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NASA NTRS1997

Coupling Dynamics in Aircraft: A Historical Perspective

Coupling dynamics can produce either adverse or beneficial stability and controllability, depending on the characteristics of the aircraft. This report presents archival anecdotes and analyses of coupling problems experienced by the X-series, Century series, and Space Shuttle aircraft. The three catastrophic sequential coupling modes of the X-2 airplane and the two simultaneous unstable modes of the X-15 and Space Shuttle aircraft are discussed. In addition, the most complex of the coupling interactions, inertia roll coupling, is discussed for the X-2, X-3, F-100A, and YF-102 aircraft. The mechanics of gyroscopics, centrifugal effect, and resonance in coupling dynamics are described. The coupling modes discussed are interacting multiple degrees of freedom of inertial and aerodynamic forces and moments. The aircraft are assumed to be rigid bodies. Structural couplings are not addressed. Various solutions for coupling instabilities are discussed.

Day, Richard E.↗

NASA NTRS1958

Analytical and Experimental Determination of the Coupled Natural Frequencies and Mode Shapes of a Dynamic Model of a Single-Rotor Helicopter

A combined analytical and experimental determination is made of the coupled natural frequencies and mode shapes in the longitudinal plane of symmetry for a dynamic model of a single-rotor helicopter. The analytical phase is worked out on the basis of a seven-degree-of-freedom system combining elastic deflections of the rotor blades, rotor shaft, pylon, and fuselage. The calculated coupled frequencies are first compared with calculated uncoupled frequencies to show the general effects of coupling and then with measured coupled frequencies to determine the extent to which the coupled frequencies can be calculated. The coupled mode shapes are also calculated and were observed visually with stroboscopic lights during the tests. A comparison of the coupled and uncoupled natural frequencies shows that significant differences exist between these frequencies for some of the modes. Good agreement is obtained between the measured and calculated values for the coupled natural frequencies and mode shapes. The results show that the coupled natural frequencies and mode shapes can be determined by the analytical procedure presented herein with sufficient accuracy if the mass and stiffness distributions of the various components of the helicopter are known.

Silveira, Milton A.↗

NASA NTRS1998

A Fresh Look at Coupled-Oscillator Spatial Power Combining

Quasi-optical oscillators were proposed a little more than ten years ago as a means of developing the power levels needed for applications at millimeter frequencies using large numbers of individual semiconductor devices each of which produces only a modest amount of power [J.W. Mink, IEEE Trans. MTT., vol. 34, p. 273, 19861. An operating system was demonstrated soon after [Z.B. Popovic et. al, Int. J. Infrared and Millimeter Waves, v. 9, p. 647, 1988] in the form of a so-called grid oscillator. This device constituted a rectangular array of oscillating devices that are mutually coupled so that they oscillator coherently. The interconnecting lines in one direction serve as radiators so that the oscillators radiate directly, and the radiated fields add. Subsequently, coupled oscillators using resonant transmission line lengths was demonstrated by Mortazawi and Itoh [IEEE Trans. MTT., vol. 38, p. 86,1990). In recent work, coupled-oscillator power combiners have received less attention, with amplifier/combiners receiving more attention. Specific weaknesses of spatial-combining oscillators have motivated this transition. Namely, the oscillators employ low-Q resonators (resulting in low signal quality) and no clear means of modulation has been identified until recently. In this presentation, we review coupled-oscillator combiners in broad terms, indicating the features that make particular systems viable. We indicate how these features can be reconciled to functional requirements for system applications. Comparisons are drawn between two approaches to obtain mutual coupling: One employs low-Q oscillator circuits at each site, with concomitantly high propensity for the oscillators to couple. The other approach employs moderate-Q oscillators at each site with the concomitant requirement to tune the oscillators so that they share a range of frequencies over which they can couple and lock. In either case, precise frequency control and modulation can be achieved through locking to an external frequency source that ensures high quality signals. A recent development in coupled-oscillator arrays provides a means for beam-steering the radiation field of coupled oscillators through de-tuning of the edge elements in the array. This detuning introduces a progressive phase shift across the oscillator array. This 0 suggests architectures that can replace the functionality of a phased array without the cost 0 incurred by phase shifters. A comprehensive theory of the phase interactions among devices in such arrays is under development [e.g., Pogorzelski, York, and Maccarini, 1998 AP-S International Symposium, Atlanta, GA. June, 19981.

Pearson, L.W.↗

NASA NTRS2002

A Modified Wall Matching Treatment to Account for Local Solid to Fluid Thermal Coupling

The wall-matching methodology of Wilcox is modified to include a solid-wall, thermal-conduction model. This coupled fluid-thermal-structure model is derived assuming that the wall thermal-structure behavior is locally one-dimensional and that structural deformations, due to thermally induced stresses, are not significant. The one-dimensional coupled fluid-thermal-structure model is derived such that the wall temperature is removed as an independent boundary condition variable. The one-dimensional coupled fluid-thermal-structure model is also derived for the general case of an arbitrary mixture of thermally prefect gases and a wall of arbitrary thickness and conductivity by using a compressible, streamwise-pressure-gradient-corrected, wall-matching function and Fourier's law of heat conduction. The resulting model was implemented in the VULCAN CFD code as a new boundary condition type. VULCAN was then used to simulate a two-dimensional Mach 6 wind tunnel facility nozzle flow to demonstrate/validate the one-dimensional coupled fluid-thermal-structure model. The nozzle internal-wall surface temperature and heat transfer distributions computed using the one-dimensional coupled fluid-thermal-structure model are compared to wall temperature and heat transfer distributions from an iterative multi-dimensional analysis obtained by coupling the VULCAN CFD code and the MSC/NASTRAN-thermal code. The one-dimensional coupled fluid-thermal-structure model analysis is shown to be very robust and in excellent agreement with the multi-dimensional iteratively coupled analysis. It is also shown that the one-dimensional analysis can be used as an initial guess for the multi-dimensional iteratively coupled analysis.

White, Jeffery A.↗

NASA NTRS2004

ENSO Bred Vectors in Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere General Circulation Models

The breeding method has been implemented in the NASA Seasonal-to-Interannual Prediction Project (NSIPP) Coupled General Circulation Model (CGCM) with the goal of improving operational seasonal to interannual climate predictions through ensemble forecasting and data assimilation. The coupled instability as cap'tured by the breeding method is the first attempt to isolate the evolving ENSO instability and its corresponding global atmospheric response in a fully coupled ocean-atmosphere GCM. Our results show that the growth rate of the coupled bred vectors (BV) peaks at about 3 months before a background ENSO event. The dominant growing BV modes are reminiscent of the background ENSO anomalies and show a strong tropical response with wind/SST/thermocline interrelated in a manner similar to the background ENSO mode. They exhibit larger amplitudes in the eastern tropical Pacific, reflecting the natural dynamical sensitivity associated with the presence of the shallow thermocline. Moreover, the extratropical perturbations associated with these coupled BV modes reveal the variations related to the atmospheric teleconnection patterns associated with background ENSO variability, e.g. over the North Pacific and North America. A similar experiment was carried out with the NCEP/CFS03 CGCM. Comparisons between bred vectors from the NSIPP CGCM and NCEP/CFS03 CGCM demonstrate the robustness of the results. Our results strongly suggest that the breeding method can serve as a natural filter to identify the slowly varying, coupled instabilities in a coupled GCM, which can be used to construct ensemble perturbations for ensemble forecasts and to estimate the coupled background error covariance for coupled data assimilation.

Yang, S. C.↗

NASA NTRS2002

A Modified Wall Matching Treatment to Account for Local Solid to Fluid Thermal Coupling

White, Jeffery A.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Coupling Between Microstrip Lines and Finite Ground Coplanar Lines Embedded in Polyimide Layers for 3D-MMICs on Silicon

Three-dimensional circuits built upon multiple layers of polyimide are required for constructing Si/SiGe monolithic microwave/mm-wave integrated circuits on CMOS (low resistivity) Si wafers. It is expected that these circuits will replace the ones fabricated on GaAs and reduce the overall system cost. However, the closely spaced transmission lines that are required for a high-density circuit environment are susceptible to high levels of cross-coupling, which degrades the overall circuit performance. In this paper, theoretical and experimental results on coupling and ways to reduce it are presented for two types of transmission lines: a) the microstrip line and b) the Finite Ground Coplanar (FGC) line. For microstrip lines it is shown that a fence of metalized via-holes can significantly reduce coupling, especially in the case when both lines are on the same polyimide layer or when the shielding structure extends through several polyimide layers. For closely spaced microstrip lines, coupling is lower for a metal filled trench shield than a via-hole fence. Coupling amongst microstrip lines is dependent on the ratio of line separation to polyimide thickness and is primarily due to magnetic fields. For FGC lines it is shown that they have in general low coupling that can be reduced significantly when there is even a small gap between the ground planes of each line. FGC lines have approximately 8 dB lower coupling than coupled coplanar waveguides (CPW). In addition, forward and backward characteristics of the FGC lines do not resemble those of other transmission lines such as microstrip. Therefore, the coupling mechanism of the FGC lines is different compared to thin film microstrip lines.

Ponchak, G. E.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Impact of Coupled Radiation and Ablation on the Aerothermodynamics of Meteor Entries

A high-fidelity approach for simulating the aerothermodynamic environments of meteor entries is developed. Two primary components of this model are coupled radiation and coupled ablation. Coupled radiation accounts for the impact of radiation on the flow field energy equations, while coupled ablation explicitly models the injection of ablation products within the flow field and radiation simulations. For a meteoroid with a velocity of 20 km/s, coupled radiation reduces the stagnation point radiative heating by over 60%. For altitudes below 40 km, the impact of coupled radiation on the flow field structure is shown to be fundamentally different, as a result of the large optical thicknesses, than that seen for reentry vehicles, which do not reach such altitudes at velocities greater than 10 km/s. The impact of coupled ablation (with coupled radiation) is shown to provide at least a 70% reduction in the radiative heating relative to the coupled-radiation-only cases. This large reduction is partially the result of the low ionization energies, relative to air species, of ablation products. The low ionization energies of ablation products, such as Mg and Ca, provide strong photoionization and atomic line absorption in regions of the spectrum that air species do not. MgO and CaO are also shown to provide significant absorption. Turbulence is shown to impact the distribution of ablation products through the shock- layer, which results in up to a 100% increase in the radiative heating downstream of the stagnation point. To create a database of heat transfer coefficients the developed model was applied to a range of cases. This database considered velocities ranging from 14 to 20 km/s, altitudes ranging from 20 to 50 km, and nose radii ranging from 1 to 100 m. The heat transfer coefficients from these simulations are below 0.045 for the range of cases (with turbulence), which is significantly lower than the canonical value of 0.1.

Johnston, Christopher O.↗

NASA NTRS2024

Enabling Advanced Snow Physics within Land Surface Models Through an Interoperable Model-Physics Coupling Framework

Accurate estimation of snow accumulation and melt is a critical part of decision-making in snow-dominated watersheds. In this study, we demonstrate a flexible methodology to couple a detailed snow model, Crocus, separately to two different land surface models (LSMs), Noah-MP and Noah. The original LSMs and the coupled models (Noah-MP-Crocus and Noah-Crocus) are used to simulate snow depth, snow water equivalent, and other water and energy states and fluxes. The results of simulations are compared against a wide range of independent gridded and point scale reference datasets. Our results show that coupling the detailed snow model, Crocus, with the LSMs improves the snow depth and snow water equivalent relative to independent observations. Overall, larger improvements are obtained with coupling Crocus to the Noah LSM, with the coupled Noah-Crocus configuration reducing the RMSE and bias of snow depth from 2-12% and 57-75%, respectively, relative to Snow Data Assimilation System (SNODAS) and snow product from the University of Arizona. On the other hand, smaller improvements are obtained by coupling Crocus with Noah-MP. The Coupled Noah-MP-Crocus reduces the snow depth bias but slightly degrades the RMSE of snow depth and snow water equivalent. The corresponding impacts in other water budget terms such as evapotranspiration, soil moisture, and streamflow, however, are mixed, pointing to the significant need to improve the coupling assumptions of these processes within land models. Overall, the interoperable coupling framework demonstrated here offers the opportunity to include more detailed snow physics and processes, and to advance data assimilation systems through improved exploitation of information from snow remote sensing instruments.

Snow model↗

NASA NTRS1995

An investigation of the effects of pitch-roll (de)-coupling on helicopter handling qualities

An investigation of the effects of pitch-roll coupling on helicopter handling qualities was performed by the US Army and DLR, using a NASA ground-based and a DLR inflight simulator. Over 90 different coupling configurations were evaluated using a roll-axis tracking task. The results show that although the current ADS-33C coupling criterion discriminates against those types of coupling typical of conventionally controlled helicopters, it not always suited for the prediction of handling qualities of helicopters with modern control systems. Based on the observation that high frequency inputs during tracking are used to alleviate coupling, a frequency domain pitch-roll coupling criterion that uses the average coupling ratio between the bandwidth and neutral stability frequency is formulated. This criterion provides a more comprehensive coverage with respect to the different types of coupling and shows excellent consistency.

CONTROL COUPLING↗

NASA NTRS1967

Effect of Propellant Feed System Coupling and Hydraulic Parameters on Analysis of Chugging

A digital distributed parameter model was used to study the effects of propellant-feed- system coupling and various hydraulic parameters on the analytical prediction of chugging instabilities. Coupling between the combustion chamber and feed system was controlled by varying the compliance of the injector-dome region. The coupling with the feed system above the pump was varied by changing the amount of cavitation compliance at the pump inlet. The stability limits and chugging frequencies proved to be strongly dependent on the degree of feed-system coupling. The maximum stability condition occurred with intermediate coupling. Under conditions of a high degree of feed-system-combustor coupling, the stability limits and chugging frequencies were primarily dependent on the feed-system characteristics; the responses were characterized by beating patterns. For the system analyzed, the pump suction line had little effect on the stability limits or chugging frequencies. Beating, present under the condition of near zero injector -dome compliance, was eliminated when the suction line was decoupled by employing a sufficiently high value of pump-inlet compliance. Under conditions of maximum feed-system coupling, the magnitude and distribution of line losses in the discharge line had a significant effect on the stability limits but had negligible effect on the chugging frequency and beating characteristics. Also, the length of the discharge line greatly affected the stability limits, chugging frequency, and beating characteristics. The length of the suction line, however, had little effect on the stability limits and chugging frequency but did influence the beating pattern. A resistive-shunt device attached to the pump discharge line to suppress chugging was investigated. The analysis showed that the device was effective under conditions of high feed-system coupling.

CHUGGING↗

NASA NTRS2011

Life Testing of Yb14MnSb11 for High Performance Thermoelectric Couples

The goal of this study is to verify the long term stability of Yb14MnSb11 for high performance thermoelectric (TE) couples. Three main requirements need to be satisfied to ensure the long term stability of thermoelectric couples: 1) stable thermoelectric properties, 2) stable bonding interfaces, and 3) adequate sublimation suppression. The efficiency of the couple is primarily based on the thermoelectric properties of the materials selected for the couple. Therefore, these TE properties should exhibit minimal degradation during the operating period of the thermoelectric couples. The stability of the bonding is quantified by low contact resistances of the couple interfaces. In order to ensure high efficiency, the contact resistances of the bonding interfaces should be negligible. Sublimation suppression is important because the majority of thermoelectric materials used for power generation have peak figures of merit at temperatures where sublimation rates are high. Controlling sublimation is also essential to preserve the efficiency of the couple. During the course of this research, three different life tests were performed with Yb14MnSb11 coupons. TE properties of Yb14MnSb11 exhibited no degradation after 6 months of aging at 1273K, and the electrical contact resistance between a thin metallization layer and the Yb14MnSb11 remained negligible after 1500hr aging at 1273K. A sublimation suppression layer for Yb14MnSb11 was developed and demonstrated for more than 18 months with coupon testing at 1273K. These life test data indicate that thermoelectric elements based on Yb14MnSb11 are a promising technology for use in future high performance thermoelectric power generating couples.

thermoelectric couples↗

DOE OSTI2026

Perspective: Magnon-magnon coupling in hybrid magnonics

The internal coupling of magnetic excitations (magnons) with themselves has created a new research sub-field in hybrid magnonics, i.e., magnon-magnon coupling, which focuses on materials discovery and engineering for probing and controlling magnons in a coherent manner. This is enabled by, one, the abundant mechanisms of introducing magnetic interactions, with examples of exchange coupling, dipolar coupling, Ruderman–Kittel–Kasuya–Yosida (RKKY) coupling, and Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI) coupling, and two, the vast knowledge of how to control magnon band structure, including field and wavelength dependences of frequencies, for determining the degeneracy of magnon modes with different symmetries. In particular, we discuss how magnon-magnon coupling is implemented in various materials systems, with examples of magnetic bilayers, synthetic antiferromagnets, nanomagnetic arrays, layered van der Waals magnets, and (DMI spin-orbit torque materials) in magnetic multilayers. Here, we then introduce new concept of applications for these hybrid magnonic materials systems, with examples of frequency up/down conversion and magnon-exciton coupling, and discuss what properties are desired for achieving those applications.

Materials science↗

DOE OSTI2025

A process-based evaluation of biases in extratropical stratosphere–troposphere coupling in subseasonal forecast systems

Abstract. Two-way coupling between the stratosphere and troposphere is recognized as an important source of subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) predictability and can open windows of opportunity for improved forecasts. Model biases can, however, lead to a poor representation of such coupling processes; drifts in a model's circulation related to model biases, resolution, and parameterizations have the potential to feed back on the circulation and affect stratosphere–troposphere coupling. We introduce a set of diagnostics using readily available data that can be used to reveal these biases and then apply these diagnostics to 22 S2S forecast systems. In the Northern Hemisphere, nearly all S2S forecast systems underestimate the strength of the observed upward coupling from the troposphere to the stratosphere, downward coupling within the stratosphere, and the persistence of lower-stratospheric temperature anomalies. While downward coupling from the lower stratosphere to the near surface is well represented in the multi-model ensemble mean, there is substantial intermodel spread likely related to how well each model represents tropospheric stationary waves. In the Southern Hemisphere, the stratospheric vortex is oversensitive to upward-propagating wave flux in the forecast systems. Forecast systems generally overestimate the strength of downward coupling from the lower stratosphere to the troposphere, even as most underestimate the radiative persistence in the lower stratosphere. In both hemispheres, models with higher lids and a better representation of tropospheric quasi-stationary waves generally perform better at simulating these coupling processes.

Garfinkel, Chaim I. (ORCID:000000017258666X)↗

NASA NTRS1978

Considerations in the design of tip-coupled air-transport systems

It is shown that the lift-drag ratio of tip-coupled systems can be expressed as a simple multiple of the lift-drag ratio of the isolated units comprising the system. When operated for maximum lift-drag ratio, the extent of the coupled system is limited by maximum lift coefficient, high-altitude engine characteristics, and degraded performance of the isolated unit climbing to couple into the system. When operated at constant altitude, the gain from coupling is severely limited. If the cruise altitude is that for best performance of the isolated unit, the system lift-drag ratio can be no better than twice that of the isolated unit even when an infinite number of units are coupled. System performance may be further degraded since span-load distributions which yield good performance for the individual units reduce the efficiency of the coupled system. Coupling a pair of modern transport aircraft results in only about half the expected gain because of a poor span-distribution across the coupled pair. The control deflections required to maintain roll and pitch equilibrium further degrade the possible gain.

Heyson, H. H.↗

NASA NTRS1980

The solar wind-magnetosphere energy coupling and magnetospheric disturbances

Energy coupling between the solar wind and the magnetosphere is examined and the influence of this coupling on magnetospheric disturbances is discussed. Following a review of the components of the total energy production rate of the magnetosphere and progress in the study of solar wind-magnetosphere correlations, the derivation of the solar wind-magnetosphere energy coupling function, which has been found to correlate well with the total magnetospheric energy production rate, is presented. Examination of the relations between the energy coupling function and the type of magnetic disturbance with which it is associated indicates that magnetic storms with a large sudden storm commencement and a weak main phase are associated with small energy coupling, while values of the coupling function greater than 5 x 10 to the 18th to 10 to the 19th erg/sec are required for the development of a major geomagnetic storm. The magnetospheric substorm is shown to be a direct result of increased solar wind-magnetosphere energy coupling rather than the sudden conversion of stored magnetic energy. Finally, it is indicated that at energy couplings greater than 10 to the 19th erg/sec, the positive feedback process responsible for substorms breaks down, resulting in the abnormal growth of the ring current.

Akasofu, S.-I.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Vibration localization in mono- and bi-coupled bladed disks - A transfer matrix approach

A transfer matrix approach to the analysis of the dynamics of mistuned bladed disks is presented. The study focuses on mono-coupled systems, in which each blade is coupled to its two neighboring blades, and bi-coupled systems, where each blade is coupled to its four nearest neighbors. Transfer matrices yield the free dynamics, both the characteristic free wave and the normal modes - in closed form for the tuned assemblies. Mistuned assemblies are represented by random transfer matrices and an examination of the effect of mistuning on harmonic wave propagation yields the localization factor - the average rate of spatial wave amplitude decay per blade - in the mono-coupled assembly. Based on a comparison of the wave propagation characteristics of the mono- and bi-coupled assemblies, important conclusions are drawn about the effect of the additional coupling coordinate on the sensitivity to mistuning and the strength of mode localization predicted by a mono-coupled analysis.

Ottarsson, Gisli↗

NASA NTRS1995

An investigation of the effects of pitch-roll (de)coupling on helicopter handling qualities

An extensive investigation of the effects of pitch-roll coupling on helicopter handling qualities was performed by the U.S. Army and Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fur Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), using a NASA ground-based and a DLR in-flight simulator. Over 90 different coupling configurations were evaluated using a high gain roll-axis tracking task. The results show that although the current ADS-33C coupling criterion discriminates against those types of coupling typical of conventionally controlled helicopters, it is not always suited for the prediction of handling qualities of helicopters with modern control systems. Based on the observation that high frequency inputs during tracking are used to alleviate coupling, a frequency domain pitch-roll coupling criterion that uses the average coupling ratio between the bandwidth and neutral stability frequency is formulated. This criterion provides a more comprehensive coverage with respect to the different types of coupling, shows excellent consistency, and has the additional benefit that compliance testing data are obtained from the bandwidth/phase delay tests, so that no additional flight testing is needed.

Blanken, C. L.↗