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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.

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At least 109 records · Page 6
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1975

Measured noise reductions resulting from modified approach procedures for business jet aircraft

Five business jet airplanes were flown to determine the noise reductions that result from the use of modified approach procedures. The airplanes tested were a Gulfstream 2, JetStar, Hawker Siddeley 125-400, Sabreliner-60 and LearJet-24. Noise measurements were made 3, 5, and 7 nautical miles from the touchdown point. In addition to a standard 3 deg glide slope approach, a 4 deg glide slope approach, a 3 deg glide slope approach in a low-drag configuration, and a two-segment approach were flown. It was found that the 4 deg approach was about 4 EPNdB quieter than the standard 3 deg approach. Noise reductions for the low-drag 3 deg approach varied widely among the airplanes tested, with an average of 8.5 EPNdB on a fleet-weighted basis. The two-segment approach resulted in noise reductions of 7 to 8 EPNdB at 3 and 5 nautical miles from touchdown, but only 3 EPNdB at 7 nautical miles from touchdown when the airplanes were still in level flight prior to glide slope intercept. Pilot ratings showed progressively increasing workload for the 4 deg, low-drag 3 deg, and two-segment approaches.

Burcham, F. W., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1981

The physics of creep and attenuation in the mantle

The objective is to investigate the role of dislocations in both creep and attenuation. Attenuation in the mantle at seismic frequencies is thought to be caused by the glide of dislocations in the subgrains. Both kink and impurity drag can contribute to the glide time constant. The kink-formation, or Peierls barrier, model for dislocation glide is seen as a low-temperature, high-frequency mechanism most appropriate for pure systems. It is noted that a small amount of impurity drag brings the dislocation glide characteristic time into the seismic band at upper-mantle temperatures. The attenuation and creep behavior of the mantle are related by way of the dislocation structure. Analysis of the various possible mechanisms is facilitated by casting them and the geophysical data in terms of a pre-exponential characteristic time and an activation energy.

Anderson, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS1989

A predictive guidance algorithm for Mars entry

This report presents the derivation, logic, and performance of a Mars entry guidance algorithm for the Mars Rover Sample Return Mission. This algorithm guides the Mars entry vehicle along an equilibrium glide trajectory designed to satisfy a set of equality and inequality constraints at chute deploy. An equilibrium glide assumption permits analytic prediction of terminal state conditions and eliminates the need for determining numeric state sensitivities. Trajectory deviations due to dispersions or uncertainties in Martian atmosphere, vehicle aerodynamics, or entry interface conditions are accommodated simply by predicting the compensating equilibrium glide profile and achieving this profile with the available lift control. This Mars Predictive Equilibrium Glide guidance scheme was tested on a range of vehicle configurations with a variety of aerodynamic, atmosphere, and trajectory dispersions with a high degree of success.

Tigges, M. A.↗
NASA NTRS1936

Notes on the technique of landing airplanes equipped with wing flaps

The proper landing of airplanes equipped with flaps, although probably no more difficult than landing without them, requires a different technique. The effects of flaps on the aerodynamics characteristics of a wing are given and, with the aid of figures and diagrams, a detailed comparison of the glide and landing of an airplane with and without flaps is made. The dangers attending improper execution and the importance of such factors as air speed fuselage attitude, glide-path angle, and control manipulation, upon all of which a pilot bases his judgement, are emphasized. Of most importance in connection with the use of flaps are: the maintenance of a sufficient margin of speed above the stall; a decisive use of the controls at the proper time; more cautious use of power during the approach glide; and, above all, the willingness to accept the steep nose-down attitude necessary in the glide resulting from the use of flaps.

Gough, Melvin N↗
NASA NTRS1993

Evaluation of two cockpit display concepts for civil tiltrotor instrument operations on steep approaches

A piloted simulation experiment was conducted using the NASA Ames Research Center Vertical Motion Simulator to evaluate two cockpit display formats designed for manual control on steep instrument approaches for a civil transport tiltrotor aircraft. The first display included a four-cue (pitch, roll, power lever position, and nacelle angle movement prompt) flight director. The second display format provided instantaneous flight path angle information together with other symbols for terminal area guidance. Pilots evaluated these display formats for an instrument approach task which required a level flight conversion from airplane-mode flight to helicopter-mode flight while decelerating to the nominal approach airspeed. Pilots tracked glide slopes of 6, 9, 15 and 25 degrees, terminating in a hover for a vertical landing on a 150 feet square vertipad. Approaches were conducted with low visibility and ceilings and with crosswinds and turbulence, with all aircraft systems functioning normally and were carried through to a landing. Desired approach and tracking performance was achieved with generally satisfactory handling qualities using either display format on glide slopes up through 15 degrees. Evaluations with both display formats for a 25 degree glide slope revealed serious problems with glide slope tracking at low airspeeds in crosswinds and the loss of the intended landing spot from the cockpit field of view.

Decker, William A.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Fuzzy Logic Trajectory Design and Guidance for Terminal Area Energy Management

The second generation reusable launch vehicle will leverage many new technologies to make flight to low earth orbit safer and more cost effective. One important capability will be completely autonomous flight during reentry and landing, thus making it unnecessary to man the vehicle for cargo missions with stringent weight constraints. Implementation of sophisticated new guidance and control methods will enable the vehicle to return to earth under less than favorable conditions. The return to earth consists of three phases--Entry, Terminal Area Energy Management (TAEM), and Approach and Landing. The Space Shuttle is programmed to fly all three phases of flight automatically, and under normal circumstances the astronaut-pilot takes manual control only during the Approach and Landing phase. The automatic control algorithms used in the Shuttle for TAEM and Approach and Landing have been developed over the past 30 years. They are computationally efficient, and based on careful study of the spacecraft's flight dynamics, and heuristic reasoning. The gliding return trajectory is planned prior to the mission, and only minor adjustments are made during flight for perturbations in the vehicle energy state. With the advent of the X-33 and X-34 technology demonstration vehicles, several authors investigated implementing advanced control methods to provide autonomous real-time design of gliding return trajectories thus enhancing the ability of the vehicle to adjust to unusual energy states. The bulk of work published to date deals primarily with the approach and landing phase of flight where changes in heading angle are small, and range to the runway is monotonically decreasing. These benign flight conditions allow for model simplification and fairly straightforward optimization. This project focuses on the TAEM phase of flight where mathematically precise methods have produced limited results. Fuzzy Logic methods are used to make onboard autonomous gliding return trajectory design robust to a wider energy envelope, and the possibility of control surface failures, thus increasing the flexibility of unmanned gliding recovery and landing.

Burchett, Bradley↗
NASA NTRS1972

Night visual approaches: Pilot performance with and without a head-up display

Simulated night visual approaches were flown into two airports with and without a head up display (HUD) in a transport aircraft. The HUD featured pitch stabilized vertical scales which displayed the glide slope angle to the runway aim point and a horizontal bar which aided the pilot in his control of the aircraft flight path angle. One airport was located on flat terrain with numerous foreground lights, the second airport had no foreground lights and the terrain sloped up behind the airport. With the HUD glide slope tracking precision was equally good for either runway. With no HUD glide slope tracking was about three times worse with the flat airport and about eight times worse with the airport with no foreground lights and up-sloping terrain beyond the runway.

Palmer, E. A.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Terminal guidance system

A terminal guidance system is described including a heading command subsystem and a glide-slope command subsystem which develop command signals for use in guiding an aircraft or other vehicle into a preselected heading and/or altitude at a terminal point. The heading command subsystem is responsive to certain input data and continuously develops command signals for use in directing the aircraft from a remote location to a terminal point so that upon arrival it has a preselected terminal heading. The glide-slope command subsystem is responsive to certain other input data and continuously develops command signals for use in controlling the rate of descent of the aircraft so that it will have a preselected altitude and glide-slope upon arrival at the terminal.

Gee, S. W.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Noise measurements at Stockton Airport obtained during engineering evaluation of two-segment approaches in a 727-222 aircraft

The results of acoustic measurements made on a 727-222 aircraft during standard ILS and two-segment approaches are presented. The aircraft was equipped with a special purpose glide slope computer to provide the capability of making two-segment noise abatement approaches. For upper segment computations, the computer used barometric-corrected pressure altitude and the slant range to a DME transmitter which was colocated with the glide slope transmitter. The computer used the ILS glide slope deviation for lower segment computations. Additional measurements were made on 737 revenue aircraft using the Stockton Airport. The purpose of the acoustical portion of the test was to measure and identify the noise levels during the various approaches.

Glass, R. E.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Comparison of two head-up displays in simulated standard and noise abatement night visual approaches

Situation and command head-up displays were evaluated for both standard and two segment noise abatement night visual approaches in a fixed base simulation of a DC-8 transport aircraft. The situation display provided glide slope and pitch attitude information. The command display provided glide slope information and flight path commands to capture a 3 deg glide slope. Landing approaches were flown in both zero wind and wind shear conditions. For both standard and noise abatement approaches, the situation display provided greater glidepath accuracy in the initial phase of the landing approaches, whereas the command display was more effective in the final approach phase. Glidepath accuracy was greater for the standard approaches than for the noise abatement approaches in all phases of the landing approach. Most of the pilots preferred the command display and the standard approach. Substantial agreement was found between each pilot's judgment of his performance and his actual performance.

Cronn, F.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Flight evaluation of flight-path control required for the approach and landing of STOL aircraft

Flight experiments have been conducted as part of a program to assess requirements for flight-path control for glide-slope tracking and for control of the flare and landing for STOL aircraft. The Augmentor Wing Research Aircraft was used to perform landing approaches on a 7.5 deg glide slope to landings on a 30 x 518 m STOL runway. The flight results identified flight-path overshoot and vertical velocity damping to be the dominant aircraft response characteristics that affect glide-slope tracking. The one prominent contribution to control of flare using pitch attitude was the short-term path response.

Franklin, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Design criteria for flightpath and airspeed control for the approach and landing of STOL aircraft

A flight research program was conducted to assess requirements for flightpath and airspeed control for glide-slope tracking during a precision approach and for flare control, particularly as applied to powered-lift, short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft. Ames Research Center's Augmentor Wing Research Aircraft was used to fly approaches on a 7.5 deg glide slope to landings on a 30 X 518 m (100 X 1700 ft) STOL runway. The dominant aircraft response characteristics determined were flightpath overshoot, flightpath-airspeed coupling, and initial flightpath response time. The significant contribution to control of the landing flare using pitch attitude was the short-term flightpath response. The limiting condition for initial flightpath response time for flare control with thrust was also identified. It is possible to define flying-qualities design criteria for glide-slope and flare control based on the aforementioned response characteristics.

Franklin, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1983

NASA-FAA helicopter Microwave Landing System curved path flight test

An ongoing series of joint NASA/FAA helicopter Microwave Landing System (MLS) flight tests was conducted at Ames Research Center. This paper deals with tests done from the spring through the fall of 1983. This flight test investigated and developed solutions to the problem of manually flying curved-path and steep glide slope approaches into the terminal area using the MLS and flight director guidance. An MLS-equipped Bell UH-1H helicopter flown by NASA test pilots was used to develop approaches and procedures for flying these approaches. The approaches took the form of Straight-in, U-turn, and S-turn flightpaths with glide slopes of 6 deg, 9 deg, and 12 deg. These procedures were evaluated by 18 pilots from various elements of the helicopter community, flying a total of 221 hooded instrument approaches. Flying these curved path and steep glide slopes was found to be operationally acceptable with flight director guidance using the MLS.

Swenson, H. N.↗
NASA NTRS1984

NASA-FAA helicopter Microwave Landing System curved path flight test

An ongoing series of joint NASA/FAA helicopter Microwave Landing System (MLS) flight tests was conducted at Ames Research Center. This paper deals with tests done from the spring through the fall of 1983. This flight test investigated and developed solutions to the problem of manually flying curved-path and steep glide slope approaches into the terminal area using the MLS and flight director guidance. An MLS-equipped Bell UH-1H helicopter flown by NASA test pilots was used to develop approaches and procedures for flying these approaches. The approaches took the form of Straight-in, U-turn, and S-turn flightpaths with glide slopes of 6 deg, 9 deg, and 12 deg. These procedures were evaluated by 18 pilots from various elements of the helicopter community, flying a total of 221 hooded instrument approaches. Flying these curved path and steep glide slopes was found to be operationally acceptable with flight director guidance using the MLS.

Swenson, H. N.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Performance comparisons of maneuvering vehicles returning from orbit

In the present study of maneuvering reentry vehicles employing skipping and gliding flight paths, attention is given to aerodynamic heating pulses during longitudinal flight and lateral maneuvers. While skipping vehicles can achieve longer ranges than gliding ones, the deceleration loads can be an order of magnitude higher and involve heating rates 4-5 times higher, even for shallow entries, therefore requiring much heavier structural components and heavier thermal protection systems than gliders. A total lateral range of 8000 km is noted to be achievable by a gliding aerodynamic maneuver involving a 90-deg turn initiated at entry.

Tauber, Michael E.↗
NASA NTRS1988

The heating environment during Martian atmospheric descent

It has been shown that a vehicle with a lift/drag ratio of 2.3 entering the Martian atmosphere at parabolic speed of 5 km/sec, or from a low orbit at 3.5 km/sec, has a very large landing footprint. At the 5-km/sec entry speed, the trajectory exhibits large skipping motions; however, a lateral range of up to 3300 km is attainable. The entries from low satellite orbit yield a gliding lateral range of 2500 km. The distances correspond to latitude changes of 57 and 42 deg, respectively. The high-speed, skipping entries were accompanied by the most intense heating. The peak stagnation point convective rates varied from 59 W/sq cm to 88 W/sq cm for partially and fully catalytic walls, respectively; the corresponding equilibrium wall temperatures were 1900 K and 2100 K. The peak heating at a wing leading-edge point reached 50 W/sq cm because of the presence of a transitional boundary layer. The lower-speed, gliding entries experienced much milder heating with a peak stagnation point rate of about 14 W/sq cm, resulting in a wall temperature near 1300 K. However, the longer duration of the gliding entries resulted in comparable heat loads for both entry speeds. The highest heat loads approached values experienced by the Shuttle orbiter stagnation point during a typical entry.

Tauber, Michael E.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Optimization and guidance of penetration landing trajectories in a windshear

The optimization and guidance of penetration landing trajectories in a windshear are considered. It is assumed that the aircraft is controlled by the angle of attack and the power setting. For the optimal trajectory, the performance index being minimized measures the deviation of the flight trajectory from the nominal trajectory. In turn, the nominal trajectory includes two parts: the approach part (nominal glide slope constant) and the flare part (nominal glide slope varying linearly with the horizontal distance). Numerical results show that the optimal trajectory deviates somewhat from the nominal trajectory in the shear region. A guidance scheme is developed to approximate the optimal trajectory. The angle of attack is determined by the windshear intensity, the absolute path inclination, and the glide slope angle, while the power setting is determined by the windshear intensity and the velocity. Numerical results indicate that the guidance trajectory is close to the optimal trajectory.

Miele, A.↗
NASA NTRS1935

Flight Tests of a Balanced Split Flap with Particular Reference to Rapid Operation

The flight path of a small parasol monoplane equipped with a special type of balanced split flap was determined for a series of glides during which the time taken to deflect or retract the flap was varied from 1 to 15 seconds in order to study the effect of the time taken to complete a flap movement on the motion of an airplane between the start of a flap movement and the attainment of steady flight with the new flap setting. For flap movements accompanied by a change of lift characteristics, and consequently of velocity, there is an appreciable delay in obtaining a desired change in glide angle even though the flap is operated instantaneously. Immediate control of the glide path is obtained only when the speed is maintained during the flap movement. When the speed is changed, the deviation from the desired path during the transition increases in proportion to the rapidity with which the flap is moved so that, with a high-lift flap, abrupt retraction at speeds less than the minimum speed with the flap retracted may be dangerous if practiced close to the ground.

Soule, H A↗