Experimental and analytical studies in fluids

The first objective was to analyze and design a true airspeed sensor which will replace the conventional pitot-static pressure transducer for small commercial aircraft. The second objective was to obtain a numerical solution and predict the frequency response which is generated by the vortex whistle at a certain airspeed. It was concluded flow rate measurements indicate that the vortex tube sound frequency is linearly proportional to the frequency response. The vortex tube whistle frequency is dependent upon geometrical parameters to such an extent that: an increase in vortex tube length produces a decrease in frequency response and that an increase in the exhaust nozzle length produces an increase in the frequency precession. An increase in the vortex tube diameter produces a decrease in frequency precession. An increase in swirler diameter produces a decrease in frequency. An increase in the location distance of the microphone pickup signal point from the inside edge of the exit nozzle produces an increase in frequency response. The experimental results indicate that those parameters most significantly effecting frequency are in descending order of importance microphone location, vortex tube diameter, exit nozzle length, vortex tube length, and swirler diameter

Automatic control of a liquid nitrogen cooled, closed-circuit, cryogenic pressure tunnel

The control system design, performance analysis, microprocesser based controller software development, and specifications for the Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel (TCT) are discussed. The control laws for the single-input single-output controllers were tested on the TCT simulator, and successfully demonstrated on the TCT

Analytical and numerical investigation of structural response of compliant wall materials

Surface motion of compliant walls in drag reduction experiments was analyzed. The spectrum of surface motion indicates that membranes over deep cavities respond at low frequencies and large wavelengths. The membrane over a deep cavity is therefore found not to yield the desired reponse predicted by the postulated mechanism. The membrane over a thin air gap is found to act as a wavelength chopper, and analysis of the nonlinear response of the compliant surface indicates its possible suitability for compliant wall experiments. Periodic structures are found to lock in the desired wavelengths of motion. Laminated structures are found to be very ineffective as compliant models, except when there is no bonding between the membrane and the backing. Computer programs developed for these analyses are documented

Synthesis of a control model for a liquid nitrogen cooled, closed circuit, cryogenic nitrogen wind tunnel and its validation

The details of the efforts to synthesize a control-compatible multivariable model of a liquid nitrogen cooled, gaseous nitrogen operated, closed circuit, cryogenic pressure tunnel are presented. The synthesized model was transformed into a real-time cryogenic tunnel simulator, and this model is validated by comparing the model responses to the actual tunnel responses of the 0.3 m transonic cryogenic tunnel, using the quasi-steady-state and the transient responses of the model and the tunnel. The global nature of the simple, explicit, lumped multivariable model of a closed circuit cryogenic tunnel is demonstrated

Transition to turbulence in plane channel flow

A numerical simulation of the final stages of transition to turbulence in plane channel flow is reported. Three dimensional, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are numerically integrated to obtain the time-evolution of two and three dimensional finite amplitude disturbances. Computations are performed on the CYBER-203 vector processor for a 32x51x32 grid. Results are presented for no-slip boundary conditions at the solid walls as well as for periodic suction-blowing to simulate active control of transition by mass transfer. Solutions indicate that the method is capable of simulating the complex character of vorticity dynamics during the various stages of transition and final breakdown. In particular, evidence points to the formation of a lambda-shape vortex and the subsequent system of horseshoe vortices inclined to the main flow direction as the main elements of transition. Calculations involving suction-blowing indicate that interference with a wave of suitable phase and amplitude reduces the disturbance growth rates

Analytical and numerical investigation of structural response of compliant wall materials

Theoretical analysis of an electrostatically driven wall system for a compliant wall drag reduction program is reported. The electrostatic wall system is capable of producing deflections of many orders greater than the thicknesses and at small wavelengths. An intermediate large response theory was used for structural analysis. The theoretical predictions were compared to bench test results, and good agreement between the two was obtained. The effects of aerodynamic loads and perturbation electric fields on the theoretical solutions were considered. It was shown that for very small wavelengths (approximately 2mm) the aerodynamic effects can be estimated using potential theory without loss of accuracy, and the perturbation electric fields do not affect solutions as long as the deflections are less than one percent of the wavelength. Resonance effects for this type of structure were shown to be fairly small

Minimum Energy Test Direction Design in the Control of Cryogenic Wind Tunnels

The advent of the cryogenic wind tunnel concept is attributable to the need for high Reynolds number flow in wind tunnels. The cryogenic wind tunnel concept consists of operating the test medium of a conventional tunnel at cryogenic temperatures down to 80 K. Nitrogen gas, cooled by injected liquid nitrogen, proves to be ideal for the cryogenic tunnel test medium because of its near perfect behavior in insentropic flow. Cryogenic operation of a wind tunnel results in reduced fan power consumption and no penalty in flow dynamic pressure. In a cryogenic tunnel, the flow parameters (Reynolds number, Mach number and flow dynamic pressure) can be independently controlled by separately controlling the tunnel flow variables: total temperature, test section mass flow, and the tunnel total pressure. The problem of closed-loop control of the tunnel total temperature, flow Mach number, and total pressure is addressed and reported

Addition of higher order plate and shell elements into NASTRAN computer program

Two higher order plate elements, the linear strain triangular membrane element and the quintic bending element, along with a shallow shell element, suitable for inclusion into the NASTRAN (NASA Structural Analysis) program are described. Additions to the NASTRAN Theoretical Manual, Users' Manual, Programmers' Manual and the NASTRAN Demonstration Problem Manual, for inclusion of these elements into the NASTRAN program are also presented

Development of a three-dimensional Navier-Stokes code on CDC star-100 computer

A three-dimensional code in body-fitted coordinates was developed using MacCormack's algorithm. The code is structured to be compatible with any general configuration, provided that the metric coefficients for the transformation are available. The governing equations are developed in primitive variables in order to facilitate the incorporation of physical boundary conditions and turbulence-closure models. MacCormack's two-step, unsplit, time-marching algorithm is used to solve the unsteady Navier-Stokes equations until steady-state solution is achieved. Cases discussed include (1) flat plate in supersonic free stream; (2) supersonic flow along an axial corner; (3) subsonic flow in an axial corner at M infinity = 0.95; and (4) supersonic flow in an axial corner at M infinity 1.5

Adaptive control of large space structures using recursive lattice filters

The use of recursive lattice filters for identification and adaptive control of large space structures is studied. Lattice filters were used to identify the structural dynamics model of the flexible structures. This identification model is then used for adaptive control. Before the identified model and control laws are integrated, the identified model is passed through a series of validation procedures and only when the model passes these validation procedures is control engaged. This type of validation scheme prevents instability when the overall loop is closed. Another important area of research, namely that of robust controller synthesis, was investigated using frequency domain multivariable controller synthesis methods. The method uses the Linear Quadratic Guassian/Loop Transfer Recovery (LQG/LTR) approach to ensure stability against unmodeled higher frequency modes and achieves the desired performance