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Virginia Tech

Virtual Planar Motion Mechanism Testing of 8:1 Spheroids

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

PMM testing is a method used to identify the added mass and damping coefficients used in the equations of motion of a vehicle by attempting to decouple the forces on a body due to velocity and acceleration as a result of creating "hydrodynamically pure" velocities and accelerations. This makes it possible to use quasi-steady state models with terms independent of both velocity and acceleration. This paper explores the ability of simple damping models (solely a function of velocity) with added mass terms (solely a function of acceleration) to simulate the heave force of an 8:1 ellipsoid undergoing PMM testing. In order to help explain the complexity of the flow during PMM tests, a flow analysis of the 8:1 spheroid is provided, which discusses the flow topology of spheroids at steady angle of attack, validity of quasi-steady models, and some other basic flow features seen in PMM testing. In this paper, a simple proportionality relationship between a linear and quadratic damping model is revealed. It is also shown that variations in the heave force response during PMM tests are most heavily influenced by viscous effects, especially cross flow separation. Finally, it is shown where these models break down, owing to the increasing nonlinearity of the flow induced by the harsher motions of large amplitude and/or large frequency tests.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Aerospace Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Aerospace and Ocean Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2015

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Ball, Eddie H.
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Neu, Wayne L.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Stilwell, Daniel J.
  • Woolsey, Craig A.

Subjects

dc:subject × 7

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:5838
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/53515

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Ball, Eddie H.. Virtual Planar Motion Mechanism Testing of 8:1 Spheroids. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/53515