AMA personnel have played an integral role in NASA's advanced flight programs. Our expertise in multibody dynamics, control systems, trajectory analysis, and simulation software development were heavily utilized within the Hyper-X program. Our computational fluid dynamics expertise is being leveraged in areas such as the morphing wing program and formation flying analysis.
Hyper-X
Hyper-X (X-43A)is an experimental flight-research program that seeks to demonstrate airframe-integrated, "air-breathing" engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity for future vehicles, including hypersonic aircraft (faster than Mach 5) and reusable space launchers.
AMA has supported the Hyper-X Program in a number of key areas including:
- Development of the multi-body stage separation simulation
- Separation control law design and performance analysis
- Design and development of the Research Vehicle control system
- Linear stability analysis
- Nonlinear performance assessment
- Actuator system modeling
- Separation simulation development and Monte Carlo analysis
- Trajectory reconstruction tool development and post-flight data reduction
- Structural mode and control interaction analysis
- INS system modeling and variance analysis.
Morphing Airplane
The numerical analyses of biologically inspired flight systems predict aerodynamic loads for further structural and controls research. The CFD software Fun3D and the potential flow code PMARC are used to calculate aerodynamic loads.
