Airship Simulation Setup

Contents

Introduction

This help file explains how to use the AirshipSimGUI. This is a GUI for setting up airship simulations. It also allows you to visualize your airship as well as see the relation between the inertial velocity vector and orientation for certain configurations.

Getting Started

To run a demo animation, simply type AirshipSimGUI. This will allow you to get a feel for all the controls it has to offer.

Text Inputs

Model

Choose the model name. This can be a model you have constructed yourself within an m-file as a struct, or one of the 5 models included with this toolbox. Included models are stored in .../ACPro/Airships/Modeling/Models. The default model is ASM1 (Other included models: ASM2, ASM3, ASM4, GoodYearBlimp).

Position

* Latitude:  default = 0 degrees
* Longitude: default = 0 degrees
* Altitude:  default = 0 meters

Inertial Velocity

* Velocity:          In units of meters/second
* Heading Angle:     Velocity vector angle from north. (East would be 90 degrees)
* Flight Path Angle: Velocity vector angle from horizon. (0 degrees would be
                     parallel to earth. 90 degrees would be normal to earth.)

Orientation

* Angle of Attack: Pitch angle between chordline of airship and velocity vector
* Sideslip Angle:  Yaw angle between chordline of airship and velocity vector

Horizontal Wind

Initiate the wind model to provide an external force to the airship. This will appear as a vector of wind velocity on the airship (blue line). This is based on the wind model HWM93 covering all altitude regions, MSIS-86 density model, and GWS4 for thermospheric winds (See HorizontalWind.m for more details).

Results

Flight Conditions

* Atm Density:        Atmospheric density outside the airship in
                      kilograms per cubic meter.
* Dyn Pressure:       Dynamic pressure on the structure of the airship in
                      newtons per square meter or pascals. This is
                      calulated from the air density and velocity.
                      (0.5 * row * vel * vel)
* Air-speed velocity: Magnitude of the air velocity incoming on the airship.

Buttons

Update

Update the Flight Conditions for new inputs to the Model, Position, Inertial Velocity, Orientation, or Horizontal Wind.

Reset

Reset text inputs to default conditions.

Help

Access the GUI help system

Quit

Exit out of the GUI

%
% Back to <GUIindex.html>
%

Published with MATLAB® R2021a