A comparison of Wortmann airfoil computer-generated lift and drag polars with flight and wind tunnel results

Computations of drag polars for a low-speed Wortmann sailplane airfoil are compared with both wind tunnel and flight test results. Excellent correlation was shown to exist between computations and flight results except when separated flow regimes were encountered. Smoothness of the input coordinates to the PROFILE computer program was found to be essential to obtain accurate comparisons of drag polars or transition location to either the flight or wind tunnel flight results

A comparison of computer-generated lift and drag polars for a Wortmann airfoil to flight and wind tunnel results

Computations of drag polars for a low-speed Wortmann sailplane airfoil are compared to both wind tunnel and flight results. Excellent correlation is shown to exist between computations and flight results except when separated flow regimes were encountered. Wind tunnel transition locations are shown to agree with computed predictions. Smoothness of the input coordinates to the PROFILE airfoil analysis computer program was found to be essential to obtain accurate comparisons of drag polars or transition location to either the flight or wind tunnel results

Ground-effect analysis of a jet transport airplane

An analysis of the ground effect of a jet transport airplane has been made. Data were obtained from recent flight tests primarily using the constant angle-of-attack approach technique. Reasonable results were obtained for ground-effect pitching moment and lift increments. These were compared with data from other sources, including computations, wind tunnel, and previous flight test. A recommended ground-effect model was developed from the results. A brief simulator study was conducted to determine the sensitivity of a particular configuration to this ground-effect model and its associated uncertainty

X-29A longitudinal and directional force and moment supplemental transonic wind tunnel test results

Aerodynamic data from NASA Ames Research Center's 11-Foot Transonic Wind Tunnel are plotted for the 1/8-scale X-29A forward-swept wing aircraft model. Eleven configurations were tested to provide supplemental data to investigate single surface failure modes, complex nonlinearities, and model buildup. These data can be used for control system refinements, pilot training, flight planning, and aerodynamic model validation. Data are presented as corrected wind tunnel data without analysis to document results that are being used for the aerodynamic model

Palaeolimnological investigation of English Lake SSSIs

This is the final report to the Environment Agency and English Nature under an extension to project no.13063, ‘Lake Monitoring to support Environment Agency Water Framework Directive intercalibration exercise and classification tool development, and CCW Site Condition Assessment - Phase 2’, funded by the Environment Agency and English Nature. This project forms part of the UK strategy for the implementation of the European Council Water Framework Directive (WFD) which requires reference conditions to be determined for all water body types including lakes. The project is also expected to produce data of relevance to the Habitats Directive. This study aims to use palaeoecological techniques, principally diatom analysis, to describe reference conditions and assess ecological change for a set of lakes in Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in England. The project builds on existing palaeoecological work in the UK, in particular the ‘Identification of reference lakes and evaluation of palaeoecological approaches to define reference conditions for UK (England, Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland) ecotypes, WFD08’ (Bennion, 2004), and aims to enhance the low resolution (core top and bottom) diatom analysis being carried out in the ongoing project ‘Development of a phytobenthos classification tool for lakes and lochs, DALES’. A further objective is to employ spheroidal carbonaceous particle analysis to estimate the time period represented by cores from selected key sites

Casimir Energy of a Spherical Shell

The Casimir energy for a conducting spherical shell of radius $a$ is computed using a direct mode summation approach. An essential ingredient is the implementation of a recently proposed method based on Cauchy's theorem for an evaluation of the eigenfrequencies of the system. It is shown, however, that this earlier calculation uses an improper set of modes to describe the waves exterior to the sphere. Upon making the necessary corrections and taking care to ensure that no mathematically ill-defined expressions occur, the technique is shown to leave numerical results unaltered while avoiding a longstanding criticism raised against earlier calculations of the Casimir energy.Comment: LaTeX, 14 pages, 1 figur

F-18 high alpha research vehicle: Lessons learned

The F-18 High Alpha Research Vehicle has proven to be a useful research tool with many unique capabilities. Many of these capabilities are to assist in characterizing flight at high angles of attack, while some provide significant research in their own right. Of these, the thrust vectoring system, the unique ability to rapidly reprogram flight controls, the reprogrammable mission computer, and a reprogrammable onboard excitation system have allowed an increased utility and versatility of the research being conducted. Because of this multifaceted approach to research in the high angle of attack regime, the capabilities of the F-18 High Alpha Research Vehicle were designed to cover as many high alpha technology bases as the program would allow. These areas include aerodynamics, controls, handling qualities, and propulsion

Serious untoward incidents and their aftermath in acute inpatient psychiatry: The Tompkins Acute Ward Study

Background: Serious untoward incidents, or sentinel events (suicide, homicide, suicide attempt, serious assault and elopement of high risk patients) occur from time to time in association with acute psychiatric inpatient wards. Aim: To discover the impact of serious untoward incidents on inpatient wards. Method: Doctors, nurses and occupational therapists at three hospitals were interviewed about these events and their impact on their wards. Findings: Staff reported feelings of shock, depression, demoralisation, upset, loss, and grief, followed by ruminations, guilt and anxiety. Levels of containment increased, as did the focus on risk assessment. Processing of the emotional impact was hindered by the pace of ward life, a lack of external support, and management investigations. Patient responses were largely ignored. A few staff responded negatively, hindering service improvements. Conclusions: Much more attention needs to be given to the needs of the patient group following incidents. Substantial planning, organisation and investment are required to properly prepare for such events and manage their outcome. Without this planning and action, acute inpatient work has the capacity to be damaging to staff

The Nature and Purpose of Acute Psychiatric Wards: The Tompkins Acute Ward Study

Background: Acute inpatient care in the UK is being subjected to increasing critical scrutiny, highlighting concerns about content and quality. There is an absence of clarity and consensus on what acute inpatient care is for, adding to difficulties in developing this service sector. Aim: To define the function of acute psychiatric wards. Methods: Interviews were conducted with multidisciplinary staff (13 Ward Managers, 14 F Grade nurses, 11 Occupational Therapists and 9 Consultant Psychiatrists), on rationales for admission, their care and treatment philosophy, and the roles of different professionals. Results: Patients are admitted because they appear likely to harm themselves or others, and because they are suffering from a severe mental illness, and/or because they or their family/community require respite, and/or because they have insufficient support and supervision available to them in the community. The tasks of acute inpatient care are to keep patients safe, assess their problems, treat their mental illness, meet their basic care needs and provide physical healthcare. These tasks are completed via containment, 24-hour staff presence, treatment provision, and complex organisation and management. Conclusions: Professional education, audit, research and the structuring of services all need to be oriented towards these tasks. Declaration of interest: This study was funded by the Tompkins Foundation and the Department of Health Nursing Quality initiative