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At least 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1983

The coupled aeroelastic response of turbomachinery blading to aerodynamic excitations

An energy balance technique is developed to predict the coupled bending-torsion mode aerodynamically forced response of an airfoil. In this technique, the energy input to the airfoil system per cycle of oscillation is generated by gust forces and moments and, under certain conditions, the self-induced aerodynamic forces and moments. The energy dissipation per cycle is associated with the structural damping, the static moment term for coupled motions, and under certain conditions, the self-induced aerodynamic forces and moments. The effects of the various aerodynamic parameters on the coupled forced response are then considered.In particular, the effects of the inlet Mach number, the interblade phase angle, the level of structural damping, and the cascade geometry on the coupled bending-torsion aerodynamically forced response of a flat plate airfoil cascade are demonstrated.

Hoyniak, D.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Launch vehicle aerodynamic data base development comparison with flight data

The aerodynamic development plan for the Space Shuttle integrated vehicle had three major objectives. The first objective was to support the evolution of the basic configuration by establishing aerodynamic impacts to various candidate configurations. The second objective was to provide continuing evaluation of the basic aerodynamic characteristics in order to bring about a mature data base. The third task was development of the element and component aerodynamic characteristics and distributed air loads data to support structural loads analyses. The complexity of the configurations rendered conventional analytic methods of little use and therefore required extensive wind tunnel testing of detailed complex models. However, the ground testing and analyses did not predict the aerodynamic characteristics that were extracted from the Space Shuttle flight test program. Future programs that involve the use of vehicles similar to the Space Shuttle should be concerned with the complex flow fields characteristics of these types of complex configurations.

Hamilton, J. T.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Launch vehicle aerodynamic flight test results

The aerodynamic flight test procedures and results for the Space Shuttle orbiter are presented. The aerodynamic characteristics used in testing were determined from flights STS-1 and through STS-4. Normal force and pitching moment were different than predicted, suggesting an unanticipated aerodynamic force acting upward on the end of the orbiter. However, lateral-directional aerodynamic characteristics were in good management with good predictions. The flight measured aerodynamics are repeatable and show good correlation with angle of attack and angle of sideslip.

Gaines, L. M.↗
NASA NTRS1983

The development of aerodynamic uncertainties for the space shuttle orbiter

The Shuttle Program development schedule and the management decision to perform an orbital, manned mission on the first launch resulted in a requirement to develop realistic aerodynamic uncertainties for the preflight aerodynamic predictions. This paper addresses the methodology in developing two types of aerodynamic uncertainties. One involves the ability to reproduce aerodynamic results between various wind tunnel tests. The second addresses the difference between preflight aerodynamic predictions and flight results derived from analysis of past aircraft programs. Both types of uncertainties for pitching moment, lateral-directional stability, rudder power, and aileron power are presented. In addition, the application of uncertainties to flight control design and fight test planning is briefly reviewed.

Young, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Impact of computers on aerodynamics research and development

Factors motivating the development of computational aerodynamics as a discipline are traced back to the limitations of the tools available to the aerodynamicist before the development of digital computers. Governing equations in exact and approximate forms are discussed together with approaches to their numerical solution. Example results obtained from the successively refined forms of the equations are presented and discussed, both in the context of levels of computer power required and the degree of the effect that their solution has on aerodynamic research and development. Factors pacing advances in computational aerodynamics are identified, including the amount of computational power required to take the next major step in the discipline. Finally, the Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation (NAS) Program - with its 1987 target of achieving a sustained computational rate of 1 billion floating-point operations per second operating on a memory of 240 million words - is briefly discussed in terms of its projected effect on the future of computational aerodynamics.

Peterson, V. L.↗
NASA NTRS1985

The aerodynamic challenges of the design and development of the space shuttle orbiter

The major aerodynamic design challenge at the beginning of the United States Space Transportation System (STS) research and development phase was to design a vehicle that would fly as a spacecraft during early entry and as an aircraft during the final phase of entry. The design was further complicated because the envisioned vehicle was statically unstable during a portion of the aircraft mode of operation. The second challenge was the development of preflight aerodynamic predictions with an accuracy consistent with conducting a manned flight on the initial orbital flight. A brief history of the early contractual studies is presented highlighting the technical results and management decisions influencing the aerodynamic challenges. The configuration evolution and the development of preflight aerodynamic predictions will be reviewed. The results from the first four test flights shows excellent agreement with the preflight aerodynamic predictions over the majority of the flight regimes. The only regimes showing significant disagreement is confined primarily to early entry, where prediction of the basic vehicle trim and the influence of the reaction control system jets on the flow field were found to be deficient. Postflight results are analyzed to explain these prediction deficiencies.

Young, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Aerodynamic characteristics of a distinct wing-body configuration at Mach 6: Experiment, theory, and the hypersonic isolation principle

An experimental investigation has been conducted to determine the effect of wing leading edge sweep and wing translation on the aerodynamic characteristics of a wing body configuration at a free stream Mach number of about 6 and Reynolds number (based on body length) of 17.9 x 10 to the 6th power. Seven wings with leading edge sweep angles from -20 deg to 60 deg were tested on a common body over an angle of attack range from -12 deg to 10 deg. All wings had a common span, aspect ratio, taper ratio, planform area, and thickness ratio. Wings were translated longitudinally on the body to make tests possible with the total and exposed mean aerodynamic chords located at a fixed body station. Aerodynamic forces were found to be independent of wing sweep and translation, and pitching moments were constant when the exposed wing mean aerodynamic chord was located at a fixed body station. Thus, the Hypersonic Isolation Principle was verified. Theory applied with tangent wedge pressures on the wing and tangent cone pressures on the body provided excellent predictions of aerodynamic force coefficients but poor estimates of moment coefficients.

Penland, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1985

A large-scale computer facility for computational aerodynamics

As a result of advances related to the combination of computer system technology and numerical modeling, computational aerodynamics has emerged as an essential element in aerospace vehicle design methodology. NASA has, therefore, initiated the Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation (NAS) Program with the objective to provide a basis for further advances in the modeling of aerodynamic flowfields. The Program is concerned with the development of a leading-edge, large-scale computer facility. This facility is to be made available to Government agencies, industry, and universities as a necessary element in ensuring continuing leadership in computational aerodynamics and related disciplines. Attention is given to the requirements for computational aerodynamics, the principal specific goals of the NAS Program, the high-speed processor subsystem, the workstation subsystem, the support processing subsystem, the graphics subsystem, the mass storage subsystem, the long-haul communication subsystem, the high-speed data-network subsystem, and software.

Bailey, F. R.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Application of the finite-state arbitrary-motion aerodynamics to rotor blade aeroelastic response and stability in hover and forward flight

The primary objective of this paper is to illustrate the influence of finite-state arbitrary-motion time-domain aerodynamics on rotor blade aeroelastic stability in hover and forward flight. The essential ingredients of the generalized Greenberg type time-domain unsteady aerodynamics are presented and incorporated in a coupled nonlinear flap-lag analysis. Aeroelastic stability boundaries for both hover and forward flight are obtained using both arbitrary-motion time-domain aerodynamics and quasi-steady aerodynamics. The sensitivity of flap-lag aeroelastic stability boundaries to time-domain arbitrary-motion unsteady aerodynamics is evaluated by comparing the two sets of results for various blade configurations and flight conditions.

Dinyavari, M. A. H.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Computational fluid dynamics at NASA Ames and the numerical aerodynamic simulation program

Computers are playing an increasingly important role in the field of aerodynamics such as that they now serve as a major complement to wind tunnels in aerospace research and development. Factors pacing advances in computational aerodynamics are identified, including the amount of computational power required to take the next major step in the discipline. The four main areas of computational aerodynamics research at NASA Ames Research Center which are directed toward extending the state of the art are identified and discussed. Example results obtained from approximate forms of the governing equations are presented and discussed, both in the context of levels of computer power required and the degree to which they either further the frontiers of research or apply to programs of practical importance. Finally, the Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation Program--with its 1988 target of achieving a sustained computational rate of 1 billion floating-point operations per second--is discussed in terms of its goals, status, and its projected effect on the future of computational aerodynamics.

Peterson, V. L.↗
NASA NTRS1986

The predicted effect of aerodynamic detuning on coupled bending-torsion unstalled supersonic flutter

A mathematical model is developed to predict the enhanced coupled bending-torsion unstalled supersonic flutter stability due to alternate circumferential spacing aerodynamic detuning of a turbomachine rotor. The translational and torsional unsteady aerodynamic coefficients are developed in terms of influence coefficients, with the coupled bending-torsion stability analysis developed by considering the coupled equations of motion together with the unsteady aerodynamic loading. The effect of this aerodynamic detuning on coupled bending-torsion unstalled supersonic flutter as well as the verification of the modeling are then demonstrated by considering an unstable 12 bladed rotor, with Verdon's uniformly spaced Cascade B flow geometry as a baseline. However, with the elastic axis and center of gravity at 60 percent of the chord, this type of aerodynamic detuning has a minimal effect on stability. For both uniform and nonuniform circumferentially space rotors, a single degree of freedom torsion mode analysis was shown to be appropriate for values of the bending-torsion natural frequency ratio lower than 0.6 and higher 1.2. When the elastic axis and center of gravity are not coincident, the effect of detuning on cascade stability was found to be very sensitive to the location of the center of gravity with respect to the elastic axis. In addition, it was determined that when the center of gravity was forward of an elastic axis located at midchord, a single degree of freedom torsion model did not accurately predict cascade stability.

Hoyniak, D.↗
NASA NTRS1985

A new look at arbitrary motion unsteady aerodynamics and its application to rotary-wing aeroelasticity

This paper presents in a unified manner recent research on arbitrary motion unsteady aerodynamics with an emphasis on applications to a number of rotary wing aeroelastic problems. The term arbitrary motion is used to denote growing or decaying oscillations with a certain frequency. The specific topics treated in this paper are: (1) generalization of Greenberg's theory and its application to hingeless rotor aeroelastic stability; (2) description of a new technique for formulating finite state approximations to unsteady aerodynamic theories, which are suitable for both fixed-wing and rotary-wing applications, and its application to generalize Loewy's theory; (3) comparison of fixed wing and rotary-wing indicial response functions; (4) influence of a arbitrary motion aerodynamics, as represented by dynamic inflow on a helicopter in ground resonance and (5) comparison of dynamic inflow with arbitrary motion unsteady airfoil aerodynamics. From the discussion of these topics a number of useful conclusions on the fundamental nature of arbitrary motion aerodynamics and its role in rotary-wing aeroelasticity are obtained.

Friedmann, P. P.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Bifurcations in unsteady aerodynamics

Nonlinear algebraic functional expansions are used to create a form for the unsteady aerodynamic response that is consistent with solutions of the time dependent Navier-Stokes equations. An enumeration of means of invalidating Frechet differentiability of the aerodynamic response, one of which is aerodynamic bifurcation, is proposed as a way of classifying steady and unsteady aerodynamic phenomena that are important in flight dynamics applications. Accomodating bifurcation phenomena involving time dependent equilibrium states within a mathematical model of the aerodynamic response raises an issue of memory effects that becomes more important with each successive bifurcation.

Tobak, M.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Tactical missile aerodynamics

The present conference on tactical missile aerodynamics discusses autopilot-related aerodynamic design considerations, flow visualization methods' role in the study of high angle-of-attack aerodynamics, low aspect ratio wing behavior at high angle-of-attack, supersonic airbreathing propulsion system inlet design, missile bodies with noncircular cross section and bank-to-turn maneuvering capabilities, 'waverider' supersonic cruise missile concepts and design methods, asymmetric vortex sheding phenomena from bodies-of-revolution, and swept shock wave/boundary layer interaction phenomena. Also discussed are the assessment of aerodynamic drag in tactical missiles, the analysis of supersonic missile aerodynamic heating, the 'equivalent angle-of-attack' concept for engineering analysis, the vortex cloud model for body vortex shedding and tracking, paneling methods with vorticity effects and corrections for nonlinear compressibility, the application of supersonic full potential method to missile bodies, Euler space marching methods for missiles, three-dimensional missile boundary layers, and an analysis of exhaust plumes and their interaction with missile airframes.

Hemsch, Michael J.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Bifurcations in unsteady aerodynamics

Nonlinear algebraic functional expansions are used to create a form for the unsteady aerodynamic response that is consistent with solutions of the time dependent Navier-Stokes equations. An enumeration of means of invalidating Frechet differentiability of the aerodynamic response, one of which is aerodynamic bifurcation, is proposed as a way of classifying steady and unsteady aerodynamic phenomena that are important in flight dynamics applications. Accommodating bifurcation phenomena involving time dependent equilibrium states within a mathematical model of the aerodynamic response raises an issue of memory effects that becomes more important with each successive bifurcation.

Tobak, M.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Role of computational fluid dynamics in unsteady aerodynamics for aeroelasticity

In the last two decades there have been extensive developments in computational unsteady transonic aerodynamics. Such developments are essential since the transonic regime plays an important role in the design of modern aircraft. Therefore, there has been a large effort to develop computational tools with which to accurately perform flutter analysis at transonic speeds. In the area of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), unsteady transonic aerodynamics are characterized by the feature of modeling the motion of shock waves over aerodynamic bodies, such as wings. This modeling requires the solution of nonlinear partial differential equations. Most advanced codes such as XTRAN3S use the transonic small perturbation equation. Currently, XTRAN3S is being used for generic research in unsteady aerodynamics and aeroelasticity of almost full aircraft configurations. Use of Euler/Navier Stokes equations for simple typical sections has just begun. A brief history of the development of CFD for aeroelastic applications is summarized. The development of unsteady transonic aerodynamics and aeroelasticity are also summarized.

Guruswamy, Guru P.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Unsteady aerodynamics of blade rows

The requirements placed on an unsteady aerodynamic theory intended for turbomachinery aeroelastic or aeroacoustic applications are discussed along with a brief description of the various theoretical models that are available to address these requirements. The major emphasis is placed on the description of a linearized inviscid theory which fully accounts for the affects of a nonuniform mean or steady flow on unsteady aerodynamic response. Although this linearization was developed primarily for blade flutter prediction, more general equations are presented which account for unsteady excitations due to incident external aerodynamic disturbances as well as those due to prescribed blade motions. The motivation for this linearized unsteady aerodynamic theory is focused on, its physical and mathematical formulation is outlined and examples are presented to illustrate the status of numerical solution procedures and several effects of mean flow nonuniformity on unsteady aerodynamic response.

Verdon, Joseph M.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Effects of nonlinear aerodynamics and static aeroelasticity on mission performance calculations for a fighter aircraft

During conceptual design studies of advanced aircraft, the usual practice is to use linear theory to calculate the aerodynamic characteristics of candidate rigid (nonflexible) geometric external shapes. Recent developments and improvements in computational methods, especially computational fluid dynamics (CFD), provide significantly improved capability to generate detailed analysis data for the use of all disciplines involved in the evaluation of a proposed aircraft design. A multidisciplinary application of such analysis methods to calculate the effects of nonlinear aerodynamics and static aeroelasticity on the mission performance of a fighter aircraft concept is described. The aircraft configuration selected for study was defined in a previous study using linear aerodynamics and rigid geometry. The results from the previous study are used as a basis of comparison for the data generated herein. Aerodynamic characteristics are calculated using two different nonlinear theories, potential flow and rotational (Euler) flow. The aerodynamic calculations are performed in an iterative procedure with an equivalent plate structural analysis method to obtain lift and drag data for a flexible (nonrigid) aircraft. These static aeroelastic data are then used in calculating the combat and mission performance characteristics of the aircraft.

Giles, Gary L.↗