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Meeting	ACGS Committee Meeting 102 - Niagara Falls - October 2008
Agenda Location	9 SUBCOMMITTEE A - AERONAUTIC AND SURFACE VEHICLES 9.2 Considerations in the Lateral Stability Characteristics of Airship Dynamics
Title	Considerations in the Lateral Stability Characteristics of Airship Dynamics
Presenter	Brian P. Danowsky and Thomas T. Myers
Affiliation	STI
Available Downloads*	presentation paper
	Downloads are available to members who are logged in and either Active* or attended this meeting.
Abstract	Interest has increased recently in the use of lighter-than-air craft for high altitude, long endurance surveillance and communication missions in both the military and private sectors. This implies a need for further analysis of the vehicles dynamic behavior. Airship dynamics are distinct from those of heavier-than-air craft due to the fact that the mass of the airship is on the same order of magnitude as the displaced air. Thus, certain unsteady aerodynamic effects, usually ignored in heavier-than-air craft, become significant. These unsteady effects, referred to as added mass and inertia, produce noticeable differences in dynamic behavior. In this paper the mathematical formulation of the airship dynamics is reviewed. Fundamental parameters that characterize static stability are derived. An analytical literal approximate factor approach is utilized to determine a yaw stability criterion. It is also shown that an alternative approach, which decouples the roll and yaw dynamics in the linear lateral equations of motion produces an identical yaw stability criterion. These intrinsic stability parameters for airship vehicles are shown to be fundamentally different than those obtained for traditional heavier-than-air vehicles.