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At least 73 records · Page 4

Improved Method Of Bending Concentric Pipes

Proposed method for bending two concentric pipes simultaneously while maintaining void between them replaces present tedious, messy, and labor-intensive method. Array of rubber tubes inserted in gap between concentric pipes. Tubes then inflated with relatively incompressible liquid to fill gap. Enables bending to be done faster and more cleanly, and amenable to automation of significant portion of bending process on computer numerically controlled (CNC) tube-bending machinery.

Schroeder, James E.↗

Bending Properties of Nickel Electrodes for Nickel-Hydrogen Batteries

Recent changes in manufacturing have resulted in nickel-hydrogen batteries that fail prematurely by electrical shorting. This failure is believed to be a result of a blistering problem in the nickel electrodes. In this study, the bending properties of nickel electrodes are investigated in an attempt to correlate the bending properties of the electrode with its propensity to blister. Nickel electrodes from three different batches of material were tested in both the as-received and impregnated forms. The effects of specimen curvature and position within the electrode on the bending strength were studied, and within-electrode and batch-to-batch variations were addressed. Bend strength was found to increase with the amount of surface loading.

Lerch, Brad A.↗

Effects of Large Wing-Tip Masses on Oscillatory Stability of Wing Bending Coupled with Airplane Pitch

An examination of oscillatory stability for a straight-winged airplane with large concentrated wing-tip masses was made using wing-bending and airplane-pitching degrees of freedom and considering only quasi-steady aerodynamic forces. It was found that instability caused by coupling of airplane pitching and wing bending occurred for large ratios of effective wing-tip mass to total airplane mass and for coupled wing-bending frequencies near or below the uncoupled pitching frequency. Boundaries for this instability are given in terms of two quantities: (1) the ratio of effective tip mass to airplane mass, which can be estimated, and (2) the ratio of the coupled bending frequency to the uncoupled pitch frequency, which can be measured in flight. These boundaries are presented for various values of several airplane parameters.

Higdon, Donald T.↗

Advanced Observation Operators for GPS Radio Occultation: Validation of the 2D Ray Tracing Approach with CHAMP and SAC-C bending angle and refractivity data - Part 1

Global Positioning System (GPS) Radio Occultations (RO) bending angles and refractivity data characterize mostly the vertical structure of the Earth's atmosphere. We answer the question whether proper simulation of GPS RO data for data assimilation can be obtained with one-dimensional vertical operators, or if accounting also for horizontal atmospheric structures via ray-tracing makes a positive difference when compared with real data. We present a detailed implementation of a geometrical optics multi-plane two-dimensional (2D) ray-tracing as an observation operator to simulate GPS RO bending angles and refractivities within the Finite Volume Data Assimilation System (FVDAS). Comparisons of the outputs of that 2D observation operator with those of simpler ID observation operators are used to generate estimates of errors induced by neglecting tangent point drift (TPD) and horizontal gradients (HG). These error estimates are then confronted with errors estimates derived using 6335 real CHAMP and SAC-C occultations. The agreement for TPD-induced (HG-induced) errors is remarkably positive at altitudes 10-30 km (below 10 km). Comparisons in bending angles O - B STD of the outputs of the multi-plane 2D ray-tracer with those of a vertical Abel transform show reductions of about 8% of the usual O - B bending angle STD due to TPD in the stratosphere (3% due to HG, in the troposphere only). In terms of refractivity, the O - B STD reductions are about 1520% for TPD and 3-5% for HG in the same regions. These reductions are obtained using either 6-hour forecasts or analyses as backgrounds, and using Geometrical Optics (GO) or Canonical Transform (CT) data.

Poli, P.↗

Error Due to Wing Bending in Single-Camera Photogrammetric Technique

The error due to wing bending introduced into single-camera photogrammetric computations used for the determination of wing twist or control surface angular deformation is described. It is shown that the error due to wing bending when determining main wing element-induced twist is typically less than 0.05deg at the wing tip and may not warrant additional correction. It is also shown that the angular error in control surface deformation due to bending can be as large as 1deg or more if the control surface is at a large deflection angle compared to the main wing element. A correction procedure suitable for control surface measurements is presented. Simulations of the error based on typical wind tunnel measurement geometry, and results from a controlled experimental test in the test section of the National Transonic Facility (NTF) are presented to confirm the validity of the method used for correction of control surface photogrammetric deformation data. An example of a leading edge (LE) slat measurement is presented to illustrate the error due to wing bending and its correction.

Burner, Alpheus W., Jr.↗

Effect of Bending Stiffness of the Electroactive Polymer Element on the Performance of a Hybrid Actuator System (HYBAS)

An electroactive polymer (EAP)-ceramic hybrid actuation system (HYBAS) was developed recently at NASA Langley Research Center. This paper focuses on the effect of the bending stiffness of the EAP component on the performance of a HYBAS, in which the actuation of the EAP element can match the theoretical prediction at various length/thickness ratios for a constant elastic modulus of the EAP component. The effects on the bending stiffness of the elastic modulus and length/thickness ratio of the EAP component were studied. A critical bending stiffness to keep the actuation of the EAP element suitable for a rigid beam theory-based modeling was found for electron irradiated P(VDF-TrFE) copolymer. For example, the agreement of experimental data and theoretical modeling for a HYBAS with the length/thickness ratio of EAP element at 375 times is demonstrated. However, the beam based theoretical modeling becomes invalid (i.e., the profile of the HYBAS movement does not follow the prediction of theoretical modeling) when the bending stiffness is lower than a critical value.

Xu, Tian-Bing↗

Initial Ares I Bending Filter Design

The Ares-I launch vehicle represents a challenging flex-body structural environment for control system design. Software filtering of the inertial sensor output will be required to ensure control system stability and adequate performance. This paper presents a design methodology employing numerical optimization to develop the Ares-I bending filters. The filter design methodology was based on a numerical constrained optimization approach to maximize stability margins while meeting performance requirements. The resulting bending filter designs achieved stability by adding lag to the first structural frequency and hence phase stabilizing the first Ares-I flex mode. To minimize rigid body performance impacts, a priority was placed via constraints in the optimization algorithm to minimize bandwidth decrease with the addition of the bending filters. The bending filters provided here have been demonstrated to provide a stable first stage control system in both the frequency domain and the MSFC MAVERIC time domain simulation.

Jang, Jiann-Woei↗

Active vibration control of structures undergoing bending vibrations

An active vibration control subassembly for a structure (such as a jet engine duct or a washing machine panel) undergoing bending vibrations caused by a source (such as the clothes agitator of the washing machine) independent of the subassembly. A piezoceramic actuator plate is vibratable by an applied electric AC signal. The plate is connected to the structure such that vibrations in the plate induced by the AC signal cause canceling bending vibrations in the structure and such that the plate is compressively pre-stressed along the structure when the structure is free of any bending vibrations. The compressive prestressing increases the amplitude of the canceling bending vibrations before the critical tensile stress level of the plate is reached. Preferably, a positive electric DC bias is also applied to the plate in its poling direction.

Pla, Frederic G.↗

Composite Stiffened Panels: Part I - Stiffness, Thermal Expansion, and Thermal Bending Formulation for Finite Element Analysis

A method is presented for formulating stiffness terms and thermal coefficients of fiber-reinforced composite, stiffened panels for input to finite element analysis (FEA). The method is robust enough to handle panels with general cross sectional shapes, including those which are unsymmetric and/or unbalanced. New thermal coefficients are introduced to quantify panel response from through-the-thickness temperature gradients. Equations are defined for stiffness, thermal expansion, and thermal bending that consider the full complement of membrane, bending, membrane-bending coupling, and transverse shear behavior. A technique of implementing this capability with a single plane of shell finite elements using the MSC/NASTRAN(TradeMark) FEA program is revealed. Finally, an example of a composite, hat-stiffened panel is included to demonstrate errors that occur when an unsymmetric panel is symmetrically formulated as traditionally done. These erroneous values and the correct ones produced from the presented method are listed for the panel's stiffness matrices, thermal expansion and bending vectors, and the forces and moments that are thermally induced from in-plane and through-the-thickness temperature gradients.

Craig S Collier↗

A Simple Test Method for Large Deformation Bending of Thin High Strain Composite Flexures

A simple test method for large deformation bending of thin composite laminates is investigated using image processing and full-field strain measurements. The assumptions and kinematic equations that represent the test are used to calculate numerically the laminate bending stiffness and strength as well as the curvature and strains at failure. In order to validate the test methodology, a comparison is performed between analytical model predictions and empirical data in terms of computed surface strains versus digital image correlation data and calculated rotation angles of the fixture arms throughout the test versus measured ones. The new test method is then used to calculate the bending stiffness in the D11 and D22 directions as well as failure strains for various thin-ply laminates of interest. These parameters are ultimately compared with predicted values using micromechanics and classical lamination theory analysis. In general, bending stiffness and strain test results and predictions for 0 degree orientation coupons have a maximum difference of 10% and 35%.

Fernandez, Juan M.↗

The inward bulge type buckling of monocoque cylinders II : experimental investigation of the buckling in combined bending and compression

This paper is the second part of a series of reports on the inward bulge type buckling of monocoque cylinders. It presents the results of an experimental investigation of buckling in combined bending and compression. In the investigation it was found that the theory developed in part I of the present series predicts the buckling load in combined bending and compression with the same degree of accuracy as the older theory does in pure bending. In the realm covered by the experiments no systematic variation of the parameter N was observed. The analysis of the test results afforded a check on the theories of buckling of a curved panel. The agreement between experiment and theory was reasonably good. In addition, the effect of the end conditions upon the stress distribution under loads and upon initial stresses was investigated.

LOADS-CYLINDERS, MONOCOQUE-STRESS DISTRIBUTION↗

Metal-bending brake facilitates lightweight, close-tolerance fabrication

A lightweight, metal bending brake ensures very accurate bends. Features of the brake that adapt it for making complex reverse bends to close tolerances are a pronounced relief or cutaway of the underside of the bodyplate combined with modification in the leaf design and its suspension.

Ercoline, A. L.↗

Vibrational relaxation of the bending mode of shock-heated CO2 by laser-absorption measurements.

Study of the vibrational relaxation characteristics of shock-heated CO2 using a tuned CO2 laser absorption technique. Absorption-coefficient histories were obtained for a single rotational state in each of the -10 0- and -02 0- levels over the temperature range from 500 to 2000 K, and for 21 rotational states of the -10 0- level at 1000 K. These histories have been combined with translational-rotational temperature histories based on interferometer measurements to calculate vibrational relaxation times for the bending mode. The results verify the mutual equilibrium of the bending and symmetric-stretch modes due to Fermi resonance. The bending mode relaxation times are approximately 10% shorter than predicted from interferometer results using the ratio of specific heats. Furthermore, relaxation times based on measurements of different rotational states at 1000 K show a variation with quantum number J, indicating a possible rotational nonequilibrium during the vibration relaxation process.

Eckstrom, D. J.↗

Effects of curvilinear motion in large-amplitude bending of C3

The geometry of the bending of a linear triatomic molecule is analyzed, and an expression for the average rotational constant is derived. A harmonic oscillator model of C3 is fitted to the observed rotational constant within 0.6%. The bond distance between atoms at zero bending is 1.287 A according to this model; this is noticeably larger than the average internuclear distance of 1.277 A for the vibrational ground state. The first order perturbation solutions for the vibrational energy levels, taking into account the effect of a quartic perturbation potential, closely match observed levels. For a square well potential model of C3, the effect of curvilinear motion in bending is similar to that found for the harmonic oscillator model, though the decreases in energy are about twice as large. In both models, the average energy decrease is relatively constant at approximately 10% over a wide range of vibrational quantum number.

Hansen, C. F.↗

Collapse of long cylindrical shells under combined bending and pressure loads

The nonlinear collapse behavior of long cylindrical shell structures subject to a bending load only or combined bending and uniform normal pressure loads is studied using the STAGS computer code. Two modes of nonlinear collapse are investigated to determine maximum strength. One mode of collapse is described by circumferential flattening of the cylinder cross section, while the other mode is represented by axial wrinkling in the region of maximum compression. Results compare favorably with available published data for cylinders loaded by pure bending, and results are presented for combined loads which have not been previously reported. The collapse loads obtained in this study show that current design criteria are conservative except for a narrow range of length-to-radius ratios and pressures.

Stephens, W. B.↗

The spanwise distribution of lift for minimum induced drag of wings having a given lift and a given bending moment

The problem of the minimum induced drag of wings having a given lift and a given span is extended to include cases in which the bending moment to be supported by the wing is also given. The theory is limited to lifting surfaces traveling at subsonic speeds. It is found that the required shape of the downwash distribution can be obtained in an elementary way which is applicable to a variety of such problems. Expressions for the minimum drag and the corresponding spanwise load distributions are also given for the case in which the lift and the bending moment about the wing root are fixed while the span is allowed to vary. The results show a 15-percent reduction of the induced drag with a 15-percent increase in span as compared with results for an elliptically loaded wing having the same total lift and bending moment.

Jones, R. T.↗

An experimental-theoretical correlation study of non-linear bending and torsion deformations of a cantilever beam

An experimental study of the large deformation of a cantilevered beam under a gravity tip load has been made. The beam root is rotated so that the tip load is oriented at various angles with respect to the beam principal axes. Static twist and bending deflections of the tip and bending natural frequencies have been measured as a function of tip load magnitude and orientation. The experimental data are compared with the results of a recently developed non-linear structural theory. Agreement is reasonably good when bending deflections are small compared to the beam span, but systematic differences occur for larger deflections.

Dowell, E. H.↗

Bending and torsional vibrations of open tube booms on spinning spacecraft

The mathematical formulation is presented of the coupled bending and twisting equations of motion for open tube booms in spinning spacecraft. The equations are applicable to a general class of open tube booms whose shear center does not coincide with the centroid of the cross section. The emphasis in this paper is on the treatment of the coupled bending and twisting motions. The equations of motion of the center of mass are provided in other references. The results of a simulation of the bending and twisting motion of a circular cross-section boom having a small longitudinal slot on a spinning spacecraft is provided. The simulation demonstrates that the centrifugal forces will induce twisting motion due to offset shear center.

Juang, J. N.↗