Aircraft Stores Interface Manual (ASIM) adopts paperlessinformation technology

During recent years, defense budgets have been cut across all services while the cost of maintaining current standards has risen. The Aircraft Stores Interface Manual (ASIM) Program Office found that maintaining a staff for paper updates was no longer feasible and was tasked by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Air Armament Working Party (AAWP) to digitize the ASIM manuals. Converting this information from paper to electronic media presented several challenges which are discussed. Adopting Paperless Information Technology and replacing “Snail Mail” with the World Wide Web is presented     

Invariant and energy analysis of an axially retracting beam

The mechanism of a retracting cantilevered beam has been investigated by the invariant and energy-based analysis. The time-varying parameter partial differential equation governing the transverse vibrations of a beam with retracting motion is derived based on the momentum theorem. The assumed-mode method is used to truncate the governing partial differential equation into a set of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) with time-dependent coefficients. It is found that if the order of truncation is not less than the order of the initial conditions, the assumed-mode method can yield accurate results. The energy transfers among assumed modes are discussed during retrac-tion. The total energy varying with time has been investigated by numerical and analytical methods, and the results have good agreement with each other. For the transverse vibrations of the axially retracting beam, the adiabatic invariant is derived by both the averaging method and the Bessel function method.