Langley rotorcraft structural dynamics program: Background, status, accomplishments, plans

Excessive vibration is the most common technical problem to arise as a show stopper in the development of a new rotorcraft. Vibration predictions have not been relied on by the industry during design because of deficiencies in finite element dynamic analyses. A rotorcraft structural dynamics program aimed at meeting the industry's long-term needs in this key technical area was implemented at Langley in 1984. The subject program is a cooperative effort involving NASA, the Army, academia, and the helicopter industry in a series of generic research activities directed at establishing the critical elements of the technology base needed for development of a superior finite element dynamics design analysis capability in the U.S. helicopter industry. An executive overview of the background, status, accomplishments, and future direction of this program is presented

The NASA/industry Design Analysis Methods for Vibrations (DAMVIBS) Program: A government overview

LaRC, under the Design Analysis Methods for Vibrations (DAMVIBS) Program, set out in 1984 to establish the technology base needed by the rotorcraft industry for developing an advanced finite-element-based dynamics design analysis capability for vibrations. Considerable work was performed by the industry participants in the program since that time. Because the DAMVIBS Program is being phased out, a government/industry assessment of the program was made to identify those accomplishments and contributions which may be ascribed to the program. The purpose is to provide an overview of the program and its accomplishments and contributions from the perspective of the government sponsoring organization

A Government/Industry Summary of the Design Analysis Methods for Vibrations (DAMVIBS) Program

The NASA Langley Research Center in 1984 initiated a rotorcraft structural dynamics program, designated DAMVIBS (Design Analysis Methods for VIBrationS), with the objective of establishing the technology base needed by the rotorcraft industry for developing an advanced finite-element-based dynamics design analysis capability for vibrations. An assessment of the program showed that the DAMVIBS Program has resulted in notable technical achievements and major changes in industrial design practice, all of which have significantly advanced the industry's capability to use and rely on finite-element-based dynamics analyses during the design process

Concircular tensors in Spaces of Constant Curvature: With Applications to Orthogonal Separation of The Hamilton-Jacobi Equation

We study concircular tensors in spaces of constant curvature and then apply the results obtained to the problem of the orthogonal separation of the Hamilton-Jacobi equation on these spaces. Any coordinates which separate the geodesic Hamilton-Jacobi equation are called separable. Specifically for spaces of constant curvature, we obtain canonical forms of concircular tensors modulo the action of the isometry group, we obtain the separable coordinates induced by irreducible concircular tensors, and we obtain warped products adapted to reducible concircular tensors. Using these results, we show how to enumerate the isometrically inequivalent orthogonal separable coordinates, construct the transformation from separable to Cartesian coordinates, and execute the Benenti-Eisenhart-Kalnins-Miller (BEKM) separation algorithm for separating natural Hamilton-Jacobi equations.Comment: Removed preamble and references to unpublished articles. Also made some minor changes in the bod

Spray-on technique simplifies fabrication of complex thermal insulation blanket

Spray-on process constructs molds used in forming sections of thermal insulation blankets. The process simplifies the fabrication of blankets by eliminating much of the equipment formerly required and decreasing the time involved

Modeling GD-1 Gaps in a Milky-Way Potential

The GD-1 star stream is currently the best available for identifying density fluctuations, "gaps", along its length as a test of the LCDM prediction of large numbers of dark matter sub-halos orbiting in the halo. Density variations of some form are present, since the variance of the density along the stream is three times that expected from the empirically estimated variation in the filtered mean star counts. The density variations are characterized with filters that approximate the shape of sub-halo gravitationally induced stream gaps. The filters locate gaps and measures their amplitude, leading to a measurement of the distribution of gap widths. To gain understanding of the factors influencing the gap width distribution, a suite of collisionless n-body simulations for a GD-1 like orbit in a Milky Way-like potential provides a dynamically realistic statistical prediction of the gap distribution. The simulations show that every location in the stream has been disturbed to some degree by a sub-halo. The small gaps found via the filtering are largely noise. Larger gaps, those longer than 1 kpc, or 10 degrees for GD-1, are the source of the excess variance. The suite of stream simulations shows that sub-halos at the predicted inner halo abundance or possibly somewhat higher can produce the required large sale density variations.Comment: ApJ accepte