F-106B airplane active control landing gear drop test performance

Aircraft dynamic loads and vibrations resulting from landing impact and from runway and taxiway unevenness are recognized as significant factors in causing fatigue damage, dynamic stress on the airframe, crew and passenger discomfort, and reduction of the pilot's ability to control the aircraft during ground operations. One potential method for improving operational characteristics of aircraft on the ground is the application of active control technology to the landing gears to reduce ground loads applied to the airframe. An experimental investigation was conducted on series-hydraulic active control nose gear. The experiments involved testing the gear in both passive and active control modes. Results of this investigation show that a series-hydraulic active control gear is feasible and that such a gear is effective in reducing the loads transmitted by the gear to the airframe during ground operations

Hydrodynamic Characteristics of Two Low-Drag Supercavitating Hydrofoils

An experimental investigation has been conducted in Langley tank no. 2 to determine the hydrodynamic characteristics of two low-drag supercavitating hydrofoils operating in a range of cavitation numbers from 0 to approximately 6. The hydrofoils had aspect ratios of 1 and 3, and the sections were derived by assuming five terms in the vorticity-distribution expansion of the equivalent airfoil. The aspect-ratio-1 hydrofoil was also tested at zero cavitation number with two sets of end plates having depths of 3/8 and 1/4 chords. Zero cavitation number was established by operating the hydrofoils near the water surface so that complete ventilation of the upper surfaces could be obtained. For those depths of submersion where complete ventilation was not obtained through vortex ventilation, two probes were used to introduce air to the upper surfaces of the hydrofoils and to induce complete ventilation. Data were obtained for a range of speeds from 20 to 80 fps, angles of attack from 2 to 20 deg, and ratios of depth of submersion to chord from 0 to 0.85. The experimental results obtained from the aspect-ratio-1 and aspect-ratio-3, five-term hydrofoils were compared with a three-dimensional zero-cavitation-number theory. The theoretical and experimental values of lift and center of pressure for the aspect-ratio-1 hydrofoil were in agreement, within engineering accuracy, for the range of lift coefficients investigated. The theoretical drag coefficients were lower, by a constant amount, than the experimental drag coefficients. The theoretical expressions derived for the lift, drag, and center of pressure of the aspect-ratio-3 hydrofoil were in agreement, within engineering accuracy, with the experimental values. The theoretical and experimental drag coefficients of the aspect-ratio-3 five-term hydrofoil were lower than the theoretical drag coefficients computed for a comparable Tulin-Burkart hydrofoil

A Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of the Lift and Drag Characteristics of Hydrofoils at Subcritical and Supercritical Speeds

A theoretical and experimental investigation at subcavitation speeds was made of the effect of the free-water surface and rigid boundaries on the lift and drag of an aspect-ratio-10 hydrofoil at both subcritical and supercritical speeds and of an aspect ratio-4 hydrofoil at supercritical speeds. Approximate theoretical solutions for the effects of the free-water surface and rigid boundaries on drag at subcritical speeds are developed. An approximate theoretical solution for the effects of these boundaries on drag at subcritical speeds is also presented. The agreement between theory and experiment at both supercritical and subcritical speeds is satisfactory for engineering calculations of hydrofoil characteristics from aerodynamic data. The experimental investigation indicated no appreciable effect of the limiting speed of wave propagation on lift-curve slope or angle of zero lift. It also showed that the increase in drag as the critical speed is approached from the supercritical range is gradual. The result is contrary to the abrupt increase at the critical speed predicted by theory

Water-Landing Characteristics of a Reentry Capsule

Experimental and theoretical investigations have been made to determine the water-landing characteristics of a conical-shaped reentry capsule having a segment of a sphere as the bottom. For the experimental portion of the investigation, a 1/12-scale model capsule and a full-scale capsule were tested for nominal flight paths of 65 deg and 90 deg (vertical), a range of contact attitudes from -30 deg to 30 deg, and a full-scale vertical velocity of 30 feet per second at contact. Accelerations were measured by accelerometers installed at the centers of gravity of the model and full-scale capsules. For the model test the accelerations were measured along the X-axis (roll) and Z-axis (yaw) and for the full-scale test they were measured along the X-axis (roll), Y-axis (pitch), and Z-axis (yaw). Motions and displacements of the capsules that occurred after contact were determined from high-speed motion pictures. The theoretical investigation was conducted to determine the accelerations that might occur along the X-axis when the capsule contacted the water from a 90 deg flight path at a 0 deg attitude. Assuming a rigid body, computations were made from equations obtained by utilizing the principle of the conservation of momentum. The agreement among data obtained from the model test, the full-scale test, and the theory was very good. The accelerations along the X-axis, for a vertical flight path and 0 deg attitude, were in the order of 40g. For a 65 deg flight path and 0 deg attitude, the accelerations along the X-axis were in the order of 50g. Changes in contact attitude, in either the positive or negative direction from 0 deg attitude, considerably reduced the magnitude of the accelerations measured along the X-axis. Accelerations measured along the Y- and Z-axes were relatively small at all test conditions

A chip-scale atomic beam clock

Atomic beams are a longstanding technology for atom-based sensors and clocks with widespread use in commercial frequency standards. Here, we report the demonstration a chip-scale microwave atomic beam clock using coherent population trapping (CPT) interrogation in a passively pumped atomic beam device. The beam device consists of a hermetically sealed vacuum cell fabricated from an anodically bonded stack of glass and Si wafers. Atomic beams are created using a lithographically defined microcapillary array connected to a Rb reservoir1 and propagate in a 15 mm long drift cavity. We present a detailed characterization of the atomic beam performance (total Rb flux $\approx 7.7 \times 10^{11} s^{-1}$ at 363 K device temperature) and of the vacuum environment in the device (pressure < 1 Pa), which is sustained using getter materials which pump residual gases and Rb vapor. A chip-scale beam clock is realized using Ramsey CPT spectroscopy of the 87Rb ground state hyperfine transition over a 10 mm Ramsey distance in the atomic beam device. The prototype atomic beam clock demonstrates a fractional frequency stability of $\approx 1.2 \times 10^{-9}/\sqrt{\tau}$ for integration times $\tau$ from 1 s to 250 s, limited by detection noise. Optimized atomic beam clocks based on this approach may exceed the long-term stability of existing chip-scale clocks, and leading long-term systematics are predicted to limit the ultimate fractional frequency stability below $10^{-12}$.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figure