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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 541 records · Page 30
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1983

Influence of unbalance on the nonlinear dynamical response and stability of flexible rotor-bearing systems

In this paper, some of the effects of unbalance on the nonlinear response and stability of flexible rotor-bearing systems is presented from both a theoretical and experimental standpoint. In a linear system, operating above its stability threshold, the amplitude of motion grows exponentially with time and the orbits become unbounded. In an actual system, this is not necessarily the case. The actual amplitudes of motion may be bounded due to various nonlinear effects in the system. These nonlinear effects cause limit cycles of motion. Nonlinear effects are inherent in fluid film bearings and seals. Other contributors to nonlinear effects are shafts, couplings and foundations. In addition to affecting the threshold of stability, the nonlinear effects can cause jump phenomena to occur at not only the critical speeds, but also at stability onset or restabilization speeds.

Gunter, E. J.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Toward a better understanding of helicopter stability derivatives

An amended six degree of freedom helicopter stability and control derivative model was developed in which body acceleration and control rate derivatives were included in the Taylor series expansion. These additional derivatives were derived from consideration of the effects of the higher order rotor flapping dynamics, which are known to be inadequately represented in the conventional six degree of freedom, quasistatic stability derivative model. The amended model was a substantial improvement over the conventional model, effectively doubling the usable bandwidth and providing a more accurate representation of the short period and cross axis characteristics. Further investigations assessed the applicability of the two stability derivative model structures for flight test parameter identification. Parameters were identified using simulation data generated from a higher order base line model having sixth order rotor tip path plane dynamics. Three lower order models were identified: one using the conventional stability derivative model structure, a second using the amended six degree of freedom model structure, and a third model having eight degrees of freedom that included a simplified rotor tip path plane tilt representation. Previously announced in STAR as N82-32376

Hansen, R. S.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Toward a better understanding of helicopter stability derivatives

An amended six degree of freedom helicopter stability and control derivative model was developed in which body acceleration and control rate derivatives were included in the Taylor series expansion. These additional derivatives were derived from consideration of the effects of the higher order rotor flapping dynamics, which are known to be inadequately represented in the conventional six degree of freedom, quasistatic stability derivative model. The amended model was a substantial improvement over the conventional model, effectively doubling the unstable bandwidth and providing a more accurate representation of the short period and cross axis characteristics. Further investigations assessed the applicability of the two stability derivative model structures for flight test parameter identification. Parameters were identified using simulation data generated from a higher order base line model having sixth order rotor tip path plane dynamics. Three lower order models were identified: one using the conventional stability derivative model structure, a second using the amended six degree of freedom model structure, and a third model having eight degrees of freedom that included a simplified rotor tip path plane tilt representation. Previously announced in STAR as N82-32376

Hansen, R. S.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Stability of a laminar premixed supersonic free shear layer with chemical reactions

The stability of a two-dimensional compressible supersonic flow in the wake of a flat plate is discussed. The fluid is a multi-species mixture which is undergoing finite rate chemical reactions. The spatial stability of an infinitesimal disturbance in the fluid is considered. Numerical solutions of the eigenvalue stability equations for both reactive and nonreactive supersonic flows are presented and discussed. The chemical reactions have significant influence on the stability behavior. For instance, a neutral eigenvalue is observed near the freestream Mach number of 2.375 for the nonreactive case, but disappears when the reaction is turned on. For reactive flows, the eigenvalues are not very dependent on the free stream Mach number.

Menon, S.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Stability of a dual-spin spacecraft with spherical dampers

The present investigation is concerned with the stability characteristics of a specific dual-spin satellite configuration marked by a high degree of symmetry. The configuration includes a platform and a rotor. Both components contain arbitrarily located internal spherical dampers. The symmetry of the system configuration makes it possible to illustrate clearly the relationship between Routhian analysis, energy sink analysis, and digital simulation of the full nonlinear equations. Although the dual-spin spacecraft configuration contains energy dissipating devices on both platform and rotor, it is still possible to employ the rigorous, but relatively simple, Routh stability method. This method, unlike Floquet theory, has the potential of producing closed-form stability criteria. The energy sink method is capable of providing a closed-form stability criterion. Numerical simulation is a necessary requirement in the latter stages of design when the realistic perturbation environment must be considered.

Laskin, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Measured and calculated inplane stability characteristics for an advanced bearingless main rotor

A program of experimental and analytical research has been performed to demonstrate the effects of rotor and fuselage design parameters on rotor in-plane stability, including aeromechanical stability. The experimental data were obtained from hover and wind-tunnel tests of a scaled advanced bearingless main rotor model. Both isolated-rotor and free-hub conditions were tested. Test parameters included blade built-in cone and sweep angles; rotor inplane structural stiffness and damping; pitch link stiffness and location; and fuselage natural frequency, damping, and inertia. The results show that rotor blade structural damping is one of the most influential design parameters in obtaining acceptable aeromechanical stability margins. Other parameters, such as blade cone angle, pitch link location (rotor delta 3) and anisotropic hub damper configurations, may be used to improve stability margins, but their individual effects are subtle.

Weller, W. H.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Development and flight evaluation of an augmented stability active controls concept: Executive summary

A pitch active control system (PACS) was developed and flight tested on a wide body jet transport (L-1011) with a flying horizontal stabilizer. Two dual channel digital computers and the associated software provide command signals to a dual channel series servo which controls the stabilizer power actuators. Input sensor signals to the computer are pitch rate, column trim position, and dynamic pressure. Control laws are given for the PACS and the system architecture is defined. Discussions are given regarding piloted flight simulation and vehicle system simulation and vehicle system simulation tests that are performed to verify control laws and system operation prior to installation on the aircraft. Modifications to the basic aircraft included installation of the PACS, addition of a c.g. management system to provide a c.g. range from 25 to 39% mac, and downrigging of the geared elevator to provide the required nose down control authority for aft c.g. flight test conditions. Three pilots used the Cooper-Harper Rating Scale to judge flying qualities of the aircraft with PACS on and off. The handling qualities with the c.g. at 39% mac (41% stability margin) and PACS operating were judged to be as good as the handling qualities with the c.g. at 25% mac (+15% stability margin) and PACS off.

Guinn, W. A.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Squeeze-film dampers for turbomachinery stabilization

A technique for investigating the stability and damping present in centrally preloaded radially symmetric multi-mass flexible rotor bearing systems is presented. In general, one needs to find the eigenvalues of the linearized perturbation equations, though zero frequency stability maps may be found by solving as many simultaneous non-linear equations as there are dampers; and in the case of a single damper, such maps may be found directly, regardless of the number of degrees of freedom. The technique is illustrated for a simple symmetric four degree of freedom flexible rotor with an unpressurized damper. This example shows that whereas zero frequency stability maps are likely to prove to be a simple way to delineate multiple solution possibilities, they do not provide full stability information. Further, particularly for low bearing parameters, the introduction of an unpressurized squeeze film damper may promote instability in an otherwise stable system.

Mclean, L. J.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Housing flexibility effects on rotor stability

Preliminary rotordynamic evaluations are performed with a housing stiffness assumption that is typically determined only after the hardware is built. In addressing rotor stability, a rigid housing assumption was shown to predict an instability at a lower spin speed than a comparable flexible housing analysis. This rigid housing assumption therefore provides a conservative estimate of the stability threshold speed. A flexible housing appears to act as an energy absorber and dissipated some of the destabilizing force. The fact that a flexible housing is usually asymmetric and considerably heavier than the rotor was related to this apparent increase in rotor stability. Rigid housing analysis is proposed as a valuable screening criteria and may save time and money in construction of elaborate housing finite element models for linear stability analyses.

Davis, L. B.↗
NASA NTRS1984

On-orbit frequency stability analysis of the GPS NAVSTAR-1 quartz clock and the NAVSTARs-6 and -8 rubidium clocks

An on-orbit frequency stability performance analysis of the GPS NAVSTAR-1 quartz clock and the NAVSTARs-6 and -8 rubidium clocks is presented. The clock offsets were obtained from measurements taken at the GPS monitor stations which use high performance cesium standards as a reference. Clock performance is characterized through the use of the Allan variance, which is evaluated for sample times of 15 minutes to two hours, and from one day to 10 days. The quartz and rubidium clocks' offsets were corrected for aging rate before computing the frequency stability. The effect of small errors in aging rate is presented for the NAVSTAR-8 rubidium clock's stability analysis. The analysis includes presentation of time and frequency residuals with respect to linear and quadratic models, which aid in obtaining aging rate values and identifying systematic and random effects. The frequency stability values were further processed with a time domain noise process analysis, which is used to classify random noise process and modulation type.

Mccaskill, T. B.↗
NASA NTRS1984

The effect of line-tying on the radiative MHD stability of coronal plasmas with radial pressure profile

The role of photospheric line-tying, i.e., solar coronal loop structures, was investigated in terms of the effect on radiative modes and the influence that different radial pressure profiles exert on the effects of line-tying on radiative MHD stability. Energy is assumed dissipated by heat conduction and radiation and zero- and first-order solutions are obtained for the radiative time scales. Line-tying is a magnetic tension in the zero-order MHD mode and produces stability. Heat conduction occurs along bent field lines in first-order MHD modes when plasmas cross the field lines. Irradiated cool-core loops can experience MHD instabilities in the cylinder center, while line-tying can stabilize the plasma in the surrounding hot medium. Line-tying also adds stability to magnetosonic and condensation modes.

An, C.-H.↗
NASA NTRS1984

The linear two-dimensional stability of inviscid vortex streets of finite-cored vortices

The stability of two-dimensional infinitesimal disturbances of the steady inviscid incompressible flow produced by infinite rows of finite-cored particles is studied. Numerical results are obtained for the growth rate and oscillation frequencies of disturbances of arbitrary subharmonic wavenumber, and the stability boundaries are calculated. The stabilization of the pairing instability by finite area demonstrated by Saffman and Schatzman (1982) is confirmed, as is Kida's (1982) result that this is not the most unstable disturbance when the area is finite. However, the finite area does not stabilize the inviscid Karman vortex street of finite-area vortices to infinitesimal two-dimensional disturbances of arbitrary wavelength. The finite area is always unstable except for one isolated value of the aspect ratio which depends upon the size of the vortices.

Meiron, D. I.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Energy Stability of Thermocapillary Convection in Models of the Float Zone Process

The energy-stability of thermocapillary convection in models of the float-zone, crystal-growing process was studied. Stability limits, as functions of pertinent parameters, that will identify conditions which will not allow the existence of an undesirable oscillatory flow instability were determined. Such instabilities may occur in the space processing of semiconductor materials. The determination of the stability limits will involve two sets of numerical computations: (1) solution of the nonlinear governing equations together with the appropriate boundary conditions to determine the basic state (in general, velocity, pressure and temperature fields and the displacement of free surfaces and interfaces); and (2) solution of a nonlinear Euler-Lagrange systems for the energy-stability limit. Both computations, while difficult, should be within the scope of available computer capability and available concepts in numerical analysis. Finite-element methods are attractive candidates for the numerical work.

Neitzel, G. P.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Stability of surface nucleation

The growth and decomposition rates of nuclei on a surface are expressed in microscopic terms. A stability factor is defined and employed for the derivation of a criterion for nucleus stability. Simulation results indicate that the stability factor can be used as a measure of the system stability.

Salik, J.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Calculations of the stability of some axisymmetric flows proposed as a model of vortex breakdown

The term vortex breakdown refers to the abrupt and drastic changes of structure that can sometimes occur in swirling flows. It was conjectured that the bubble type of breakdown can be viewed as an axisymmetric wave traveling upstream in a primarily columnar vortex flow. In this scenario the wave's upstream progress is impeded only when it reaches a critical amplitude and it loses stability to some nonaxisymmetric disturbance. The stability of some axisymmetric wavy flows to three dimensional disturbances, viewing the amplitude of the wave as a bifurcation parameter is examined. The stability of a set of related columnar vortex flows, constructed by taking the two dimensional flow at a single axial location and extending it throughout the domain without variation, is investigated. The method used will be to expand the perturbation velocity in a series of divergence free vectors which ensures that the continuity equation for the incompressible fluid is satisfied exactly by the computed velocity field. Projections of the stability equation onto the space of inviscid vector fields eliminated the pressure term from the equation and reduces the differential eigen problem to a generalized matrix eigen problem. Results are presented both for the one dimensional, columnar vortex flows and also for the wavy bubble flow.

Mhuiris, N. M. G.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Experimental study of effects of forebody geometry on high angle of attack static and dynamic stability

A series of low speed wind tunnel tests on a generic fighter model with a cylindrical fuselage were made to investigate the effects of forebody shape on static and dynamic lateral/directional stability. Five forebodies, including a chine nose of unconventional cross-sectional shape, were tested. Conventional force tests were conducted to determine static stability characteristics and single degree-of-freedom free-to-roll tests were used to study the wing rock susceptibility of the model with the various forebodies. Flow visualization data were obtained to aid in analysis of the complex flow phenomena involved. The results show that forebody cross-sectional shape can strongly effect both static and dynamic (roll) stability at high angles of attack. Large variations in stability were obtained for the various forebody geometries. These characteristics result from the impact of cross-sectional shape on forebody vortex development, the behavior of the vortices at sideslip conditions, and their interaction with the wing and empennage flow fields.

Brandon, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Stability of finite-difference models containing two boundaries or interfaces

The stability of finite difference models of hyperbolic initial boundary value problems is connected with the propagation and reflection of parasitic waves. Wave propagation ideas are applied to models containing two boundaries or interfaces, where repeated reflection of trapped wave packets is a potential new source of instability. Various known instability phenomena are accounted for in a unified way. Results show: (1) dissipativity does not ensure stability when three or more formulas are concatenated at a boundary or internal interface; (2) algebraic GKS instabilities can be converted by a second boundary to exponential instabilities only when an infinite numerical reflection coefficient is present; and (3) GKS-stability and P-stability can be established in certain problems by showing that all numerical reflection coefficients have modulus less than 1.

Trefethen, L. N.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Stability of interfaces with mesh refinement

A study is conducted of the stability of mesh refinement in space and time for several different interface equations and finite-difference approximations. First, a root condition which implies stability for the initial-boundary value problem for this type of interface is derived. From the root condition, the stability of several interface equations is proved, using the maximum principle. In some cases, the final verification steps can be done analytically; in other cases, a simple computer program has been written to check the condition for values of a parameter along the boundary of the unit circle. Using this method, stability for Lax-Wendroff with all the interface conditions considered, and for Leapfrog with interpolation interface conditions when the fine and coarse grids overlap is proved.

Berger, M. J.↗