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At least 37 records · Page 2

Supersonic Flight Testing to Assess Ground Recording Systems for NASA's Low Boom Flight Demonstrator

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has performed two supersonic flight test campaigns in preparation for the extensive ground measurements that will be taken during Quesst Phase 2 to verify the low boom from the X-59. The first test campaign was Carpet Determination In Entirety Measurements (CarpetDIEM) Phase II, with F/A-18B aircraft and a subscale ground sensor array and the second campaign was CarpetDIEM Phase III,with both F-15B and F/A-18D aircraft and a geographically large scale ground sensor array. CarpetDIEM Phase II served to evaluate prototypes of the state-of-the-art Ground Recording System (GRS) which NASA is developing in order to record the low boom of X-59. The prototype GRS measured both N-wave and evanescent wave sonic booms which were1.4±1.1PLdB from co-located truth sources during these flights. CarpetDIEM Phase II was also used to down select two NASA developed unattended trigger concepts, one based on Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and the other utilizing satellite communications. Both unattended trigger concepts performed well, with the ADS-B based concept being chosen at the conclusion of CarpetDIEM Phase II for integration with the GRS. CarpetDIEM Phase III was primarily a logistics risk-reduction effort for Quesst Phase 2, but also sought to evaluate the capabilities, including the newly implemented ADS-B unattended trigger, and ruggedness of the GRS during a long-term deployment. The F-15B stood in for the X-59, flying two different X-59flight profiles, including an accelerating climb maneuver. The GRS successfully self-triggered to capture 80% of sonic booms generated from both steady and dynamic flight maneuvers. Low booms, defined by the project as being≤80 PLdB, were recorded by the GRS near the end of CarpetDIEM Phase III. The GRS measured low booms were found to be within0.4±0.1PLdB of a co-located truth source.

Forrest L Carpenter IV↗

Summary of the First High-Altitude, Supersonic Flight Dynamics Test for the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator Project

NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator Project is developing and testing the next generation of supersonic aerodynamic decelerators for planetary entry. A key element of that development is the testing of full-scale articles in conditions relevant to their intended use, primarily the tenuous Mars atmosphere. To achieve this testing, the LDSD project developed a test architecture similar to that used by the Viking Project in the early 1970's for the qualification of their supersonic parachute. A large, helium filled scientific balloon is used to hoist a 4.7 m blunt body test vehicle to an altitude of approximately 32 kilometers. The test vehicle is released from the balloon, spun up for gyroscopic stability, and accelerated to over four times the speed of sound and an altitude of 50 kilometers using a large solid rocket motor. Once at those conditions, the vehicle is despun and the test period begins. The first flight of this architecture occurred on June 28th of 2014. Though primarily a shake out flight of the new test system, the flight was also able to achieve an early test of two of the LDSD technologies, a large 6 m diameter Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (SIAD) and a large, 30.5 m nominal diameter supersonic parachute. This paper summarizes this first flight.

Clark, Ian G.↗

Space Shuttle: Reentry stability and performance characteristics in the transonic and supersonic flight regimes of the Boeing ballistic recoverable booster

Experimental aerodynamic investigations were made in transonic and supersonic wind tunnels on a .008899 scale model of the Boeing model 979-145 Ballistic Recoverable Booster. The purpose of the tests was to define the stability and performance characteristics of the BRB at re-entry attitudes in the transonic and supersonic flight regimes. Data were obtained over a Mach number range from 0.6 to 4.0 at angles of attack between 50 deg and 85 deg at zero sideslip and at angles of sideslip between -17.5 deg and +15 deg at angles of attack between 50 deg and 85 deg.

Houser, J.↗

Construction of Supersonic Flight Dynamics Test (SFDT-2) Vehicle Monte Carlo Splashdown Footprints for Use in Range Safety and Recovery Planning

Overview of Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) SFDT-2 ( Supersonic Flight Dynamics Test-2) flight profile; Description of Monte Carlo flight dynamics simulations performed; Modeling and uncertainties; Results with statistical prediction of test vehicle splashdown location; Use of Monte Carlo results for range safety and recovery planning.

Strauss, Bill↗

Modeling Measurement Error in Dose-Response Models of Community Annoyance to Low-Noise Supersonic Flight

The primary research goal of the forthcoming NASA Quesst mission community test campaign is to collect representative community response data in support of the development of supersonic overflight noise certification standards. Beginning in 2026, NASA will fly the novel X-59 demonstrator aircraft over select communities in United States in order to demonstrate the possibility of low-noise supersonic flight over land and to collect objective measurements and subjective data on the perceptual experience of this new noise source. It is believed that a regression of a binary perceptual response (‘highly annoyed’ or ‘not’) on estimated noise levels (doses, measured in decibels) will provide a useful dose-response relationship for regulators. However, as these estimated doses will be subject to measurement error, naïve estimators of regression coefficients are inconsistent and slopes may be subject to attenuation bias. In this presentation, I contrast functional modeling of measurement error via simulation extrapolation (SIMEX) with structural Bayesian measurement error models. These methods are applied to available data collected during two NASA risk reduction studies in California in 2011 and Texas in 2018. I’ll conclude noting that in the presence of nonnegligible measurement errors, probabilities of annoyance may be overpredicted for low noise levels and underpredicted for high noise levels, therefore, methods of correcting for measurement error will be necessary to improve the utility of the dose-response relationship for policy-making purposes.

simulation↗

NACA/NASA supersonic flight research

The use of experimental and testbed vehicles and their contributions to fundamental problem solving and overall vehicle characteristics are presented. A chronological description of aircraft from the first supersonic flight in the X-1 through the development of the F-100 series, the X-15, and the B-1 is given. One of the early significant contributions made was the development of the all-moving stabilizer that solved the problem associated with high-speed tuck and the trim requirements of entry into the supersonic regime. Some wind tunnel/flight drag characteristics studies associated with the B-1 bomber involving flexibility effects and wind tunnel effects are shown. Finally, the evolution of digital systems to enhance maintainability and reliability and to reduce the work load in the cockpit are described.

Ayers, T. G.↗

Low-speed static longitudinal and lateral stability characteristics of two low-aspect-ratio wings cambered and twisted to provide a uniform load at a supersonic flight condition

A delta wing and a tapered sweptback wing of aspect ratios 1.56 and 2.00, respectively, both of which were cambered and twisted so as to provide a uniform load distribution for a supersonic flight condition, were tested in combination with a fuselage at Reynolds numbers between 384,000 and 1,550,000 in order to determine the low-speed lift-drag and static stability characteristics of such wings.

REYNOLDS NUMBER EFFECTS - COMPLETE WINGS↗

Euler–Lagrange stochastic modeling of droplet breakup and impact in supersonic flight

Blunt bodied aircraft traveling supersonically in weather environments may be damaged by impacts with water droplets and other airborne particles, such as snow and ice. Prior to an impact, these particles will encounter a bow shock that causes a discontinuity in their relative velocity with the gas phase, which can lead droplets to breakup into smaller droplets. These smaller droplets are more easily diverted from colliding with the blunt body due to their significantly reduced inertia relative to the initial rain droplets. One-way coupled Euler–Lagrange simulations are used to study the dynamics of droplets approaching a blunt body in steady two dimensional and axi-symmetric flow fields using a stochastic version of the Taylor analogy breakup model for the breakup dynamics. Ultimately, the dominant mechanism determining engineering quantities of interest was observed to be a competition between breakup time and the time available for a droplet to reach the body after encountering the bow shock. At Mach numbers 2, 3, and 6, the competition between these mechanisms was the dominant factor determining the momentum transfer to the blunt body via droplet collisions, which can be well characterized by a scaling relation.

Briney, Sam (ORCID:0000000179061081)↗

Comparison of Likelihood Methods for Generalized Linear Mixed Models with Application to Quiet Supersonic Flights 2018 Data

Repeated measurement will be a feature of the survey data collected during the Quesst missionX-59 community response tests (CRT). Since each participant will report his or her categorical level of annoyance in response to multiple events, the responses from any single individual may be correlated with one another. Several models within the class of generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) are pertinent to the analysis of correlated categorical outcomes; the random intercept logistic regression model is one example. Both Bayesian and frequentist methods for fitting these models are available, with frequentist methods relying on some form of approximation (of either an integral or the integrand) that appears in the marginal likelihood function. Given several anticipated similarities of the X-59 CRT data to data collected during a past risk reduction, Quiet Supersonic Flights 2018 (QSF18), this short note is intended to create awareness. It documents an instance in which a reported population average dose-response relationship derived from QSF18 single event data was distorted by the integral approximation applied in likelihood-based methods. We review some of the available literature on the topic, compare the outputs of several different computational approaches implemented in available statistical software, and present simple corrective actions that may be useful during the Quesst mission.

dose-response model↗

Observations on an Aileron-Flutter Instability Encountered on a 45 Degree Swept-Back Wing in Transonic and Supersonic Flight

In the course of a flight test of a supersonic research pilotless aircraft (the NACA RM-1), large-amplitude aileron oscillations, probably aileron compressibility flutter, were encountered in the transonic and supersonic speed ranges. The wing was oscillating at the same frequency as the aileron. The aircraft was equipped with 45 degree swept-back wings of symmetrical NASA 65-010 airfoil section. Completely mass-balanced ailerons with 20 degree beveled trailing edges were installed on the wings. The ailerons were free floating with no mechanical restraining force other than the friction of the aileron hinges and servomechanism bearings throughout the high-speed interval of flight.

Pitkin, Marvin↗