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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 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1940

Preliminary Investigation of the Flying Qualities of Airplanes

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics is undertaking an investigation of the flying qualities of airplanes. The work consists in the determination of the significant qualities susceptible of measurement, the development of the instruments required to make the measurements, and the accumulation of data on the flying qualities of existing airplanes, which data are to serve as a basis for quantitative specifications for the flying qualities of future designs. A tentative schedule of measurable flying qualities has been prepared and the instruments needed for their measurements have been assembled. A trial of the schedule and the instruments has been made using the Stinson SR-8e airplane. The results showed that, although the original schedule and instruments are basically satisfactory some further development is required to eliminate nonessential items and to expedite flight testing. The report describes and discusses the work done with this airplane.

Soule, H A↗
NASA NTRS1949

Sound-Level Measurements of a Light Airplane Modified to Reduce Noise Reaching the Ground

An Army liaison-type airplane, representative of personal airplanes in the 150 to 200 horsepower class, has been modified to reduce propeller and engine noise according to known principles of airplane-noise reduction. Noise-level measurements demonstrate that, with reference to an observer on the ground, a noisy airplane of this class can be made quiet -- perhaps more quiet than necessary. In order to avoid extreme and unnecessary modifications, acceptable noise levels must be determined.

Vogeley, A W↗
NASA NTRS1952

Flight investigation of the effect of control centering springs on the apparent spiral stability of a personal-owner airplane

Report presents the results of a flight investigation conducted on a typical high-wing personal-owner airplane to determine the effect of control centering springs on apparent spiral stability. Apparent spiral stability is the term used to describe the spiraling tendencies of an airplane in uncontrolled flight as affected both by the true spiral stability of the perfectly trimmed airplane and by out-of-trim control settings. Centering springs were used in both the aileron and rudder control systems to provide both a positive centering action and a means of trimming the airplane. The springs were preloaded so that when they were moved through neutral they produced a nonlinear force gradient sufficient to overcome the friction in the control surface at the proper setting for trim. The ailerons and rudder control surfaces did not have trim tabs that could be adjusted in flight.

Campbell, John P↗
NASA NTRS1993

The airplane: A simulated commercial air transportation study

The 'Airplane' is a moderate-range, 70 passenger aircraft. It is designed to serve demands for flights up to 10,000 feet and it cruises at 32 ft/s. The major drivers for the design of the Airplane are economic competitiveness, takeoff performance, and weight minimization. The Airplane is propelled by a single Astro 15 electric motor and a Zinger 12-8 propeller. The wing section is a Spica airfoil which, because of its flat bottom, provides simplicity in manufacturing and thus helps to cut costs. The wing is constructed of a single load bearing mainspar and shape-holding ribs coated with Monokote skin, lending to a light weight structural makeup. The fuselage houses the motor, flight deck and passenger compartments as well as the fuel and control actuating systems. The wing will be attached to the top of the fuselage as will the fuel and control actuator systems for easy disassembly and maintenance. The aircraft is maneuvered about its pitch axis by means of an aft elevator on the flat plate horizontal tail. The twin vertical tail surfaces are also flat plates and each features a rudder for both directional and roll control. Along with wing dihedral, the rudders will be used to roll the aircraft. The Airplane is less costly to operate at its own maximum range and capacity as well as at its maximum range and the HB-40's maximum capacity than the HB-40.

Dauteuil, Mark↗
NASA NTRS1994

Flight testing a propulsion-controlled aircraft emergency flight control system on an F-15 airplane

Flight tests of a propulsion-controlled aircraft (PCA) system on an F-15 airplane have been conducted at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. The airplane was flown with all flight control surfaces locked both in the manual throttles-only mode and in an augmented system mode. In the latter mode, pilot thumbwheel commands and aircraft feedback parameters were used to position the throttles. Flight evaluation results showed that the PCA system can be used to land an airplane that has suffered a major flight control system failure safely. The PCA system was used to recover the F-15 airplane from a severe upset condition, descend, and land. Pilots from NASA, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and McDonnell Douglas Aerospace evaluated the PCA system and were favorably impressed with its capability. Manual throttles-only approaches were unsuccessful. This paper describes the PCA system operation and testing. It also presents flight test results and pilot comments.

Burcham, F. W., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Boeing Satellite Television Airplane Receiving System (STARS) performance

Boeing Defense and Space Group is developing a Satellite Television Airplane Receiving System (STARS) capable of delivering Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) television to an aircraft in-flight. This enables a new service for commercial airplanes that will make use of existing and future DBS systems. The home entertainment satellites, along with STARS, provide a new mobile satellite communication application. This paper will provide a brief background of the antenna issues associated with STARS for commercial airplanes and then describe the innovative Boeing phased-array solution to these problems. The paper then provides a link budget of the STARS using the Hughes DBS as an example, but the system will work with all of the proposed DBS satellites in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band. It concludes with operational performance calculations of the STARS system, supported by measured test data of an operational 16-element subarray. Although this system is being developed for commercial airplanes, it is well suited for a wide variety of mobile military and other commercial communications systems in air, on land and at sea. The applications include sending high quality video for the digital battlefield and large volumes of data on the information superhighway at rates in excess of 350 Mbps.

Vertatschitsch, Edward J.↗
NASA NTRS1944

A Theoretical Investigation of Longitudinal Stability of Airplanes with Free Controls Including Effect of Friction in Control System

The relation between the elevator hinge moment parameters and the control forces for changes in forward speed and in maneuvers is shown for several values of static stability and elevator mass balance. The stability of the short period oscillations is shown as a series of boundaries giving the limits of the stable regions in terms of the elevator hinge moment parameters. The effects of static stability, elevator moment of inertia, elevator mass unbalance, and airplane density are also considered. Dynamic instability is likely to occur if there is mass unbalance of the elevator control system combined with a small restoring tendency (high aerodynamic balance). This instability can be prevented by a rearrangement of the unbalancing weights which, however, involves an increase of the amount of weight necessary. It can also be prevented by the addition of viscous friction to the elevator control system provided the airplane center of gravity is not behind a certain critical position. For high values of the density parameter, which correspond to high altitudes of flight, the addition of moderate amounts of viscous friction may be destabilizing even when the airplane is statically stable. In this case, increasing the viscous friction makes the oscillation stable again. The condition in which viscous friction causes dynamic instability of a statically stable airplane is limited to a definite range of hinge moment parameters. It is shown that, when viscous friction causes increasing oscillations, solid friction will produce steady oscillations having an amplitude proportional to the amount of friction.

Greenberg, Harry↗
NASA NTRS1996

Development and Flight Test of an Augmented Thrust-Only Flight Control System on an MD-11 Transport Airplane

An emergency flight control system using only engine thrust, called Propulsion-Controlled Aircraft (PCA), has been developed and flight tested on an MD-11 airplane. In this thrust-only control system, pilot flight path and track commands and aircraft feedback parameters are used to control the throttles. The PCA system was installed on the MD-11 airplane using software modifications to existing computers. Flight test results show that the PCA system can be used to fly to an airport and safely land a transport airplane with an inoperative flight control system. In up-and-away operation, the PCA system served as an acceptable autopilot capable of extended flight over a range of speeds and altitudes. The PCA approaches, go-arounds, and three landings without the use of any non-nal flight controls have been demonstrated, including instrument landing system-coupled hands-off landings. The PCA operation was used to recover from an upset condition. In addition, PCA was tested at altitude with all three hydraulic systems turned off. This paper reviews the principles of throttles-only flight control; describes the MD-11 airplane and systems; and discusses PCA system development, operation, flight testing, and pilot comments.

Burcham, Frank W., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Definition of 1992 Technology Aircraft Noise Levels and the Methodology for Assessing Airplane Noise Impact of Component Noise Reduction Concepts

This report describes the methodology for assessing the impact of component noise reduction on total airplane system noise. The methodology is intended to be applied to the results of individual study elements of the NASA-Advanced Subsonic Technology (AST) Noise Reduction Program, which will address the development of noise reduction concepts for specific components. Program progress will be assessed in terms of noise reduction achieved, relative to baseline levels representative of 1992 technology airplane/engine design and performance. In this report, the 1992 technology reference levels are defined for assessment models based on four airplane sizes - an average business jet and three commercial transports: a small twin, a medium sized twin, and a large quad. Study results indicate that component changes defined as program final goals for nacelle treatment and engine/airframe source noise reduction would achieve from 6-7 EPNdB reduction of total airplane noise at FAR 36 Stage 3 noise certification conditions for all of the airplane noise assessment models.

Kumasaka, Henry A.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Advanced Configurations for Very Large Subsonic Transport Airplanes

Recent aerospace industry interest in developing a subsonic commercial transport airplane with 50 percent greater passenger capacity than the largest existing aircraft in this category (the Boeing 747-400 with approximately 400-450 seats) has generated a range of proposals based largely on the configuration paradigm established nearly 50 years ago with the Boeing B-47 bomber. While this basic configuration paradigm has come to dominate subsonic commercial airplane development since the advent of the Boeing 707/Douglas DC-8 in the mid-1950's, its extrapolation to the size required to carry more than 600-700 passengers raises several questions. To explore these and a number of related issues, a team of Boeing, university, and NASA engineers was formed under the auspices of the NASA Advanced Concepts Program. The results of a Research Analysis focused on a large, unconventional transport airplane configuration for which Boeing has applied for a patent are the subject of this report. It should be noted here that this study has been conducted independently of the Boeing New Large Airplane (NLA) program, and with the exception of some generic analysis tools which may be common to this effort and the NLA (as will be described later), no explicit Boeing NLA data other than that published in the open literature has been used in the conduct of the study reported here.

McMasters, John H.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Development and Flight Test of an Emergency Flight Control System Using Only Engine Thrust on an MD-11 Transport Airplane

An emergency flight control system that uses only engine thrust, called the propulsion-controlled aircraft (PCA) system, was developed and flight tested on an MD-11 airplane. The PCA system is a thrust-only control system, which augments pilot flightpath and track commands with aircraft feedback parameters to control engine thrust. The PCA system was implemented on the MD-11 airplane using only software modifications to existing computers. Results of a 25-hr flight test show that the PCA system can be used to fly to an airport and safely land a transport airplane with an inoperative flight control system. In up-and-away operation, the PCA system served as an acceptable autopilot capable of extended flight over a range of speeds, altitudes, and configurations. PCA approaches, go-arounds, and three landings without the use of any normal flight controls were demonstrated, including ILS-coupled hands-off landings. PCA operation was used to recover from an upset condition. The PCA system was also tested at altitude with all three hydraulic systems turned off. This paper reviews the principles of throttles-only flight control, a history of accidents or incidents in which some or all flight controls were lost, the MD-11 airplane and its systems, PCA system development, operation, flight testing, and pilot comments.

Burcham, Frank W., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1959

Evaluation of Several Approximate Methods for Calculating the Symmetrical Bending-Moment Response of Flexible Airplanes to Isotropic Atmospheric Turbulence

Several approximate procedures for calculating the bending-moment response of flexible airplanes to continuous isotropic turbulence are presented and evaluated. The modal methods (the mode-displacement and force-summation methods) and a matrix method (segmented-wing method) are considered. These approximate procedures are applied to a simplified airplane for which an exact solution to the equation of motion can be obtained. The simplified airplane consists of a uniform beam with a concentrated fuselage mass at the center. Airplane motions are limited to vertical rigid-body translation and symmetrical wing bending deflections. Output power spectra of wing bending moments based on the exact transfer-function solutions are used as a basis for the evaluation of the approximate methods. It is shown that the force-summation and the matrix methods give satisfactory accuracy and that the mode-displacement method gives unsatisfactory accuracy.

Bennett, Floyd V.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Exploring Venus by Solar Airplane

A solar-powered airplane is proposed to explore the atmospheric environment of Venus. Venus has several advantages for a solar airplane. At the top of the cloud level, the solar intensity is comparable to or greater than terrestrial solar intensities. The Earthlike atmospheric pressure means that the power required for flight is lower for Venus than that of Mars, and the slow rotation of Venus allows an airplane to be designed for continuous sunlight, with no energy storage needed for night-time flight. These factors mean that Venus is perhaps the easiest planet in the solar system for flight of a long-duration solar airplane.

Landis, Geoffrey A.↗
NASA NTRS2002

A Study of Transport Airplane Crash-Resistant Fuel Systems

This report presents the results of a study, funded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), of transport airplane crash-resistant fuel system (CRFS). The report covers the historical studies related to aircraft crash fires and fuel containment concepts undertaken by the FAA, NASA, and the U.S. Army, which ultimately led to the current state of the art in CRFS technology. It describes the basic research, testing, field investigations and production efforts which have led to the highly successful military CRFS, which has saved many lives and reduced costs of accidents. Current CRFS technology used in transport category airplanes is defined and compared to the available state-of-the-art technology. The report provides information to the FAA and other government organizations which can help them plan their efforts to improve the state of crash fire protection in the transport airplane fleet. The report provides guidance to designers looking for information about CRFS design problems, analysis tools to use for product improvement, and a summary of current and proposed regulations for transport category airplane fuel systems.

Jones, Lisa↗
NASA NTRS1956

Ditching Investigation of a 1/12-Scale Model of the Douglas F4D-1 Airplane, TED No. NACA DE 384

A ditching investigation was made of a l/l2-scale dynamically similar model of the Douglas F4D-1 airplane to study its behavior when ditched. The model was landed in calm water at the Langley tank no. 2 monorail. Various landing attitudes, speeds, and configurations were investigated. The behavior of the model was determined from visual observations, acceleration records, and motion-picture records of the ditchings. Data are presented in tables, sequence photographs, time-history acceleration curves, and attitude curves. From the results of the investigation, it was concluded that the airplane should be ditched at the lowest speed and highest attitude consistent with adequate control (near 22 deg) with landing gear retracted. In a calm-water ditching under these conditions the airplane will probably nose in slightly, then make a fairly smooth run. The fuselage bottom will sustain appreciable damage so that rapid flooding and short flotation time are likely. Maximum longitudinal deceleration will be about 4g and maximum normal acceleration will be about 6g in a landing run of about 420 feet, In a calm-water ditching under similar conditions with the landing gear extended, the airplane will probably dive. Maximum longitudinal decelerations will be about 5-1/2g and maximum normal accelerations will be about 3-1/2g in a landing run of about 170 feet.

Windham, John O.↗
NASA NTRS1949

Investigations on the Stability, Oscillation, and Stress Conditions of Airplanes with Tab Control: First Partial Report. Derivation of the Equations of Motion and their General Solutions

For the design and the construction of airplanes the control is of special significance, not only with regard to the flight mechhnical properties but also for the proportional arrangement of wing unit, fuselage, and tail unit. whereas these problems may be regarded as solved for direct control of airplane motions, that is, for immediate operation of the control surfaces, they are not clarified as to oscimtions, stability, and stress phenomena occurring in flight motions with Indirect control, ss realized for instance in tab control. Its modus operandi is based on the activation of a tab hinged to the trailing edge & the main control surface. Due to lift and drag variations, mcments originate about the axis of rotation of the main contnol surface which cause an up-or--down floating of the main control surface and thus a change in the direction of the airplane. Since this tab control means flying with free control surface , the treatment of this problem should provide the basis on which to judge stability, oscilhtton, and stress data.The present report is to represent a contribution toward the clarification of the problems arising and, to treat the longitudinal motion of an airplane.

Filzek, B.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Performance of a Fuel-Cell-Powered, Small Electric Airplane Assessed

Rapidly emerging fuel-cell-power technologies may be used to launch a new revolution of electric propulsion systems for light aircraft. Future small electric airplanes using fuel cell technologies hold the promise of high reliability, low maintenance, low noise, and - with the exception of water vapor - zero emissions. An analytical feasibility and performance assessment was conducted by NASA Glenn Research Center's Airbreathing Systems Analysis Office of a fuel-cell-powered, propeller-driven, small electric airplane based on a model of the MCR-01 two-place kitplane (Dyn'Aero, Darois, France). This assessment was conducted in parallel with an ongoing effort by the Advanced Technology Products Corporation and the Foundation for Advancing Science and Technology Education. Their project - partially funded by a NASA grant - is to design, build, and fly the first manned, continuously propelled, nongliding electric airplane. In our study, an analytical performance model of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell propulsion system was developed and applied to a notional, two-place light airplane modeled after the MCR-01 kitplane. The PEM fuel cell stack was fed pure hydrogen fuel and humidified ambient air via a small automotive centrifugal supercharger. The fuel cell performance models were based on chemical reaction analyses calibrated with published data from the fledgling U.S. automotive fuel cell industry. Electric propeller motors, rated at two shaft power levels in separate assessments, were used to directly drive a two-bladed, variable-pitch propeller. Fuel sources considered were compressed hydrogen gas and cryogenic liquid hydrogen. Both of these fuel sources provided pure, contaminant-free hydrogen for the PEM cells.

Berton, Jeffrey J.↗
NASA NTRS1937

The Transition Phase in the Take-Off of an Airplane, Special Report

An investigation was undertaken to determine the character and importance of the transition phase between the ground run and steady climb in the takeoff of an airplane and the effects of various factors on this phase and on the airborne part of the takeoff as a whole. The information was obtained from a series of step-by-step integrations, which defined the motion of the airplane during the transition and which were based on data derived from actual takeoff tests of a Verville AT airplane. Both normal and zoom takeoffs under several loading and takeoff speed conditions were considered. The effects of a moderate wind with a corresponding wind gradient and the effect of proximity of the ground were also investigated. The results show that, for normal takeoffs, the best transition was realized at the lowest possible takeoff speed. Moreover, this speed gave the shortest overall takeoff distance for normal takeoffs. Zoom takeoffs required a shorter overall takeoff run than normal takeoffs, particularly with a heavy landing, if the obstacle to be cleared was sufficiently high (greater than 50 feet); no advantage was indicated to the airplane with a light loading if the height to be cleared was less. The error resulting from the neglect of the transition in the calculation of the airborne distance of takeoff was found to vary from 4% with the heaviest loading considered to -4% with the lightest loading for normal takeoffs over a 100-ft obstacle; the percentage error was twice as great for a 50-foot obstacle. For zoom takeoffs the error attained much greater values. The average wind gradient corresponding to a 5-mile-per-hour surface wind reduced the airborne distance required to clear a 50-foot obstacle by about 9% with the lightest loading and 16% with the heaviest loading; for both cases. The overall reduction due to this wind was approximately twice that resulting from the wind gradient alone. A simple expression for the reduction of observed takeoff performance to no-wind conditions is presented. Ground effect is shown to reduce the airborne distance to attain a height of 50 foot by 10% with the lightest loading and 16% with the heaviest loading; for a 100-foot obstacle the percentage reduction was about 1/2 as great.

Wetmore, J. W.↗