that the large-scale motions contribute about 35% to the mean square pressure. Velocity fluctuations at several positions within and outside the boundary layer were measured and correlated with the wall pressure. It seems that the irrotational motions in the turbulent region are primarily responsible for the large-scale wall-pressure fluctuations. A time-lagged conditional correlation of the pressure was introduced to gain further insight into the pressure-producing motions.

Panton, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Development of a Multilevel Optimization Approach to the Design of Modern Engineering Systems

A general algorithm is proposed which carries out the design process iteratively, starting at the top of the hierarchy and proceeding downward. Each subproblem is optimized separately for fixed controls from higher level subproblems. An optimum sensitivity analysis is then performed which determines the sensitivity of the subproblem design to changes in higher level subproblem controls. The resulting sensitivity derivatives are used to construct constraints which force the controlling subproblems into chosing their own designs so as to improve the lower levels subproblem designs while satisfying their own constraints. The applicability of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by devising a four-level hierarchy to perform the simultaneous aerodynamic and structural design of a high-performance sailplane wing for maximum cross-country speed. Finally, the concepts discussed are applied to the two-level minimum weight structural design of the sailplane wing. The numerical experiments show that discontinuities in the sensitivity derivatives may delay convergence, but that the algorithm is robust enough to overcome these discontinuities and produce low-weight feasible designs, regardless of whether the optimization is started from the feasible space or the infeasible one.

Barthelemy, J. F. M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Piloted simulation study of a balloon-assisted deployment of an aircraft at high altitude

A piloted simulation was used to study the feasibility of a balloon assisted deployment of a research aircraft at high altitude. In the simulation study, an unmanned, modified sailplane was carried to 110,000 ft with a high altitude balloon and released in a nose down attitude. A remote pilot controlled the aircraft through a pullout and then executed a zoom climb to a trimmed, 1 g flight condition. A small parachute was used to limit the Mach number during the pullout to avoid adverse transonic effects. The use of small rocket motor was studied for increasing the maximum attainable altitude. Aerodynamic modifications to the basic sailplane included applying supercritical airfoil gloves over the existing wing and tail surfaces. The aerodynamic model of the simulated aircraft was based on low Reynolds number wind tunnel tests and computational techniques, and included large Mach number and Reynolds number effects at high altitude. Parametric variations were performed to study the effects of launch altitude, gross weight, Mach number limit, and parachute size on the maximum attainable stabilized altitude. A test altitude of approx. 95,000 ft was attained, and altitudes in excess of 100,000 ft was attained.

Murray, James↗
NASA NTRS1994

Flight experience with lightweight, low-power miniaturized instrumentation systems

Engineers at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility (NASA-Dryden) have conducted two flight research programs with lightweight, low-power miniaturized instrumentation systems built around commercial data loggers. One program quantified the performance of a radio-controlled model airplane. The other program was a laminar boundary-layer transition experiment on a manned sailplane. The purpose of this article is to report NASA-Dryden personnel's flight experience with the miniaturized instrumentation systems used on these two programs. This article will describe the data loggers, the sensors, and the hardware and software developed to complete the systems. It also describes how the systems were used and covers the challenges encountered to make them work. Examples of raw data and derived results will be shown as well. For some flight research applications where miniaturized instrumentation is a requirement, the authors conclude that commercially available data loggers and sensors are viable alternatives. In fact, the data loggers and sensors make it possible to gather research-quality data in a timely and cost-effective manner.

LOW POWER MINIATURIZED INSTRUM↗
NASA NTRS1961

THE INDUCED DRAG OF A DECELERATING AIRFOIL

In a recent paper in Soaring, C.A. Moeller proposed a method for determining the performance of a sailplane by recording the deceleration history of the craft following a steep dive. The advantage claimed for this method was that it would allow performance testing to be done in relatively quiescent air near the ground. It would thus be possible to eliminate the errors and uncertainties associated with conventional testing procedures, by avoiding the effects of the extraneous air currents which exist at altitude. Unfortunately, however, deceleration evaluation technique necessarily involves unsteady aerodynamics, and is thus itself subject to certain inherent error source of unknown magnitude.

DRAG↗
NASA NTRS1973

Motorless flight research, 1972

The proceedings of a symposium on motorless flight research are presented. The subjects discussed are: (1) glider aerodynamic and design, (2) instrumentation, (3) structural concepts and materials, (4) soaring meteorology, (5) self-launching and ultralight sailplanes, and (6) performance testing.

Nash-Webber, J. L.↗