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At least 181 records · Page 10

Parameter sensitivity in the dynamics of rotor-bearing systems

When designing a rotor system it is frequently desirable to have at hand a set of design sensitivity coefficients which quantitatively predict a change in specific system characteristics to changes in design parameters. This paper presents eigenvalue sensitivity coefficients for the damped natural frequencies of whirl of general linear rotor system modelled by finite element discretization. In addition, a simple and direct method for calculation of the damped critical speeds is presented, which utilizes the eigenvalue sensitivity with respect to the spin speed. It is shown that the combination of design parameter and spin speed whirl frequency sensitivity coefficients may be used to also evaluate the damped critical speed sensitivity coefficients.

Rajan, M.↗

Identification of state variables and dynamic inflow from rotor model dynamic tests

The paper describes methods for extracting unknown state variables and parameters from dynamic rotor model tests given transient cyclic pitch stirring inputs, blade root flap-bending measurements, and the form of the dynamic rotor equations, including a rotor dynamic inflow description, when none of the physical parameters are known. A simplified version of the maximum likelihood method seems best suited for this purpose. The measurement equation error covariance matrix is assumed constant during each iteration, but updated for the subsequent iteration. A detailed analysis of the suitability of the derived techniques for studying various rotor dynamic inflow effects is provided.

Banerjee, D.↗

Results of piloted simulator studies of fighter aircraft at high angles of attack

The experience gained at the NASA Langley Research Center during the application of simulator techniques to high angle of attack flight conditions for several current fighters is discussed. The discussion includes (1) the simulator hardware, (2) requirements for static and dynamic aerodynamic data inputs, (3) evaluation procedures, (4) correlation with flight, and (5) the effects of dynamic stability parameters. Results obtained with the simulator technique have correlated well with flight test experience, resulting in early identification of potential problems, identification of critical flight conditions, and solutions to various deficiencies in stability and control characteristics. Dynamic stability parameters, results indicate that certain parameters can have a large influence on the flying qualities and tactical effectiveness of fighters at high angles of attack.

Chambers, J. R.↗

Determination of some dominant parameters of the global dynamic sea surface topography from GEOS-3 altimetry

The 1977 altimetry data bank is analyzed for the geometrical shape of the sea surface expressed as surface spherical harmonics after referral to the higher reference model defined by GEM 9. The resulting determination is expressed as quasi-stationary dynamic SST. Solutions are obtained from different sets of long arcs in the GEOS-3 altimeter data bank as well as from sub-sets related to the September 1975 and March 1976 equinoxes assembled with a view to minimizing seasonal effects. The results are compared with equivalent parameters obtained from the hydrostatic analysis of sporadic temperature, pressure and salinity measurements of the oceans and the known major steady state current systems with comparable wavelengths. The most clearly defined parameter (the zonal harmonic of degree 2) is obtained with an uncertainty of + or - 6 cm. The preferred numerical value is smaller than the oceanographic value due to the effect of the correction for the permanent earth tide. Similar precision is achieved for the zonal harmonic of degree 3. The precision obtained for the fourth degree zonal harmonic reflects more closely the accuracy expected from the level of noise in the orbital solutions.

Mather, R. S.↗

Dynamic Adjustment of Simulation Parameters for Efficient Vehicle Prognostics

Model-based diagnostics and prognostics rely on state estimation and uncertainty management algorithms to produce useful information for system operators and maintainers. This information enables more informed operational decisions, condition-based maintenance, and overall mission safety assurance. Typically, uncertainty is associated with vehicle state-of-health estimation and prediction results because of modeling errors, internal or external sources of noise, and sensor inaccuracy. Probabilistic uncertainty management methods including Sequential Monte Carlo simulation are commonly used to reason about state-of-health estimates and predictions in the presence of these sources of uncertainty. However, such algorithms can be computationally expensive as they require a very large number of samples to obtain a sufficiently accurate quantification of the end of life probability distribution. As a result, highly mobile autonomous systems that leverage the prognostic results for mission-level replanning are often constrained in their processing capability because of these computationally expensive simulation approaches. Therefore, in this paper, we investigate algorithmic methods for dynamically adjusting simulation time step as well as number of samples to achieve highly efficient prognostic results while maintaining results accuracy. Results obtained from simulated flight experiments of an electric unmanned aerial vehicle are presented to verify the efficacy of such algorithms.

Prognostics↗

Review of probabilistic analysis of dynamic response of systems with random parameters

The various methods that have been studied in the past to allow probabilistic analysis of dynamic response for systems with random parameters are reviewed. Dynamic response may have been obtained deterministically if the variations about the nominal values were small; however, for space structures which require precise pointing, the variations about the nominal values of the structural details and of the environmental conditions are too large to be considered as negligible. These uncertainties are accounted for in terms of probability distributions about their nominal values. The quantities of concern for describing the response of the structure includes displacements, velocities, and the distributions of natural frequencies. The exact statistical characterization of the response would yield joint probability distributions for the response variables. Since the random quantities will appear as coefficients, determining the exact distributions will be difficult at best. Thus, certain approximations will have to be made. A number of techniques that are available are discussed, even in the nonlinear case. The methods that are described were: (1) Liouville's equation; (2) perturbation methods; (3) mean square approximate systems; and (4) nonlinear systems with approximation by linear systems.

Kozin, F.↗

Robust control of systems with real parameter uncertainty and unmodelled dynamics

During this research period we have made significant progress in the four proposed areas: (1) design of robust controllers via H infinity optimization; (2) design of robust controllers via mixed H2/H infinity optimization; (3) M-delta structure and robust stability analysis for structured uncertainties; and (4) a study on controllability and observability of perturbed plant. It is well known now that the two-Riccati-equation solution to the H infinity control problem can be used to characterize all possible stabilizing optimal or suboptimal H infinity controllers if the optimal H infinity norm or gamma, an upper bound of a suboptimal H infinity norm, is given. In this research, we discovered some useful properties of these H infinity Riccati solutions. Among them, the most prominent one is that the spectral radius of the product of these two Riccati solutions is a continuous, nonincreasing, convex function of gamma in the domain of interest. Based on these properties, quadratically convergent algorithms are developed to compute the optimal H infinity norm. We also set up a detailed procedure for applying the H infinity theory to robust control systems design. The desire to design controllers with H infinity robustness but H(exp 2) performance has recently resulted in mixed H(exp 2) and H infinity control problem formulation. The mixed H(exp 2)/H infinity problem have drawn the attention of many investigators. However, solution is only available for special cases of this problem. We formulated a relatively realistic control problem with H(exp 2) performance index and H infinity robustness constraint into a more general mixed H(exp 2)/H infinity problem. No optimal solution yet is available for this more general mixed H(exp 2)/H infinity problem. Although the optimal solution for this mixed H(exp 2)/H infinity control has not yet been found, we proposed a design approach which can be used through proper choice of the available design parameters to influence both robustness and performance. For a large class of linear time-invariant systems with real parametric perturbations, the coefficient vector of the characteristic polynomial is a multilinear function of the real parameter vector. Based on this multilinear mapping relationship together with the recent developments for polytopic polynomials and parameter domain partition technique, we proposed an iterative algorithm for coupling the real structured singular value.

Chang, Bor-Chin↗

Parameter identification methods for improving structural dynamic models

There is an increasing need to develop Parameter Identification methods for improving structural dynamic models, based on the inability of engineers to produce mathematical models which correlate with experimental data. This research explores the efficiency of combining Component Mode Synthesis (substructuring) methods with Parameter Identification procedures in order to improve analytical modeling of structural components and their connections. Improvements are computed in terms of physical stiffness and damping parameters in order that the physical characteristics of the model can be better understood. Connections involving both viscous and friction damping are investigated. Substructuring methods are utilized to reduce the complexity of the identification problem. Component and inter-component structural connection properties are evaluated and identified independently, thus simplifying the identification problem. It is shown that modal test data is effective for identifying modeling problems associated with structural components, and for determining the stiffness and damping properties of intercomponent connections. In general, Parameter Identification is improved when greater quantities of experimental data are available.

Lawrence, Charles↗

Application of a novel multi-stage signal parameter estimator to high dynamic GPS receivers

The performance of a novel multistage estimator when applied to the estimation of the position, velocity, and acceleration of high dynamic Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers is discussed. For the present application, a two-stage specialization of the more general estimation scheme is considered, wherein the first-stage algorithm is selected to be a modified least-squares algorithm operating upon the differential signal model and referred to as differential least-squares (DLS) and the second stage is simply an extended Kalman filter (EKF). In terms of the threshold on received carrier power-to-noise power spectral density ratio (CNR), when compared to the single-stage EKF algorithm, the DLS-EKF algorithm is about 1.5-2.0 dB better in terms of threshold and outperforms the crossproduct AFC (automatic frequency control) loop by 2-5 dB. For the case when data modulation is present, the proposed scheme provides an improvement of about 6 dB in terms of CNR compared to an earlier approximate MLE (maximum likelihood estimation) scheme. There are also very significant improvements in terms of other performance measures.

Kumar, R.↗

Real parameter margin computation for uncertain structural dynamic systems

This paper is concerned with the problem of computing real parameter margins for stabilized, structural dynamic systems with the masses, spring constants, and damping constants as uncertain parameters. Numerical algorithms for uncertain systems with multilinear parameters are investigated. It is shown that for a certain class of structural dynamic systems with small passive damping (e.g., flexible structures in space), the computational complexity of the problem can be avoided by modeling the system as a conservative plant, without loss of any practical significance.

Wie, Bong↗

Quasi-Linear Parameter Varying Representation of General Aircraft Dynamics Over Non-Trim Region

For applying linear parameter varying (LPV) control synthesis and analysis to a nonlinear system, it is required that a nonlinear system be represented in the form of an LPV model. In this paper, a new representation method is developed to construct an LPV model from a nonlinear mathematical model without the restriction that an operating point must be in the neighborhood of equilibrium points. An LPV model constructed by the new method preserves local stabilities of the original nonlinear system at "frozen" scheduling parameters and also represents the original nonlinear dynamics of a system over a non-trim region. An LPV model of the motion of FASER (Free-flying Aircraft for Subscale Experimental Research) is constructed by the new method.

Shin, Jong-Yeob↗

Dynamic response of a hammerhead launch vehicle wind-tunnel model

A wind-tunnel test of a 1/10th-scale Atlas-Centaur I large payload fairing launch vehicle model was conducted in the NASA Langley Transonic Dynamics Tunnel. The wind tunnel model was an aeroelastically-scaled version of the flight vehicle and was capable of simulating either of the first two bending vibration modes of the full-scale vehicle by a partial mode technique. The primary purpose of the test was to gather data concerning buffet response which could be used to clear the vehicle for flight. Additionally, angle-of-attack studies were conducted and several payload fairing configurations were tested to assess the buffet response and dynamic stability of off-design flight conditions and geometric parameters. No dynamic instabilities were found for any of the configurations tested. The buffet response data for the nominal flight configuration indicate that the unsteady buffet loads represent 5 to 10 percent of the total design load; therefore, the buffet loads are not a large factor affecting the overall vehicle design. Payload fairing length-to-diameter ratio variations were found to have small effects on the buffet response of the model, except in the case of the smallest length-to-diameter models for the second bending mode simulation. The effects of angle of attack on buffet response were found to be small. The model was more sensitive to Mach number changes than to angle of attack. The buffet response results from this wind tunnel test were influenced by the tunnel facility vibration levels. An attempt was made to experimentally reduce the effect of the facility mechanical vibration for the nominal flight configuration by testing with vertical rods used to stiffen the sting support. The first flight of the Atlas-Centaur I vehicle successfully occurred on July 25, 1990, and a comparison of flight measurements with wind tunnel data is presented. The flight data was found to be well within the 3 sigma level of the wind tunnel data.

Cole, Stanley R.↗

Results From F-18B Stability and Control Parameter Estimation Flight Tests at High Dynamic Pressures

A maximum-likelihood output-error parameter estimation technique has been used to obtain stability and control derivatives for the NASA F-18B Systems Research Aircraft. This work has been performed to support flight testing of the active aeroelastic wing (AAW) F-18A project. The goal of this research is to obtain baseline F-18 stability and control derivatives that will form the foundation of the aerodynamic model for the AAW aircraft configuration. Flight data have been obtained at Mach numbers between 0.85 and 1.30 and at dynamic pressures ranging between 600 and 1500 lbf/sq ft. At each test condition, longitudinal and lateral-directional doublets have been performed using an automated onboard excitation system. The doublet maneuver consists of a series of single-surface inputs so that individual control-surface motions cannot be correlated with other control-surface motions. Flight test results have shown that several stability and control derivatives are significantly different than prescribed by the F-18B aerodynamic model. This report defines the parameter estimation technique used, presents stability and control derivative results, compares the results with predictions based on the current F-18B aerodynamic model, and shows improvements to the nonlinear simulation using updated derivatives from this research.

Moes, Timothy R.↗

The relationship of unsteadiness in downwash to the quality of parameter estimates

This paper investigates the relative importance of including unsteady effects in the lift and downwash in the longitudinal dynamics and parameter extraction algorithm. A simple vortex system has been used to model unsteady aerodynamic effects into the longitudinal equations of motion of an aircraft. Computer-generated data and flight data were used to demonstrate that inclusion of unsteady aerodynamics in the parameter-extraction algorithm produced aerodynamic parameters that were different from those extracted when unsteady aerodynamics were left out of the algorithm. The differences between derivatives associated with the two extraction algorithms (with and without unsteady aerodynamics) were related to acceleration derivatives which usually cannot be extracted individually.

Wells, W. R.↗

Dynamics of the atmospheres of the outer planets - Post-Voyager measurement objectives

Current knowledge about dynamics and thermal structure on the outer planets is reviewed with the aim of identifying important measurements which should be made in the post-Voyager era. The existence of jets and cloud bands is the puzzle that underlies all others. Discussion focuses on the particular case of Jupiter because documentation is most complete. Recent dynamical work has successfully reproduced much of the behavior of jets and spots with simple models that contain few parameters. It is argued that the gross dynamical parameters, such as density stratification and rotation rate, are the keys to their behaviors, rather than the particular specifics of radiative forcing, cloud distributions, thermodynamic transformations. Voyager data have shown that the jet systems decay with height in the region above the visible clouds. Therefore the highest priority must be given to establishing dynamical parameters that characterize levels within and beneath the clouds. These require determination of the deep structure of the jets, of the density stratification, and of the horizontal density contrasts. The deep regions are not easily accessible, and these measurements present challenging opportunities. Indirect inferences about the controlling processes may sometimes be possible by observing waves and other activity in the more easily accessible stratosphere, and some of these issues are also discussed.

Gierasch, Peter J.↗

Vibration transmission through rolling element bearings in geared rotor system, part 1

A mathematical model is proposed to examine the vibration transmission through rolling element bearings in geared rotor systems. Current bearing models, based on either ideal boundary conditions for the shaft or purely translational stiffness element description, cannot explain how the vibratory motion may be transmitted from the rotating shaft to the casing. This study clarifies this issue qualitatively and quantitatively by developing a comprehensive bearing stiffness matrix of dimension 6 model for the precision rolling element bearings from basic principles. The proposed bearing formulation is extended to analyze the overall geared rotor system dynamics including casing and mounts. The bearing stiffness matrix is included in discrete system models using lumped parameter and/or dynamic finite element techniques. Eigensolution and forced harmonic response due to rotating mass unbalance or kinematic transmission error excitation for a number of examples are computed.

Singh, Rajendra↗