Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “FLUTTER”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 487 records · Page 27

Whirl flutter analysis of a horizontal-axis wind turbine with a two-bladed teetering rotor

Whirl flutter and the effect of pitch-flap coupling on teetering motion of a wind turbine were investigated. The equations of motion are derived for an idealized five-degree-of-freedom mathematical model of a horizontal-axis wind turbine with a two-bladed teetering rotor. The model accounts for the out-of-plane bending motion of each blade, the teetering motion of the rotor, and both the pitching and yawing motions of the rotor support. Results show that the design is free from whirl flutter. Selected results are presented indicating the effect of variations in rotor support damping, rotor support stiffness, and pitch-flap coupling on pitching, yawing, teetering, and blade bending motions.

Janetzke, D. C.↗

Decoupler pylon: wing/store flutter suppressor

A device for suspending a store from a support such as an aircraft wing and more specifically for increasing the flutter speed of an aircraft flying with attached store and reducing the sensitivity of flutter to changes in the pitch inertia and center of gravity location of the store is described. It comprises softspring where the store pitch mode is decoupled from support modes and a low frequency active control mechanism which maintains store alignment. A pneumatic suspension system both isolates the store in pitch and, under conditions of changing mean load, aligns the store with the wing to which it is attached.

Reed, W. H., III↗

Active flutter suppression using optical output feedback digital controllers

A method for synthesizing digital active flutter suppression controllers using the concept of optimal output feedback is presented. A convergent algorithm is employed to determine constrained control law parameters that minimize an infinite time discrete quadratic performance index. Low order compensator dynamics are included in the control law and the compensator parameters are computed along with the output feedback gain as part of the optimization process. An input noise adjustment procedure is used to improve the stability margins of the digital active flutter controller. Sample rate variation, prefilter pole variation, control structure variation and gain scheduling are discussed. A digital control law which accommodates computation delay can stabilize the wing with reasonable rms performance and adequate stability margins.

Source record↗

Time-marching transonic flutter solutions including angle-of-attack effects

Transonic aeroelastic solutions based upon the transonic small perturbation potential equation are studied. Time-marching transient solutions of plunging and pitching airfoils are analyzed using a complex exponential modal identification technique, and seven alternative integration techniques for the structural equations are evaluated. The HYTRAN2 code is used to determine transonic flutter boundaries versus Mach number and angle-of-attack for NACA 64A010 and MBB A-3 airfoils. In that code, a monotone differencing method, which eliminates leading edge expansion shocks, is used to solve the potential equation. When the effect of static pitching moment upon the angle-of-attack is included, the MBB A-3 airfoil can have multiple flutter speeds at a given Mach number.

Edwards, J. W.↗

Coupled bending-bending-torsion flutter of a mistuned cascade with nonuniform blades

A set of aeroelastic equations describing the motion of an arbitrarily mistuned cascade with flexible, pretwisted, nonuniform blades is developed using an extended Hamilton's principle. The derivation of the equations has its basis in the geometric nonlinear theory of elasticity in which the elongations and shears are negligible compared to unity. A general expression for foreshortening of a blade is derived and is explicitly used in the formulation. The blade aerodynamic loading in the subsonic and supersonic flow regimes is obtained from two-dimensional, unsteady, cascade theories. The aerodynamic, inertial and structural coupling between the bending (in two planes) and torsional motions of the blade is included. The equations are used to investigate the aeroelastic stability and to quantify the effect of frequency mistuning on flutter in turbofans. Results indicate that a moderate amount of intentional mistuning has enough potential to alleviate flutter problems in unshrouded, high-aspect-ratio turbofans.

Kaza, K. R. V.↗

Three-dimensional shock structure in a transonic flutter cascade

Rapid double-pulse holography was employed to obtain detailed, two-dimensional images of the shock forming during simulated flutter in a transonic flowfield. The experiment comprised a linear cascade of airfoils externally oscillated in torsion and viewed tangentially at the shock surface. Three biconvex airfoils were subjected to harmonic pitching motion about the midchord axis at a frequency of 0.53 while immersed in a Mach 0.81 flow. Failure to produce observable shocks led to use of choked flow with a Mach number near one, of which 50 holograms were taken. The images revealed a narrow shock surface with a spanwise variation in the shock properties. The method is concluded to be useful for examining transonic flowfield shocks in the presence of airfoil flutter.

Boldman, D. R.↗

Robust Kalman filter design for active flutter suppression systems

Additional insight is provided into the use of the Doyle-Stein (1979, 1981) technique in aeroelastic control problems by examining the application of the method to a flutter control problem. The system to be controlled consists of a full-size wind tunnel model of a wing, plus an aileron, an actuator, and an accelerometer used to sense the motion of the wing. A full-state feedback controller was designed using linear optimal control theory, and a Kalman filter was used in the feedback loop for state estimation. The filter design procedure is explained along with that to improve closed-loop properties of the system. The locus of the poles of the filter is examined as a scalar design parameter is varied. The Doyle-Stein design procedure is shown to substantially improve the stability properties of an active flutter controller designed using the linear quadratic Gaussian control theory.

Garrard, W. L.↗

Airfoil shape and thickness effects on transonic airloads and flutter

A transient pulse technique is used to obtain harmonic forces from a time-marching solution of the complete unsteady transonic small perturbation potential equation. The unsteady pressures and forces acting on a model of the NACA 64A010 conventional airfoil and the MBB A-3 supercritical airfoil over a range of Mach numbers are examined in detail. Flutter calculations at constant angle of attack show a similar flutter behavior for both airfoils, except for a boundary shift in Mach number associated with corresponding Mach number shift in the unsteady aerodynamic forces. Differences in the static aeroelastic twist behavior for the two airfoils are significant.

Bland, S. R.↗

Design of the flutter suppression system for DAST ARW-IR

The design of the flutter suppression system for a remotely-piloted research vehicle is described. The modeling of the aeroelastic system, the methodology used to synthesized the control law, the analytical results used to evaluate the control law performance, and ground testing of the flutter suppression system onboard the aircraft are discussed. The major emphasis is on the use of optimal control techniques employed during the synthesis of the control law.

Newsom, J. R.↗

Friction damping of flutter in gas turbine engine airfoils

This paper investigates the feasibility of using blade-to-ground friction dampers to stabilize flutter in blades. The response of an equivalent one mode model in which the aerodynamic force is represented as negative viscous damping is examined to investigate the following issues: the range of amplitudes over which friction damping can stabilize the response, the maximum negative aerodynamic damping that can be stabilized in such a manner, the effect of simultaneous resonant excitation on these stability limits, and the determination of those damper parameters which will be the best for flutter control.

Sinha, A.↗

Airfoil shape and thickness effects on transonic airloads and flutter

A transient pulse technique is used to obtain harmonic forces from a time-marching solution of the complete unsteady transonic small perturbation potential evaluation. The unsteady pressures and forces acting on a model of the NACA 64A010 conventional airfoil and the MBB A-3 supercritical airfoil over a range of Mach numbers are examined in detail. Flutter calculations at constant angle of attack show a similar flutter behavior for both airfoils, except for a boundary shift in Mach number associated with a corresponding Mach number shift in the unsteady aerodynamic forces. Differences in the static aeroelastic twist behavior for the two airfoils are significant.

Bland, S. R.↗

Design of the flutter suppression system for DAST ARW-1R - A status report

This paper describes the design of the flutter suppression system for a remotely-piloted research vehicle. The modeling of the aeroelastic system, the methodology used to synthesize the control law, the analytical results used to evaluate the control law performance, and ground testing of the flutter suppression system onboard the aircraft are discussed. The major emphasis is on the use of optimal control techniques employed during the synthesis of the control law.

Newsom, J. R.↗

Whirl flutter analysis of a horizontal-axis wind turbine with a two-bladed teetering rotor

Whirl flutter and the effect of pitch-flap coupling on teetering motion of a wind turbine were investigated. The equations of motion are derived for an idealized five-degree-of-freedom mathematical model of a horizontal-axis wind turbine with a two-bladed teetering rotor. The model accounts for the out-of-plane bending motion of each blade, the teetering motion of the rotor, and both the pitching and yawing motions of the rotor support. Results show that the design is free from whirl flutter. Selected results are presented indicating the effect of variations in rotor support damping, rotor support stiffness, and pitch-flap coupling on pitching, yawing, teetering, and blade bending motions. Previously announced in STAR as N82-23707

Janetzke, D. C.↗

Algorithms for real-time flutter identification

The work reported here addresses the important algorithm issues necessary to achieve a real-time flutter monitoring system; namely, the guidelines for choosing appropriate model forms, reduction of the parameter convergence transient, handling multiple modes, the effect of overparameterization, and estimate accuracy predictions, both online and for experiment design. An approach for efficiently computing continuous-time flutter parameter Cramer-Rao estimate error bounds has been developed. This enables a convincing comparison of theoretical and simulation results, as well as off-line studies in preparation for a flight test. Theoretical predictions, simulation and flight test results from the NASA/Dryden Drones for Aerodynamic and Structural Test (DAST) Program are compared.

Walker, R. A.↗

NASTRAN documentation for flutter analysis of advanced turbopropellers

An existing capability developed to conduct modal flutter analysis of tuned bladed-shrouded discs was modified to facilitate investigation of the subsonic unstalled flutter characteristics of advanced turbopropellers. The modifications pertain to the inclusion of oscillatory modal aerodynamic loads of blades with large (backward and forward) varying sweep.

Elchuri, V.↗

Real-time flutter analysis

The important algorithm issues necessary to achieve a real time flutter monitoring system; namely, the guidelines for choosing appropriate model forms, reduction of the parameter convergence transient, handling multiple modes, the effect of over parameterization, and estimate accuracy predictions, both online and for experiment design are addressed. An approach for efficiently computing continuous-time flutter parameter Cramer-Rao estimate error bounds were developed. This enables a convincing comparison of theoretical and simulation results, as well as offline studies in preparation for a flight test. Theoretical predictions, simulation and flight test results from the NASA Drones for Aerodynamic and Structural Test (DAST) Program are compared.

Walker, R.↗

Body-freedom flutter of a 1/2-scale forward-swept-wing model, an experimental and analytical study

The aeroelastic phenomenon known as body-freedom flutter (BFF), a dynamic instability involving aircraft-pitch and wing-bending motions which, though rarely experienced on conventional vehicles, is characteristic of forward swept wing (FSW) aircraft was investigated. Testing was conducted in the Langley transonic dynamics tunnel on a flying, cable-mounted, 1/2-scale model of a FSW configuration with and without relaxed static stability (RSS). The BFF instability boundaries were found to occur at significantly lower airspeeds than those associated with aeroelastic wing divergence on the same model. For those cases with RSS, a canard-based stability augmentation system (SAS) was incorporated in the model. This SAS was designed using aerodynamic data measured during a preliminary tunnel test in which the model was attached to a force balance. Data from the subsequent flutter test indicated that BFF speed was not dependent on open-loop static margin but, rather, on the equivalent closed-loop dynamics provided by the SAS. Servo-aeroelastic stability analyses of the flying model were performed using a computer code known as SEAL and predicted the onset of BFF reasonably well.

Chipman, R.↗