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At least 415 records · Page 23

Direct integration of transient rotor dynamics

An implicit method was developed for integrating the equations of motion for a lumped mass model of a rotor dynamics system. As an aside, a closed form solution to the short bearing theory was also developed for a damper with arbitrary motion. The major conclusions are that the method is numerically stable and that the computation time is proportional to the number of elements in the rotor dynamics model rather than to the cube of the number. This computer code allowed the simulation of a complex rotor bearing system experiencing nonlinear transient motion and displayed the vast amount of results in an easily understood motion picture format - a 10 minute, 16 millimeter, color, sound motion picture supplement. An example problem with 19 mass elements in the rotor dynamics model took 0.7 second of central processing unit time per time step on an IBM 360-67 computer in a time sharing mode.

Kascak, A. F.↗

Nonlinear axially symmetric circulations in a nearly inviscid atmosphere

The structure of certain axially symmetric circulations in a stably stratified, differentially heated, rotating Boussinesq fluid on a sphere is analyzed. A simple approximate theory (similar to that introduced by Schneider (1977)) is developed for the case in which the fluid is sufficiently inviscid that the poleward flow in the Hadley cell is nearly angular momentum conserving. The theory predicts the width of the Hadley cell, the total poleward heat flux, the latitude of the upper level jet in the zonal wind, and the distribution of surface easterlies and westerlies. Fundamental differences between such nearly inviscid circulations and the more commonly studied viscous axisymmetric flows are emphasized. The theory is checked against numerical solutions to the model equations.

Held, I. M.↗

Higher order farfield drag minimization for a subcritical wing design code

A higher order Trefftz plane model of the undistorted interacting wing wakes of two symmetric subsonic planforms has been developed and integrated with an existing vortex lattice wing design code. The Trefftz plane calculation provides continuous, piecewise quadratically varying bound circulations, which are then interpolated in the nearfield vortex lattice representation of the wing. Integration of the surface slopes for a specified chord loading function provides the design wing camber surfaces. This paper outlines the theoretical development and presents comparisons between results obtained using the present theory and (1) previous exact solutions for minimum induced drag and (2) previous wing designs obtained using a discrete vortex wake moded.

Kuhlman, J. M.↗

Stresses in adhesively bonded joints: A closed form solution

The plane strain of adhesively bonded structures which consist of two different orthotropic adherents is considered. Assuming that the thicknesses of the adherends are constant and are small in relation to the lateral dimensions of the bonded region, the adherends are treated as plates. The transverse shear effects in the adherends and the in-plane normal strain in the adhesive are taken into account. The problem is reduced to a system of differential equations for the adhesive stresses which is solved in closed form. A single lap joint and a stiffened plate under various loading conditions are considered as examples. To verify the basic trend of the solutions obtained from the plate theory a sample problem is solved by using the finite element method and by treating the adherends and the adhesive as elastic continua. The plate theory not only predicts the correct trend for the adhesive stresses but also gives rather surprisingly accurate results.

Delale, F.↗

Psuedospectral calculation of shock turbulence interactions

A Chebyshev-Fourier discretization with shock fitting is used to solve the unsteady Euler equations. The method is applied to shock interactions with plane waves and with a simple model of homogeneous isotropic turbulence. The plane wave solutions are compared to linear theory.

Zang, T. A.↗

Contact between a rigid cylinder and an orthotropic beam under initial stress

The contact behavior between a smooth rigid cylinder and a simply-supported orthotropic beam under uniaxial initial stresses is studied. The displacements are computed by superposing Mindlin plate solution with the solution obtained from Biot's theory of incremental deformation. Finite Fourier transforms are used in solving the equations. The effects of orthotropy and initial stresses on the contact stress distribution are investigated. An indentation law is established from the numerical results.

Sun, C. T.↗

Future Directions of Research in Adhesion and Friction. Status of Understanding

Four main classes of materials are covered: metals, ceramics, elastomers and polymers. In dealing with adhesion a distinction is drawn between adhesion (which often involves thermodynamic concepts) and the observed adhesive strength, here designated as the pull-off force. With metals the level of understanding of the interfacial bond is well understood theoretically and was elegantly studied experimentally. However the role of surface roughness and especially ductility needs to be incorporated into an overall view of metallic adhesion. The effect of contaminant films has not gone far beyond purely descriptive language. The friction of metals is understood in terms of surface topography, adhesion and deformation and there are now promising solutions using slipline-field theory. These do not however, cope very satisfactorily with work hardening. For surfaces sliding at higher speeds there are now good models which deal with asperity instabilities produced by frictional heating.

Tabor, D.↗

Pseudospectral calculation of shock turbulence interactions

A Chebyshev-Fourier discretization with shock fitting is used to solve the unsteady Euler equations. The method is applied to shock interactions with plane waves and with a simple model of homogeneous isotropic turbulence. The plane wave solutions are compared to linear theory. Previously announced in STAR as N83-27952

Zang, T. A.↗

Smooth indentation of an initially stressed orthotropic beam

The contact behavior between a smooth rigid cylinder and a simply supported orthotropic beam under uniaxial initial stresses is studied. The displacements are computed by superposing Mindlin plate solution with the solution obtained from Biot's theory of incremental deformation. Finite Fourier transforms are used in solving the equations. A point matching technique is used to compute the contact stresses and the amount of indentation for a given contact length. The effects of orthotropy and initial stresses on the contact stress distribution are investigated. An indentation law is established from the numerical results.

Sun, C. T.↗

Rotary-wing aerodynamics. Volume 1 - Basic theories of rotor aerodynamics (With application to helicopters). Volume 2 Performance prediction of helicopters (2nd revised and enlarged edition)

Basic theories of rotor aerodynamics are presented and applied to the performance prediction of helicopters. The very simple physicomathematical model of the rotor offered by momentum theory is addressed first, followed by the combined blade-element and momentum theory. Vortex theory is discussed, and a rotor blade is modeled by means of a vortex filament or vorticity surface. Considerations of airfoil sections suitable for rotors are examined. Detailed performance techniques for a single-rotor helicopter in hover, vertical ascent, and forward flight are described, and winged and tandem-rotor helicopter performance calculations are presented as extensions and modifications of single-rotor methodology. Computer data based on the vortex theory are compared with approximate results obtained from the simplified momentum theory and the blade element solution.

Stepniewski, W. Z.↗

Plates and shells containing a surface crack under general loading conditions

Various through and part-through crack problems in plates and shells are considered. The line-spring model of Rice and Levy is generalized to the skew-symmetric case to solve surface crack problems involving mixed-mode, coplanar crack growth. Compliance functions are introduced which are valid for crack depth to thickness ratios at least up to .95. This includes expressions for tension and bending as well as expressions for in-plane shear, out-of-plane shear, and twisting. Transverse shear deformation is taken into account in the plate and shell theories and this effect is shown to be important in comparing stress intensity factors obtained from the plate theory with three-dimensional solutions. Stress intensity factors for cylinders obtained by the line-spring model also compare well with three-dimensional solution. By using the line-spring approach, stress intensity factors can be obtained for the through crack and for part-through crack of any crack front shape, without recalculation integrals that take up the bulk of the computer time. Therefore, parameter studies involving crack length, crack depth, shell type, and shell curvature are made in some detail. The results will be useful in brittle fracture and in fatigue crack propagation studies. All problems considered are of the mixed boundary value type and are reducted to strongly singular integral equations which make use of the finite-part integrals of Hadamard. The equations are solved numerically in a manner that is very efficient.

Joseph, Paul F.↗

AI and simulation: What can they learn from each other

Simulation and Artificial Intelligence share a fertile common ground both from a practical and from a conceptual point of view. Strengths and weaknesses of both Knowledge Based System and Modeling and Simulation are examined and three types of systems that combine the strengths of both technologies are discussed. These types of systems are a practical starting point, however, the real strengths of both technologies will be exploited only when they are combined in a common knowledge representation paradigm. From an even deeper conceptual point of view, one might even argue that the ability to reason from a set of facts (i.e., Expert System) is less representative of human reasoning than the ability to make a model of the world, change it as required, and derive conclusions about the expected behavior of world entities. This is a fundamental problem in AI, and Modeling Theory can contribute to its solution. The application of Knowledge Engineering technology to a Distributed Processing Network Simulator (DPNS) is discussed.

Colombano, Silvano P.↗

Application of fuzzy theories to formulation of multi-objective design problems

Much of the decision making in real world takes place in an environment in which the goals, the constraints, and the consequences of possible actions are not known precisely. In order to deal with imprecision quantitatively, the tools of fuzzy set theory can by used. This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of fuzzy theories in the formulation and solution of two types of helicopter design problems involving multiple objectives. The first problem deals with the determination of optimal flight parameters to accomplish a specified mission in the presence of three competing objectives. The second problem addresses the optimal design of the main rotor of a helicopter involving eight objective functions. A method of solving these multi-objective problems using nonlinear programming techniques is presented. Results obtained using fuzzy formulation are compared with those obtained using crisp optimization techniques. The outlined procedures are expected to be useful in situations where doubt arises about the exactness of permissible values, degree of credibility, and correctness of statements and judgements.

Dhingra, A. K.↗

Experimental program for real gas flow code validation at NASA Ames Research Center

The experimental program for validating real gas hypersonic flow codes at NASA Ames is described. Ground based test facilities used include ballistic ranges, shock tubes and shock tunnels, arcjet facilities and heated air hypersonic wind tunnels. Also included are large scale computer systems for kinetic theory simulations and benchmark code solutions. Flight tests consist of the Aeroassist Flight Experiment, the Space Shuttle, Project Fire 2, and planetary probes such as Galileo, Pioneer Venus and PAET.

Deiwert, George S.↗

The electron beam instability revisited: Growth above and below f sub p

The growth of electrostatic waves near the plasma frequency (fp) due to an unstable electron beam is investigated by solving the unmagnetized electrostatic dispersion equation numerically. The numerical solutions are compared with analytic theories for reactive (or fluid-type) and kinetic versions of the beam instability, and for the O'Neil/Malmberg connection of the beam and Langmuir modes. Conditions for growth significantly above or below fp are given. Three general results are found: (1) The unstable waves do not grow on a mode with Langmuir dispersion except in the limit of a very dilute beam with growth on O'Neil/Malmberg's connected mode; (2) The properties of the unstable mode depend strongly on beam parameters such as beam density, speed and temperature; and (3) The frequency of maximum growth frequently lies significantly above or below fp, and differs significantly from that predicted by the Langmuir dispersion relation. Results imply important consequences for theories of strong turbulence and nonlinear wave-wave processes, and observational identification of fp from observed wave frequencies.

Cairns, I. H.↗

Experimental program for real gas flow code validation at NASA Ames Research Center

The experimental program for validating real gas hypersonic flow codes at NASA Ames Rsearch Center is described. Ground-based test facilities used include ballistic ranges, shock tubes and shock tunnels, arc jet facilities and heated-air hypersonic wind tunnels. Also included are large-scale computer systems for kinetic theory simulations and benchmark code solutions. Flight tests consist of the Aeroassist Flight Experiment, the Space Shuttle, Project Fire 2, and planetary probes such as Galileo, Pioneer Venus, and PAET.

Deiwert, George S.↗

A torus bifurcation theorem with symmetry

Hopf bifurcation in the presence of symmetry, in situations where the normal form equations decouple into phase/amplitude equations is described. A theorem showing that in general such degeneracies are expected to lead to secondary torus bifurcations is proved. By applying this theorem to the case of degenerate Hopf bifurcation with triangular symmetry it is proved that in codimension two there exist regions of parameter space where two branches of asymptotically stable two-tori coexist but where no stable periodic solutions are present. Although a theory was not derived for degenerate Hopf bifurcations in the presence of symmetry, examples are presented that would have to be accounted for by any such general theory.

Vangils, S. A.↗

A hybrid method for prediction of propeller performance

An analytical/computational code has been developed to predict the performance of advanced turboprop propellers. The method of solution is based on strip theory and conservation of linear and angular momenta applied to a control volume enclosing the propeller and its far wake. An iterative procedure is used to account for the induced axial and rotational velocities. Sectional aerodynamic coefficients are explicitly accounted for by thin airfoil theory and refinement of the results is obtained using a two-dimensional vortex panel method and Euler equations. The results obtained compare well with wind-tunnel data obtained for advanced propellers, such as the Hamilton Standard SR-2 and SR-7.

Takallu, M. A.↗