Modelling and simulation of projectile flight is at the core of ballistic computer software and is essential to the study of performance of rifles and projectiles in various engagement conditions.An effective and repr...Modelling and simulation of projectile flight is at the core of ballistic computer software and is essential to the study of performance of rifles and projectiles in various engagement conditions.An effective and representative numerical model of projectile flight requires a relatively good approximation of the aerodynamics.The aerodynamic coefficients of the projectile model should be described as a series of piecewise polynomial functions of the Mach number that ideally meet the following conditions:they are continuous,differentiable at least once,and have a relatively low degree.The paper provides the steps needed to generate such piecewise polynomial functions using readily available tools,and then compares Piecewise Cubic Hermite Interpolating Polynomial(PCHIP),cubic splines,and piecewise linear functions,and their variant,as potential curve fitting methods to approximate the aerodynamics of a generic small arms projectile.A key contribution of the paper is the application of PCHIP to the approximation of projectile aerodynamics,and its evaluation against a set of criteria.Finally,the paper provides a baseline assessment of the impact of the polynomial functions on flight trajectory predictions obtained with 6-degree-of-freedom simulations of a generic projectile.展开更多
Hermite interpolation is a very important tool in approximation theory and nu- merical analysis, and provides a popular method for modeling in the area of computer aided geometric design. However, the classical Hermit...Hermite interpolation is a very important tool in approximation theory and nu- merical analysis, and provides a popular method for modeling in the area of computer aided geometric design. However, the classical Hermite interpolant is unique for a prescribed data set, and hence lacks freedom for the choice of an interpolating curve, which is a crucial requirement in design environment. Even though there is a rather well developed fractal theory for Hermite interpolation that offers a large flexibility in the choice of interpolants, it also has the short- coming that the functions that can be well approximated are highly restricted to the class of self-affine functions. The primary objective of this paper is to suggest a gl-cubic Hermite in- terpolation scheme using a fractal methodology, namely, the coalescence hidden variable fractal interpolation, which works equally well for the approximation of a self-affine and non-self-affine data generating functions. The uniform error bound for the proposed fractal interpolant is established to demonstrate that the convergence properties are similar to that of the classical Hermite interpolant. For the Hermite interpolation problem, if the derivative values are not actually prescribed at the knots, then we assign these values so that the interpolant gains global G2-continuity. Consequently, the procedure culminates with the construction of cubic spline coalescence hidden variable fractal interpolants. Thus, the present article also provides an al- ternative to the construction of cubic spline coalescence hidden variable fractal interpolation functions through moments proposed by Chand and Kapoor [Fractals, 15(1) (2007), pp. 41-53].展开更多
文摘Modelling and simulation of projectile flight is at the core of ballistic computer software and is essential to the study of performance of rifles and projectiles in various engagement conditions.An effective and representative numerical model of projectile flight requires a relatively good approximation of the aerodynamics.The aerodynamic coefficients of the projectile model should be described as a series of piecewise polynomial functions of the Mach number that ideally meet the following conditions:they are continuous,differentiable at least once,and have a relatively low degree.The paper provides the steps needed to generate such piecewise polynomial functions using readily available tools,and then compares Piecewise Cubic Hermite Interpolating Polynomial(PCHIP),cubic splines,and piecewise linear functions,and their variant,as potential curve fitting methods to approximate the aerodynamics of a generic small arms projectile.A key contribution of the paper is the application of PCHIP to the approximation of projectile aerodynamics,and its evaluation against a set of criteria.Finally,the paper provides a baseline assessment of the impact of the polynomial functions on flight trajectory predictions obtained with 6-degree-of-freedom simulations of a generic projectile.
基金partially supported by the CSIR India(Grant No.09/084(0531)/2010-EMR-I)the SERC,DST India(Project No.SR/S4/MS:694/10)
文摘Hermite interpolation is a very important tool in approximation theory and nu- merical analysis, and provides a popular method for modeling in the area of computer aided geometric design. However, the classical Hermite interpolant is unique for a prescribed data set, and hence lacks freedom for the choice of an interpolating curve, which is a crucial requirement in design environment. Even though there is a rather well developed fractal theory for Hermite interpolation that offers a large flexibility in the choice of interpolants, it also has the short- coming that the functions that can be well approximated are highly restricted to the class of self-affine functions. The primary objective of this paper is to suggest a gl-cubic Hermite in- terpolation scheme using a fractal methodology, namely, the coalescence hidden variable fractal interpolation, which works equally well for the approximation of a self-affine and non-self-affine data generating functions. The uniform error bound for the proposed fractal interpolant is established to demonstrate that the convergence properties are similar to that of the classical Hermite interpolant. For the Hermite interpolation problem, if the derivative values are not actually prescribed at the knots, then we assign these values so that the interpolant gains global G2-continuity. Consequently, the procedure culminates with the construction of cubic spline coalescence hidden variable fractal interpolants. Thus, the present article also provides an al- ternative to the construction of cubic spline coalescence hidden variable fractal interpolation functions through moments proposed by Chand and Kapoor [Fractals, 15(1) (2007), pp. 41-53].