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At least 19 records

Navier-Stokes computations on full-span wing-body configuration with oscillating control surfaces

Unsteady Navier-Stokes simulations have been performed for vortical flows over an 'arrow-wing' configuration of a supersonic transport in the transonic regime. Computed steady pressures and integrated force coefficients with and without control surface deflection at a moderate angle of attack are compared with experiment. For unsteady cases, oscillating trailing-edge control surfaces are modeled by using moving grids. Response characteristics between symmetric and anti-symmetric oscillatory motions of the control surfaces on the left and right wings are studied. The anti-symmetric case produces higher lift than the steady case with no deflection, and the unsteady symmetric case produces higher lift than the anti-symmetric case. The detailed analysis of the wake structure revealed a strong interaction between the primary vortex and the wake vortex sheet from the flap region when the flap is deflected up.

Obayashi, Shigeru↗

Navier-Stokes Computations on Full Wing-Body Configuration with Oscillating Control Surfaces

Unsteady Navier-Stokes simulations have been performed for vortical flows over an "arrow-wing" configuration of a supersonic transport in the transonic regime. Computed steady pressures and integrated force coefficients with and without control surface deflection at a moderate angle of attack are compared with experiment. For unsteady cases, oscillating trailing-edge control surfaces are modeled by using moving grids. Response characteristics between symmetric and antisymmetric oscillatory motions of the control surfaces on the left and right wings are studied. The antisymmetric case produces higher lift than the steady case with no deflection and the unsteady symmetric case produces higher lift than the antisymmetric case. The detailed analysis of the wake structure revealed a strong interaction between the primary vortex and the wake vortex sheet from the flap region when the flap is deflected up.

Obayashi, Shigeru↗

User Manual for Beta Version of TURBO-GRD: A Software System for Interactive Two-Dimensional Boundary/ Field Grid Generation, Modification, and Refinement

TURBO-GRD is a software system for interactive two-dimensional boundary/field grid generation. modification, and refinement. Its features allow users to explicitly control grid quality locally and globally. The grid control can be achieved interactively by using control points that the user picks and moves on the workstation monitor or by direct stretching and refining. The techniques used in the code are the control point form of algebraic grid generation, a damped cubic spline for edge meshing and parametric mapping between physical and computational domains. It also performs elliptic grid smoothing and free-form boundary control for boundary geometry manipulation. Internal block boundaries are constructed and shaped by using Bezier curve. Because TURBO-GRD is a highly interactive code, users can read in an initial solution, display its solution contour in the background of the grid and control net, and exercise grid modification using the solution contour as a guide. This process can be called an interactive solution-adaptive grid generation.

Choo, Yung K.↗

Investigation of Vortex Flaps and Other Flow Control Devices on Generic High-Speed Civil Transport Planforms

A parametric cranked delta planform study has been conducted in the Langley 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel with the following objectives: (1) to evaluate the vortex flap design methodology for cranked delta wings, (2) to determine the influence of leading-edge sweep and the outboard wing on vortex flap effectiveness, (3) to evaluate novel flow control concepts, and (4) to validate unstructured grid Euler computer code predictions with modeled vortex and trailing-edge flaps. Two families of cranked delta planforms were investigated. One family had constant aspect ratio, while the other had a constant nondimensional semispan location of the leading-edge break. The inboard leading-edge sweep of the planforms was varied between 68 deg., 71 deg., and 74 deg., while outboard leading-edge sweep was varied between 48 deg. and 61 deg. Vortex flaps for the different planforms were designed by an analytical vortex flap design method. The results indicate that the effectiveness of the vortex flaps was only slightly influenced by the variations in the parametric planforms. The unstructured grid Euler computer code was successfully used to model the configurations with vortex flaps. The vortex trap concept was successfully demonstrated.

Kjerstad, Kevin J.↗

Navier-Stokes calculations and turbulence modeling in the trailing edge region of a circulation control airfoil

The accurate prediction of turbulent flows over curved surfaces in general and over the trailing edge region of circulation control airfoils in particular requires the coupled efforts of turbulence modelers, numerical analysts and experimentalists. The purpose of the research program in this area is described. Then, the influence on turbulence modeling of the flow characteristics over a typical circulation control wing is discussed. Next, the scope of this effort to study turbulence in the trailing edge region of a circulation control airfoil is presented. This is followed by a brief overview of the computation scheme, including the grid, governing equations, numerical method, boundary conditions and turbulence models applied to date. Then, examples of applications of two algebraic eddy viscosity models to the trailing edge region of a circulation control airfoil is presented. The results from the calculations is summarized, and conclusions drawn based on examples. Finally, the future directions of the program is outlined.

Viegas, John R.↗

Effects of leading-edge flap oscillation on unsteady delta wing flow and rock control

The isolated and interdisciplinary problems of unsteady fluid dynamics and rigid-body dynamics and control of delta wings with and without leading-edge flap oscillation are considered. For the fluid dynamics problem, the unsteady, compressible, thin-layer Navier-Stokes (NS) equations, which are written relative to a moving frame of reference, are solved along with the unsteady, linearized, Navier-displacement (ND) equations. The NS equations are solved for the flowfield using an implicit finite-volume scheme. The ND equations are solved for the grid deformation, if the leading-edge flaps oscillate, using an ADI scheme. For the dynamics and control problem, the Euler equation of rigid-body rolling motion for a wing and its flaps are solved interactively with the fluid dynamics equations for the wing-rock motion and subsequently for its control. A four-stage Runge-Kutta scheme is used to explicitly integrate the dynamics equation.

Kandil, Osama A.↗

Composite grid and finite-volume LU implicit scheme for turbine flow analysis

A composite grid was generated in an attempt to improve grid quality for a typical turbine blade with large camber in terms of mesh control, smoothness, and orthogonality. This composite grid consists of the C grid (or O grid) in the immediate vicinity of the blade and the H grid in the upstream region and in the middle of the blade passage between the C grids. It provides a good boundary layer resolution around the leading edge region for viscous calculation, has orthogonality at the blade surface and slope continuity at the C-H (or O-H) interface, and has flexibility in controlling the mesh distribution in the upstream region without using excessive grid points. This composite grid eliminates the undesirable qualities of a single grid when generated for a typical turbine geometry. A finite-volume lower-upper (LU) implicit scheme can be used in solving for the turbine flows on the composite grid. This grid has a special grid node that is connected to more than four neighboring nodes in two dimensions and to more than six nodes in three dimensions. But the finite-volume approach poses no problem at the special point because each interior cell has only four neighboring cells in two dimensions and only six cells in three dimensions. The finite-volume LU implicit scheme was demonstrated to be robust and efficient for both external and internal flows in a broad flow regime.

Choo, Yung K.↗

Composite grid and finite-volume LU implicit scheme for turbine flow analysis

A composite grid was generated in an attempt to improve grid quality for a typical turbine blade with large camber in terms of mesh control, smoothness, and orthogonality. This composite grid consists of the C grid (or O grid) in the immediate vicinity of the blade and the H grid in the upstream region and in the middle of the blade passage between the C grids. It provides a good boundary layer resolution around the leading edge region for viscous calculation, has orthogonality at the blade surface and slope continuity at the C-H (or O-H) interface, and has flexibility in controlling the mesh distribution in the upstream region without using excessive grid points. This composite grid eliminates the undesirable qualities of a single grid when generated for a typical turbine geometry. A finite-volume lower-upper (LU) implicit schemes can be used in solving for the turbine flows on the composite grid. This grid has a special grid node that is connected to more than four neighboring nodes in two dimensions and to more than six nodes in three dimensions. But the finite-volume approach poses no problem at the special point because each interior cell has only four neighboring cells in two dimensions and only six cells in three dimensions. The finite-volume LU implicit scheme was demonstrated to be robust and efficient for both external and internal flows in a broad flow regime.

Choo, Yung K.↗

Surface-Normal Active Flow Control for Lift Enhancement and Separation Mitigation for High-Lift Common Research Model

This study explores the feasibility of using small surface-normal jets near the flap trailing edge as active aerodynamic load control on the high-lift Common Research Model wing/-body configuration. Chimera Grid Tools are utilized to generate structured curvilinear overset grids, and the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes solver OVERFLOW is employed to solve for the flow-field around the geometry. The so-called microjet is initially employed across both the inboard and the outboard flaps on the pressure-side near the trailing edge. It is shown that implementing the microjet on the inboard flap is more effective compared to implementing it on the outboard flap. This is because, prior to microjet implementation, the flow on the outboard flap exhibits extensive separation, while the flow on the inboard flap exhibits moderate separation. For microjet implementation across the inboard flap only, the relationship between momentum coefficient of the microjet and lift-enhancement is found to be∆CL'1.66√Cμfor the rangeCμ= 0.00−0.012. We show that implementing a microjet with a jet velocity ratio of one, which corresponds toCμ= 0.003, can shift the linear region of the lift curve by ∆CL= 0.08. The linear shift in the lift curve is significant for enhancing airplane performance such as increasing its payload. Microjet implementation effects on the drag coefficient are also investigated through a drag decomposition analysis. Further, we employ an induced drag analysis based on the spanwise load distribution and show that the microjet-related increase in pressure drag coefficient is dominated by the increase in the induced drag while microjet implementation reduces the form drag. These preliminary results show that favorable changes in aerodynamic performance can be achieved by using the surface-normal jets presented in this study.

ARMD↗

A Unified Overset Grid Generation Graphical Interface and New Concepts on Automatic Gridding Around Surface Discontinuities

For many years, generation of overset grids for complex configurations has required the use of a number of different independently developed software utilities. Results created by each step were then visualized using a separate visualization tool before moving on to the next. A new software tool called OVERGRID was developed which allows the user to perform all the grid generation steps and visualization under one environment. OVERGRID provides grid diagnostic functions such as surface tangent and normal checks as well as grid manipulation functions such as extraction, extrapolation, concatenation, redistribution, smoothing, and projection. Moreover, it also contains hyperbolic surface and volume grid generation modules that are specifically suited for overset grid generation. It is the first time that such a unified interface existed for the creation of overset grids for complex geometries. New concepts on automatic overset surface grid generation around surface discontinuities will also be briefly presented. Special control curves on the surface such as intersection curves, sharp edges, open boundaries, are called seam curves. The seam curves are first automatically extracted from a multiple panel network description of the surface. Points where three or more seam curves meet are automatically identified and are called seam corners. Seam corner surface grids are automatically generated using a singular axis topology. Hyperbolic surface grids are then grown from the seam curves that are automatically trimmed away from the seam corners.

Chan, William M.↗

Prediction and control of slender-wing rock

The unsteady Euler equations and the Euler equations of rigid-body dynamics, both written in the moving frame of reference, are sequentially solved to simulate the limit-cycle rock motion of slender delta wings. The governing equations of the fluid flow and the dynamics of the present multidisciplinary problem are solved using an implicit, approximately-factored, central-difference-like, finite-volume scheme and a four-stage Runge-Kutta scheme, respectively. For the control of wing-rock motion, leading-edge flaps are forced to oscillate anti-symmetrically at prescribed frequency and amplitude, which are tuned in order to suppress the rock motion. Since the computational grid deforms due to the leading-edge flaps motion, the grid is dynamically deformed using the Navier-displacement equations. Computational applications cover locally-conical and three-dimensional solutions for the wing-rock simulation and its control.

Kandil, Osama A.↗

Calculating C-grids with fine and embedded mesh regions

A program for calculating a C-type mesh around airfoil like shapes is described. The Jameson/Caughey approach is used: a parabolic transformation coupled with a shearing transformation. The algebraic algorithm is capable of efficiently generating nearly orthogonal grids. A high degree of grid control is possible. The user may specify grid boundaries, number of grid lines, and location of (and spacing in) trailing edge and leading edge fine mesh areas. The capability of embedding fine mesh regions, for use with new adaptive grid techniques, is being developed. Grids generated by the program were used in Euler flow flow calculatons by W. Usab. Results superior to results calculated on previous O-type grids were obtained. Specifically, calculations converged faster using C-grids rather than 0-grids, total pressure loss spikes at the trailing edge of the airfoil were eliminated, and the Ni method converged with zero artificial smoothing for a subcritical case (resulting overall total pressure loss was then nearly zero). These improvements were attributed to higher grid orthogonality, especially at the trailing edge. The program itself is fairly straightforward. Roughly half of the 800 code lines are comment lines.

Loyd, B.↗

Unstructured multigrid through agglomeration

In this work the compressible Euler equations are solved using finite volume techniques on unstructured grids. The spatial discretization employs a central difference approximation augmented by dissipative terms. Temporal discretization is done using a multistage Runge-Kutta scheme. A multigrid technique is used to accelerate convergence to steady state. The coarse grids are derived directly from the given fine grid through agglomeration of the control volumes. This agglomeration is accomplished by using a greedy-type algorithm and is done in such a way that the load, which is proportional to the number of edges, goes down by nearly a factor of 4 when moving from a fine to a coarse grid. The agglomeration algorithm has been implemented and the grids have been tested in a multigrid code. An area-weighted restriction is applied when moving from fine to coarse grids while a trivial injection is used for prolongation. Across a range of geometries and flows, it is shown that the agglomeration multigrid scheme compares very favorably with an unstructured multigrid algorithm that makes use of independent coarse meshes, both in terms of convergence and elapsed times.

Venkatakrishnan, V.↗

Overview of Intelligent Power Controller Development for Human Deep Space Exploration

Intelligent or autonomous control of an entire spacecraft is a major technology that must be developed to enable NASA to meet its human exploration goals. NASA's current long term human space platform, the International Space Station, is in low earth orbit with almost continuous communication with the ground based mission control. This permits the near real-time control by the ground of all of the core systems including power. As NASA moves beyond Low Earth Orbit, the issues of communication time-lag and lack of communication bandwidth beyond geosynchronous orbit does not permit this type of operation. This paper presents the work currently ongoing at NASA to develop an architecture for an autonomous power control system as well as the effort to assemble that controller into the framework of the vehicle mission manager and other subsystem controllers to enable autonomous control of the complete spacecraft. Due to the common problems faced in both space power systems and terrestrial power system, the potential for spin-off applications of this technology for use in micro-grids located at the edge or user end of terrestrial power grids for peak power accommodation and reliability are described.

Space Flight↗

Overview of Intelligent Power Controller Development for Human Deep Space Exploration

Intelligent or autonomous control of an entire spacecraft is a major technology that must be developed to enable NASA to meet its human exploration goals. NASAs current long term human space platform, the International Space Station, is in low earth orbit with almost continuous communication with the ground based mission control. This permits the near real-time control by the ground of all of the core systems including power. As NASA moves beyond Low Earth Orbit, the issues of communication time-lag and lack of communication bandwidth beyond geosynchronous orbit does not permit this type of operation. This paper presents the work currently ongoing at NASA to develop an architecture for an autonomous power control system as well as the effort to assemble that controller into the framework of the vehicle mission manager and other subsystem controllers to enable autonomous control of the complete spacecraft. Due to the common problems faced in both space power systems and terrestrial power system, the potential for spin-off applications of this technology for use in micro-grids located at the edge or user end of terrestrial power grids for peak power accommodation and reliability are described.

Space Flight↗

Overview of Intelligent Power Controller Development for Human Deep Space Exploration

Intelligent or autonomous control of an entire spacecraft is a major technology that must be developed to enable NASA to meet its human exploration goals. NASA's current long term human space platform, the International Space Station, is in low Earth orbit with almost continuous communication with the ground based mission control. This permits the near real-time control by the ground of all of the core systems including power. As NASA moves beyond low Earth orbit, the issues of communication time-lag and lack of communication bandwidth beyond geosynchronous orbit does not permit this type of operation. This paper presents the work currently ongoing at NASA to develop an architecture for an autonomous power control system as well as the effort to assemble that controller into the framework of the vehicle mission manager and other subsystem controllers to enable autonomous control of the complete spacecraft. Due to the common problems faced in both space power systems and terrestrial power system, the potential for spin-off applications of this technology for use in micro-grids located at the edge or user end of terrestrial power grids for peak power accommodation and reliability are described.

Space Flight↗

An overview of controls research on the NASA Langley Research Center grid

The NASA Langley Research Center has assembled a flexible grid on which control systems research can be accomplished on a two-dimensional structure that has many physically distributed sensors and actuators. The grid is a rectangular planar structure that is suspended by two cables attached to one edge so that out of plane vibrations are normal to gravity. There are six torque wheel actuators mounted to it so that torque is produced in the grid plane. Also, there are six rate gyros mounted to sense angular motion in the grid plane and eight accelerometers that measure linear acceleration normal to the grid plane. All components can be relocated to meet specific control system test requirements. Digital, analog, and hybrid control systems capability is provided in the apparatus. To date, research on this grid has been conducted in the areas of system and parameter identification, model estimation, distributed modal control, hierarchical adaptive control, and advanced redundancy management algorithms. The presentation overviews each technique and presents the most significant results generated for each area.

Montgomery, Raymond C.↗

Navier-Stokes computations for circulation controlled airfoils

Navier-Stokes computations of subsonic to transonic flow past airfoils with augmented lift due to rearward jet blowing over a curved trailing edge are presented. The approach uses a spiral grid topology. Solutions are obtained using a Navier-Stokes code which employs an implicit finite difference method, an algebraic turbulence model, and developments which improve stability, convergence, and accuracy. Results are compared against experiments for no jet blowing and moderate jet pressures and demonstrate the capability to compute these complicated flows.

Pulliam, T. H.↗