Discrete analog of an iterative method for inverse eigenvalue problems for Jacobi matrices
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The paper deals with the problem of dynamic structural optimization where constraints relating to flutter of a wing (or other dynamic aeroelastic performance) are imposed along with conditions of a more conventional nature such as those relating to stress under load, deflection, minimum dimensions of structural elements, etc. The discussion is limited to a flutter problem for a linear system with a finite number of degrees of freedom and a single constraint involving aeroelastic stability, and the structure motion is assumed to be a simple harmonic time function. Three search schemes are applied to the minimum-weight redesign of a particular wing: the first scheme relies on the method of feasible directions, while the other two are derived from necessary conditions for a local optimum so that they can be referred to as optimality-criteria schemes. The results suggest that a heuristic redesign algorithm involving an optimality criterion may be best suited for treating multiple constraints with large numbers of design variables.
The use of Chebyshev series in representing the ephemerides of satellites and planets in terms of truncated polynomial series is discussed. Emphasis is placed on a FORTRAN package which was developed for fitting satellite orbits. The features desired in any approximation are: (1) the ability to compress a satellite emphemeris; (2) the ability to represent a satellite ephemeris over several orbits; (3) guaranteed accuracy to within prescribed tolerance over the time interval of consideration; and (4) fast processing. These features are imposed with an eye towards adapting the approximation for use on microprocessor applications in which storage is limited and real time processing is required.
Subjects can correct their own errors of movement more quickly than they can react to external stimuli by using three general categories of feedback: (1) knowledge of results, primarily visually mediated; (2) proprioceptive or kinaesthetic such as from muscle spindles and joint receptors, and (3) corollary discharge or efference copy within the central nervous system. The effects of these feedbacks on simple reaction time, choice reaction time, and error correction time were studied in four normal human subjects. The movement used was plantarflexion and dorsiflexion of the ankle joint. The feedback loops were modified, by changing the sign of the visual display to alter the subject's perception of results, and by applying vibration at 100 Hz simultaneously to both the agonist and antagonist muscles of the ankle joint. The central processing was interfered with when the subjects were given moderate doses of alcohol (blood alcohol concentration levels of up to 0.07%). Vibration and alcohol increase both the simple and choice reaction times but not the error correction time.
The desire to improve flight safety leads to a classification of various flight troubles in three groups: (1) troubles from sensitivity to flight disturbances, (2) maneuverability troubles (whenever a correction maneuver induces an unexpected deviation on another parameter), and (3) pilot troubles (pilot overload when required attention is excessive or underload entailing a loss of vigilance). Sensitivity to disturbances and maneuverability of a given aircraft may be evaluated from the early design stage. Evaluation of the pilot behavior, however, may be realized only in actual flight or with a flight simulator, that is quite late in the development period. For this reason, it is desirable to have available, at the design stage, a model of the pilot behavior to command the differential system describing the envisioned aircraft. This aim implies two major requirements. First, the program must be compatible with a wide range of possible aircraft designs; ideally, the program should be self-learning. Second, mental load and overall pilot performance must be modeled.
The design optimization and practical implementation of actively cooled structural panel concepts was investigated. The desired actively cooled structural panel consisted of the cooled skin and a substructure. The primary load carrying components were fabricated from 2024-T3 aliminum alloy. The 3003-H14 coolant passage tubing was chosen because of its excellent corrosion resistance, workability needed to obtain the desired cross sectional shape, and strength. The Epon 951 adhesive was selected for its excellent structural properties and is the thinnest of available films, 0.064 mm. The Eccobond 58C silver filled epoxy was chosen because of its high thermal conductivity, and the alumina filled Epon 828 was chosen for structural and expansion characteristics.
Insight into the fluid mechanics encountered when film air from a single row of holes is injected over a cylinder in a mainstream at conditions simulating a film cooled, turbulent-vane leading edge was investigated. Smoke was added to the cooling air to visualize its flow path. Film was injected in the spanwise direction at angles of 30 deg and 45 deg to the surface; at angular locations of 15 deg, 30 deg, 45 deg, and 60 deg from the stagnation line; and at various blowing ratios. The observations were related to the measured heat transfer data of others. The results indicate that, in addition to the expected growth in film thickness and the greater penetration of the boundary layer with increasing blowing ration, there was an absence of spanwise spreading and only a small spanwise deflection of the injected film.
The Viking-2 Mars Lander landed at 48 deg N 226 deg W, northern summer. During the summer period the wind vector exhibited a repetitive clockwise turning with a period of one Sol (Mars day). Occasionally, however, the rotation ceased and wind became principally northeasterly. These events were always multiples of a Sol in duration, and all began around local midnight. The exact reason for this behavior is not clear, but it is suggested that small variations in the strength of the global circulation may be responsible.
An adaptive guidance technique which provides a self-correcting path following capability in an environment sensitive semi-autonomous roving robot is described. A real-time maneuver planning function performs tradeoffs between speed, magnitude of expected deviations and accelerations to best satisfy the design goals of vehicle safety and reliability, subsystem autonomy, performance accuracy and operational efficiency. The appropriate combination of maneuver parameters is selected through an iterative process using knowledge of vehicle performance characteristics, environmental model updates and vehicle state
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In this paper we describe a well documented, compactly coded, storage efficient, thoroughly tested, and easy to use set of FORTRAN IV subroutines for use in Kalman filter or least-squares applications. The package contains both the UDU covariance factorization and the square root information filter algorithms developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Numerical reliability of the algorithms is a key feature of the package.
This paper is concerned with the formation of the acceleration region for electrons which produce the visible auroral arc and with the formation of the inverted V precipitation region. The former is embedded in the latter, and both are associated with field-aligned current sheets carried by plasma sheet electrons. It is shown that an electron current sheet driven from the plasma sheet into the ionosphere leads to the formation of a two-dimensional potential double layer. For a current sheet of a thickness less than the proton gyrodiameter solutions are obtained in which the field-aligned potential drop is distributed over a length much greater than the Debye length. For a current sheet of a thickness much greater than the proton gyrodiameter solutions are obtained in which the potential drop is confined to a distance on the order of the Debye length. The electric field in the two-dimensional double-layer model is the zeroth-order field inherent to the current sheet configuration, in contrast to those models in which the electric field is attributed to the first-order field due to current instabilities or turbulences. The maximum potential in the two-dimensional double-layer models is on the order of the thermal energy of plasma sheet protons, which ranges from 1 to 10 keV.
Robustness properites of sample-data LQ regulators are derived which show that these regulators have fundamentally inferior uncertainty tolerances when compared to their continuous-time counterparts. Results are also presented in stability theory, multivariable frequency domain analysis, LQG robustness, and mathematical representations of hybrid systems.
Despite the malfunctioning of the digital portion of the experiment which is encoding the absolute amplitude of the wave spectrum with a fixed bias of approximately 20 dB, the analog portion of the instrument is acquiring excellent data concerning the wave function and relative amplitude. Results obtained over a 2-year period which have important implications for magnetospheric wave-particle interactions are examined in the areas of emission generation by nonconducted coherent waves, and cold plasma distribution in the inner magnetosphere.
Newton's method for nonlinear mechanics problems replaces the governing nonlinear equations by an iterative sequence of linear equations. When the linear equations are linear differential equations, the equations are usually solved by numerical methods. The iterative sequence in Newton's method can exhibit poor convergence properties when the nonlinear problem has multiple solutions for a fixed set of parameters, unless the iterative sequences are aimed at solving for each solution separately. The theory of the linear differential operators is often a better guide for solution strategies in applying Newton's method than the theory of linear algebra associated with the numerical analogs of the differential operators. In fact, the theory for the differential operators can suggest the choice of numerical linear operators. In this paper the method of variation of parameters from the theory of linear ordinary differential equations is examined in detail in the context of Newton's method to demonstrate how it might be used as a guide for numerical solutions.
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Anomalous high frequency pressure fluctuations in the Space Shuttle main engine have been experienced during hot firings. Through diagnostic analysis of hot firing engine data, it was determined that this excitation originated at the main oxidizer valve. The intensity of these fluctuations was such that the main oxidizer valve was partially consumed in fire, experienced fretting, and had seal damage. Delineated in this paper are the associated dynamical phenomena and the methodologies leading toward understanding the excitation mechanism. The results presented demonstrate that the source of the anomalous frequencies was suppressed by a simple fix and all main oxidizer valve damage was terminated.
A sounding rocket payload instrumented in order to inject and observe energetic electron fluxes in the ionospheric plasma was flown from Ft. Churchill into a bright auroral display on 9 April 1978. Measurements of one throw-away detector in three energy channels at 1.9, 4 and 8 keV are discussed in order to relate the observed electron echoes to the prevailing geophysical conditions.