Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-94). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 34-35). Also available via the Internet

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Catholic university of America, 1935. / "Reprinted from the Journal of the Franklin institute, vol. 218, no. 5, November, 1934." Bibliography: p. 20.

Thesis--Kungl. Tekniska Högskolan, Stockholm, 1959. / In English. Bibliography: p. 11-12.

A typical aircraft flight consists of three phases, namely climb, cruise and descent. The purpose of this research was to study the control schedules for a transport aircraft which would result in least fuel expenditure in each flight-segment.

No description available.

No description available.

A programme of research has now been completed in the College of Aeronautics (CoA) at Cranfield University to investigate the use of a Modified Stepwise Regression (MSR) procedure. The technique was applied to data obtained from a small BAe Hawk aircraft model flown in a dynamic wind tunnel facility in order to try to estimate the aerodynamic stability and control derivatives of the model. A variety of preliminary experiments were performed to enable the static stability of the Hawk model to be evaluated and estimates for a limited number of aerodynamic derivatives were obtained. The initial experiments also allowed data acquisition and processing systems to be developed. Experience of flying and controlling the model in the wind tunnel was gained. The MSR technique was implemented in the form of a FORTRAN 77 software program. Computer simulations of both the full scale Hawk aircraft and scaled wind tunnel model were written. MSR was found to produce perfect derivative estimates when using noise-free data produced by the aircraft simulations. Various mathematical models were produced to represent the reduced order small perturbation equations of motion for the Hawk in the wind tunnel. Different methods for re-constructing the perturbation variables were implemented. Although the MSR procedure did not perform optimally with experimental data, some insight into both the MSR method and the practical difficulties associated with using a small dynamic rig has been gained.

Recent advances in composite structures and active control systems have made the concept of a forward swept wing aircraft a viable alternative to the more conventional configurations. This thesis encompasses some of the work resulting from a three year research program covering the dynamic behaviour and characteristics of a FSW aircraft having a closely coupled canard. The dynamic model has been based on the output of a first order optimisation routine with emphasis on minimum induced drag and static margin as the two most important criteria. Stability characteristics of the dynamic model were extracted from the transient response tests in both longitudinal and lateral modes by means of a statistical method, namely Extended Kalman Filter (E. K. F. ). In carrying out the dynamic tests, use was made of the facilies outlined by Ref. 8. Validated through computer based experiments, the Extended Kalman Filter algorithm has successfully been applied to the open-loop wind tunnel tests. Simulations of the equations of motion using estimates of stability derivatives obtained in this way closely match the observed behaviour. Furthermore, substitution of aerodynamic data obtained via static wind tunnel measurements in theoretically derived expressions for some of the stability derivatives has resulted in an alternative set of stability derivative estimates. ' Finally, estimates of the stability derivatives obtained with the E. K. F., first order optimisation program and static tests are compared. Although the results are limited to very low subsonic Mach numbers, nevertheless, they are very encouraging. It is hoped that future work might extend the studies into unstable flight regimes.

Although kites have been around for hundreds of years and put to many uses, there has so far been no systematic study of their performance. This research attempts to fill this need, and considers particularly the performance of kite anemometers. An instrumented kite tether was designed and built to study kite performance. It measures line tension, inclination and azimuth at the ground, :sampling each variable at 5 or 10 Hz. The results are transmitted as a digital code and stored by microcomputer. Accurate anemometers are used simultaneously to measure the wind local to the kite, and the results are stored parallel with the tether data. As a necessary background to the experiments and analysis, existing kite information is collated, and simple models of the kite system are presented, along with a more detailed study of the kiteline and its influence on the kite system. A representative selection of single line kites has been flown from the tether in a variety of wind conditions. The results from these experiments are analysed to obtain general performance measurements for these kites in real, turbulent, winds. The analysis is taken a stage further to evaluate the kites for anemometry, and to study the dynamics of the kite system. The most suitable kites for anemometry are identified, together with the wind conditions in which they may be used and the wind information available from measurements at the tether. The study ends with a review, and a discussion of useful areas of further work. [This digital (pdf ) version of the thesis was created in August 2005. The content is identical to that of the original paper copy of 1986, although the layout and pagination differs in detail. Readers should note that anemometer calibrations described in Hobbs (1994) suggest that the windspeed values given in this thesis are incorrect by a few percent: however, the general conclusions about kite performance stated in the thesis are unaffected by these changes.]