Stability and Control

These codes are in our design lab. We now also have a controls and simulation lab, where the students can fly their designs and try out various control system designs. The lab has been developed with close assistance from NASA Langley. Juniors use the lab, so they are ready to use it in senior design.

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Digital DATCOM

Use:estimation of stability and control derivatives
Author:various
Address:WPAFB, Ohio
Platform:we have a VAX version.
Documentation:AF Manuals (Williams and Vukelich, 1979)
Availability:by request
License:-
Code:source code is supplied
Graphics:no
Discussion: An Air Force contribution. This code can be used to help find stability derivatives. Our version requires a VAX computer. The expertise level seems to stretch the ability of students, although it always seemed to work in industrial applications. Some supplementary notes were developed to help students based on the paper by Blake (Blake, 1985). Often the conceptual designs we are interested in have geometries that aren't included in DATCOM. (The paper version of DATCOM allows students to extrapolate lightly, while the computer version simply tells the user he is outside the configuration data base and stops.)
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JKayVLM/VPI-NASA CPC

Use:estimate stability derivatives and then evaluate aircraft against requirements
Author:Jacob Kay
Address:c/o W. H. Mason
Platform:any PC, VPI-NASA CPC requires EXCEL
Documentation:several papers (Kay et al, 1993, Kay et al, 1993)
Availability:Virginia Tech
License:-
Code:the user gets FORTRAN of JKayVLM and an EXCEL or LOTUS spreadsheet
Graphics:some in the EXCEL spreadsheet
Discussion:Spreadsheet stability and control evaluation worksheets and a subsonic vortex lattice method code, oriented toward stability and control derivative estimation are available. The vlm code also handles ground effects. This program was the result of a Master's Thesis by Jacob Kay. It can help students assess their designs for adequate stability and control characteristics. This program is available by writing to W.H. Mason.
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Aircraft Handling Qualities Evaluation Software

Use:evaluate an aircraft against MIL STD 1797 requirements
Author:Peter Einthoven
Address:c/o W. H. Mason, Virginia Tech
Platform:any computer running MATLAB
Documentation:a report (a Master's Project - Einthoven, 1994)
Availability:contact Prof. Mark Anderson, Virginia Tech AOE
License:-
Code:MATLAB files available
Graphics:some
Discussion:This is in some sense a major expansion of the previous work by Kay. Much more thorough and systematic. More highly automated.
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The Smetana Codes

Use:stability and control derivatives and stability analysis/performance
Author:Fred Smetana
Address:NC State University, Raleigh, NC
Platform:any computer
Documentation:Prof. Smetana's book (Smetana, 1984)
Availability:Prof. Smetana had made copies available
License:-
Code:FORTRAN
Graphics:limited to print plot output
Discussion:Professor Smetana of NC State is willing to make his performance and stability and control codes available. They run on IBM and Macintosh computers. Buy the book and decide if they fulfill your needs. They were developed specifically for GA aircraft, but are useful for other aircraft also.
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TRIM3S/TRIMTV

Use:trim deflection for minimum drag of three-surface and thrust-vectored configurations Author:Jacob Kay
Address:c/o W. H. Mason
Platform:any computer
Documentation:NASA TP-2907 (Goodrich, Sliwa, Lallman, 1989)
Availability:W. H. Mason
License:-
Code:FORTRAN
Graphics:no
Discussion:This is a near-field solution. Several near-field solutions are wrong, this one is right, although the TP has some typos. Jacob Kay developed a computer code to implement this solution at Virginia Tech. TRIM3S is the three surface code while TRIMTV is the thrust vectoring code. Since it is a nearfield solution it requires considerable details to obtain a solution, but many of our students have used it with good success.
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VORSTAB-PC

Use:subsonic and supersonic configuration analysis
Author: C. Edward Lan
Address: Alan Hsing, Unicom Technology Systems, 2721 Bishop Street, Lawrence, KS 66046, ARC3D@KUHUB.CC.UKANS.EDU
Platform: IBM 486 8mb ram/4mb hd, DOS 5+
Documentation: manual included with code
Availability: $500/copy, discount for volume orders, a 30-day evaluation disk is available for $5 shipping upon request.
License: academic price is available at $350, a special educational version without the forebody vortex analysis is $250
Code:executable only
Graphics:yes
Discussion: This is a new version of the VORSTAB code that Prof. Lan wrote for NASA and that is available from COSMIC. See the discussion in the aerodynamics code review for details.
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