Lance Richards - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Lance Richards

This paper describes the sputter deposition and characterization of nickel titanium (NiTi) shape ... more This paper describes the sputter deposition and characterization of nickel titanium (NiTi) shape memory alloy thin film onto the surface of an optical fiber Bragg sensor. The NiTi coating uniformity, crystallinity and transformation temperatures are measured using scanning electron microsocopy, x-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry respectively. The strain in the optical fiber is measured using centroid calculation of wavelength shifts. Results show distinct and abrupt changes in the optical fiber signal with the four related transformation temperatures represented by the austenite-martensite forward and reverse phase transformations. These tests demonstrate a coupling present between optical energy and thermal energy, i.e. a modified multiferroic material.

This document discusses the development of fiber optic wing shape sensing on NASA's Ikhana ve... more This document discusses the development of fiber optic wing shape sensing on NASA's Ikhana vehicle. The Dryden Flight Research Center's Aerostructures Branch initiated fiber-optic instrumentation development efforts in the mid-1990s. Motivated by a failure to control wing dihedral resulting in a mishap with the Helios aircraft, new wing displacement techniques were developed. Research objectives for Ikhana included validating fiber optic sensor measurements and real-time wing shape sensing predictions; the validation of fiber optic mathematical models and design tools; assessing technical viability and, if applicable, developing methodology and approaches to incorporate wing shape measurements within the vehicle flight control system; and, developing and flight validating approaches to perform active wing shape control using conventional control surfaces and active material concepts.

A flight test article, called a glove, is required for a Mach-8 boundary-layer experiment to be c... more A flight test article, called a glove, is required for a Mach-8 boundary-layer experiment to be conducted on a flight mission of the air-launched Pegasus(reg) space booster. The glove is required to provide a smooth, three-dimensional, structurally stable, aerodynamic surface and includes instrumentation to determine when and where boundary-layer transition occurs during the hypersonic flight trajectory. A restraint mechanism has been invented to attach the glove to the wing of the space booster. The restraint mechanism securely attaches the glove to the wing in directions normal to the wing/glove interface surface, but allows the glove to thermally expand and contract to alleviate stresses in directions parallel to the interface surface. A finite-element analysis has been performed using nonlinear contact elements to model the complex behavior of the sliding restraint mechanism. This paper provides an overview of the glove design and presents details of the analysis that were essen...

CRYOTE3 is a grassroots CFM test effort with contributing government and industry partners focuse... more CRYOTE3 is a grassroots CFM test effort with contributing government and industry partners focused on developing and testing hardware to produce needed data for model validation and implementation into flight systems.

This viewgraph presentation reviews Dryden's efforts to develop in-flight monitoring based on... more This viewgraph presentation reviews Dryden's efforts to develop in-flight monitoring based on Fiber Optics. One of the motivating factors for this development was the breakup of the Helios aircraft. On Ikhana the use of fiber optics for wing shape sensing is being developed. They are being used to flight validate fiber optic sensor measurements and real-time wing shape sensing predictions on NASA's Ikhana vehicle; validate fiber optic mathematical models and design tools; Assess technical viability and, if applicable, develop methodology and approach to incorporate wing shape measurements within the vehicle flight control system, and develop and flight validate advanced approaches to perform active wing shape control.

Attached is a power point presentation created to assist the Tech Transfer Office and the FOSS pr... more Attached is a power point presentation created to assist the Tech Transfer Office and the FOSS project team members in responding to inquiries from the public about the capabilities of the Fiber Optic Sensing System.

Thermal protection systems (TPS) and hot structures are utilizing advanced materials that operate... more Thermal protection systems (TPS) and hot structures are utilizing advanced materials that operate at temperatures that exceed abilities to measure structural performance. Robust strain sensors that operate accurately and reliably beyond 1800 F are needed but do not exist. These shortcomings hinder the ability to validate analysis and modeling techniques and hinders the ability to optimize structural designs. This presentation examines high-temperature strain sensing for aerospace applications and, more specifically, seeks to provide strain data for validating finite element models and thermal-structural analyses. Efforts have been made to develop sensor attachment techniques for relevant structural materials at the small test specimen level and to perform laboratory tests to characterize sensor and generate corrections to apply to indicated strains. Areas highlighted in this presentation include sensors, sensor attachment techniques, laboratory evaluation/characterization of strain ...

A viewgraph presentation describing an in-flight wing shape measurement system based on fiber bra... more A viewgraph presentation describing an in-flight wing shape measurement system based on fiber bragg grating sensors for use in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) is shown. The topics include: 1) MOtivation; 2) Objective; 3) Background; 4) System Design; 5) Ground Testing; 6) Future Work; and 7) Conclusions

Aerospace, 2016

Technological advances have enabled the development of a number of optical fiber sensing methods ... more Technological advances have enabled the development of a number of optical fiber sensing methods over the last few years. The most prevalent optical technique involves the use of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. These small, lightweight sensors have many attributes that enable their use for a number of measurement applications. Although much literature is available regarding the use of FBGs for laboratory level testing, few publications in the public domain exist of their use at the operational level. Therefore, this paper gives an overview of the implementation of FBG sensors for large scale structures and applications. For demonstration, a case study is presented in which FBGs were used to determine the deflected wing shape and the out-of-plane loads of a 5.5-m carbon-composite wing of an ultralight aerial vehicle. The in-plane strains from the 780 FBG sensors were used to obtain the out-of-plane loads as well as the wing shape at various load levels. The calculated out-of-plane displacements and loads were within 4.2% of the measured data. This study demonstrates a practical method in which direct measurements are used to obtain critical parameters from the high distribution of FBG sensors. This procedure can be used to obtain information for structural health monitoring applications to quantify healthy vs. unhealthy structures.

A new open-loop heat flux control technique has been developed to conduct transient thermal testi... more A new open-loop heat flux control technique has been developed to conduct transient thermal testing of thick, thermallyconductive aerospace structures. This technique uses calibration of the radiant heater system power level as a function of heat flux, predicted aerodynamic heat flux, and the properties of an instrumented test article. An iterative process was used to generate open-loop heater power profiles prior to each transient thermal test. Differences between the measured and predicted surface temperatures were used to refine the heater power level command profiles through the iteration process. This iteration process has reduced the effects of environmental and test system design factors, which are normally compensated for by closed-loop temperature control, to acceptable levels. The final revised heater power profiles resulted in measured temperature time histories which deviated less than 25 °F from the predicted surface temperatures.

Optical Materials Express, 2017

This paper describes the sputter deposition and characterization of nickel titanium (NiTi) shape ... more This paper describes the sputter deposition and characterization of nickel titanium (NiTi) shape memory alloy thin film onto the surface of an optical fiber Bragg sensor. The NiTi coating uniformity, crystallinity and transformation temperatures are measured using scanning electron microsocopy, x-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry respectively. The strain in the optical fiber is measured using centroid calculation of wavelength shifts. Results show distinct and abrupt changes in the optical fiber signal with the four related transformation temperatures represented by the austenite-martensite forward and reverse phase transformations. These tests demonstrate a coupling present between optical energy and thermal energy, i.e. a modified multiferroic material.

This document discusses the development of fiber optic wing shape sensing on NASA's Ikhana ve... more This document discusses the development of fiber optic wing shape sensing on NASA's Ikhana vehicle. The Dryden Flight Research Center's Aerostructures Branch initiated fiber-optic instrumentation development efforts in the mid-1990s. Motivated by a failure to control wing dihedral resulting in a mishap with the Helios aircraft, new wing displacement techniques were developed. Research objectives for Ikhana included validating fiber optic sensor measurements and real-time wing shape sensing predictions; the validation of fiber optic mathematical models and design tools; assessing technical viability and, if applicable, developing methodology and approaches to incorporate wing shape measurements within the vehicle flight control system; and, developing and flight validating approaches to perform active wing shape control using conventional control surfaces and active material concepts.

A flight test article, called a glove, is required for a Mach-8 boundary-layer experiment to be c... more A flight test article, called a glove, is required for a Mach-8 boundary-layer experiment to be conducted on a flight mission of the air-launched Pegasus(reg) space booster. The glove is required to provide a smooth, three-dimensional, structurally stable, aerodynamic surface and includes instrumentation to determine when and where boundary-layer transition occurs during the hypersonic flight trajectory. A restraint mechanism has been invented to attach the glove to the wing of the space booster. The restraint mechanism securely attaches the glove to the wing in directions normal to the wing/glove interface surface, but allows the glove to thermally expand and contract to alleviate stresses in directions parallel to the interface surface. A finite-element analysis has been performed using nonlinear contact elements to model the complex behavior of the sliding restraint mechanism. This paper provides an overview of the glove design and presents details of the analysis that were essen...

CRYOTE3 is a grassroots CFM test effort with contributing government and industry partners focuse... more CRYOTE3 is a grassroots CFM test effort with contributing government and industry partners focused on developing and testing hardware to produce needed data for model validation and implementation into flight systems.

This viewgraph presentation reviews Dryden's efforts to develop in-flight monitoring based on... more This viewgraph presentation reviews Dryden's efforts to develop in-flight monitoring based on Fiber Optics. One of the motivating factors for this development was the breakup of the Helios aircraft. On Ikhana the use of fiber optics for wing shape sensing is being developed. They are being used to flight validate fiber optic sensor measurements and real-time wing shape sensing predictions on NASA's Ikhana vehicle; validate fiber optic mathematical models and design tools; Assess technical viability and, if applicable, develop methodology and approach to incorporate wing shape measurements within the vehicle flight control system, and develop and flight validate advanced approaches to perform active wing shape control.

Attached is a power point presentation created to assist the Tech Transfer Office and the FOSS pr... more Attached is a power point presentation created to assist the Tech Transfer Office and the FOSS project team members in responding to inquiries from the public about the capabilities of the Fiber Optic Sensing System.

Thermal protection systems (TPS) and hot structures are utilizing advanced materials that operate... more Thermal protection systems (TPS) and hot structures are utilizing advanced materials that operate at temperatures that exceed abilities to measure structural performance. Robust strain sensors that operate accurately and reliably beyond 1800 F are needed but do not exist. These shortcomings hinder the ability to validate analysis and modeling techniques and hinders the ability to optimize structural designs. This presentation examines high-temperature strain sensing for aerospace applications and, more specifically, seeks to provide strain data for validating finite element models and thermal-structural analyses. Efforts have been made to develop sensor attachment techniques for relevant structural materials at the small test specimen level and to perform laboratory tests to characterize sensor and generate corrections to apply to indicated strains. Areas highlighted in this presentation include sensors, sensor attachment techniques, laboratory evaluation/characterization of strain ...

A viewgraph presentation describing an in-flight wing shape measurement system based on fiber bra... more A viewgraph presentation describing an in-flight wing shape measurement system based on fiber bragg grating sensors for use in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) is shown. The topics include: 1) MOtivation; 2) Objective; 3) Background; 4) System Design; 5) Ground Testing; 6) Future Work; and 7) Conclusions

Aerospace, 2016

Technological advances have enabled the development of a number of optical fiber sensing methods ... more Technological advances have enabled the development of a number of optical fiber sensing methods over the last few years. The most prevalent optical technique involves the use of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. These small, lightweight sensors have many attributes that enable their use for a number of measurement applications. Although much literature is available regarding the use of FBGs for laboratory level testing, few publications in the public domain exist of their use at the operational level. Therefore, this paper gives an overview of the implementation of FBG sensors for large scale structures and applications. For demonstration, a case study is presented in which FBGs were used to determine the deflected wing shape and the out-of-plane loads of a 5.5-m carbon-composite wing of an ultralight aerial vehicle. The in-plane strains from the 780 FBG sensors were used to obtain the out-of-plane loads as well as the wing shape at various load levels. The calculated out-of-plane displacements and loads were within 4.2% of the measured data. This study demonstrates a practical method in which direct measurements are used to obtain critical parameters from the high distribution of FBG sensors. This procedure can be used to obtain information for structural health monitoring applications to quantify healthy vs. unhealthy structures.

A new open-loop heat flux control technique has been developed to conduct transient thermal testi... more A new open-loop heat flux control technique has been developed to conduct transient thermal testing of thick, thermallyconductive aerospace structures. This technique uses calibration of the radiant heater system power level as a function of heat flux, predicted aerodynamic heat flux, and the properties of an instrumented test article. An iterative process was used to generate open-loop heater power profiles prior to each transient thermal test. Differences between the measured and predicted surface temperatures were used to refine the heater power level command profiles through the iteration process. This iteration process has reduced the effects of environmental and test system design factors, which are normally compensated for by closed-loop temperature control, to acceptable levels. The final revised heater power profiles resulted in measured temperature time histories which deviated less than 25 °F from the predicted surface temperatures.

Optical Materials Express, 2017