Modified model-based control of shake tables for online acceleration tracking

The interest in shake tables stems from a need to simulate earthquake behavior in laboratory settings. However, the inherent properties and nonlinearities associated with electromechanical and servohydraulic shake tables, combined with issues of table-structure interaction, make accurate reproduction of earthquake acceleration time histories a challenging problem. The classical approach to control shake tables has been the Transfer Function Iteration (TFI) method. The tuning of the TFI controller is an offline iterative process, conducted using small amplitude ground motions. Effective compensation is not achievable for system nonlinearities that are not projected in the iterative tuning process. To address this problem, researchers have developed online compensation techniques, which can maintain tracking performance for the earthquake signals more effectively. Model-based controllers (MBC) are a class of online controllers which use an identified model of the shake table-structure for compensation. The MBC employs feedforward and feedback controllers to ensure that the shake table tracks a specified earthquake ground motion despite the presence of table and structural nonlinearities. However, the feedback controllers in MBC do not always maintain tracking accuracy and can result in loss of robustness when changes occur in the shake table and structure dynamics. This paper introduces a modified model-based controller (mMBC) for acceleration tracking as an improvement on the existing MBC architecture. A stability condition is introduced to assess the robustness of the new modified control architecture. Through numerical and experimental studies, the improved tracking robustness of the mMBC architecture is demonstrated.     

Power spectrum analysis of the light curve of RR Tauri

Power spectrum analysis is applied to the light curve of RR Tauri. Periodicities are found at 80, 200 and 533 days with some variation in the peak positions and power for different decades. Factors involved in the classification of the variable are discussed.Receipt delayed by postal strike in Great Britain.     

History of Boulder 1 at Station 2, Apollo 17 based on trace element interrelationships

Correlations among the trace and minor element pairs Cl and Br, Cl and P₂O₅, and Ru and Os, present in parent igneous rocks, generally survived the processes of boulder breccia formation. Fractions of the Cl, Br, and Hg that are mobilized by water leaching and/or volatilization at moderate temperatures (?450°C) place constraints on the thermal history of Boulder 1 and its component breccias. Since, and possibly during, consolidation, the boulder has probably not been subjected to temperatures of ?450°C. The parent rocks of the Apollo 17 boulder and breccia samples studied could have been derived from two initial magmas. Boulder 1, Station 2 gray competent breccias 72255 and 72275 Clast #2 appear to be genetically unrelated to gray competent breccia and anorthositic material 72215, or to light friable breccia 72275; they do appear to be related to samples 72395 (Boulder 2) and 76315 (Station 6 boulder). Vapor clouds from apparently external sources permeated the source regions of the boulders.     

Diffuse interstellar band formation in dense clouds

Measurements of the strengths of the diffuse interstellar bands at 4430, 5780 and 5797 Å show that the bands tend to be week with respect to extinction in dense interstellar clouds. Data on 10 stars in the ? Ophiuchi cloud complex show further that the diffuse band-producing efficiency of the grains decreases systematically with increasing grain size. It is concluded that the diffuse bands are not formed in the mantles which accrete on the grains in interstellar clouds, but that they could be produced in the cores of grains or in some molecular species.     

Lunar bulk sample trace element contents and kreep

The geochemical coherence between the labile element Cl and more refractory F, K, REE and P in lunar soils is utilized to gain insight into the evolution of the lunar samples studied.Paper dedicated to Prof. Harold C. Urey on the occasion of his 80th birthday on 29 April 1973.Work sponsored by USAEC and NASA.     

Satellite vibration-rotation motions studied via canonical transformations

Coupled vibration-rotation motion of a satellite is considered using a perturbation theory based on the Lie transformation method. Short-period oscillating terms are removed from the Hamiltonian function. The transformed damping forces directly affect rotational variables which were not directly influenced in the original variables. Motions and stability are more easily studied in the new variables. A dual-spin spacecraft model is used as an example; results for the usual nonresonant case are identical with the energy-sink method. Resonance cases produce a wealth of new dynamical phenomena. This canonical method extends and unifies various approximation methods in attitude dynamics.     

Orbital mapping of the lunar magnetic field

Magnetometer data obtained during the first four lunations after the deployment of the Apollo 15 subsatellite have been used to construct contour maps of the lunar magnetic field referred to 100 km altitude. These contour maps cover a relatively small band on the lunar surface. Within the region covered there is a marked near side-far side asymmetry. The near-side field is generally weaker and less structured than the far-side field. The strongest intrinsic lunar magnetic field detected is between the craters Van de Graaff and Aitken, centered at 20°S and 172°E. The variation in field strength with altitude for this feature suggests that its scale size is on the order of 80 km. A magnetization contrast between this region and its surroundings of the order of 6 × 10^–5 emu-cm^–3 is obtained assuming a 10-km thick slab. Preliminary Apollo 16 magnetometer data at extremely low altitude (0 to 10 km) show a very structured magnetic field with field strengths up to 56. Large compressions in the magnetic field magnitude, just above the lunar limb regions, are occasionally detected when the Moon is in the solar wind. The occurrence of limb compressions is strongly dependent on the selenographic coordinates of the lunar region on the solar wind terminator beneath the orbit of the sub-satellite. The discovery of remanent magnetization of varying strength over much of the lunar surface and its correlation with limb compression source regions supports the hypothesis that limb compressions are due to the deflection of the solar wind by regions of strong magnetization at the lunar limbs. If this hypothesis is correct, then the map of lunar regions associated with compressions indicates that the northerly equatorial region on the far side is less strongly magnetized than the southerly equatorial region on the far side.Paper dedicated to Professor Harold C. Urey on the occasion of his 80th birthday on 29 April, 1973.     

Particle track record of the luna missions

Measurements are reported of particle-track densities in 100–200µ crystalline grains taken from one level of the soil column returned from the lunar highlands between Mare Fecunditatis and Mare Crisium by Luna 20 and from two levels in that from Mare Fecunditatis by Luna 16. Ninety-three percent of the grains from Luna 16 have very high densities, > 10⁸ cm^–2 and the lower-track density grains are all in the deeper soil level. In contrast, most Luna 20 grains show densities < 10⁸ cm^–2. Track density gradients and exposure times have been measured for six Luna 16 grains with a wide spread in absolute track densities. The more extensive track counts in crystals strengthens our earlier conclusion that the Luna 16 soil has received long irradiations very close to the surface. Two possible histories are that the highly irradiated soil blanket at the Luna 16 site is either well mixed and thin, or else has accumulated by transport from surrounding higher regions. The single sample of doubtful depth from Luna 20 shows a much lesser near-surface irradiation, giving results similar to those on the Apollo 12 core and the 54–80 depth sample from the Apollo 15 deep core.Paper dedicated to Professor Harold C. Urey on the occasion of his 80th birthday on 29 April, 1973.     

Land cover change detection in West Jilin using ETM+ images

In order to assess the information content and accuracy ofLandsat ETM+ digital images in land cover change detection,change-detection techniques of image differencing,normalized difference vegetation index,principal components analysis and tasseled-cap transformation were applied to yield 13 images. These images were thresholded into change and no change areas. The thresholded images were then checked in terms of various accuracies. The experiment results show that kappa coefficients of the 13 images range from 48.05 ～78.09. Different images do detect different types of changes. Images associated with changes in the near-infrared-reflectance or greenness detects crop-type changes and changes between vegetative and non-vegetative features. A unique means of using only Landsat imagery without reference data for the assessment of change in arid land are presented. Images of 12th June, 2000 and 2nd June, 2002 are used to validate the means. Analyses of standard accuracy and spatial agreement are performed to compare the new images (hereafter called "change images" ) representing the change between the two dates. Spatial agreement evaluates the conformity in the classified "change pixels" and "no-change pixels" at the same location on different change images and comprehensively examines the different techniques. This method would enable authorities to monitor land degradation efficiently and accurately.