The NASA controls-structures interaction technology program

The interaction between a flexible spacecraft structure and its control system is commonly referred to as controls-structures interaction (CSI). The CSI technology program is developing the capability and confidence to integrate the structure and control system, so as to avoid interactions that cause problems and to exploit interactions to increase spacecraft capability. A NASA program has been initiated to advance CSI technology to a point where it can be used in spacecraft design for future missions. The CSI technology program is a multicenter program utilizing the resources of the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC), the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The purpose is to describe the current activities, results to date, and future activities of the NASA CSI technology program

The Effect of Surface-active Block Copolymers on Two-phase Flow

Blending two thermodynamically immiscible polymers to create a material with desirable properties is an attractive alternative to synthesizing polymers from new monomers. The microstructure of the blend often determines its physical properties and thus its uses. It is therefore beneficial to control the microstructure during blending, and it is well known that compatibilizers (macromolecular surfactants) can alter the morphological evolution of polymer blends. This work aims to examine the effect of compatibilizers on flow phenomena in which interfacial tension plays an important role, i.e. two-phase flow during the morphological development of immiscible polymer blends. We study compatibilizer effects on the two-phase flow of polymers at two length scales: single drops and macroscopic blends. A key concern is the effects of compatibilizer on rheological properties.Experiments on the effect of surfactant on single drop dynamics in a PEO/PPO/Pluronic system showed complex and previously unknown and unusual behavior. We hypothesize that this unusual behavior was caused by the sample preparation protocol.For multi-drop systems, or blends, of a PIB/PDMS model system near phase inversion, we identify the key role of the compatibilizer as immobilizing the interface, and we also identify the effect of such immobilization on two-phase rheology and coalescence suppression. Also, the compatibilizer affected the morphological development by decreasing the drop size through a combination of a decreased interfacial tension and coalescence suppression. We attempted to exploit this coalescence suppression phenomenon as a mechanism of kinetically trapping the morphology in desired states. By varying the sequence of mixing, a double emulsion morphology was created. These double emulsion blends show complex relaxation behavior and an increase in viscosity due to the increased effective droplet volume fraction. We also attempted to exploit coalescence suppression to create a blend with a dispersed phase volume fraction exceeding 50%, but were unsuccessful, even with reactive compatibilization in a PA/PS system. New experimental work suggests it might be possible to use reactive compatibilizers that crosslink at the interface to effect large changes in two-phase morphology not possible with traditional compatibilizers

Direct Adaptive Control for a Trajectory Tracking UAV

This research focuses on the theoretical development and analysis of a direct adaptive control algorithm to enable a fixed-wing UAV to track reference trajectories while in the presence of persistent external disturbances. A typical application of this work is autonomous flight through urban environments, where reference trajectories would be provided by a path planning algorithm and the vehicle would be subjected to significant wind gust disturbances. Full 6-DOF nonlinear and linear UAV simulation models are developed and used to study the performance of the direct adaptive control system for various scenarios. A stability proof is developed to prove convergence of the direct adaptive control system under certain conditions. Specific adaptive controller implementation details are provided, including the use of a sensor blending algorithm to address the non-minimum phase properties of the UAV models. The robustness of the adaptive system pertaining to the amount of modeling error that can be accommodated by the controller is studied, and the disturbance rejection capabilities and limitations of the controllers are also analyzed. The overall results of this research demonstrate that the direct adaptive control algorithm can enable trajectory tracking in cases where there are both significant uncertainties in the external disturbances and considerable error in the UAV model

Digital-flutter-suppression-system investigations for the active flexible wing wind-tunnel model

Active flutter suppression control laws were designed, implemented, and tested on an aeroelastically-scaled wind tunnel model in the NASA Langley Transonic Dynamics Tunnel. One of the control laws was successful in stabilizing the model while the dynamic pressure was increased to 24 percent greater than the measured open-loop flutter boundary. Other accomplishments included the design, implementation, and successful operation of a one-of-a-kind digital controller, the design and use of two simulation methods to support the project, and the development and successful use of a methodology for on-line controller performance evaluation

A heuristic mathematical model for the dynamics of sensory conflict and motion sickness

By consideration of the information processing task faced by the central nervous system in estimating body spatial orientation and in controlling active body movement using an internal model referenced control strategy, a mathematical model for sensory conflict generation is developed. The model postulates a major dynamic functional role for sensory conflict signals in movement control, as well as in sensory-motor adaptation. It accounts for the role of active movement in creating motion sickness symptoms in some experimental circumstance, and in alleviating them in others. The relationship between motion sickness produced by sensory rearrangement and that resulting from external motion disturbances is explicitly defined. A nonlinear conflict averaging model is proposed which describes dynamic aspects of experimentally observed subjective discomfort sensation, and suggests resulting behaviours. The model admits several possibilities for adaptive mechanisms which do not involve internal model updating. Further systematic efforts to experimentally refine and validate the model are indicated

Development of a Continuous Blending System

The company QB Food Tech designs and installs powder in liquid mixing systems for the food and pharmaceutical industries. The aim of this master thesis is to develop a continuous blending system with concentration output feedback for inline blending of complex products starting from an existing batch process. A method for measuring a substance concentration in flow‐rates therefore needs to be established. The measured concentration signal is then used for controlling the inflow rate of raw materials; a PID controller block is used for achieving this task. The whole system is PLC controlled and programmed in Siemens SIMATIC STEP7 software. An HMI operator‐panel enables parameter adjustments and results of the monitored concentration and relevant actuators are shown in real‐time via the panel

A heuristic mathematical model for the dynamics of sensory conflict and motion sickness

The etiology of motion sickness is now usually explained in terms of a qualitatively formulated sensory conflict hypothesis. By consideration of the information processing task faced by the central nervous system in estimating body spatial orientation and in controlling active body movement using an internal model referenced control strategy, a mathematical model for sensory conflict generation is developed. The model postulates a major dynamic functional role for sensory conflict signals in movement control, as well as in sensory motor adaptation. It accounts for the role of active movement in creating motion sickness symptoms in some experimental circumstances, and in alleviating them in others. The relationship between motion sickness produced by sensory rearrangement and that resulting from external motion disturbances is explicitly defined. A nonlinear conflict averaging model describes dynamic aspects of experimentally observed subjective discomfort sensation, and suggests resulting behavior

Active Control of Coherent Structures in an Axisymmetric Jet

The primary objective of this work is to develop high-fidelity simulation model for jet noise control predictions and quantify the sound reduction when an external source frequency mode excitation is imposed on the jet flow. Whereas passive approaches using mixing devices, such as chevrons, have been shown to reduce low-frequency noise in jet engines, such approaches incur a performance penalty since they result in a reduced thrust. To avoid a performance penalty in reducing jet noise, the current work investigates a open-loop active noise control (ANC) system that utilizes a unsteady microjet actuator on the nozzle lip in the downstream direction to produce a desired effect on the jet flow-field dynamics thereby directly affecting the source source. In contrast to the passive approach, the proposed open-loop control design will utilize a local flow excitation device that can be turned off when not needed or adjusted according to the desired control signal. To make it feasible, the effectiveness of every forcing frequency mode has to be mapped for a certain jet velocity. This analysis considers an axisymmetric round jet at supersonic and subsonic speeds. Current studies are verified against previous low-order simulations conducted using Linearized Euler Equations (LEE), and compare qualitatively acheived noise reduction results against available experimental data. High-fidelity analysis, such as Detatched-Eddy Simulations (DES), was implemented using OpenFOAM, an open source CFD software. Results show that some excited frequency modes reduced the far-field jet noise by around 2 dB, supporting the use of unsteady microjet actuators as a jet noise reduction technology