Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

About: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is a other organization based out in Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Laser & Microstructure. The organization has 5817 authors who have published 9157 publications receiving 292559 citations. The organization is also known as: Wright-Patterson AFB & FFO.

Energy separation in a vortex street

Abstract: When a bluff body is placed in a crossflow, the total temperature in its wake can become substantially less than the incoming one, as manifested by the fact that the recovery factor R on its rearmost surface takes negative values at high subsonic flow: this is the phenomenon referred to here as the Eckert-Weise effect. Although a vortex street has been a suspected cause, the issue of whether this is so, and what the mechanism is, has remained unsettled. In this experimental and theoretical investigation, we first examine the cause of the Eckert-Weise effect by enhancing the vortex shedding through acoustic synchronization: resonance between the vortex shedding and transversely standing acoustic waves in a wind tunnel. At the lowest synchronization, where a ringing sound emanates from the wind tunnel, R at the rearmost section of the cylinder is found to become negative even at a Mach number of 0.2; the base pressure (Cpb) takes dips correspondingly, indicative of the intensification of the vortex street. At this lowest acoustic resonance, the decrease of R and Cpb, uniform along the span, agrees with the expectation based on the spanwise uniformity of the lowest standing wave. At the next acoustic resonance where the standing wave now varies along the span, the corresponding dips in R and Cpb, non-uniform along the span, reveals an interesting ‘strip-theory’-like behaviour of the vortex intensities in the vortex street. These results correlating the change in R with Cpb confirm that the Eckert-Weise effect is indeed caused by the vortex shedding, the mechanism of which is examined theoretically in the latter half of the paper.A simple theoretical argument, bolstered by a full numerical simulation, shows that the time-varying static pressure field due to the vortex movement separates the instantaneous total temperature into hot and cold spots located around vortices; once time-averaged, however, the total temperature distribution conceals the presence of hot spots and takes the guise of a colder wake, the Eckert-Weise effect. Therefore the correct explanation of the Eckert-Weise effect, a time-averaged phenomenon, emerges only out of, and only as a superposition of, instantaneous total temperature separation around vortices. Such a separation is not confined to the outside of vortex cores; every vortex in its entirety becomes thermally separated. Nor is it limited to the far downstream equilibrium configuration of the Karman vortex street but applies to the important near-wake vortices, and to any three-dimensional vortical structure as well. For low subsonic flows in particular, this dynamical explanation also leads to a similar separation of total pressure; these features may thus be potentially exploited as a general marker to identify and quantify vortices.

Rolling Contact Fatigue Life and Spall Propagation of AISI M50, M50NiL, and AISI 52100, Part I: Experimental Results

Abstract: This article is the first part of a three-part series that investigates the rolling contact fatigue (RCF) initiation and spall propagation characteristics of three bearing materials, namely, AISI 52100, VIM-VAR AISI M50, and VIM-VAR M50NiL steels. Although there is substantial prior work published on the rolling contact fatigue initiation of these materials, little has been published on their spall propagation characteristics after spall initiation. It is recognized that rapid spall growth can lead to catastrophic bearing failure. Hence, understanding the spall growth phase and factors that may cause accelerated growth rates is key to achieving a reliable and robust bearing design. The end goal is to identify control parameters for optimizing bearing materials for improved spall growth resistance. This first part study features the experimental results from 208-size (40 mm bore) angular-contact ball bearings endurance life tested at maximum Hertzian contact stress levels of 3.10 GPa and bearing outer race...

WC/DLC/WS2 nanocomposite coatings for aerospace tribology

Abstract: Tribological properties of three-phase composite coatings consisting of nanocrystalline WC, amorphous diamond-like carbon (DLC), and nanocrystalline WS2 are evaluated. The WC/DLC/WS2 coatings have 0.5 μm thickness, 7–8 GPa hardness, excellent wear resistance, and low friction coefficients: 0.03 in vacuum, and 0.15 in air; with unique friction recovery in cycling between dry and moist environments. The benefits of carbide/dichalcogenide/DLC nanocomposites for aerospace tribology are highlighted.

Stability Analysis of a Missile Control System with a Dynamic Inversion Controller

Abstract: Examines the closed-loop stability of a bank-to-turn, air-to-air missile with a dynamic inversion controller using a two time-scale separation assumption. A state-space formulation for the /spl alpha/, /spl beta/, and /spl phi/ dynamics of the missile, assuming the inner-loop dynamic inversion is performed exactly, is presented. It is then shown that, under certain assumptions, the exponential stability of the /spl alpha/, /spl beta/, and /spl phi/ dynamics about the commanded values can be guaranteed if the inner loop design frequency is large enough. An example calculation of the required inner-loop frequency to guarantee stability is done for a particular bank-to-turn missile. Finally, nonlinear six degree-of-freedom simulation results of a maneuver performed with the dynamic inversion controller are presented.