Stories
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1933
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Preparing and Analyzing Iced Airfoils
SmaggIce version 1.2 is a computer program for preparing and analyzing iced airfoils.It includes interactive tools for
measuring ice-shape characteristics,
controlled smoothing of ice shapes,
curve discretization,
generation of artificial ice shapes,and
detection and correction of input errors.
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Inlet Housing for a Partial-Admission Turbine
An inlet housing for a partial-admission turbine has been designed to cause the inlet airflow to make a smooth transition from an open circular inlet to an inlet slot. The smooth flow is required for purposes of measuring inlet flow characteristics and maximizing the efficiency of the turbine.
Briefs: Test & Measurement
An electronic instrument that could detect the potentially dangerous buildup of ice on an airplane wing is undergoing development. The instrument is based on a microwave transmission...
Briefs: Materials
Curing Composite Materials Using Lower-Energy Electron Beams
In an improved method of fabricating composite-material structures by laying up prepreg tapes (tapes of fiber reinforcement impregnated by uncured matrix materials) and then curing them, one cures the layups by use of beams of electrons having kinetic energies in the range of 200 to 300...
Briefs: Software
Algorithm for Controlling a Centrifugal Compressor
Algorithm for Controlling a Centrifugal Compressor An algorithm has been developed for controlling a centrifugal compressor that serves as the prime mover in a heatpump system. Experimental studies have shown that the operating conditions for maximum compressor efficiency are close to the boundary...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
An advanced docking system is undergoing development to enable softer, safer docking than was possible when using prior docking systems. This system is intended for original use in docking...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A versatile electronic timing-and-control unit, denoted a rotorcraft strobe controller, has been developed for use in controlling stroboscopes, lasers, video cameras, and other instruments...
Briefs: Software
Analyzing Aeroelasticity in Turbomachines
ASTROP2-LE is a computer program that predicts flutter and forced responses of blades, vanes, and other components of such turbomachines as fans, compressors, and turbines. ASTROP2-LE is based on the ASTROP2 program, developed previously for analysis of stability of turbomachinery components. In developing...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The flight-test community routinely spends considerable time and money to determine a range of flight conditions, called a flight envelope, within which an aircraft is safe to fly. The cost...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The Aerostructures Test Wing (ATW) was an apparatus used in a flight experiment during a program of research on aeroelastic instabilities. The ATW experiment was performed to study a specific instability known as...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The Morrison rotor, named after its inventor, is a hybrid rotor for use in a bearingless switched-reluctance electric motor. The motor is characterized as bearingless in the sense that it does not...
Briefs: Information Technology
Aerothermoelasticity comprises those aspects of the dynamics of an aircraft that are caused by flexibility and heating during flight. The concept of aerothermoelasticity is particularly...
Briefs: Information Technology
The design of aerodynamic components of aircraft, such as wings or engines, involves a process of obtaining the most optimal component shape that can deliver the desired level of component performance,...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The measurement of local flow angle is critical in many fluid-dynamic applications, including the aerodynamic flight testing of new aircraft and flight systems. Flight researchers at NASA Dryden...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The torque-limited touchdown bearing system (TLTBS) is a backup mechanical- bearing system for a high-speed rotary machine in which the rotor shaft is supported by magnetic bearings in...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
An improved method and prior methods of deadbeat direct torque control involve the use of pulse-width modulation (PWM) of applied voltages. The prior methods are based on the use of stator...
Briefs: Motion Control
An eight-pole radial magnetic bearing has been modified into a switched-reluctance electric motor capable of operating at a speed as high as 8,000 rpm at a temperature as high as 1,000 °F...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Simple viscoelastic dampers have been invented for use on the root attachments of turbomachine blades. These dampers suppress bending- and torsion-mode blade vibrations, which are excited...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
User’s Guide for ENSAERO
A report summarizes the development, applications, and procedures for use of ENSAERO, a computer program for simulating aeroelastic phenomena (e.g., wing flutter) of aircraft and spacecraft. ENSAERO computes aeroelastic responses by simultaneously numerically integrating Euler and/or Navier-Stokes equations of airflow and...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A small robot that travels by hopping has been built and tested. This is a prototype of hopping robots that would carry video cameras and possibly other sensory devices and that are under consideration for use...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Computational Test Cases for Oscillating Clipped Delta Wing
Computational test cases have been selected from archived sets of data acquired some years ago in wind-tunnel experiments on a clipped delta wing equipped with a hydraulically actuated trailing-edge control surface. In some of the experiments, the wing was subjected to pitching...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Flight data gathered by use of the F-18 System Research Aircraft (SRA) based at Dryden Flight Research Center have been used to estimate stability and control derivatives for a baseline F-18 airplane....
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Hexfoil rotary flexures have been proposed as pivots suitable for use in precise optical instruments. In the application that inspired the hexfoil concept, there is a requirement for a limited-rotation mirror gimbal that...
Briefs: Software
Software for Simultaneous Control of Three Magnetic Bearings
Five-Axis, Three-Magnetic-Bearing Control Code (FATMaCC) is a C++-language computer program for controlling a magnetic thrust bearing in one degree of freedom and two magnetic radial bearings, each in two degrees of freedom. These bearings levitate a vertical-axis rotor for experiments on...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A proposed communication antenna for a helicopter would feature radiating elements in or on the blades of the main rotor, with a novel rotary radio-frequency coupling between the antenna and the radio...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Some airfoil designs have been shown by theory and small-scale tests to be capable of passively maintaining laminar flow at super -sonic speeds. More recently, flight tests have proven that these...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Normally, the damage that results in a total loss of the primary flight control of a transport airplane, including all the engines on one side, would be catastrophic. Dryden Flight...
Briefs: Software
Advanced Fatigue-Crack-Growth and Fracture-Mechanics Program
The NASGRO 3.0 computer program is an advanced version of a program used by NASA and the European Space Agency for fracture-control analysis of space-system structures and other hardware. The prior version, NASA/FLAGRO 2.0, was described in “Updated Fatigue-Crack-Growth and...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Tip fences have been invented to reduce the noise generated in the airflows about the high-lift systems (the flaps and slats) of airplane wings. Tip fences also afford an important...
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