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At least 109 records · Page 6

Multidisciplinary optimization of aeroservoelastic systems using reduced-size models

Efficient analytical and computational tools for simultaneous optimal design of the structural and control components of aeroservoelastic systems are presented. The optimization objective is to achieve aircraft performance requirements and sufficient flutter and control stability margins with a minimal weight penalty and without violating the design constraints. Analytical sensitivity derivatives facilitate an efficient optimization process which allows a relatively large number of design variables. Standard finite element and unsteady aerodynamic routines are used to construct a modal data base. Minimum State aerodynamic approximations and dynamic residualization methods are used to construct a high accuracy, low order aeroservoelastic model. Sensitivity derivatives of flutter dynamic pressure, control stability margins and control effectiveness with respect to structural and control design variables are presented. The performance requirements are utilized by equality constraints which affect the sensitivity derivatives. A gradient-based optimization algorithm is used to minimize an overall cost function. A realistic numerical example of a composite wing with four controls is used to demonstrate the modeling technique, the optimization process, and their accuracy and efficiency.

Karpel, Mordechay↗

Flight Investigation at Low Angles of Attack to Determine the Longitudinal Stability and Control Characteristics of a Cruciform Canard Missile Configuration with a Low-Aspect-Ratio Wing and Blunt Nose at Mach Numbers from 1.2 to 2.1

A full-scale rocket-powered model of a cruciform canard missile configuration with a low-aspect-ratio wing and blunt nose has been flight tested by the Langley Pilotless Aircraft Research Division. Static and dynamic longitudinal stability and control derivatives of this interdigitated canard-wing missile configuration were determined by using the pulsed-control technique at low angles of attack and for a Mach number range of 1.2 to 2.1. The lift-curve slope showed only small nonlinearities with changes in control deflection or angle of attack but indicated a difference in lift-curve slope of approximately 7 percent for the two control deflections of delta = 3.0 deg and delta = -0.3 deg. The large tail length of the missile tested was effective in producing damping in pitch throughout the Mach number range tested. The aerodynamic-center location was nearly constant with Mach number for the two control deflections but was shown to be less stable with the larger control deflection. The increment of lift produced by the controls was small and positive throughout the Mach number range tested, whereas the pitching moment produced by the controls exhibited a normal trend of reduced effectiveness with increasing Mach number. The effectiveness of the controls in producing angle of attack, lift, and pitching moment was good at all Mach numbers tested.

Brown, C. A., Jr.↗

Aerodynamic Characteristics and Flying Qualities of a Tailless Triangular-wing Airplane Configuration as Obtained from Flights of Rocket-propelled Models at Transonic and Supersonic Speeds

A flight investigation of rocket-powered models of a tailless triangular-wing airplane configuration was made through the transonic and low supersonic speed range at the Langley Pilotless Aircraft Research Station at Wallops Island, Va. An analysis of the aerodynamic coefficients, stability derivatives, and flying qualities based on the results obtained from the successful flight tests of three models is presented.

DAMPING DERIVATIVES - STABILITY↗

Flight Investigation at Low Angles of Attack to Determine the Longitudinal Stability and Control Characteristics of a Cruciform Canard Missile Configuration with a Low-Aspect-Ratio Wing and Blunt Nose at Mach Numbers from 1.2 to 2.1

A full- scale rocket-powered model of a cruciform canard missile configuration with a low- aspect - ratio wing and blunt nose has been flight tested by the Langley Pilotless Aircraft Research Division. Static and dynamic longitudinal stability and control derivatives of this interdigitated canard-wing missile configuration were determined by using the pulsed- control technique at low angles of attack and for a Mach number range of 1.2 to 2.1. The lift - curve slope showed only small nonlinearities with changes in control deflection or angle of attack but indicated a difference in lift- .curve slope of approximately 7 percent for the two control deflections of delta = 3.0 deg and delta= -0.3 deg . The large tail length of the missile tested was effective in producing damping in pitch throughout the Mach number range tested. The aerodynamic- center location was nearly constant with Mach number for the two control deflections but was shown to be less stable with the larger control deflection. The increment of lift produced by the controls was small and positive throughout the Mach number range tested, whereas the pitching moment produced by the controls exhibited a normal trend of reduced effectiveness with increasing Mach number.The effectiveness of the controls in producing angle of attack, lift, and pitching moment was good at all Mach numbers tested.

Brown, Clarence A , Jr↗

Flight Investigation at Low Angles of Attack to Determine the Longitudinal Stability and Control Characteristics of the Sidewinder Missile at Mach Numbers from 1.2 to 2.1

At the request of the Bureau of Ordnance, Department of the Navy, the Langley Pilotless Aircraft Research Division has initiated a program to investigate the general aerodynamic characteristics of the Naval Ordnance Test Station's SIDEWINDER missile. The model used in the flight test presented herein was a full-scale, rocket-propelled test vehicle. This paper presents the results from a flight test investigation using the pulsed-control technique to determine the static and dynamic longitudinal stability and control derivatives and drag data for a canard-missile configuration. The methods for obtaining these data are presented in references 1 and 2. This investigation was conducted at a small angle-of-attack range and for a Mach number range of 1.2 to 2.1. The model used in this investigation was flight-tested at the Langley Pilotless Aircraft Research Station at Wallops Island, Va.

Brown, Clarence A.↗

Thrust law effects on the longitudinal stability of hypersonic cruise

In the present analytical treatment of the cruising flight stability of an aerospacecraft in nearly circular orbit, on the basis of a thrust law which arbitrarily depends on altitude, speed, and angle of attack, attention is given to thrust law effects on the translational (height and phugoid) and rotational (angle of attack) modes. The partial derivatives of the propulsive forces in conjunction with the aerodynamic forces, with respect to speed and altitude, are noted to exert a major influence on the stability of translational dynamics; the partial derivative of the component of propulsive and aerodynamic forces which is perpendicular to vehicle velocity (with respect to the angle of attack) is a primary determinant of the damping of angle-of-attack oscillations, while the partial derivative of the sum about the center of mass of aerodynamic and propulsive pitching moments, with respect to the angle of attack, determines the corresponding period.

Markopoulos, Nikos↗

HARV ANSER Flight Test Data Retrieval and Processing Procedures

Under the NASA High-Alpha Technology Program the High Alpha Research Vehicle (HARV) was used to conduct flight tests of advanced control effectors, advanced control laws, and high-alpha design guidelines for future super-maneuverable fighters. The High-Alpha Research Vehicle is a pre-production F/A-18 airplane modified with a multi-axis thrust-vectoring system for augmented pitch and yaw control power and Actuated Nose Strakes for Enhanced Rolling (ANSER) to augment body-axis yaw control power. Flight testing at the Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) began in July 1995 and continued until May 1996. Flight data will be utilized to evaluate control law performance and aircraft dynamics, determine aircraft control and stability derivatives using parameter identification techniques, and validate design guidelines. To accomplish these purposes, essential flight data parameters were retrieved from the DFRC data system and stored on the Dynamics and Control Branch (DCB) computer complex at Langley. This report describes the multi-step task used to retrieve and process this data and documents the results of these tasks. Documentation includes software listings, flight information, maneuver information, time intervals for which data were retrieved, lists of data parameters and definitions, and example data plots.

Yeager, Jessie C.↗

Conducting polymer-based electrochemical sensors: Progress, challenges, and future perspectives

Conducting polymers are promising due to their unique properties, such as excellent electrical and optical properties, physical and chemical stability, high conductivity, and effective redox properties with high-temperature stability and biocompatibility. Due to these properties, conducting polymers are useful in diverse applications like sensors, batteries, oil industries, biosensors, biomedicines, catalysis, cancer treatment, etc. This review article aims to discuss the recent trends and analysis of conducting polymer-based electrochemical sensors in diverse areas with all required sensor characteristics, such as the derived limit of detection, utilized techniques for the sensing analysis and derived linear dynamic range with the stability of the sensors. Conducting polymers and their nanocomposites-based electrochemical sensors have demonstrated exceptional capabilities towards detecting various biomolecules, heavy metals, pesticides, and viruses like SARS-COV-2. Incorporation of redox mediators, use of conducting hydrogels, and molecular imprinting are promising strategies for better performance of the derived sensor. The article has demonstrated the existing challenges and limitations and provided solutions in the field. In the future, conducting polymers-based electrochemical sensors can be utilized in wearable sensors and integrated with IoT devices for better reach in real-time applications. They can also be made more accessible with precise control and data output by following specific methodologies. Utilizing green and sustainable conducting polymers can be crucial in advancing eco-friendly practices in the future. Conducting polymer-based electrochemical sensors has affectivity in neurochemical and pathogen sensing, which is essential for brain function and mental health.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Average-cost based robust structural control

A method is presented for the synthesis of robust controllers for linear time invariant structural systems with parameterized uncertainty. The method involves minimizing quantities related to the quadratic cost (H2-norm) averaged over a set of systems described by real parameters such as natural frequencies and modal residues. Bounded average cost is shown to imply stability over the set of systems. Approximations for the exact average are derived and proposed as cost functionals. The properties of these approximate average cost functionals are established. The exact average and approximate average cost functionals are used to derive dynamic controllers which can provide stability robustness. The robustness properties of these controllers are demonstrated in illustrative numerical examples and tested in a simple SISO experiment on the MIT multi-point alignment testbed.

Hagood, Nesbitt W.↗

Summary of information on low-speed lateral-directional derivatives due to rate of change of sideslip beta prime

The results presented show that the magnitudes of the aerodynamic stability derivatives due to rate of change of sideslip become quite large at high angles of attack for swept- and delta-wing configurations, and that such derivatives have large effects on the calculated dynamic stability of these configurations at high angles of attack. The wind-tunnel test techniques used to measure the beta prime derivatives and various approaches used to predict them are discussed. Both the conventional oscillating-airfoil theory and the lag-of-the-sidewash theory are shown to be inadequate for predicting the vertical-tail contribution to the acceleration-in-sideslip derivative; a flow-field-lag theory, which is discussed, appears to give qualitative agreement with experimental data for a current twin-jet fighter configuration.

Coe, P. L., Jr.↗

Flight-determined derivatives and dynamic characteristics of the CV-990 airplane

Flight-determined longitudinal and lateral-directional stability and control derivatives are presented for the CV-990 airplane for various combinations of Mach number, altitude, and flap setting throughout the flight envelope up to a Mach number of 0.87. Also presented are the dynamic characteristics of the aircraft calculated from the flight-obtained derivatives and the measured phugoid characteristics. The derivative characteristics were obtained from flight records of longitudinal and lateral-directional transient oscillation maneuvers by using a modified Newton-Raphson digital derivative determination technique. Generally the derivatives exhibited consistent variation with lift coefficient in the low-speed data and with Mach number and altitude in the high-speed data. Many also varied with flap deflection, notably spoiler effectiveness and directional stability.

Gilyard, G. B.↗

FUN3D Analyses in Support of the 1st AIAA Stability and Control Prediction Workshop

The 1st AIAA Stability and Control Prediction Workshop was created to establish best practices for the prediction of stability & control derivatives using computational fluid dynamics and assess the limitations of these computational methods when those best practices are applied. The inaugural workshop considers the ONERA version of the NASA/Boeing Common Research Model(CRM), which includes the wing, body, horizontal tail, and a vertical tail designed by ONERA. Wind tunnel tests have been conducted for this configuration with longitudinal tests having been previously published, in addition to unpublished data at small sideslip angles that will serve as ‘blind’ data for workshop data comparisons. Participants were provided a ‘family’ of unstructured grids for the full-span ONERA CRM model with the wind-tunnel sting included. This family of mixed-element grids consists of 5 levels of refinement (tiny, coarse, medium, fine, and extra fine) with surface and volume mesh scaling, resulting in a size range of 14.6 to 53.4 million nodes. In addition, a medium refinement mesh has been provided for the ONERA CRM configuration without a sting to evaluate the sting’s impact on static longitudinal stability characteristics. In addition to these workshop-provided grids, the present work also considers an equivalent ‘family’ of computational grids generated using Heldenmesh™, a rapid grid generation software by Helden Aerospace Corporation for creating high-quality, three-dimensional, mixed-element unstructured meshes. Because of the authors’ familiarity with this software, these additional grids were generated as a comparison to the workshop-provided grids and to better understand the implications of using volume-mirrored grids for stability and control predictions. The present work will contribute to the workshop with test case data generated using the NASA FUN3D code, a parallelized, unstructured, node-based, finite-volume discretization, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes flow solver. Numerical simulations will be conducted using the Quadratic Constitutive Relationship (QCR) version of the Spalart-Allmaras (SA) turbulence model with negative turbulence variable provisions. Both steady and2nd-order, time-accurate simulation results are to be generated and compared for select test cases, as time permits, to investigate their impact on FUN3D predictions. The present work will consider the three primary workshop test cases: (1) grid convergence study, (2) Mach number effect on static stability, and (3) wind tunnel sting increments. Additionally, data will be provided for the two optional test cases, which include:(1) static stability derivative calculations and (2)sideslip angle sweeps. In each of the test cases, the vehicle is stationary, and the body is assumed to be rigid, where vehicle deformation has been accounted for in the model configuration geometry. For all test cases, longitudinal and lateral force and moment aerodynamic coefficients will be provided for the total configuration, in addition to a component-level breakdown that includes the port wing, starboard wing, fuselage, and tail.

CFD↗

Advancements in frequency-domain methods for rotorcraft system identification

A new method for frequency-domain identification of rotorcraft dynamics is presented. Nonparametric frequency-response identification and parametric tranfer-function modeling methods are extended to allow the extraction of state-space (stability and control derivative) representations. An interactive computer program DERIVID is described for the iterative solution of the multi-input/multi-output frequency-response matching approach used in the identification. Theoretical accuracy methods are used to determine the appropriate model structure and degree-of-confidence in the identified parameters. The method is applied to XV-15 tilt-rotor aircraft data in hover. Bare-airframe stability and control derivatives for the lateral/directional dynamics are shown to compare favorably with models previously obtained using time-domain identification methods and the XV-15 simulation program.

Tischler, Mark B.↗

Advancements in frequency-domain methods for rotorcraft system identification

A new method for frequency-domain identification of rotorcraft dynamics is presented. Nonparametric frequency-response identification and parametric transfer-function modeling methods are extended to allow the extraction of state-space (stability and control derivative) representations. An interactive computer program DERIVID is described for the iterative solution of the multi-input/multi-output frequency-response matching approach used in the identification. Theoretical accuracy methods are used to determine the appropriate model structure and degree-of-confidence in the identified parameters. The method is applied to XV-15 tilt-rotor aircraft data in hover. Bare-airframe stability and control derivatives for the lateral/directional dynamics are shown to compare favorably with models previously obtained using time-domain identification methods and the XV-15 simulation program.

Tischler, Mark B.↗

Practical aspects of modeling aircraft dynamics from flight data

The purpose of parameter estimation, a subset of system identification, is to estimate the coefficients (such as stability and control derivatives) of the aircraft differential equations of motion from sampled measured dynamic responses. In the past, the primary reason for estimating stability and control derivatives from flight tests was to make comparisons with wind tunnel estimates. As aircraft became more complex, and as flight envelopes were expanded to include flight regimes that were not well understood, new requirements for the derivative estimates evolved. For many years, the flight determined derivatives were used in simulations to aid in flight planning and in pilot training. The simulations were particularly important in research flight test programs in which an envelope expansion into new flight regimes was required. Parameter estimation techniques for estimating stability and control derivatives from flight data became more sophisticated to support the flight test programs. As knowledge of these new flight regimes increased, more complex aircraft were flown. Much of this increased complexity was in sophisticated flight control systems. The design and refinement of the control system required higher fidelity simulations than were previously required.

Iliff, K. W.↗

Riding and handling qualities of light aircraft: A review and analysis

Design procedures and supporting data necessary for configuring light aircraft to obtain desired responses to pilot commands and gusts are presented. The procedures employ specializations of modern military and jet transport practice where these provide an improvement over earlier practice. General criteria for riding and handling qualities are discussed in terms of the airframe dynamics. Methods available in the literature for calculating the coefficients required for a linearized analysis of the airframe dynamics are reviewed in detail. The review also treats the relation of spin and stall to airframe geometry. Root locus analysis is used to indicate the sensitivity of airframe dynamics to variations in individual stability derivatives and to variations in geometric parameters. Computer programs are given for finding the frequencies, damping ratios, and time constants of all rigid body modes and for generating time histories of aircraft motions in response to control inputs. Appendices are included presenting the derivation of the linearized equations of motion; the stability derivatives; the transfer functions; approximate solutions for the frequency, damping ratio, and time constants; an indication of methods to be used when linear analysis is inadequate; sample calculations; and an explanation of the use of root locus diagrams and Bode plots.

Smetana, F. O.↗

Integration of Online Parameter Identification and Neural Network for In-Flight Adaptive Control

An indirect adaptive system has been constructed for robust control of an aircraft with uncertain aerodynamic characteristics. This system consists of a multilayer perceptron pre-trained neural network, online stability and control derivative identification, a dynamic cell structure online learning neural network, and a model following control system based on the stochastic optimal feedforward and feedback technique. The pre-trained neural network and model following control system have been flight-tested, but the online parameter identification and online learning neural network are new additions used for in-flight adaptation of the control system model. A description of the modification and integration of these two stand-alone software packages into the complete system in preparation for initial flight tests is presented. Open-loop results using both simulation and flight data, as well as closed-loop performance of the complete system in a nonlinear, six-degree-of-freedom, flight validated simulation, are analyzed. Results show that this online learning system, in contrast to the nonlearning system, has the ability to adapt to changes in aerodynamic characteristics in a real-time, closed-loop, piloted simulation, resulting in improved flying qualities.

Hageman, Jacob↗