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At least 127 records · Page 7

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NASA NTRS2001

Coupled Growth in Hypermonotectics

The overall objective of this project is to obtain a fundamental understanding of the physics controlling solidification processes in immiscible alloy systems. The investigation involves both experimentation and the development of a model describing solidification in monotectic systems. The experimental segment was designed to first demonstrate that it is possible to obtain interface stability and steady state coupled growth in hypermonotectic alloys through microgravity processing. Microgravity results obtained to date have verified this possibility. Future flights will permit experimental determination of the limits of interface stability and the influence of alloy composition and growth rate on microstructure. The objectives of the modeling segment of the investigation include prediction of the limits of interface stability, modeling of convective flow due to residual acceleration, and the influence of surface tension driven flows at the solidification interface. The study of solidification processes in immiscible alloy systems is hindered by the inherent convective flow that occurs on Earth and by the possibility of sedimentation of the higher density immiscible liquid phase. It has been shown that processing using a high thermal gradient and a low growth rate can lead to a stable macroscopically planar growth front even in hypermonotectic alloys. Processing under these growth conditions can avoid constitutional supercooling and prevent the formation of the minor immiscible liquid phase in advance of the solidification front. However, the solute depleted boundary layer that forms in advance of the solidification front is almost always less dense than the liquid away from the solidification front. As a result, convective instability is expected. Ground based testing has indicated that convection is a major problem in these alloy systems and leads to gross compositional variations along the sample and difficulties maintaining interface stability. Sustained low gravity processing conditions are necessary in order to minimize these problems and obtain solidification conditions which approach steady state.

Andrews, J. Barry↗

NASA NTRS1982

Picosecond flash spectroscopic studies on ultraviolet stabilizers and stabilized polymers

Spectroscopic and excited state decay kinetics are reported for monomeric and polymeric forms of ultraviolet stabilizers in the 2-(2'-hydroxyphenyl)-benzotriazole and 2-hydroxybenzophenone classes. For some of these molecules in various solvents at room temperature, (1) ground state absorption spectra, (2) emission spectra, (3) picosecond time-resolved transient absorption spectra, (4) ground state absorption recovery kinetics, (5) emission kinetics, and (6) transient absorption kinetics are reported. In the solid state at low temperatures, emission spectra and their temperature dependent kinetics up to approximately 200K as well as, in one case, the 12K excitation spectra of the observed dual emission are also reported.

Scott, G. W.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Time domain modelling and stability analysis of an integral pulse frequency modulated dc to dc power converter

Using state variable representation a nonlinear, discrete-time system is derived that models the converter exactly. This system is linearized about its steady state solution, and converter stability, transient response and audio susceptibility are studied. The steady state solution of the converter is stable if and only if all the roots of the linearized system are absolutely less than unity. Excellent agreement with laboratory test data has been observed.

Iwens, R. P.↗

NASA NTRS1990

State-space design of low-order stabilizers

An algorithm is presented for stabilizing a linear multivariable system with a controller of fixed dynamic order. This is an output feedback stabilization problem. The algorithm attempts to solve this by a sequence of approximate pole assignment problems. The approximation is driven by the optimization of an objective function consisting of a weighted sum of the condition number of the closed-loop eigenvectors and the norm of the difference between the computed and actual equivalent state-feedback controls.

Keel, L. H.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Relaxation of magnetotail plasmas

A quasi-thermodynamic model is presented for the relaxation of magnetotail plasmas during substorms, followed by quiet times. It is proposed that the plasma relaxes to a state of low-potential energy subject to a small number of global constraints. The constraints are exactly preserved by all ideal motions and, approximately, by a wide class of motions of the plasma undergoing magnetic reconnection. A variational principle which minimizes the free energy predicts the relaxed state. Exact, two-dimensional solutions of the relaxed state are obtained. A universal feature of the exact solutions is a chain of magnetic islands along the tail axis. Sufficient conditions for the stability of relaxed states are obtained from the second variation of the free-energy functional.

Bhattacharjee, A.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Control Analysis of flexible Solar Sails

Future solar sail missions will require sails with dimensions on the order of 100 m to l km. At these sizes, given the gossamer nature of the sail supporting structures, flexible modes may be low enough to interact with the control system. This paper develops a practical analysis of the flexible interactions using state-space systems and modal data from standard finite element models of the sail sub- system. The modal data is combined with a rigid core bus to create a modal coordinate state-space plant, which can be analyzed for stability with a state-space controller. Results are presented for an 80 m sail for both collocated actuation and control by actuators mounted at the sail tips.

Thomas, Stephanie J.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Robust state estimation with imperfect sensors

Robustness properties of extended Kalman-type filters are investigated for time-varying plants when nonlinearities or linear dynamics are present at the plant input and output. Sufficient conditions for the asymptotic stability (of the state estimation error) in the absence of noise are obtained when the nonlinearities or the linear dynamics are perfectly known. When the nonlinearities are known only within bands of uncertainty, the estimation error is shown to be ultimately bounded under certain conditions. The results obtained highlight the robustness properties of such filters, which are similar to, but not exact duals of those of linear quadratic regulators.

Joshi, S. M.↗

NASA NTRS1983

High-Performance Matrix Resins

State-of-the-art PMR polyimides provide good strength and light weight in wide variety of critical applications. However, improved processability and elevated temperature thermo-oxidative stability are desired in such polyimide systems. Resins, intended for use in advanced composites, adhesives, and neat resin articles, show improvements in both processability and elevatedtemperature stability over state-of-the-art PMR-15 polymers.

Pater, R. H.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Robust control design for aerospace applications

Time-domain control design for stability robustness of linear systems with structured uncertainty is addressed. Upper bounds on the linear perturbation of an asymptotically stable linear system are obtained, making it possible to maintain stability by using the structural information of the uncertainty. A quantitative measure called the stability robustness index is introduced and used to design controllers for robust stability. The proposed state feedback control design algorithm can be used, for a given set of perturbations, to select the range of control effort for which the system is stability-robust. Conversely it can be used, for a given control effort, to determine the size of the tolerable perturbation. The algorithm is illustrated with examples from aircraft control and large-space-structure control problems.

Yedavalli, Rama K.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Fuzzy Model-based Pitch Stabilization and Wing Vibration Suppression of Flexible Wing Aircraft.

This paper presents a fuzzy nonlinear controller to regulate the longitudinal dynamics of an aircraft and suppress the bending and torsional vibrations of its flexible wings. The fuzzy controller utilizes full-state feedback with input constraint. First, the Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy linear model is developed which approximates the coupled aeroelastic aircraft model. Then, based on the fuzzy linear model, a fuzzy controller is developed to utilize a full-state feedback and stabilize the system while it satisfies the control input constraint. Linear matrix inequality (LMI) techniques are employed to solve the fuzzy control problem. Finally, the performance of the proposed controller is demonstrated on the NASA Generic Transport Model (GTM).

Stability and Control↗

NASA NTRS1971

Combustion of a premixed system in stagnation flow. I - Theoretical.

The theoretical steady-state and transient characteristics of a premixed combustible system in laminar axisymmetric stagnation flow are studied by way of numerical solution of the governing boundary-layer equations. Computations, which are based on the oxidation reaction of carbon monoxide in humid air, invoke a minimum of simplifying assumptions. Steady-state results include prediction of (1) profiles of the state variables, (2) extinction of blow-off conditions, (3) ignition conditions, and (4) the heat flux to the stagnation point. Computer simulations of the unsteady state provide an indication of the stability of a given steady state to perturbations. Comparisons between some of the predictions of the mathematical model and the results of laboratory experiments will be reported in Part II.

Smith, H. W.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Adaptive Control Allocation in the Presence of Actuator Failures

In this paper, a novel adaptive control allocation framework is proposed. In the adaptive control allocation structure, cooperative actuators are grouped and treated as an equivalent control effector. A state feedback adaptive control signal is designed for the equivalent effector and allocated to the member actuators adaptively. Two adaptive control allocation algorithms are proposed, which guarantee closed-loop stability and asymptotic state tracking in the presence of uncertain loss of effectiveness and constant-magnitude actuator failures. The proposed algorithms can be shown to reduce the controller complexity with proper grouping of the actuators. The proposed adaptive control allocation schemes are applied to two linearized aircraft models, and the simulation results demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithms.

Liu, Yu↗

NASA NTRS1985

A faster 'transition' to laminar flow

A discussion is given of the ongoing research related to laminar flow airfoils, nacelles, and wings where the laminar flow is maintained by a favorable pressure gradient, surface suction or a combination of the two. Design methologies for natural laminar flow airfoil sections and wings for both low and high speed applications are outlined. Tests of a 7-foot chord, 23-deg sweep laminar flow-control airfoil at high subsonic Mach numbers are described, along with the associated stability theory used to design the suction system. The state-of-the-art of stability theory is simply stated and a typical calculation illustrated. In addition, recent computer simulations of transition using the time dependent Navier-Stokes equations are briefly described. Advances in wind tunnel capabilities and instrumentation will be reviewed, followed by the presentation of a few results from both wind tunnels and flight. Finally, some suggestions for future work will complete the paper.

Bobbitt, P. J.↗

NASA NTRS1976

A distribution benefits model for improved information on worldwide crop production. Volume 1: Model structure and application to wheat

The improved model is suitable for the study of benefits of worldwide information on a variety of crops. Application to the previously studied case of worldwide wheat production shows that about $108 million per year of distribution benefits to the United States would be achieved by a satellite-based wheat information system meeting the goals of LACIE. The model also indicates that improved information alone will not change world stock levels unless production itself is stabilized. The United States benefits mentioned above are associated with the reduction of price fluctuations within the year and the more effective use of international trade to balance supply and demand. Price fluctuations from year to year would be reduced only if production variability were itself reduced.

Andrews, J.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Effects of displacement and rate saturation on the control of statically unstable aircraft

Methodologies are presented for the analysis and design of stability augmentation control laws for aircraft in which 'hard' displacement and rate limiting are significant. Candidate control laws are derived using the linear-quadratic (LQ) regulator. Analytical and computational estimates of the stability limits imposed by control saturation are presented using state trajectories with control limiting, as well as describing functions and eigenvalue computation. Analysis also includes an investigation of the interaction of the state-space saturation and stability boundaries for various choices of LQ weighting matrices. For minimum-energy control, the saturation and stability boundaries are shown to be parallel. In this case, there is a direct relation between the solution to the matrix Riccati equation and the aircraft's open-loop dynamics.

Hanson, G. D.↗

NASA NTRS1983

New calculation of the properties of the positronium ion

The positronium negative ion Ps(-), the system composed of two electrons and a positron, has been reinvestigated theoretically. Using a Hylleraas wave function with two nonlinear parameters and more than 200 linear terms, excellent values of binding energy and annihilation lifetime of the particle-stable 1Se ground state have been obtained. In addition, the question of stability of the 3Pe state discussed by Mills has been examined and it is agreed with his conclusion that the state is probably not stable against breakup into Ps(n = 2) + e(-). Improved limits on the critical 'positron' mass for binding the 3Pe state have also been obtained.

Bhatia, A. K.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Stability of an elastic airplane

FLEXSTAB computer program is used to evaluate trim state, static, and dynamic stability characteristics, inertial and aerodynamic loading, and elastic deformations of aircraft configurations at subsonic and supersonic speeds.

Erickson, L. L.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Nonlinear Dynamic Models in Advanced Life Support

To facilitate analysis, ALS systems are often assumed to be linear and time invariant, but they usually have important nonlinear and dynamic aspects. Nonlinear dynamic behavior can be caused by time varying inputs, changes in system parameters, nonlinear system functions, closed loop feedback delays, and limits on buffer storage or processing rates. Dynamic models are usually cataloged according to the number of state variables. The simplest dynamic models are linear, using only integration, multiplication, addition, and subtraction of the state variables. A general linear model with only two state variables can produce all the possible dynamic behavior of linear systems with many state variables, including stability, oscillation, or exponential growth and decay. Linear systems can be described using mathematical analysis. Nonlinear dynamics can be fully explored only by computer simulations of models. Unexpected behavior is produced by simple models having only two or three state variables with simple mathematical relations between them. Closed loop feedback delays are a major source of system instability. Exceeding limits on buffer storage or processing rates forces systems to change operating mode. Different equilibrium points may be reached from different initial conditions. Instead of one stable equilibrium point, the system may have several equilibrium points, oscillate at different frequencies, or even behave chaotically, depending on the system inputs and initial conditions. The frequency spectrum of an output oscillation may contain harmonics and the sums and differences of input frequencies, but it may also contain a stable limit cycle oscillation not related to input frequencies. We must investigate the nonlinear dynamic aspects of advanced life support systems to understand and counter undesirable behavior.

Jones, Harry↗