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At least 109 records · Page 6

Validation of Design and Analysis Techniques of Tailored Composite Structures

Aeroelasticity is the relationship between the elasticity of an aircraft structure and its aerodynamics. This relationship can cause instabilities such as flutter in a wing. Engineers have long studied aeroelasticity to ensure such instabilities do not become a problem within normal operating conditions. In recent decades structural tailoring has been used to take advantage of aeroelasticity. It is possible to tailor an aircraft structure to respond favorably to multiple different flight regimes such as takeoff, landing, cruise, 2-g pull up, etc. Structures can be designed so that these responses provide an aerodynamic advantage. This research investigates the ability to design and analyze tailored structures made from filamentary composites. Specifically the accuracy of tailored composite analysis must be verified if this design technique is to become feasible. To pursue this idea, a validation experiment has been performed on a small-scale filamentary composite wing box. The box is tailored such that its cover panels induce a global bend-twist coupling under an applied load. Two types of analysis were chosen for the experiment. The first is a closed form analysis based on a theoretical model of a single cell tailored box beam and the second is a finite element analysis. The predicted results are compared with the measured data to validate the analyses. The comparison of results show that the finite element analysis is capable of predicting displacements and strains to within 10% on the small-scale structure. The closed form code is consistently able to predict the wing box bending to 25% of the measured value. This error is expected due to simplifying assumptions in the closed form analysis. Differences between the closed form code representation and the wing box specimen caused large errors in the twist prediction. The closed form analysis prediction of twist has not been validated from this test.

Jegley, Dawn C.↗

Column and Plate Compressive Strengths of Aircraft Structural Materials: Extruded 24S-T Aluminum Alloy

Column and plate compressive strengths of extruded 24S-T aluminum alloy were determined both within and beyond the elastic range from tests of thin-strip columns and local-instability tests of H-, Z-,and channel-section columns. These tests are part of an extensive research investigation to provide data on the' structural strength of various aircraft materials. The results are presented in the form of curves and charts that are suitable for use in the design and analysis of aircraft structures.

Heimerl, George J.↗

Computer simulation of the Farley-Buneman instability and anomalous electron heating in the auroral ionosphere

The nonlinear saturation of the Farley-Buneman instability in a collisional plasma is studied by a 2 1/2 dimensional electrostatic particle simulation which includes inelastic and elastic collisions of electrons and elastic collision of ions with neutrals. In the simulation, a uniform convection electric field is applied externally so that the relative velocity between the electrons and ions is greater than the ion sound speed and destabilizes the instability. A nonlinear frequency shift from higher to lower frequencies and diffusion of the wave spectrum in two dimensional wave number space are found. It is found that the dominant mechanism for electron heating is due to an enhanced effective electron collision frequency and hence enhanced resistive heating as suggested by Primdahl (1986) and not due to the heating of electrons by the electric field of the waves parallel to the magnetic field. For the ionospheric conditions discussed by Schlegel and St.-Maurice (1981)an anomalous heating rate of about 4 x 10 to the 7th W/cu cm is found.

Machida, S.↗

Nonlinear deformation and elasticity of BCC refractory metals and alloys

Application of isotropic pressure or uniaxial strain alters the elastic properties of materials; sufficiently large strains can drive structural transformations. Linear elasticity describes stability against infinitesimal strains, while nonlinear elasticity describes the response to finite deformations. Here, it was previously shown that uniaxial strain along [100] drives refractory metals and alloys towards mechanical instabilities. These include an extensional instability, and a symmetry-breaking orthorhombic distortion caused by a Jahn-Teller-Peierls instability that splays the cubic lattice vectors. Here we analyze these transitions in depth. Eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the Wallace tensor identify and classify linear instabilities in the presence of strain. We show that both instabilities are discontinuous, leading to discrete jumps in the lattice parameters. We provide physical intuition for the instabilities by analyzing the changes in first-principles energy, stress, bond lengths, and angles upon application of strain. Electronic band structure calculations show differential occupation of bonding and antibonding orbitals, driven by the changing bond lengths and leading to the structural transformations. Strain thresholds for these instabilities depend on the valence electron count.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

On the Lagrangian turbulence in continua

Lagrangian turbulence in continua is introduced as a failure of Euclidian metric of a material system of coordinates, and it is shown that the Ricci tensor of such a system of coordinates may be used as a measure of L-turbulence. The conditions which are sufficient, though not necessary, for instability of an initially infinitesimal disturbance of this tensor are determined for fluid, elastic, and viscoelastic bodies. The results are obtained from the linearized equations, and therefore the growth of unstable solutions may be bounded.

Zak, M.↗

Fracture mechanics life analytical methods verification testing

The objective was to evaluate NASCRAC (trademark) version 2.0, a second generation fracture analysis code, for verification and validity. NASCRAC was evaluated using a combination of comparisons to the literature, closed-form solutions, numerical analyses, and tests. Several limitations and minor errors were detected. Additionally, a number of major flaws were discovered. These major flaws were generally due to application of a specific method or theory, not due to programming logic. Results are presented for the following program capabilities: K versus a, J versus a, crack opening area, life calculation due to fatigue crack growth, tolerable crack size, proof test logic, tearing instability, creep crack growth, crack transitioning, crack retardation due to overloads, and elastic-plastic stress redistribution. It is concluded that the code is an acceptable fracture tool for K solutions of simplified geometries, for a limited number of J and crack opening area solutions, and for fatigue crack propagation with the Paris equation and constant amplitude loads when the Paris equation is applicable.

Favenesi, J. A.↗

Investigation and suppression of high dynamic response encountered on an elastic supercritical wing

The DAST Aeroelastic Research Wing had been previously in the NASA Langley TDT and an unusual instability boundary was predicted based upon supercritical response data. Contrary to the predictions, no instability was found during the present test. Instead a region of high dynamic wing response was observed which reached a maximum value between Mach numbers 0.92 and 0.93. The amplitude of the dynamic response increased directly with dynamic pressure. The reponse appears to be related to chordwise shock movement in conjunction with flow separation and reattachment on the upper and lower wing surfaces. The onset of flow separation coincided with the occurrence of strong shocks on a surface. A controller was designed to suppress the wing response. The control law attenuated the response as compared with the uncontrolled case and added a small but significant amount of damping for the lower density condition.

Seidel, David A.↗

Column and Plate Compressive Strengths of Aircraft Structural Martials Extruded 0-1HTA Magnesium Alloy

Column and plate compressive strengths of extruded 0-1HTA magnesium alloy were determined both within and beyond the elastic range from tests of flat end H-section columns and from local instability tests of H-, Z-, and channel section columns. These tests are part of an extensive research investigation to provide data on the structural strength of various aircraft materials. The results are presented in the form of curves and charts that are suitable for use in the design and analysis of aircraft structures.

Heimerl, George J↗

Softening of breathing elastic mode and trigonal elastic mode in the disordered pyrochlore magnet NaCaCo 2 F 7

Cobalt pyrochlore fluoride NaCaCo 2 F 7 is a disordered frustrated magnet that is composed of Co 2+ ions with an effective spin-12 magnetic moment and that exhibits spin freezing below $T_f ~$ 2.4 K. Here, we perform ultrasound velocity measurements on a single crystal of the cubic NaCaCo 2 F 7 . The temperature dependence of the bulk modulus (the breathing elastic mode) exhibits Curie-type softening upon cooling below ~20 K down to $T_f$, which is suppressed by the magnetic field. This Curie-type softening should be a precursor to the enhancement of the strength of exchange disorder via the spin-lattice coupling, which causes the spin freezing. In contrast to the magnetic-field-suppressed Curie-type softening in the bulk modulus, the trigonal shear modulus exhibits softening with a characteristic minimum upon cooling, which is enhanced by the magnetic field at temperatures below ~20 K. This magnetic-field-enhanced elastic anomaly in the trigonal shear modulus suggests a coupling of the lattice to the dynamical spin-cluster state. For NaCaCo 2 F 7 , the observed elastic anomalies reveal an occurrence of magnetic-field-induced crossover from an isostructural lattice instability toward the spin freezing to a trigonal lattice instability arising from the emergent dynamical spin-cluster state.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

A spectral identification technique for adaptive attitude control and pointing of the Space Telescope

The Space Telescope is a 2.4 m class aperture optical telescope having near-diffraction-limited performance. It will be placed into earth orbit by 1980 via the Space Shuttle. The problem considered is how to achieve negligible degradation of the astronomy imaging capability (to 0.005 arc second) due to smearing by pointing motions during observations. Initially, pointing instability sources were identified and a linear stability was used to assess the magnitude of elastic body modes and to design control system compensation regions necessary for subsequent adaptive control. A spectral identification technique for this adaptive attitude control and pointing has been investigated that will alleviate requirements for comprehensive dynamic ground testing. Typical all-digital simulation results describing motions of the telescope line of sight are presented.

Teuber, D. L.↗

Results of a parametric aeroelastic stability analysis of a generic X-wing aircraft

This paper discusses the trends in longitudinal dynamic aeroelastic stability of a generic x-wing aircraft model with design parameter variations. X-wing rotor blade sweep angle, ratio of blade mass to total vehicle mass, blade structural stiffness cross-coupling and vehicle center-of-gravity location were parameters considered. The typical instability encountered is body-freedom flutter involving a low frequency interaction of the first elastic mode and the aircraft short period mode. Parametric cases with the lowest static margin consistently demonstrated the highest flutter dynamic pressures. As mass ratio was increased, the flutter boundary decreased. The decrease was emphasized as center-of-gravity location was moved forward. As sweep angle varied, it was observed that the resulting increase in forward-swept blade bending amplitude relative to aft blade bending amplitude in the first elastic mode had a stabilizing effect on the flutter boundary. Finally, small amounts of stiffness cross-coupling in the aft blades increased flutter dynamic pressure.

Woods, Jessica A.↗

Results of a parametric aeroelastic stability analysis of a generic X-wing aircraft

This paper discusses the trend in longitudinal dynamic aeroelastic stability of a generic X-Wing aircraft model with design parameter variations. X-Wing rotor blade sweep angle, ratio of blade mass to total vehicle mass, blade structural stiffness cross-coupling and vehicle center-of-gravity location were parameters considered. The typical instability encountered is body-freedom flutter involving a low frequency interaction of the first elastic mode and the aircraft short period mode. Parametric cases with the lowest static margin consistently demonstrated the highest flutter dynamic pressures. As mass ratio was increased, the flutter boundary decreased. The decrease was emphasized as center-of-gravity location was moved forward. As sweep angle varied, it was observed that the resulting increase in forward-swept blade bending amplitude relative to aft blade bending amplitude in the first elastic mode had a stabilizing effect on the flutter boundary. Finally, small amounts of stiffness cross-coupling in the aft blades increased flutter dynamic pressure.

Woods, Jessica A.↗

On dynamic stability boundaries for binary systems

Dynamic stability boundaries are developed for linear two-degree-of-freedom systems with damping and elastic couplings. Special emphasis is placed on the influence of natural frequency proximity and those instabilities which stem from skew-symmetric stiffness properties. These arise in aeroelasticity and flight dynamics systems. Insight is provided into the destabilizing effects of the 'dreaded modal resonance' which results when the two natural frequencies in the modal natural frequency ratio match or nearly match.

Young, M. I.↗

Design of a Thruster Vector Servo-Elastic Filter

This presents a method to improve the thruster vector servo elasticity (TVSE) stability. TVSE is the coupling between the TVC system engine dynamics and the vehicle flexible modes. It can lead to instability of the flexible modes due to the energy injection from the thrust. For large boosters with heavy TVC engine, TVSE is more likely to cause instability. This instability is part of the plant dynamics and is not detected by the flight control. In this paper, the TVSE is treated as a disturbance rejection problem with the inertial force of the flexible motion viewed as an external disturbance to the TVC actuator control system. By effectively rejecting this disturbance, the engine can be decoupled from the flexible dynamics thus improving TVSE stability. The actuator disturbance transfer function is modified by inserting a TVSE filter into the control system. The filter aims to reduce the magnitude and introduce phase lead of the disturbance transfer function over the TVSE sensitive frequency range while maintaining adequate stability margins of the actuator control system. A prefilter is also designed for good command tracking. The filter and prefilter resulting from this method are usually of low order and can be included to the existing actuator controller if the controller is programmable. This method was demonstrated for a hydraulic Simplex actuator model. Its applications to SLS B1 and B2 TVC actuator are also described. B2 actuator controller is modified based on this method. The tradeoff between TVSE stability and the control system stability can be balanced by adjusting the amount of phase lead introduced by the TVSE filter. This method provides a useful way to solve the TVSE instability issue without costly and time-consuming a TVC system redesign. This method is based on the basic control principles of loop shaping and disturbance rejection and has been proven to be effective under proper circum-stances.

Thrust vector control↗

Buckling of structures; Proceedings of the Symposium, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., June 17-21, 1974

The papers deal with such topics as the buckling and post-buckling behavior of plates and shells; methods of calculating critical buckling and collapse loads; finite element representations for thin-shell instability analysis; theory and experiment in the creep buckling of plates and shells; creep instability of thick shell structures; analytical and numerical studies of the influence of initial imperfections on the elastic buckling of columns; mode interaction in stiffened panels under compression; imperfection-sensitivity in the interactive buckling of stiffened plates; buckling of stochastically imperfect structures; and the Liapunov stability of elastic dynamic systems. A special chapter is devoted to design problems, including the design of a Mars entry 'aeroshell', and buckling design in vehicle structures. Individual items are announced in this issue.

Budiansky, B.↗

An experimental and analytical study of a lifting-body wind-tunnel model exhibiting body-freedom flutter

Flutter analysis of the proposed National Aerospace Plane indicates that in the subsonic to transonic flight regime, the vehicle may be susceptible to an instability known as body-freedom flutter. Body-freedom flutter is a dynamic instability involving a vehicle rigid-body mode coupling with one or more of the vehicle's elastic modes. In the case of the NASP, the body-freedom flutter predicted by analysis involves the short-period mode of the vehicle coupling with the pivot mode of the all-movable wings. A wind-tunnel test was designed to investigate this phenomenon. Parameter studies included variations in wing-actuator stiffness, wing-pivot shaft location along the root chord, and thickness of the fuselage. The wind-tunnel test was conducted in the NASA Langley Transonic Dynamics Tunnel. Flutter boundaries were measured in the wind tunnel for three configurations and a model divergence point was measured on a fourth configuration. At the last flutter point obtained during the test, body-freedom flutter proved to be rather violent. The analysis used in this study incorporated thin-wing theory aerodynamics and did a fairly good job of predicting the flutter boundaries.

Soistmann, David L.↗

Some conclusions regarding the aeroelastic stability of hingeless helicopter blades in hover and in forward flight

In this paper results and conclusions obtained from the study of the aeroelastic instability of hingeless helicopter blades are presented. First, the large amplitude coupled flap-lag equations of motion of a hingeless elastic helicopter blade are solved using an asymptotic expansion procedure in multiple time scales. Both hover and forward flight cases are considered. Stability boundaries and amplitudes of nonlinear response are obtained. From these, the importance of the nonlinear coupling and the effect of the periodic coefficients is determined. Next, using a system of linearized coupled flap-lag-pitch equations in hover, various divergence mechanisms for hingeless blades are shown. Finally, the flutter boundaries for coupled flap-lag-pitch are obtained. The effect of the torsional degree of freedom on the flap-lag type of instability is investigated. Similarly the effect of lag on the flap-pitch type of instability is considered. In addition, the effect of various blade parameters on the stability boundaries is shown.

Friedmann, P.↗