Date of Award

Spring 2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

Committee Director

Brett Newman

Committee Member

Thomas Alberts

Committee Member

W. Steven Gray

Abstract

An analytical model of a second order system is extended from a single-axis framework, to a multi-axis, multi-degree of freedom framework for a multiple input, multiple output system. This mathematical model is built from the variational approach of the Volterra series representation of nonlinear systems. The new representation describes the second order, oscillatory natural modes of a system, and shows how to organize the Volterra terms in intuitive ways. The constructed mathematical model aims to establish an organization of the Volterra kernels to allow for analytical cause and effect type analysis on system behavior.

To demonstrate the accuracy of the developed Volterra model, the model is applied to atmospheric flight dynamics. A numerical simulation of an F-16 aircraft was developed based on the experimental data collected at NASA Langley and is compared to the Volterra model. Both longitudinal and latitudinal aircraft dynamics are analyzed, and the results show that the Volterra model effectively tracks the numerical simulations and has less error than a more conventional linearized system. The results show that weak nonlinearities of a system are predicted based on this new model. The construction of the model allows for a more effective analysis to the cause and effect of the response. Individual responses of each nonlinear component are separated for analysis, and each component’s effects on the total system response are observed.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/0j4r-n876

ISBN

9780355973341

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