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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1954

Wind-tunnel Tests of a Model of a Wingless Fin-controlled Missile to Obtain Static Stability and Control Characteristics Through a Range of Mach Numbers from 0.5 to 0.88

An investigation at medium to high subsonic speeds has been conducted in the Langley low-turbulence pressure tunnel to determine the static stability and control characteristics and to measure the fin normal forces and moments for a model of a wingless fin-controlled missile. The data were obtained at Reynolds number of 2.1 x 10(6) based on the missile maximum diameter or 17.7 x 10(6) based on missile length; this Reynolds number was found to be large enough to avoid any large scale effects between the test and the expected flight Reynolds number. With the horizontal-fin deflection limited to a maximum of 6 degrees, longitudinally stable and trimmed flight could not be maintained beyond an angle of attack of 17 degrees for a Mach number of 0.88 and beyond 20 degrees for a Mach number of 0.50 for any center-of-gravity location without the use of some auxiliary stability or control device such as jet vanes. Mach number had no appreciable effect on the center-of-pressure positions and only a slight effect on neutral-point position. There was a shift in neutral-point position of about 1 caliber as the angle of attack was varied through the range for which the neutral point could be determined. Yawing the model to angles of sideslip up to 7 degrees had little effect on the longitudinal stability at angles of attack up to 15 degrees; however, above 15 degrees, the effect of sideslip was destabilizing. With the vertical fins at a plus-or-minus 6 degree roll deflection, the rolling moment caused by yawing the model at high angles of attack could be trimmed out up to angles of sideslip of 6.5 degrees and an angle of attack of 26 degrees for a Mach number of 0.50; this range of sideslip angles was reduced to 3 degrees at a Mach number of 0.88. The data indicated that, at lower angles of attack, the trim range extended to higher angles of sideslip. The total normal-force and hinge-moment coefficients for both horizontal fins were slightly nonlinear with both angle-of-attack and fin deflection. The effect of Mach number was to reduce the slopes of the hinge-moment coefficient with angle of attack and deflection angle. In general, the effort of increasing the sideslip angle was to reduce the values of the fin normal-force and hinge-moment coefficients.

Burrows, Dale L↗
NASA NTRS1978

Wind-tunnel investigation at Mach numbers from 1.90 to 2.86 of a canard-controlled missile with ram-air-jet spoiler roll control

The efficacy of using a ram-air-jet spoiler roll control device on a typical canard-controlled missile configuration was investigated. For roll control comparisons, conventional aileron controls on the tail fins were also tested. The results indicate that the roll control of the ram-air-jet spoiler tail fins at the highest free-stream Mach number compared favorably with that of the conventional 11-70 area-ratio tail fin ailerons, each deflected 10 deg. The roll control of the tail fin ailerons decreased while that of the ram-air-jet spoiler increased with free-stream Mach number. The addition of the ram-air-jet spoiler tail fins or flow-through tip chord nacelles on the tail fins resulted in only small changes in basic missile longitudinal stability. The axial force coefficient of the operating ram-air-jet spoiler is significantly larger than that of conventional ailerons and results primarily from the total pressure behind a normal shock in front of the nacelle inlets.

Blair, A. B., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1960

A Homing Missile Control System to Reduce the Effects of Radome Diffraction

The problem of radome diffraction in radar-controlled homing missiles at high speeds and high altitudes is considered from the point of view of developing a control system configuration which will alleviate the deleterious effects of the diffraction. It is shown that radome diffraction is in essence a kinematic feedback of body angular velocities which causes the radar to sense large apparent line-of-sight angular velocities. The normal control system cannot distinguish between the erroneous and actual line-of-sight rates, and entirely wrong maneuvers are produced which result in large miss distances. The problem is resolved by adding to the control system a special-purpose computer which utilizes measured body angular velocity to extract from the radar output true line-of-sight information for use in steering the missile. The computer operates on the principle of sampling and storing the radar output at instants when the body angular velocity is low and using this stored information for maneuvering commands. In addition, when the angular velocity is not low the computer determines a radome diffraction compensation which is subtracted from the radar output to reduce the error in the sampled information. Analog simulation results for the proposed control system operating in a coplanar (vertical plane) attack indicate a potential decrease in miss distance to an order of magnitude below that for a conventional system. Effects of glint noise, random target maneuvers, initial heading errors, and missile maneuverability are considered in the investigation.

Smith, Gerald L.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Computer program for post-flight evaluation of the control surface response for an attitude controlled missile

A FORTRAN IV coded computer program is presented for post-flight analysis of a missile's control surface response. It includes preprocessing of digitized telemetry data for time lags, biases, non-linear calibration changes and filtering. Measurements include autopilot attitude rate and displacement gyro output and four control surface deflections. Simple first order lags are assumed for the pitch, yaw and roll axes of control. Each actuator is also assumed to be represented by a first order lag. Mixing of pitch, yaw and roll commands to four control surfaces is assumed. A pseudo-inverse technique is used to obtain the pitch, yaw and roll components from the four measured deflections. This program has been used for over 10 years on the NASA/SCOUT launch vehicle for post-flight analysis and was helpful in detecting incipient actuator stall due to excessive hinge moments. The program is currently set up for a CDC CYBER 175 computer system. It requires 34K words of memory and contains 675 cards. A sample problem presented herein including the optional plotting requires eleven (11) seconds of central processor time.

Knauber, R. N.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Supersonic aerodynamic characteristics of a maneuvering canard-controlled missile with fixed and free-rolling tail fins

Wind tunnel investigations were conducted on a generic cruciform canard-controlled missile configuration. The model featured fixed or free-rolling tail-fin afterbodies to provide an expanded aerodynamic data base with particular emphasis on alleviating large induced rolling moments and/or for providing canard roll control throughout the entire test angle-of-attack range. The tests were conducted in the NASA Langley Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel at Mach numbers from 2.50 to 3.50 at a constant Reynolds number per foot of 2.00 x 10 to the 6th. Selected test results are presented to show the effects of a fixed or free-rolling tail-fin afterbody on the static longitudinal and lateral-directional aerodynamic characteristics of a canard-controlled missile with pitch, yaw, and roll control at model roll angles of 0 deg and 45 deg.

Blair, A. B., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Experimental study of tail-span effects on a generic canard-controlled missile

An experimental investigation was conducted on a cruciform canard controlled missile configuration to determine the effects of tail span/canard span ratio on controllability. The investigation was conducted over the Mach number range of 1.75 to 3.50. Reductions of tail span/canard span ratio produced lower static margins and higher trim angle of attack. The results show that canard controls can provide pitch- and yaw-control as well as roll-control by proper selection of the tail span/canard span ratio.

Blair, A. B., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Experimental and analytical comparison of aerodynamic characteristics of a forward-control missile

Comparisons of analytical and experimental aerodynamic data for canard controlled missile configurations are presented. Recently, techniques to estimate the longitudinal, directional and lateral aerodynamic characteristics for cruciform missiles have been developed. Nielsen Engineering and Research, Inc. (NEAR, Inc.), supported by various governmental agencies, has been the originator of many of these new computational techniques. Two of these are major computer programs currently being implemented by several research organizations. Predicted data from these two programs are compared with experimental data recently obtained at the NASA Langley Research Center Unitary Plan wind tunnel facility. Comparisons cover the supersonic Mach number regime of 1.60 to 3.50, angles-of-attack from 0 to 20 degrees and roll angles of 0, 26.57 and 45 degrees. Major emphasis is on the roll characteristics due to aileron with limited longitudinal and directional characteristics addressed.

Blair, A. B.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Comparison of analytical and experimental supersonic aerodynamic characteristics of a forward control missile

Techniques to predict the aerodynamic characteristics of slender cruciform missiles have been developed and are constantly being updated and improved. This paper presents comparisons between analytical and experimental supersonic aerodynamic data for a class of canard-controlled missile configurations similar to the sidewinder missile. Three aerodynamic prediction computer codes, including program MISSILE2, a recently improved version of program MISSILE, are evaluated by comparison with the test data to assess their accuracy. The major emphasis is placed on the roll control characteristics. In addition, tail span optimization, longitudinal and lateral control, induced roll, and missile roll orientation effects are addressed.

Allen, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Wind-tunnel investigation at supersonic speeds of a canard-controlled missile with fixed and free-rolling tail fins

A wind tunnel investigation was made at free stream Mach numbers from 1.70 to 2.86 to determine the effects of fixed and free rolling tail fin afterbodies on the static longitudinal and lateral aerodynamic characteristics of a cruciform canard controlled missile model. The effect of small canard roll and yaw control deflections was also examined. The results indicate that the fixed and free rolling tail configurations have about the same lift curve slope and longitudinal stability level at low angles of attack. For the free rolling tail configuration, the canards provide conventional roll control with no roll control reversal at low angles of attack. The free rolling tail configuration reduced induced roll due to model roll angle and canard yaw control.

Blair, A. B., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Effect of tail-fin span on stability and control characteristics of a Canard-controlled missile at supersonic Mach numbers

An experimental wind-tunnel investigation was conducted at Mach numbers from 1.60 to 3.50 to obtain the longitudinal and lateral-directional aerodynamic characteristics of a circular, cruciform, canard-controlled missile with variations in tail-fin span. In addition, comparisons were made with the experimental aerodynamic characteristics using three missile aeroprediction programs: MISSILE1, MISSILE2, and NSWCDM. The results of the investigation indicate that for the test Mach number range, canard roll control at low angles of attack is feasible on tail-fin configurations with tail-to-canard span ratios of less than or equal to 0.75. The conards are effective pitch and yaw control devices on each tail-fin span configuration tested. Programs MISSILE1 and MISSILE2 provide very good predictions of longitudinal aerodynamic characteristics and fair predictions of lateral-directional aerodynamic characteristics at low angles of attack, with MISSILE2 predictions generally in better agreement with test data. Program NSWCDM provides good longitudinal and lateral-directional aerodynamic predictions that improve with increases in tail-tin span.

Blair, A. B., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Aerodynamic characteristics of missile control fins in nonlinear flow fields

Recent experimental results show that the control effectiveness of a missile fin in supersonic flow at moderate-to-high angles of attack is a strong nonlinear function of free-stream Mach number, body incidence angle, fin bank angle and fin deflection angle. Analysis of the experimental results using an Euler finite-difference computer code with flow separation together with the equivalent angle-of-attack concept indicates that the observed nonlinearities are due to the variation of local dynamic pressure and local Mach number around the missile body alone. The nonlinearities are shown to be a strong source of control cross-coupling for high Mach number, high angle-of-attack combinations. The analysis suggests a relatively simple yet comprehensive approach for accurately accounting for these nonlinear effects.

Hemsch, M. J.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Static aeroelastic analysis and tailoring of missile control fins

A concept for enhancing the design of control fins for supersonic tactical missiles is described. The concept makes use of aeroelastic tailoring to create fin designs (for given planforms) that limit the variations in hinge moments that can occur during maneuvers involving high load factors and high angles of attack. It combines supersonic nonlinear aerodynamic load calculations with finite-element structural modeling, static and dynamic structural analysis, and optimization. The problem definition is illustrated. The fin is at least partly made up of a composite material. The layup is fixed, and the orientations of the material principal axes are allowed to vary; these are the design variables. The objective is the magnitude of the difference between the chordwise location of the center of pressure and its desired location, calculated for a given flight condition. Three types of constraints can be imposed: upper bounds on static displacements for a given set of load conditions, lower bounds on specified natural frequencies, and upper bounds on the critical flutter damping parameter at a given set of flight speeds and altitudes. The idea is to seek designs that reduce variations in hinge moments that would otherwise occur. The block diagram describes the operation of the computer program that accomplishes these tasks. There is an option for a single analysis in addition to the optimization.

Mcintosh, S. C., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Cartesian-Grid Simulations of a Canard-Controlled Missile with a Free-Spinning Tail

The proposed paper presents a series of simulations of a geometrically complex, canard-controlled, supersonic missile with free-spinning tail fins. Time-dependent simulations were performed using an inviscid Cartesian-grid-based method with results compared to both experimental data and high-resolution Navier-Stokes computations. At fixed free stream conditions and canard deflections, the tail spin rate was iteratively determined such that the net rolling moment on the empennage is zero. This rate corresponds to the time-asymptotic rate of the free-to-spin fin system. After obtaining spin-averaged aerodynamic coefficients for the missile, the investigation seeks a fixed-tail approximation to the spin-averaged aerodynamic coefficients, and examines the validity of this approximation over a variety of freestream conditions.

Murman, Scott M.↗
NASA NTRS1978

An experimental wind-tunnel investigation of a ram-air-spoiler roll-control device on a forward-control missile at supersonic speeds

A parametric experimental wind-tunnel investigation was made at supersonic Mach numbers to provide design data on a ram-air-spoiler roll-control device that is to be used on forward-control cruciform missile configurations. The results indicate that the ram-air-spoiler tail fin is an effective roll-control device and that roll control is generally constant with vehicle attitude and Mach number unless direct canard and/or forebody shock impingement occurs. The addition of the ram-air-spoiler tail fins resulted in only small changes in aerodynamic-center location. For the ram-air-spoiler configuration tested, there are large axial force coefficient effects associated with the increased fin thickness and ram-air momentum loss.

Blair, A. B., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Aerodynamic characteristics of a canard-controlled missile at Mach numbers of 0.8, 1.3, and 1.75

A typical missile model with nose-mounted canards and cruciform tail surfaces was tested in the Ames 6- by 6-Foot Wind Tunnel to determine the contributions of the component aerodynamic surfaces to the static aerodynamic characteristics at Mach numbers of 0.8, 1.3, and 1.75 and Reynolds number of 625,000 based on body diameter. Data were obtained at angles of attack ranging from 0 deg to 24 deg for various stages of model build-up (i.e., with and without canard and/or tail surfaces). In addition, two different sets of canards and tail surfaces were investigated. For the canard and tail arrangements investigated, the model was trimmable at angles of attack up to about 7 deg with canard deflections of about 10 deg. Also, the tail arrangements studied provided ample pitch stability.

Kassner, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Aerodynamic characteristics of a canard-controlled missile at Mach numbers of 1.5 and 2.0.

A typical missile model with nose mounted canards and cruciform tail surfaces was tested in the Ames 6- by 6-Foot Wind Tunnel to determine the contributions of the component aerodynamic surfaces to the static aerodynamic characteristics at Mach numbers of 1.5 and 2.0 and Reynolds number of 1 million based on body diameter. Data were obtained at angles of attack ranging from -3 deg to 12 deg for various stages of model build-up (i.e., with and without canard and/or tail surfaces). Results were obtained both with the model unrolled and rolled 45 deg. For the canard and tail arrangements investigated, the model was trimmable at angles of attack up to about 10 deg with canard deflections of 9 deg. Also, the tail arrangements studied provided ample pitch stability. there were no appreciable effects of model roll orientation.

Kassner, D. L.↗