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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 433 records · Page 24

An influence coefficient method for the application of the modal technique to wing flutter suppression of the DAST ARW-1 wing

The methods used to compute the mass, structural stiffness, and aerodynamic forces in the form of influence coefficient matrices as applied to a flutter analysis of the Drones for Aerodynamic and Structural Testing (DAST) Aeroelastic Research Wing. The DAST wing was chosen because wind tunnel flutter test data and zero speed vibration data of the modes and frequencies exist and are available for comparison. A derivation of the equations of motion that can be used to apply the modal method for flutter suppression is included. A comparison of the open loop flutter predictions with both wind tunnel data and other analytical methods is presented.

Pines, S.↗

Electron-beam-charged dielectrics: Internal charge distribution

Theoretical calculations of an electron transport model of the charging of dielectrics due to electron bombardment are compared to measurements of internal charge distributions. The emphasis is on the distribution of Teflon. The position of the charge centroid as a function of time is not monotonic. It first moves deeper into the material and then moves back near to the surface. In most time regimes of interest, the charge distribution is not unimodal, but instead has two peaks. The location of the centroid near saturation is a function of the incident current density. While the qualitative comparison of theory and experiment are reasonable, quantitative comparison shows discrepancies of as much as a factor of two.

Beers, B. L.↗

Terminal area automatic navigation, guidance, and control research using the Microwave Landing System (MLS). Part 3: A comparison of waypoint guidance algorithms for RNAV/MLS transition

The results of an investigation carried out for the Langley Research Center Terminal Configured Vehicle Program are presented. The investigation generated and compared three path update algorithms designed to provide smooth transition for an aircraft guidance system from DME, VORTAC, and barometric navaids to the more precise MLS by modifying the desired 3-D flight path. The first, called the Zero Cross Track, eliminates the discontinuity in cross track and altitude error by designating the first valid MLS aircraft position as the desired first waypoint, while retaining all subsequent waypoints. The discontinuity in track angle is left unaltered. The second, called the Tangent Path also eliminates the discontinuity in cross track and altitude and choose a new desired heading to be tangent to the next oncoming circular arc turn. The third, called the Continued Track eliminates the discontinuity in cross track, altitude and track angle by accepting the current MLS position and track angle as the desired ones and recomputes the location of the next waypoint. A method is presented for providing a waypoint guidance path reconstruction which treats turns of less than, and greater than, 180 degrees in a uniform manner to construct the desired path.

Pines, S.↗

Terminal area automatic navigation, guidance, and control research using the Microwave Landing System (MLS). Part 2: RNAV/MLS transition problems for aircraft

The problems in navigation and guidance encountered by aircraft in the initial transition period in changing from distance measuring equipment, VORTAC, and barometric instruments to the more precise microwave landing system data type navaids in the terminal area are investigated. The effects of the resulting discontinuities on the estimates of position and velocity for both optimal (Kalman type navigation schemes) and fixed gain (complementary type) navigation filters, and the effects of the errors in cross track, track angle, and altitude on the guidance equation and control commands during the critical landing phase are discussed. A method is presented to remove the discontinuities from the navigation loop and to reconstruct an RNAV path designed to land the aircraft with minimal turns and altitude changes.

Pines, S.↗

Application of modal control to wing-flutter suppression

A discrete modal control design approach that is applied to a single control surface, unswept aircraft wing subject to bending torsion flutter is described. The modal approach is a mathematical method to decouple the equations of motion into isolated differential equations. In this paper, a pole-placement approach is then applied to determine stability gains in the discrete plane using only the two complex-conjugate flutter-mode equations. A fixed gain Kalman filter is used to estimate the model amplitudes using three measurements. Results are presented for a full-state estimator (36 states) and two reduced state estimators using two different closed-loop pole locations. The control law is designed for a dynamic pressure that is 50 percent greater than the uncontrolled-flutter dynamic pressure. With constant control-law gains, the closed-loop system remains stable over the dynamic-pressure range from flutter onset to approximately an 80-percent increase in pressure.

Ostroff, A. J.↗

Terminal area automatic navigation, guidance, and control research using the Microwave Landing System (MLS). Part 4: Transition path reconstruction along a straight line path containing a glideslope change waypoint

The necessary algorithms to reconstruct the glideslope change waypoint along a straight line in the event the aircraft encounters a valid MLS update and transition in the terminal approach area are presented. Results of a simulation of the Langley B737 aircraft utilizing these algorithms are presented. The method is shown to reconstruct the necessary flight path during MLS transition resulting in zero cross track error, zero track angle error, and zero altitude error, thus requiring minimal aircraft response.

Pines, S.↗

Giant glitches and pinned vorticity in the Vela and other pulsars

Previously unexamined regularities in the Vela pulsar timing data are noted, and explained by a theory of giant glitches in the Vela and other pulsars as the dynamic consequence of catastrophic unpinning events in the pinned crustal neutron superfluid. Postglitch behavior then results from the glitch-induced vortex creep. An implication of the theory is that the energy release in this glitch scenario need not appear instantaneously on the surface as heat.

Alpar, M. A.↗

Internal breakdown of charged spacecraft dielectrics

It is suggested that small energy discharges of low differential voltage that are associated with internal buried charge may be an important mechanism by which sorted electrostatic energy is released from dielectrics on board orbiting spacecraft. The evidence from space given by Stevens (1980) is noted, and the laboratory experimental evidence of Frederickson is cited to demonstrate that discharges occur under circumstances with no external potential drop. Previous calculations indicating that significant internal electric fields can exist in dielectrics charged with multiple-kilovolt electron beams under conditions involving little or no external potential drop are reviewed. Attention is given to the internal discharge mechanism of Meulenberg (1976), and new calculations suggesting that the space environment is conducive to the formation of the conditions required by this mechanism are presented. Experimental procedures for checking the suggestions made are developed.

Beers, B. L.↗

Analytical procedures for flutter model development and checkout in preparation for wind tunnel testing of the DAST ARW-1 wing

A study to develop analytical procedures to be used in the checkout and calibration of a flutter wind tunnel model of the DAST ARW-1 wing equipped with a flutter suppression device is reported. The methods used to obtain a realistic simulation of the structural inertial and aerodynamic properties of the wing, the hydro-electro-servo actuator used for flutter suppression, a prediction of the open loop flutter speed at a fixed Mach number (.897), a procedure for checkout and calibration using the method frequency response of a wing mounted accelerometer, and an analytical representation of a reduced state approximation of the overall system are described.

Pines, S.↗

Continued development of a detailed model of arc discharge dynamics

Using a previously developed set of codes (SEMC, CASCAD, ACORN), a parametric study was performed to quantify the parameters which describe the development of a single electron indicated avalanche into a negative tip streamer. The electron distribution function in Teflon is presented for values of the electric field in the range of four-hundred million volts/meter to four billon volts/meter. A formulation of the scattering parameters is developed which shows that the transport can be represented by three independent variables. The distribution of ionization sites is used to indicate an avalanche. The self consistent evolution of the avalanche is computed over the parameter range of scattering set.

Beers, B. L.↗

Vortex creep and the internal temperature of neutron stars. I - General theory

The theory of a neutron star superfluid coupled to normal matter via thermal creep against pinning forces is developed in some detail. General equations of motion for a pinned rotating superfluid and their form for vortex creep are given. Steady state creep and the way in which the system approaches the steady state are discussed. The developed formalism is applied to the postglitch relaxation of a pulsar, and detailed models are developed which permit explicit calculation of the postglitch response. The energy dissipation associated with creep and glitches is considered.

Alpar, M. A.↗

Vortex creep and the internal temperature of neutron stars. II - Vela pulsar

The observed complex postglitch behavior of the Vela pulsar is explained as resulting from coupling of the crust to crustal neutron superfluid, specifically that part of the superfluid in which vortex lines are pinned to crustal nuclei. It is shown how the general theory of vortex creep provides an excellent fit to the timing observations of Downs which span the decade 1969-1979 and include four giant glitches. Relaxation times, inertial moments, and limits on superfluid pinning parameters are extracted for three distinct regions of vortex pinning in the star, with results which are consistent with microscopic theories of its internal structure. Relaxation times due to vortex creep are directly proportional to the internal temperature of the star, so that the limits obtained for pinning parameters translate to bounds on this temperature. It is concluded that the internal temperature of the Vela pulsar is about 10-million K and discuss the extent to which improved calculations of vortex pinning as well as soft X-ray observations of other stars will make possible an improved determination of the pulsar temperature.

Alpar, M. A.↗

Vortex creep and the internal temperature of neutron stars The Crab pulsar and PSR 0525 + 21

The behavior of the Crab pulsar following the 1969 and 1975 glitches and the postglich behavior of the old pulsar PSR 0525 + 21 are explained as resulting from internal torques due to the thermal creep of vortex lines in pinned superfluid regions. An overview of vortex creep theory is first given, and the immediate postglitch behavior of the Crab pulsar is calculated and compared with observation. The persistent shift in the spin-down rate observed for the Crab pulsar following the 1975 glitch is considered, and the internal and surface temperatures of this pulsar are deduced. The postglich behavior expected for very old pulsars is examined, showing that PSR 0525 + 21 falls into this category. It is concluded that the behavior of the Crab pulsar following both glitches can be characterized by the same two pinning regions. A comparison of the internal temperature for the Crab and Vela pulsars provides a significant constraint on the cooling of neutron stars.

Alpar, M. A.↗

Gravitational radiation from a solid crust neutron star

A rapidly rotating neutron star with a solid crust will have a rotationally induced oblateness that is constrained by the rigidity of the solid. It is shown that the effective triaxiality and the gravitational radiation output are small, in agreement with the very small change in period of PSR 1937 + 21.

Ali Alpar, M.↗

Superfluidity in millisecond pulsars

The evidence for superfluidity in the Vela pulsar, the Crab pulsar and PSR 0525 + 21 is reviewed, and the prospects for observing similar consequences of superfluidity in the already-discovered millisecond pulsars are examined. Inter alia, the likelihood of observing glitches, the expected postglitch behavior, and pulsar heating by energy dissipation due to the creep of neutron vortex lines in pinned superfluid regions of the crust are considered.

Pines, D.↗

Gravitational radiation from a solid-crust neutron star

The relationship between the rapid rotation of the millisecond pulsar and gravitational radiation is addressed. By balancing gravitational radiation against the rate of rotational energy loss, it is found that if the effective triaxiality exceeds about 10 to the -9th, gravitational radiation alone would spin a millisecond pulsar down at a faster rate than the observed period derivative. It is shown that the effective triaxiality is much less than the maximum triaxiality, so that gravitational radiation is not likely to play a major role in the evolution of millisecond pulsars even in the absence of damping. Damping times for precession of the solid crust are estimated to be less than 2000 years.

Alpar, M. A.↗

Superfluidity in neutron stars

Astrophysical evidence is reviewed for the existence of at least three distinct superfluids inside neutron stars from the observed relaxation of the rotation and spin-down rates of the pulsars Vela, Crab, and PSR0525 + 21, following sudden jumps or glitches in these quantities. Theoretical aspects of neutron and proton superfluids in neutron stars and core neutron communication, glitches and post-glitch relaxation, neutron star coupling, and vortex creep theory are discussed. The effects of the superfluid interior in the accreting neutron star X-ray sources are also considered.

Pines, D.↗

Neutron stars as cosmic hadron physics laboratories

Extensive observations of Her-1 with the Exosat satellite have led to a new understanding of both the dynamics of neutron-star superfluids and the free precession of neutron stars. Detailed microscopic calculations on neutron matter and the properties of the pinned crustal superfluid are provided to serve as a basis for comparing theory with observation on neutron stars. Topics discussed include the Hadron matter equation of state, neutron star structure, Hadron superfluids, the vortex creep theory, Vela pulsar glitches, astrophysical constraints on neutron matter energy gaps, the 35 day periodicity of Her-1, and the neutron matter equation of state. It is concluded that since the post-glitch fits and the identification of the 35th periodicity in Her X-1 as stellar wobble require a rigid neutron matter equation of state, the astrophysical evidence for such an equation seems strong, as well as that for an intermediate Delta(rho) curve.

Pines, D.↗