A silicon-germanium solar thermoelectric generator.
Mathematical model to design weight optimized silicon-germanium solar flat plate thermoelectric generator as spacecraft auxiliary power source in near sun missions
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Mathematical model to design weight optimized silicon-germanium solar flat plate thermoelectric generator as spacecraft auxiliary power source in near sun missions
This document describes the RAGMOP (Rocket Ascent G-limited Momentbalanced Optimization Program) computer program for parametric ascent trajectory optimization. RAGMOP computes optimum polynomial-form attitude control histories, launch azimuth, engine burn-time, and gross liftoff weight for space shuttle type vehicles using a search-accelerated, gradient projection parameter optimization technique. The trajectory model available in RAGMOP includes a rotating oblate earth model, the option of input wind tables, discrete and/or continuous throttling for the purposes of limiting the thrust acceleration and/or the maximum dynamic pressure, limitation of the structural load indicators (the product of dynamic pressure with angle-of-attack and sideslip angle), and a wide selection of intermediate and terminal equality constraints.
A computer program for rapid parametric evaluation of various types of cryogenics spacecraft systems is presented. The mathematical techniques of the program provide the capability for in-depth analysis combined with rapid problem solution for the production of a large quantity of soundly based trade-study data. The program requires a large data bank capable of providing characteristics performance data for a wide variety of component assemblies used in cryogenic systems. The program data requirements are divided into: (1) the semipermanent data tables and source data for performance characteristics and (2) the variable input data which contains input parameters which may be perturbated for parametric system studies.
Efforts to reduce aircraft noise perceived by residents during landing are reported. Steps in the development of the aircraft aerodynamic model, noise model, population model, performance index, and optimization procedure are reviewed. The optimal trajectories from the three main near-terminal entry points are presented via tables and graphs. The recommendation is that these minimal noise trajectories be tested as reference trajectories for the terminally configured aircraft to fly along.
The wind tunnel performance of a 10-percent thick helicopter rotor section design by numerical optimization is presented. The model was tested at Mach number from 0.2 to 0.84 with Reynolds number ranging from 1,900,000 at Mach 0.2 to 4,000,000 at Mach numbers above 0.5. The airfoil section exhibited maximum lift coefficients greater than 1.3 at Mach numbers below 0.45 and a drag divergence Mach number of 0.82 for lift coefficients near 0. A moderate 'drag creep' is observed at low lift coefficients for Mach numbers greater than 0.6.
Control-theory design package, called Optimal Regulator Algorithms for Control of Linear Systems (ORACLS), aids in design of controllers and optimal filters for systems modeled by linear, time invariant differential and difference equations. ORACLS is particularly attractive rigorous tool for dealing with multi-input and multi-output dynamic systems in both continuous and discrete forms.
An analytical model based on modal analysis was developed to predict the noise transmission into a twin-engine light aircraft. The model was applied to optimize the interior noise to an A-weighted level of 85 dBA. To achieve the required noise attenuation, add-on treatments in the form of honeycomb panels, damping tapes, acoustic blankets, septum barriers and limp trim panels were added to the existing structure. The added weight of the noise control treatment is about 1.1 percent of the total gross take-off weight of the aircraft.
The optimization of aircraft altitude and flight path angle dynamics is addressed in a form suitable for on-line computation and control. The approach here is a direct extension of the work reported by Calise (1979), where singular perturbation methods were used to optimize position, energy and heading dynamics; it thus represents an optimal control solution that models all of the primary trajectory related dynamics. It is pointed out that the resulting algorithm can be regarded as a nonlinear feedback control law. The minimum time intercept of a fixed terminal point is used in setting the framework in which the analytical results are developed. The main theoretical result is that the dynamics, while not completely separable, can be approximated by singular perturbation methods when the control model includes relative position dynamics.
A previous report described a backward deletion procedure of model selection that was optimized for minimum prediction error and which used a multiparameter combination of the F - distribution and an order statistics distribution of Cochran's. A computer program is described that applies the previously optimized procedure to real data. The use of the program is illustrated by examples.
Analytical and experimental procedures were used to predict the noise transmitted through double wall windows into the cabin of a twin-engine G/A aircraft. The analytical model was applied to optimize cabin noise through parametric variation of the structural and acoustic parameters. The parametric study includes mass addition, increase in plexiglass thickness, decrease in window size, increase in window cavity depth, depressurization of the space between the two window plates, replacement of the air cavity with a transparent viscoelastic material, change in stiffness of the plexiglass material, and different absorptive materials for the interior walls of the cabin. It was found that increasing the exterior plexiglass thickness and/or decreasing the total window size could achieve the proper amount of noise reduction for this aircraft. The total added weight to the aircraft is then about 25 lbs.
Identification and control of flexible space structures were studied. Exploration of the most advanced modeling estimation, identification and control methodologies to flexible space structures was discussed. The following general areas were discussed: space platforms, antennas, and flight experiments; control/structure interactions - modeling, integrated design and optimization, control and stabilization, and shape control; control technology; control of space stations; large antenna control, dynamics and control experiments, and control/structure interaction experiments.
Formulas available for the weight estimation of monoplane wings cannot be said to be appropriate for the estimation of generally configured dual wing systems. In the present paper a method is described which simultaneously generates a structural weight estimate and a fully stressed, quasi-optimal structure for a model of a dual wing system. The method is fast and inexpensive. It is ideally suited to preliminary design. To illustrate the method, a dual wing system and a conventional wing system are sized. Numerical computation is shown to be suitably fast for both cases and, for both cases, convergence to a final configuration is shown to be quite rapid. To illustrate the validity of the method, a conventional wing is sized and its weight obtained by the present method is compared to its weight determined by a reputable weight estimation formula. The results are shown to be very close.
Among the topics discussed are developments in structural engineering hardware and software, computation for fracture mechanics, trends in numerical analysis and parallel algorithms, mechanics of materials, advances in finite element methods, composite materials and structures, determinations of random motion and dynamic response, optimization theory, automotive tire modeling methods and contact problems, the damping and control of aircraft structures, and advanced structural applications. Specific topics covered include structural design expert systems, the evaluation of finite element system architectures, systolic arrays for finite element analyses, nonlinear finite element computations, hierarchical boundary elements, adaptive substructuring techniques in elastoplastic finite element analyses, automatic tracking of crack propagation, a theory of rate-dependent plasticity, the torsional stability of nonlinear eccentric structures, a computation method for fluid-structure interaction, the seismic analysis of three-dimensional soil-structure interaction, a stress analysis for a composite sandwich panel, toughness criterion identification for unidirectional composite laminates, the modeling of submerged cable dynamics, and damping synthesis for flexible spacecraft structures.
A theoretical and field experimental program has been carried out to investigate the use of tip devices on horizontal axis wind turbine rotors. The objective was to improve performance by the reduction of tip losses. While power output can always be increased by a simple radial tip extension, such a modification also results in an increased gale load both because of the extra projected area and longer moment arm. Tip devices have the potential to increase power output without such a structural penalty. A vortex lattice computer model was used to optimize three basic tip configuration types for a 25 kW stall limited commercial wind turbine. The types were a change in tip planform, and a single-element and double-element nonplanar tip extension (winglets). A complete data acquisition system was developed which recorded three wind speed components, ambient pressure, temperature, and turbine output. The system operated unattended and could perform real-time processing of the data, displaying the measured power curve as data accumulated in either a bin sort mode or polynomial curve fit. Approximately 270 hr of perormance data were collected over a three-month period. The sampling interval was 2.4 sec; thrus over 400,000 raw data points were logged. Results for each of the three new tip devices, compared with the original tip, showed a small decrease (of the order of 1 kW) in power output over the measured range of wind speeds from cut-in at about 4 m/s to over 20 m/s, well into the stall limiting region. Changes in orientation and angle-of-attack of the winglets were not made. For aircraft wing tip devices, favorable tip shapes have been reported and it is likely that the tip devices tested in this program did not improve rotor performance because they were not optimally adjusted.
A variable-skew oblique wing offers a substantial aerodynamic performance advantage for aircraft missions that require both high efficiency in subsonic flight and supersonic dash or cruise. The most obvious characteristic of the oblique-wing concept is the asymmetry associated with wing-skew angle which results in significant aerodynamic and inertial cross-coupling between the aircraft longitudinal and lateral-directional axes. A technique for synthesizing a decoupling controller while providing the desired stability augmentation. The proposed synthesis procedure uses the cncept of explicit model following. Linear quadratic optimization techniques are used to design the linear feedback system. The effectiveness of the control laws developed in achieving the desired decoupling is illustrated for a given flight condition by application to linearized equations of motion, and also to the nonlinear equations of six degrees of freedom of motion with nonlinear aerodynamic data.
A variable-skew oblique wing offers a substantial aerodynamic performance advantage for aircraft missions that require both high efficiency in subsonic flight and supersonic dash or cruise. The most obvious characteristic of the oblique-wing concept is the asymmetry associated with wing-skew angle which results in significant aerodynamic and inertial cross-coupling between the aircraft longitudinal and lateral-directional axes. This paper presents a technique for synthesizing a decoupling controller while providing the desired stability augmentation. The proposed synthesis procedure uses the concept of explicit model following. Linear quadratic optimization techniques are used to design the linear feedback system. The effectiveness of the control laws developed in achieving the desired decoupling is illustrated for a given flight condition by application to linearized equations of motion, and also to the nonlinear equations of six degrees of freedom of motion with nonlinear aerodynamic data.
The use of a decentralized approach to failure detection and isolation for use in restructurable control systems is examined. This work has produced: (1) A method for evaluating fundamental limits to FDI performance; (2) Application using flight recorded data; (3) A working control element FDI system with maximal sensitivity to critical control element failures; (4) Extensive testing on realistic simulations; and (5) A detailed design methodology involving parameter optimization (with respect to model uncertainties) and sensitivity analyses. This project has concentrated on detection and isolation of generic control element failures since these failures frequently lead to emergency conditions and since knowledge of remaining control authority is essential for control system redesign. The failures are generic in the sense that no temporal failure signature information was assumed. Thus, various forms of functional failures are treated in a unified fashion. Such a treatment results in a robust FDI system (i.e., one that covers all failure modes) but sacrifices some performance when detailed failure signature information is known, useful, and employed properly. It was assumed throughout that all sensors are validated (i.e., contain only in-spec errors) and that only the first failure of a single control element needs to be detected and isolated. The FDI system which has been developed will handle a class of multiple failures.
Single-mode projection filters are developed for eigensystem parameter estimates from both analytical results and test data. Explicit formulations of these projection filters are derived using the pseudoinverse matrices of the controllability and observability matrices in general use. A global minimum optimization algorithm is developed to update the filter parameters by using interval analysis method. Modal parameters can be attracted and updated in the global sense within a specific region by passing the experimental data through the projection filters. For illustration of this method, a numerical example is shown by using a one-dimensional global optimization algorithm to estimate model frequencies and dampings.