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At least 145 records · Page 8

Low thrust space vehicle trajectory optimization using regularized variables

Optimizing the trajectory of a low thrust space vehicle usually means solving a nonlinear two point boundary value problem. In general, accuracy requirements necessitate extensive computation times. In celestial mechanics, regularizing transformations of the equations of motion are used to eliminate computational and analytical problems that occur during close approaches to gravitational force centers. It was shown in previous investigations that regularization in the formulation of the trajectory optimization problem may reduce the computation time. In this study, a set of regularized equations describing the optimal trajectory of a continuously thrusting space vehicle is derived. The computational characteristics of the set are investigated and compared to the classical Newtonian unregularized set of equations. The comparison is made for low thrust, minimum time, escape trajectories and numerical calculations of Keplerian orbits. The comparison indicates that in the cases investigated for bad initial guesses of the known boundary values a remarkable reduction in the computation time was achieved. Furthermore, the investigated set of regularized equations shows high numerical stability even for long duration flights and is less sensitive to errors in the guesses of the unknown boundary values.

Schwenzfeger, K. J.↗

Rotordynamic Characteristics of the HPOTP (High Pressure Oxygen Turbopump) of the SSME (Space Shuttle Main Engine)

Rotational stability of turbopump components in the space shuttle main engine was studied via analysis of component and structural dynamic models. Subsynchronous vibration caused unacceptable migration of the rotor/housing unit with unequal load sharing of the synchronous bearings that resulted in the failure of the High Pressure Oxygen Turbopump. Linear analysis shows that a shrouded inducer eliminates the second critical speed and the stability problem, a stiffened rotor improves the rotordynamic characteristics of the turbopump, and installing damper boost/impeller seals reduces bearing loads. Nonlinear analysis shows that by increasing the "dead band' clearances, a marked reduction in peak bearing loads occurs.

Childs, D. W.↗

Adaptive Control for Uncertain Nonlinear Multi-Input Multi-Output Systems

Systems and methods of adaptive control for uncertain nonlinear multi-input multi-output systems in the presence of significant unmatched uncertainty with assured performance are provided. The need for gain-scheduling is eliminated through the use of bandwidth-limited (low-pass) filtering in the control channel, which appropriately attenuates the high frequencies typically appearing in fast adaptation situations and preserves the robustness margins in the presence of fast adaptation.

Cao, Chengyu↗

Filtering adaptive output feedback control for multivariable nonlinear systems with mismatched uncertainties and unmodeled dynamics

This article synthesizes a filtering adaptive output feedback controller for multivariable nonlinear systems with mismatched uncertainties and unmodeled dynamics. The multivariable nonlinear systems under consideration have both matched and mismatched uncertainties, which satisfy the semiglobal Lipschitz condition. The unmodeled dynamics are bounded-input bounded-output stable. By adopting an estimation/cancellation strategy, a piecewise constant adaptive law drives the estimation error to zero at every time instant, which yields the adaptive parameters; a disturbance rejection control law is designed to compensate the nonlinear uncertainties within the bandwidth of low-pass filters. The matched uncertainties are cancelled directly by adopting their opposite in the control signal, while a dynamic inversion of the system is required to eliminate the effect of the mismatched uncertainties on the output. A feedforward control law is designed to track a given command. Since the virtual reference system defines the best performance that can be achieved by the closed-loop system, the uniform performance bounds are derived for the states and control signals via comparison. Both numerical and practical examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed filtering adaptive output feedback control architecture, comparisons with the model reference adaptive control demonstrates the superiority of the proposed control method.

filtering adaptive control, mismatched uncertainit↗

Implicit fast sweeping method for hyperbolic systems of conservation laws

Implicit time-accurate methods are often used to integrate stiff problems where explicit schemes impose severe time step restrictions. This paper presents an efficient numerical framework based on the Fast Sweeping Method (FSM) for solving linear and nonlinear hyperbolic systems of conservation laws. The solution at each discrete location is computed by sweeping the numerical domain in several predetermined directions that follow the causality of the characteristic families. The use of a fractional step strategy eliminates the need for a solution selection criterion while one-sided stencils limit the number of sweeps to at most 2 d for d space dimensions. This work focuses on the first-order implicit upwind method since it constitutes the building block for high-order conservative schemes. For problems where the degree of stiffness evolves over time, implicit-explicit hybridization can be accomplished with the same algorithm by simply switching the stencil at each time level. As opposed to traditional implicit solvers, the sweeping method does not require a local time linearization of the fluxes thereby preserving the nonlinear stability properties of the original implicit scheme. It also avoids the large computational and memory requirements associated with solving large block-diagonal systems of equations. Here, a series of one- and two-dimensional test cases are presented for the inviscid Burgers' equation and the reactive Euler equations. The results indicate that the implicit FSM can allow a major reduction in the number of time steps even in the presence of discontinuous solution profiles.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Time accurate application of the MacCormack 2-4 scheme on massively parallel computers

Many recent computational efforts in turbulence and acoustics research have used higher order numerical algorithms. One popular method has been the explicit MacCormack 2-4 scheme. The MacCormack 2-4 scheme is second order accurate in time and fourth order accurate in space, and is stable for CFL's below 2/3. Current research has shown that the method can give accurate results but does exhibit significant Gibbs phenomena at sharp discontinuities. The impact of adding Jameson type second, third, and fourth order artificial viscosity was examined here. Category 2 problems, the nonlinear traveling wave and the Riemann problem, were computed using a CFL number of 0.25. This research has found that dispersion errors can be significantly reduced or nearly eliminated by using a combination of second and third order terms in the damping. Use of second and fourth order terms reduced the magnitude of dispersion errors but not as effectively as the second and third order combination. The program was coded using Thinking Machine's CM Fortran, a variant of Fortran 90/High Performance Fortran, and was executed on a 2K CM-200. Simple extrapolation boundary conditions were used for both problems.

Hudson, Dale A.↗

Modeling the effects of exercise during 100% oxygen prebreathe on the risk of hypobaric decompression sickness

BACKGROUND: Several previous studies indicated that exercise during prebreathe with 100% O2 decreased the incidence of hypobaric decompression sickness (DCS). We report a meta-analysis of these investigations combined with a new study in our laboratory to develop a statistical model as a predictive tool for DCS. HYPOTHESIS: Exercise during prebreathe increases N2 elimination in a theoretical 360-min half-time compartment decreasing the incidence of DCS. METHODS: A dose-response probability tissue ratio (TR) model with 95% confidence limits was created for two groups, prebreathe with exercise (n = 113) and resting prebreathe (n = 113), using nonlinear regression analysis with maximum likelihood optimization. RESULTS: The model predicted that prebreathe exercise would reduce the residual N2 in a 360-min half-time compartment to a level analogous to that in a 180-min compartment. This finding supported the hypothesis. The incidence of DCS for the exercise prebreathe group was significantly decreased (Chi-Square = 17.1, p < 0.0001) from the resting prebreathe group. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested that exercise during prebreathe increases tissue perfusion and N2 elimination approximately 2-fold and markedly lowers the risk of DCS. Based on the model, the prebreathe duration may be reduced from 240 min to a predicted 91 min for the protocol in our study, but this remains to be verified. The model provides a useful planning tool to develop and test appropriate prebreathe exercise protocols and to predict DCS risks for astronauts.

NASA Program Environmental Health↗

Cyclogenesis in a saturated environment

The dynamics of baroclinic wave growth in a saturated environment is examined using linear and nonlinear models employing a parameterization of latent heat release that assumes all rising air is saturated, and saturation equivalent potential temperature is conserved on ascent. Piecewise potential vorticity (PV) diagnostics are used to interpret the results. When the stability to vertical displacements in saturated air is allowed to increase with height, as it must in an atmosphere with a constant, positive lapse rate of potential temperature, the growth rates of the most unstable modes of the Eady problem grow only marginally faster than the modes of the dry problem. The vertical variation of moist static stability produces a gradient of moist potential vorticity in the rising air, eliminating the short-wave cutoff present in the dry Eady problem. The destabilization of the short waves is shown to be associated with the interaction between surface potential temperature anomalies and diabatically generated lower-tropospheric potential vorticity anomalies. Nonlinear primitive equation simulations, starting from normal-mode initial conditions, show that while the dry wave grows at nearly the linear growth rate until maximum amplitude is reached, the moist wave grows significantly faster than the linear growth rate at finite amplitude. This enhanced growth is associated with the rapid amplification of a mesoscale PV anomaly generated by latent heat release at the warm front. The rapid amplification of the surface cyclone results from the superposition of the circulation associated with this misoscale PV anomaly upon the circulation associated with the surface and upper boundary potential temperature anomalies. Additional integrations with finite-amplitude initial conditions more typical of atmospheric conditions exhibit similar behavior. It is suggested that many of the rapid cyclogenesis events that occur as upper-troposheric PV anomalies cross the east coasts of continents may arise from the rapid generation of PV anomalies by condensational heating in the moist maritime lower troposphere.

Whitaker, Jeffrey S.↗

A transient plasticity study and low cycle fatigue analysis of the Space Station Freedom photovoltaic solar array blanket

The Space Station Freedom photovoltaic solar array blanket assembly is comprised of several layers of materials having dissimilar elastic, thermal, and mechanical properties. The operating temperature of the solar array, which ranges from -75 to +60 C, along with the material incompatibility of the blanket assembly components combine to cause an elastic-plastic stress in the weld points of the assembly. The weld points are secondary structures in nature, merely serving as electrical junctions for gathering the current. The thermal mechanical loading of the blanket assembly operating in low earth orbit continually changes throughout each 90 min orbit, which raises the possibility of fatigue induced failure. A series of structural analyses were performed in an attempt to predict the fatigue life of the solar cell in the Space Station Freedom photovoltaic array blanket. A nonlinear elastic-plastic MSC/NASTRAN analysis followed by a fatigue calculation indicated a fatigue life of 92,000 to 160,000 cycles for the solar cell weld tabs. Additional analyses predict a permanent buckling phenomenon in the copper interconnect after the first loading cycle. This should reduce or eliminate the pulling of the copper interconnect on the joint where it is welded to the silicon solar cell. It is concluded that the actual fatigue life of the solar array blanket assembly should be significantly higher than the calculated 92,000 cycles, and thus the program requirement of 87,500 cycles (orbits) will be met. Another important conclusion that can be drawn from the overall analysis is that, the strain results obtained from the MSC/NASTRAN nonlinear module are accurate to use for low-cycle fatigue analysis, since both thermal cycle testing of solar cells and analysis have shown higher fatigue life than the minimum program requirement of 87,500 cycles.

Armand, Sasan C.↗

Macroscale particle simulation of kinetic Alfven waves

Two types of simulations of the kinetic Alfven wave are presented using a macroscale particle simulation code (Tanaka and Sato, 1986) which enables individual particle dynamics to be followed in the MHD scales. In this code, low frequency electromagnetic fields are solved by eliminating high frequency oscillations such as the light modes, and the scalar potential electric field is solved by eliminating Lagrangian oscillations. The dependences of the frequency and the Landau damping on the perpendicular wavenumber were studied, and good agreement was found between simulation and theoretical predictions. Some fundamental nonlinear interactions of the kinetic Alfven wave with the particles (parallel acceleration of the electrons) were also noted.

Tanaka, Motohiko↗

Nonlinear evolution of oblique waves on compressible shear layers

The effects of critical-layer nonlinearity on spatially growing oblique instability waves on compressible shear layers between two parallel streams are considered. The analysis shows that mean temperature nonuniformities cause nonlinearity to occur at much smaller amplitudes than it does when the flow is isothermal. The nonlinear instability wave growth rate effects are described by an integrodifferential equation which bears some resemblance to the Landau equation, in that it involves a cubic-type nonlinearity. The numerical solutions to this equation are worked out and discussed in some detail. Inviscid solutions always end in a singularity at a finite downstream distance, but viscosity can eliminate this singularity for certain parameter ranges.

Goldstein, M. E.↗

Ultra-Broad-Band Optical Parametric Amplifier or Oscillator

A concept for an ultra-broad-band optical parametric amplifier or oscillator has emerged as a by-product of a theoretical study in fundamental quantum optics. The study was originally intended to address the question of whether the two-photon temporal correlation function of light [in particular, light produced by spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC)] can be considerably narrower than the inverse of the spectral width (bandwidth) of the light. The answer to the question was found to be negative. More specifically, on the basis of the universal integral relations between the quantum two-photon temporal correlation and the classical spectrum of light, it was found that the lower limit of two-photon correlation time is set approximately by the inverse of the bandwidth. The mathematical solution for the minimum two-photon correlation time also provides the minimum relative frequency dispersion of the down-converted light components; in turn, the minimum relative frequency dispersion translates to the maximum bandwidth, which is important for the design of an ultra-broad-band optical parametric oscillator or amplifier. In the study, results of an analysis of the general integral relations were applied in the case of an optically nonlinear, frequency-dispersive crystal in which SPDC produces collinear photons. Equations were found for the crystal orientation and pump wavelength, specific for each parametric-down-converting crystal, that eliminate the relative frequency dispersion of collinear degenerate (equal-frequency) signal and idler components up to the fourth order in the frequency-detuning parameter

Strekalov, Dmitry↗

Effect of motor dynamics on nonlinear feedback robot arm control

A nonlinear feedback robot controller that incorporates the robot manipulator dynamics and the robot joint motor dynamics is proposed. The manipulator dynamics and the motor dynamics are coupled to obtain a third-order-dynamic model, and differential geometric control theory is applied to produce a linearized and decoupled robot controller. The derived robot controller operates in the robot task space, thus eliminating the need for decomposition of motion commands into robot joint space commands. Computer simulations are performed to verify the feasibility of the proposed robot controller. The controller is further experimentally evaluated on the PUMA 560 robot arm. The experiments show that the proposed controller produces good trajectory tracking performances and is robust in the presence of model inaccuracies. Compared with a nonlinear feedback robot controller based on the manipulator dynamics only, the proposed robot controller yields conspicuously improved performance.

Tarn, Tzyh-Jong↗

Computational procedures for mixed equations with shock waves

This paper discusses the procedures we have developed to treat a canonical problem involving a mixed nonlinear equation with boundary data that imply a discontinuous solution. This equation arises in various physical contexts and is basic to the description of the nonlinear acoustic behavior of a shock wave near a caustic. The numerical scheme developed is of second order, treats discontinuities as such by applying the appropriate jump conditions across them, and eliminates the numerical dissipation and dispersion associated with large gradients. Our results are compared with the results of a first-order scheme and with those of a second-order scheme we have developed. The algorithm used here can easily be generalized to more complicated problems, including transonic flows with imbedded shocks.

Yu, N. J.↗

Finite element analysis for bearingless rotor blade aeroelasticity

A conventional articulated rotor blade has mechanical flap and lag hinges, a lag damper, and a pitch bearing. In connection with an interest in designs of greater mechanical simplicity and increased maintainability, hingeless and bearingless rotors have been developed. A hingeless blade lacks the hinges and is cantilevered at the hub. It does have a pitch bearing for pitch control. A bearingless design eliminates the hinges and the pitch bearing as well. In the present investigation of bearingless rotor blade characteristics, finite element analysis has been successfully applied to determine the solutions of the nonlinear trim equations and the linearized flutter equations of multiple-load-path blades. The employed formulation is based on Hamilton's principle. The spatial dependence of the equations of motion is discretized by dividing the flexbeams, the torque tube, and the outboard into a number of elements.

Sivaneri, N. T.↗

Derivatives of a statically reduced stiffness matrix with respect to sizing variables

An expression is obtained for the first derivatives with respect to the sizing variables of a statically reduced stiffness matrix that is a nonlinear function of the sizing variables, where the unreduced stiffness matrix is a linear function of the sizing variables. An accepted procedure to reduce the number of degrees of freedom is to eliminate a number of nodal displacements from the degrees of freedom such that the accuracy of the flutter analysis is not significantly affected. In a typical optimization procedure with flutter constraints, the derivative of the stiffness matrix may be used in a form that contains the characteristic vector of the flutter matrix equation and the transpose of the characteristic vector of the adjoint flutter matrix equation corresponding to a particular solution of the flutter equation.

Oconnell, R. F.↗

Nanomechanical vibrational response from electrical mixing measurements

Driven nanomechanical resonators based on low-dimensional materials are routinely and efficiently detected with electrical mixing measurements. However, the measured signal is a non-trivial combination of the mechanical eigenmode displacement and an electrical contribution, which makes the extraction of the driven mechanical response challenging. Here, we report a simple yet reliable method to extract solely the driven mechanical vibrations by eliminating the contribution of pure electrical origin. This enables us to measure the spectral mechanical response as well as the driven quadratures of motion. This method is crucial for nanomechanical vibrations in the nonlinear regime, since the shape of the mechanical response depends on the physics at work. We further show how to calibrate the measured signal into units of displacement. Our method marks a key step forward in the study of nanoelectromechanical resonators based on low-dimensional materials in the nonlinear regime.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Nutation control during precession of a spin-stabilized spacecraft

Precession maneuver control laws for single-spin spacecraft are investigated so that nutation is concurrently controlled. Analysis has led to the development of two types of control laws employing precession modulation for concurrent nutation control. Results were verified through digital simulation of a Synchronous Meteorological Satellite (SMS) configuration. An addition research effort was undertaken to investigate the cause and elimination of nutation anomalies in dual-spin spacecraft. A literature search was conducted and a dual-spin configuration was simulated to verify that nutational anomalies are not predicted by the existing nonlinear model. No conclusions were drawn as to the cause of the observed nutational anomalies in dual-spin spacecraft.

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