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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Survey of ISS and Visiting Vehicle Returned Surfaces for Environmental Characterization and Computer Model Development

The Orbital Debris Engineering Model (ORDEM) developed by the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office (ODPO) is a data-driven model — extensive radar, optical, laboratory, and in situ measurement data sets have been used to build the model since its earliest versions. A salient aspect of professional software development is the verification and validation (V&V) process. Verification answers the question “Is the model built correctly?” while validation addresses the question “Did we build the correct model?” Less extensive, reserved, or independent data sets serve the validation requirement. Due to the dynamic nature of the orbital debris environment, it is critical to use contemporaneous data sources that represent the current environment to support ORDEM development and validation. ORDEM has utilized in situ data collected from Space Shuttle and Hubble Space Telescope surface inspections, now over a decade old. This historical dataset is fundamental for providing baseline in situ measurement data for sizes between 10 to 300 microns, but new data sources are being evaluated using returned surfaces from or near the International Space Station (ISS). This paper reviews a general microscopic survey of ISS soft goods, the Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 (PMA-2) blanket, and a limited-scope feasibility study conducted on the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) Dragon capsule’s Thermal Protection System (TPS) material. The PMA-2 blanket, exposed to the space environment between 09 July 2013 and 25 February 2015, is an approximately 3.7 m2-area blanket composed of a betacloth outer layer and multiple ballistic fabric inner layers. The SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule regularly visited the ISS from 2012 through 2020 and potentially provides a timely and well-characterized source of data for modeling purposes. The capsule’s lateral surfaces use SpaceX Proprietary Ablative Material (SPAM) TPS material, a syntactic foam, for thermal management during all mission phases. Seven SPAM extracted samples have been analyzed to date. This paper will provide an overview of the characterization completed for impact features by size, depth, impactor diameter, and the impactor residues chemical analyses, allowing a differentiation between micrometeoroids and orbital debris and a categorization by mass density and density class. Impactor diameter is estimated using damage equations generated from ground-based hypervelocity impact testing. The orbital debris impactors are compared to the current ORDEM 3.2 model of the environment at ISS altitudes. We briefly discuss the meteoroid impactors, including constituents and mass densities, in the general context of current models.

Phillip Anz-Meador↗
NASA NTRS1998

Mach Number Effects on Turbine Blade Transition Length Prediction

The effect of a Mach number correction on a model for predicting the length of transition was investigated. The transition length decreases as the turbulent spot production rate increases. Much of the data for predicting the spot production rate comes from low speed flow experiments. Recent data and analysis showed that the spot production rate is affected by Mach number. The degree of agreement between analysis and data for turbine blade heat transfer without film cooling is strongly dependent of accurately predicting the length of transition. Consequently, turbine blade heat transfer data sets were used to validate a transition length turbulence model. A method for modifying models for the length of transition to account for Mach number effects is presented. The modification was made to two transition length models. The modified models were incorporated into the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes code, RVCQ3D. Comparisons were made between predicted and measured midspan surface heat transfer for stator and rotor turbine blades. The results showed that accounting for Mach number effects significantly improved the agreement with the experimental data.

Boyle, R. J.↗
NASA NTRS2000

BOREAS RSS-7 Regional LAI and FPAR Images From 10-Day AVHRR-LAC Composites

The BOReal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study Remote Sensing Science (BOREAS RSS-7) team collected various data sets to develop and validate an algorithm to allow the retrieval of the spatial distribution of Leaf Area Index (LAI) from remotely sensed images. Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) level-4c 10-day composite Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) images produced at CCRS were used to produce images of LAI and the Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FPAR) absorbed by plant canopies for the three summer IFCs in 1994 across the BOREAS region. The algorithms were developed based on ground measurements and Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images. The data are stored in binary image format files.

Hall, Forrest G.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Cloud cover archiving on a global scale - A discussion of principles

Monitoring of climatic variability and climate modeling both require a reliable global cloud data set. Examination is made of the temporal and spatial variability of cloudiness in light of recommendations made by GARP in 1975 (and updated by JOC in 1978 and 1980) for cloud data archiving. An examination of the methods of comparing cloud cover frequency curves suggests that the use of the beta distribution not only facilitates objective comparison, but also reduces overall storage requirements. A specific study of the only current global cloud climatology (the U.S. Air Force's 3-dimensional nephanalysis) over the United Kingdom indicates that discussion of methods of validating satellite-based data sets is urgently required.

Henderson-Sellers, A.↗
NASA NTRS2001

MAVRIC Flutter Model Transonic Limit Cycle Oscillation Test

The Models for Aeroelastic Validation Research Involving Computation semi-span wind-tunnel model (MAVRIC-I), a business jet wing-fuselage flutter model, was tested in NASA Langley's Transonic Dynamics Tunnel with the goal of obtaining experimental data suitable for Computational Aeroelasticity code validation at transonic separation onset conditions. This research model is notable for its inexpensive construction and instrumentation installation procedures. Unsteady pressures and wing responses were obtained for three wingtip configurations clean, tipstore, and winglet. Traditional flutter boundaries were measured over the range of M = 0.6 to 0.9 and maps of Limit Cycle Oscillation (LCO) behavior were made in the range of M = 0.85 to 0.95. Effects of dynamic pressure and angle-of-attack were measured. Testing in both R134a heavy gas and air provided unique data on Reynolds number, transition effects, and the effect of speed of sound on LCO behavior. The data set provides excellent code validation test cases for the important class of flow conditions involving shock-induced transonic flow separation onset at low wing angles, including Limit Cycle Oscillation behavior.

Edwards, John W.↗
NASA NTRS2001

MAVRIC Flutter Model Transonic Limit Cycle Oscillation Test

The Models for Aeroelastic Validation Research Involving Computation semi-span wind-tunnel model (MAVRIC-I), a business jet wing-fuselage flutter model, was tested in NASA Langley's Transonic Dynamics Tunnel with the goal of obtaining experimental data suitable for Computational Aeroelasticity code validation at transonic separation onset conditions. This research model is notable for its inexpensive construction and instrumentation installation procedures. Unsteady pressures and wing responses were obtained for three wingtip configurations of clean, tipstore, and winglet. Traditional flutter boundaries were measured over the range of M = 0.6 to 0.9 and maps of Limit Cycle Oscillation (LCO) behavior were made in the range of M = 0.85 to 0.95. Effects of dynamic pressure and angle-of-attack were measured. Testing in both R134a heavy gas and air provided unique data on Reynolds number, transition effects, and the effect of speed of sound on LCO behavior. The data set provides excellent code validation test cases for the important class of flow conditions involving shock-induced transonic flow separation onset at low wing angles, including LCO behavior.

Edwards, John W.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Identification and Study of Validation Level Test Cases for Computational Modeling of Non-Charring Ablators

Computational modeling of Thermal Protection System (TPS) materials, used for aerospace applications, provides numerous advantages in preliminary selection and design of a heatshield material and shape for atmospheric entry vehicles. However, to serve as a reliable tool for prediction of material thermal and ablative behavior, the modeling approach needs to be validated against real experimental and flight data, preferably at a range of applied conditions. The validation study is typically very complex as it requires reliable measured data not only for the material thermal response and surface recession, but also well characterized environmental conditions. The validation problem becomes even more complex when the material thermal response is dictated by multi-physics effects such as solid conduction, in-depth thermal decomposition, pyrolysis gas flow and chemical reactions. The multi-physics effects complicate not only the modeling effort, but also the experimental measurement for validation of various aspects of the highly coupled problem. In this study, an attempt is made to identify suitable experimental data that could serve as a source for validation of material thermal response modeling tools. To reduce the computational complexity, this study focuses only on non-charring ablators, where the material thermal response could be modeled with a single governing equation for solid conduction and the ablation is limited only to the surface of the material. With a well characterized and publicly available experimental data being sparse, the study is limited in presenting test cases for only three materials: camphor, graphite and FiberForm® in the sequence of increased modeling complexity. Graphite is a commonly used TPS material for aerospace applications, both for leading edges of high-speed vehicles and internal insulation of solid rocket motors. FiberForm® is a porous carbon pre-form used in preparation of the well known PICA material Tran et al. [1996]. Inclusion of camphor into the list is conditioned with the relative simplicity in modeling the material thermal and chemical response and the low-enthalpy flow environment. In addition, camphor has been used as a simple test material for study of flow transition behavior by Stock and Ginoux [1973] and assessment of a heatshield shape change at flight relevant conditions by Rotondi et al. [2022]. In this work, the identified experimental data was extracted from the public literature and test cases that yet have been published. As it was found from the review, not a single test case contains an exhaustive set of data that would validate every aspect of the material physics. However, in the data collected, various aspects of the material behavior can be still validated, such as surface and in-depth temperature, amount of recession and a shape change. The identified experimental data for each case is accompanied with a characterized flow environment and simulated boundary conditions predicted by a Data-Parallel Line Relaxation (DPLR) code Wright et al. [1998]. In addition, material thermal response numerical simulations in each test case are performed with Kentucky Aerothermodynamics and Thermal Response System (KATS-MR) Zibitsker et al. [2022] providing a comparative study and a sanity check for the proposed validation data. Sample results from the performed numerical study are shown below. Figure 1 shows distribution of surface heat flux and pressure values on a hemi-cylinder model made of FiberForm® and tested in HyMETS arc-jet facility. The results are shown for the high pressure condition among the two tests. Flow simulation was performed with DPLR code on a quarter of original geometry. In the figure, the quarter shape was mirrored across zx and xy planes to show the complete distribution. Figure 2 shows the material response results for the high pressure case (7500 Pa), simulated with KATS-MR and a comparison to the experimental data for the surface temperature and shape shape. The simulation was performed on a 2-D slice, extracted in the xy plane at the middle of the sample. Figure 3 shows the material response simulation for the low pressure case (3500 Pa) and a comparison to the experimental data for surface temperature and shape change.

ablation↗
DOE OSTI2025

Active multi-mode data analysis to improve fault diagnosis in AHUs

Faults in heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems can lead to increased energy consumption, occupant comfort issues, and reduced equipment lifetime. Commercial fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) tools has been increasingly deployed in U.S. commercial buildings. While they are helping to achieve energy efficiency and operational reliability, there remain gaps in their fault diagnostic capabilities. The diagnostic results often contain multiple distinct candidate root causes (CRCs) or offer no insight into CRCs. This study developed a novel active rule-based multi-mode data analysis method to enhance diagnostic resolution by applying proven rule sets and additional new rules to data from multiple known operational modes. The proposed method was demonstrated using enhanced air handling unit performance assessment rule sets and validated with the simulated data of two air handling units. New metrics, namely, reduced number of CRCs and improvement ratio, were developed to quantify the improvement of fault diagnostic resolution. The validation results showed that the proposed method effectively reduced the number of CRCs in contrast to analyzing data solely for a single mode of operation. It achieved a median improvement ratio of 80% in 19 test cases.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2024

Response of salt intrusion in a tidal estuary to regional climatic forcing

Abstract Salinity distribution in a large tidal estuary is subject to estuarine adjustment under the influences of multiple physical drivers such as freshwater pulses and sea level rise, and is crucial to upstream water quality, aquaculture, and ecosystem functions of the estuary. To better understand the estuarine salinity response to climate change, the unstructured-grid Finite Volume Community Ocean Model was implemented to simulate the salt intrusion in the Delaware Bay Estuary. The model was first validated by multiple observational data sets and subsequently applied in an idealized setting to examine the response of salt front to freshwater pulses in high flow conditions, followed by a long-term drought condition supported by a multi-decadal streamflow drought analysis in the estuary. The model results showed that after the freshwater pulses the salt front location moved further upstream with sea level rise. Under the simulated long-term drought condition, the adjustment timescale of salt intrusion varies nonlinearly with sea level rise. With a significant increase in sea level rise, the adjustment timescale starts to decrease. This shift suggests a transition into a different regime where the estuary becomes more stratified, as indicated by an increasing bulk Simpson number with rising sea levels.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

The ARM Precipitation Best Estimate (PrecipBE) Value-Added Product Report

The U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) User Facility’s Precipitation Best-Estimate (PrecipBE) Value-Added Product integrates multiple precipitation datastreams, accounting for data quality and instrument limitations, to deliver comprehensive per-precipitation event properties alongside ancillary ARM data set data. PrecipBE bundles all valid surface rainfall samples into artificial intelligence (AI)-ready tabular and time-series formats, reporting bundle means and uncertainty ranges. This per-event structure provides an insightful and easy-to-use resource for researchers analyzing precipitation characteristics.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1986

The Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE)

A spaceborne lidar system is presently being constructed for flight aboard the U. S. Space Shuttle in early 1991. The experiment, Lidar In Space Technology Experiment (LITE), utilizes a neodymium:YAG laser and 0.85 meter effective diameter Cassegranian-configured telescope receiver for making elastic backscatter measurements. The laser will be frequency doubled and tripled simulataneously producing a 10 Hz rate of 200 mJ at 1064 nm, 400 mJ at 532 nm, and 150 mJ at 355 nm. The technological objectives of LITE are to evaluate lidar system operations in space, lidar techniques in space, and to provide a test bed for new lidar technologies in later flights. The measurement objectives include the determination of cloud top and planetary boundary layer heights, the measurement of tropospheric and stratospheric aerosols, and the measurement of temperature and density between 10 to 40 km altitude. Detailed simulations will be presented showing the errors associated with each of these measurement objectives. In addition, the experiment scenario will be described including measurement times, data flow, processing and archival, and initial plans for validation of the LITE data set with correlative measurements.

Mccormick, M. P.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Planar measurement of flow field parameters in a nonreacting supersonic combustor using laser-induced iodine fluorescence

A nonintrusive optical technique, laser-induced iodine fluorescence, has been used to obtain planar measurements of flow field parameters in the supersonic mixing flow field of a nonreacting supersonic combustor. The combustor design used in this work was configured with staged transverse sonic injection behind a rearward-facing step into a Mach 2.07 free stream. A set of spatially resolved measurements of temperature and injectant mole fraction has been generated. These measurements provide an extensive and accurate experimental data set required for the validation of computational fluid dynamic codes developed for the calculation of highly three-dimensional combustor flow fields.

Hartfield, Roy J., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Transverse injection into Mach 2 flow behind a rearward-facing step - A 3-D, compressible flow test case for hypersonic combustor CFD validation

A spatially-complete data set of the important primitive flow variables is presented for the complex, nonreacting, 3D unit combustor flow field employing transverse injection into a Mach 2 flow behind a rearward-facing step. A unique wind tunnel facility providing the capability for iodine seeding was built specifically for these measurements. Two optical techniques based on laser-induced-iodine fluorescence were developed and utilized for nonintrusive, in situ flow field measurements. LDA provided both mean and fluctuating velocity component measurements. A thermographic phosphor wall temperature measurement technique was developed and employed. Data from the 2D flow over a rearward-facing step and the complex 3D mixing flow with injection are reported.

Mcdaniel, James C.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A simple lightning parameterization for calculating global lightning distributions

A simple parameterization has been developed to simulate global lightning distributions. Convective cloud top height is used as the variable in the parameterization, with different formulations for continental and marine thunderstorms. The parameterization has been validated using two lightning data sets: one global and one regional. In both cases the simulated lightning distributions and frequencies are in very good agreement with the observed lightning data. This parameterization could be used for global studies of lightning climatology; the earth's electric circuit; in general circulation models for modeling global lightning activity, atmospheric NO(x) concentrations, and perhaps forest fire distributions for both the present and future climate; and, possibly, even as a short-term forecasting aid.

Price, Colin↗
NASA NTRS1993

NASA/MSFC FY92 Earth Science and Applications Program Research Review

A large amount of attention has recently been given to global issues such as the ozone hole, tropospheric temperature variability, etc. A scientific challenge is to better understand atmospheric processes on a variety of spatial and temporal scales in order to predict environmental changes. Measurement of geophysical parameters such as wind, temperature, and moisture are needed to validate theories, provide analyzed data sets, and initialize or constrain numerical models. One of NASA's initiatives is the Mission to Planet Earth Program comprised of an Earth Observation System (EOS) and the scientific strategy to analyze these data. This work describes these efforts in the context of satellite data analysis and fundamental studies of atmospheric dynamics which examine selected processes important to the global circulation.

Arnold, James E.↗
NASA NTRS1993

SAR terrain classifier and mapper of biophysical attributes

In preparation for the launch of SIR-C/X-SAR and design studies for future orbital SAR, a program has made considerable progress in the development of an SAR terrain classifier and algorithms for quantification of biophysical attributes. The goal of this program is to produce a generalized software package for terrain classification and estimation of biophysical attributes and to make this package available to the larger scientific community. The basic elements of the SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) terrain classifier are outlined. An SAR image is calibrated with respect to known system and processor gains and external targets (if available). A Level 1 classifier operates on the data to differentiate: urban features, surfaces and tall and short vegetation. Level 2 classifiers further subdivide these classes on the basis of structure. Finally, biophysical and geophysical inversions are applied to each class to estimate attributes of interest. The process used to develop the classifiers and inversions is shown. Radar scattering models developed from theory and from empirical data obtained by truck-mounted polarimeters and the JPL AirSAR are validated. The validated models are used in sensitivity studies to understand the roles of various scattering sources (i.e., surface trunk, branches, etc.) in determining net backscatter. Model simulations of sigma (sup o) as functions of the wave parameters (lambda, polarization and angle of incidence) and the geophysical and biophysical attributes are used to develop robust classifiers. The classifiers are validated using available AirSAR data sets. Specific estimators are developed for each class on the basis of the scattering models and empirical data sets. The candidate algorithms are tested with the AirSAR data sets. The attributes of interest include: total above ground biomass, woody biomass, soil moisture and soil roughness.

Ulaby, Fawwaz T.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Validation of the Version 1 NOAA/NASA Pathfinder Sea Surface Temperature Data Set

A high-resolution, global satellite-derived sea surface temperature (SST) data set called Pathfinder, from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) aboard the NOAA Polar Orbiters, is available from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (JPL PO.DAAC). Suitable for research as well as education, the Pathfinder SST data set is a result of a collaboration between the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and investigators at several universities. NOAA and NASA are the sponsors of the Pathfinder Program, which takes advantage of currently archived Earth science data from satellites. Where necessary, satellite sensors have been intercalibrated, algorithms improved and processing procedures revised, in order to produce long time-series, global measurements of ocean, land and atmospheric properties necessary for climate research. Many Pathfinder data sets are available to researchers now, nearly a decade before the first launch of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS). The lessons learned from the Pathfinder programs will facilitate the processing and management of terabytes of data from EOS. The Oceans component of Pathfinder has undertaken to reprocess all Global Area Coverage (GAC) data acquired by the 5-channel AVHRRs since 1981. The resultant data products are consistent and stably calibrated [Rao, 1993a, Rao, 1993b, Brown et al., 1993], Earth-gridded SST fields at a variety of spatial and temporal resolutions.

Smith, Elizabeth A.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Autonomous Formation Flying from the Ground to Flight

The cost of on-orbit operations remains a significant and increasingly visible concern in the support of satellite missions. Headway has been made in automating some ground operations; however, increased mission complexity and more precise orbital constraints have compelled continuing human involvement in mission design and maneuver planning operations. AI Solutions, Inc. in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has tackled these more complex problems through the development of AutoCon(TM) as a tool for an automated solution. NASA is using AutoCon(TM) to automate the maneuver planning for the Earth Orbiter-1 (EO-1) mission. AutoCon(TM) was developed originally as a ground system tool. The EO-1 mission will be using a scaled version of AutoCon(TM) on-board the EO-1 satellite to command orbit adjustment maneuvers. The flight version of AutoCon(TM) plans maneuvers based on formation flying algorithms developed by GSFC, JPL, and other industry partners. In its fully autonomous mode, an AutoCon(TM) planned maneuver will be executed on-board the satellite without intervention from the ground. This paper describes how AutoCon(TM) automates maneuver planning for the formation flying constraints of the EO-1 mission. AutoCon(TM) was modified in a number of ways to automate the maneuver planning on-board the satellite. This paper describes how the interface and functionality of AutoCon(TM) were modified to support the on-board system. A significant component of this modification was the implementation of a data smoother, based on a Kalman filter, that ensures that the spacecraft states estimated by an on-board GPS receiver are as accurate as possible for maneuver planning. This paper also presents the methodology used to scale the AutoCon(TM) functionality to fit and execute on the flight hardware. This paper also presents the modes built into the system that allow the incremental phasing in of autonomy. New technologies for autonomous operations are usually received with significant, and probably appropriate, trepidation. A number of safeguards have been designed in both AutoCon(TM) and the interfacing systems to alleviate the potential of mission-impacting anomalies from the on-board autonomous system. This paper describes the error checking, input data integrity validation, and limits set on maneuvers in AutoCon(TM) and the on-board system.

Chapman, Keith B.↗