Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Pratt, K. G..
Results are drawn from studies of the impact of advanced technologies on the design of an arrow-wing configuration. Information presented includes estimated benefits, effects of combinations of active control concepts, and constraints. Emphasis is placed on characteristics that are uniquely related to a large airframe featuring a slender body with a fixed wing of low aspect ratio, high sweep, and small thickness ratio.
A rigid airplane with an unswept wing is analyzed. The results show that the power spectrum, relative to that for a one-dimensional turbulence field, is significantly attenuated at the higher frequencies even for airplanes with arbitrarily small ratios of span to scale of turbulence. This attenuation is described by a simple weighting function of frequency that depends only on aspect ratio. The weighting function, together with the attenuation due to the unsteady flow of gust penetration, allows the determination of the average rate of zero crossings for airplanes having very small spans without recourse to an integral truncation which is often required in calculations based on a one-dimensional turbulence field.
An exploratory analytical study was conducted to analyze problem areas associated with a rigid aircraft controlled by a simple autopilot. The aircraft motion is constrained to the longitudinal phugoid and short period modes. The autopilot characteristics are described. The analytical procedure is explained and stabilizer loads together with some aircraft motions as functions of autopilot gains within the stability boundaries are determined. The effects of center of gravity location and altitude are considered.
Some of the aerodynamic and interference effects measured from wind-tunnel tests of three fully reusable space shuttle configurations at transonic and low-supersonic speeds are presented, and the status is given of an assessment of the analytical approach to date. The three configurations tested were a low-fineness-ratio booster combined in tandem with a delta-wing orbiter, designated the "low-fineness-ratio configuration,' and a phase B shuttle configuration consisting of the delta-wing orbiter and high-fineness-ratio booster, designated the "stage-arrangement configuration,' arranged in tandem and in parallel. The force measurements obtained at a Mach number of 1.5 for the low-fineness-ratio configuration were representative of the transonic and low-supersonic speed ranges where the interference effects are predominant and were used for comparison with values calculated at the same Mach number. This comparison is the basis for a preliminary assessment of the initial application of the analytical approach.
Random process theory method for estimating response of flexible airplanes to atmospheric turbulence
Empennage loads on T tail transport determined for combined vertical and lateral gust loads using real time analog-digital computer simulation
Hydroelastic pneumatic coupling problems arising in structural dynamics of liquid fueled launch vehicles, specifically fluid and acoustic properties of tank volumes
Transverse flight loads produced on vertically rising Scout launch vehicle by horizontal winds and gusts
Numerical lifting-surface method to calculate direct gust forces and moments on wings at subsonic speeds
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