SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “coordinate system”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 217 records · Page 12

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1986

Pulsar timing and general relativity

Techniques are described for accounting for relativistic effects in the analysis of pulsar signals. Design features of instrumentation used to achieve millisecond accuracy in the signal measurements are discussed. The accuracy of the data permits modeling the pulsar physical characteristics from the natural glitches in the emissions. Relativistic corrections are defined for adjusting for differences between the pulsar motion in its spacetime coordinate system relative to the terrestrial coordinate system, the earth's motion, and the gravitational potentials of solar system bodies. Modifications of the model to allow for a binary pulsar system are outlined, including treatment of the system as a point mass. Finally, a quadrupole model is presented for gravitational radiation and techniques are defined for using pulsars in the search for gravitational waves.

Backer, D. C.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Calculation of unsteady linearized Euler flows in cascades using harmonically deforming grids

A method for calculating unsteady, inviscid, compressible flows in cascades is presented. Using the linearized Euler technique, the flow is decomposed into a steady or mean flow plus a harmonically varying small disturbance flow. The equations that describe the small disturbance flow are linear variable coefficient equations, and are solved using a pseudo-time time marching Lax-Wendroff technique. Unlike previous linearized methods, however, the solution is computed on a harmonically deforming computational grid that conforms to the motion of the vibrating airfoils. The mean flow and perturbation flow solutions are defined in the deforming coordinate system rather than in a coordinate system fixed in space. Hence, no extrapolation terms are required to implement the upwash boundary conditions at the airfoil surfaces, significantly improving the accuracy of the method. For transonic flow calculations, unsteady shock motions are modelled using shock capturing. The unsteady loads due to the shock motion are then seen as pressure impulses. Representative computational results are presented for transonic channel flows and subsonic and transonic cascade flows.

Hall, Kenneth C.↗

NASA NTRS1993

TransFit: Finite element analysis data fitting software

The Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) mission support team has made extensive use of geometric ray tracing to analyze the performance of AXAF developmental and flight optics. One important aspect of this performance modeling is the incorporation of finite element analysis (FEA) data into the surface deformations of the optical elements. TransFit is software designed for the fitting of FEA data of Wolter I optical surface distortions with a continuous surface description which can then be used by SAO's analytic ray tracing software, currently OSAC (Optical Surface Analysis Code). The improved capabilities of Transfit over previous methods include bicubic spline fitting of FEA data to accommodate higher spatial frequency distortions, fitted data visualization for assessing the quality of fit, the ability to accommodate input data from three FEA codes plus other standard formats, and options for alignment of the model coordinate system with the ray trace coordinate system. TransFit uses the AnswerGarden graphical user interface (GUI) to edit input parameters and then access routines written in PV-WAVE, C, and FORTRAN to allow the user to interactively create, evaluate, and modify the fit. The topics covered include an introduction to TransFit: requirements, designs philosophy, and implementation; design specifics: modules, parameters, fitting algorithms, and data displays; a procedural example; verification of performance; future work; and appendices on online help and ray trace results of the verification section.

Freeman, Mark↗

NASA NTRS2002

Procedure for Tooth Contact Analysis of a Face Gear Meshing With a Spur Gear Using Finite Element Analysis

A procedure was developed to perform tooth contact analysis between a face gear meshing with a spur pinion using finite element analysis. The face gear surface points from a previous analysis were used to create a connected tooth solid model without gaps or overlaps. The face gear surface points were used to create a five tooth face gear Patran model (with rim) using Patran PCL commands. These commands were saved in a series of session files suitable for Patran input. A four tooth spur gear that meshes with the face gear was designed and constructed with Patran PCL commands. These commands were also saved in a session files suitable for Patran input. The orientation of the spur gear required for meshing with the face gear was determined. The required rotations and translations are described and built into the session file for the spur gear. The Abaqus commands for three-dimensional meshing were determined and verified for a simplified model containing one spur tooth and one face gear tooth. The boundary conditions, loads, and weak spring constraints were determined to make the simplified model work. The load steps and load increments to establish contact and obtain a realistic load was determined for the simplified two tooth model. Contact patterns give some insight into required mesh density. Building the two gears in two different local coordinate systems and rotating the local coordinate systems was verified as an easy way to roll the gearset through mesh. Due to limitation of swap space, disk space and time constraints of the summer period, the larger model was not completed.

Bibel, George↗

DOE OSTI2023

Building-to-Grid Modeling Framework with a Case Study of Battery Systems

Coordinating electricity load shifting operations of multiple buildings has the potential to achieve significant benefits for both building owners and grid operation. In support of this research, this paper develops a novel building-to-grid modeling framework, which uses EnergyPlus to develop physics-based building energy models and GridLAB-D to develop distribution-level grid models. The data exchanges between buildings and distribution-level grid are conducted using Python script and HELICS co-simulation platform. Then, by using this modeling framework, this paper conducts a case study of battery systems in a connected community, which consists of 10 multi-family buildings with appropriately sized batteries. The three scenarios, baseline operation, tolerant to price fluctuations, and opportune usage, are studied. The result displays that, by adopting onsite batteries, both electricity costs for building owners and aggregated peak power demands are reduced.

Building-to-grid, connected community, co-simulati↗

NASA NTRS2014

Clearance Analysis of CTC2 (on ELC4) to S-TRRJ HRS Radiator Rotation Envelope

In response to the planned retirement of the Space Shuttle Program, International Space Station (ISS) management began stockpiling spare parts on the ISS. Many of the larger orbital replacement units were stored on the Expedite the Processing of Experiments to Space Station (EXPRESS) Logistics Carriers (ELCs) mounted on the end of the S3 and P3 truss segments, immediately outboard of the Thermal Radiator Rotary Joints (TRRJs) and their attached radiators. In an August 2009 computer-aided design (CAD) assessment, it was determined that mounting the Cargo Transport Container (CTC) 2 on the inboard face of ELC4 as planned would create insufficient clearance between the CTC2 and the rotational envelope of the radiators when the TRRJs were rotated to a gamma angle of 35.0 degrees. The true clearance would depend on how the Unpressurized Cargo Carrier Attachment System (UCCAS) was mounted to the S3 truss and how the ELC4 was attached to it. If the plane of the UCCAS attachment points were tilted even slightly inboard, it would significantly change the clearance between CTC2 and the Starboard TRRJ (S-TRRJ) radiators. Additionally, since CTC2 would be covered in multilayer insulation (MLI), the true outer profile of CTC2 was not captured in the CAD models used for the clearance assessment. It was possible that, even if the S-TRRJ radiators cleared CTC2, they could snag the MLI covering. In the fall of 2010, the Image Science and Analysis Group (ISAG) was asked to perform an on-orbit clearance analysis to determine the location of CTC2 on ELC4 and the S-TRRJ radiators at the angle of closest approach so that a positive clearance could be assured. To provide the measurements as quickly as possible to aid in the assessment, it was decided that the clearance analysis would be broken into two phases. Phase I: The location and orientation of the UCCAS fittings, which support and hold the ELC4 in place, would be measured relative to the ISS Analytical Coordinate System (ISSACS) as defined by nine preexisting Space Vision System (SVS) targets affixed to the forward/zenith side of the S1 and S3 truss segments. The location of the outboard edge of the S-TRRJ radiator would also be measured when positioned at the angle of closest approach to CTC2 (gamma = 35.0 degrees). This data would allow the Digital Pre-Assembly Group to predict how the ELC4 would sit on the UCCAS and how that would translate into the clearance between CTC2 and the S-TRRJ radiators. Phase II: After the ELC4 was delivered and installed into the UCCAS, the position of the CTC2 mounting plate on the inboard face of ELC4, would be measured in the ISSACS coordinate system relative to the SVS control points used in Phase I. Although CTC2 would not yet be mounted on ELC4, the working envelope of CTC2 could be mathematically added to the measured position of ELC4 to produce a best estimate for CTC2's mounted location. Comparing CTC2's best estimated location to the S-TRRJ radiator (measured in Phase I); relative to the ISSACS coordinate system, would provide a direct measurement of the expected clearance. Due to the impending delivery of ELC4 (scheduled for January 2011), planning for the Phase I clearance analysis began immediately. Using the Dynamic Onboard Ubiquitous Graphics (DOUG) program, ISAG designed a way to acquire images of the SVS control points on truss segments S1 and S3, the aft facing edge of the S-TRRJ Heat Rejection Subsystem (HRS) radiator, and the three UCCAS latch mechanisms mounted on the zenith face of the S3 truss using the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS). To minimize the number of SSRMS movements, the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) would be attached to the SSRMS. This would make it possible to park the SPDM in one position and acquire multiple images by changing the viewing orientation of the SPDM body cameras using the pan/tilt units on which they are mounted. Using this implementation concept, ISAG identified four SSRMS/SPDM positions from which the majority of the needed imagery could be acquired. Five additional images would be acquired using the CP-3 external ISS camera mounted on the S1 truss immediately inboard of ELC4. Based on a photogrammetric simulation, it was estimated that the measured location of the HRS radiator and UCCAS latch points would be accurate to about 0.3 in. in each of the three axes relative to ISSACS. Working with ROBO, ISAG collected 78 images of the ISS December 29, 2010. From this imagery, the best 40 were selected for use in the analysis process. The images were radiometrically enhanced to improve color and contrast and loaded into the FotoG analysis software along with the camera parameters and control data, which consisted of the coordinates for the nine SVS targets on the S1 and S3 trusses in the ISSACS coordinate system.

Liddle, Donn↗

NASA NTRS1981

Mesh generation by conformal and quasiconformal mappings

It is pointed out that many recent advances in the finite-difference solution of elliptic equations have been limited to regions whose boundary contours coincide with coordinate lines of the Cartesian coordinate system. The reason for this is related to the fact that in the case of an arbitrary curvilinear coordinate system the original equation becomes much more complex. However, there is no added complexity if an orthogonal coordinate system is generated from a conformal mapping. In the present investigation, a finite difference method developed for the construction of conformal mappings has been generalized to construct quasi-conformal mappings. It is expected that the use of more sophisticated numerical algorithms could lead to improvements in both speed and accuracy. Quasi-conformal mappings have applications not only in the solution of elliptic equations but also in other areas such as orthogonal mesh generation on surfaces and the solution of certain fluid flow problems.

Mastin, C. W.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Planetary Data Systems (PDS) Imaging Node Atlas II

The Planetary Image Atlas (PIA) is a Rich Internet Application (RIA) that serves planetary imaging data to the science community and the general public. PIA also utilizes the USGS Unified Planetary Coordinate system (UPC) and the on-Mars map server. The Atlas was designed to provide the ability to search and filter through greater than 8 million planetary image files. This software is a three-tier Web application that contains a search engine backend (MySQL, JAVA), Web service interface (SOAP) between server and client, and a GWT Google Maps API client front end. This application allows for the search, retrieval, and download of planetary images and associated meta-data from the following missions: 2001 Mars Odyssey, Cassini, Galileo, LCROSS, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Exploration Rover, Mars Express, Magellan, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Pathfinder, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MESSENGER, Phoe nix, Viking Lander, Viking Orbiter, and Voyager. The Atlas utilizes the UPC to translate mission-specific coordinate systems into a unified coordinate system, allowing the end user to query across missions of similar targets. If desired, the end user can also use a mission-specific view of the Atlas. The mission-specific views rely on the same code base. This application is a major improvement over the initial version of the Planetary Image Atlas. It is a multi-mission search engine. This tool includes both basic and advanced search capabilities, providing a product search tool to interrogate the collection of planetary images. This tool lets the end user query information about each image, and ignores the data that the user has no interest in. Users can reduce the number of images to look at by defining an area of interest with latitude and longitude ranges.

Stanboli, Alice↗

NASA NTRS1993

Dipole and quadrupole tests of the isotropy of gamma-ray burst locations

Dipole and quadrupole tests of the isotropy of locations on the sphere are discussed. The statistics (cos theta), the dipole moment to the Galactic center, and mean (sin-squared b - 1/3), the quadrupole moment about the Galactic plane, can be used to search for significant anisotropies in galactic coordinates. Such coordinate-system-based tests are the most powerful tests of dipole and quadrupole anisotropies in the particular coordinate system. Two statistics which have not been previously applied to gamma-ray burst data are described. The Rayleigh-Watson statistic measures the size of the dipole moment of the locations and the Bingham statistic measures the deviation of the eigenvalues of a quadrupole-like matrix from the values expected for isotropy. Tests based upon these two statistics search for dipole and quadrupole moments in spherical location data in a coordinate-system-independent, and thus model-independent, manner. They can detect an anisotropy in any direction and yield an analytic statistical significance to any detected anisotropy. The statistical tests are demonstrated herein using a variety of data sets.

Briggs, Michael S.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Definition of Contravariant Velocity Components

This is an old issue in computational fluid dynamics (CFD). What is the so-called contravariant velocity or contravariant velocity component? In the article, we review the basics of tensor analysis and give the contravariant velocity component a rigorous explanation. For a given coordinate system, there exist two uniquely determined sets of base vector systems - one is the covariant and another is the contravariant base vector system. The two base vector systems are reciprocal. The so-called contravariant velocity component is really the contravariant component of a velocity vector for a time-independent coordinate system, or the contravariant component of a relative velocity between fluid and coordinates, for a time-dependent coordinate system. The contravariant velocity components are not physical quantities of the velocity vector. Their magnitudes, dimensions, and associated directions are controlled by their corresponding covariant base vectors. Several 2-D (two-dimensional) linear examples and 2-D mass-conservation equation are used to illustrate the details of expressing a vector with respect to the covariant and contravariant base vector systems, respectively.

Hung, Ching-Mao↗

NASA NTRS2020

Generation and Calibration of Linear Models of Aircraft with Highly Coupled Aeroelastic and Flight Dynamics

The lightweight structures and unconventional configurations being considered for the next generation of aircraft mean that any effort to predict or control the flight dynamics is impacted by the structural dynamics. One of the most severe forms of coupling between aeroelasticity and flight dynamics is an instability called body freedom flutter. The existing tools often assume a relatively weak effect of structural dynamics on the flight dynamics, and are therefore incapable of modeling strong interactions like body freedom flutter. A method of combining different sources of data traditionally used for aeroelasticity and flight dynamics is described by reconciling many of the differences between these models. By building upon past modeling efforts, a level of familiarity in the approach is achieved. Generally the differences from the traditional approaches are subtle but significant. The traditional frequency domain flutter model in a modal coordinate system is converted to a form consistent with a time domain flight dynamics model. The time domain rational function approximation about a non-inertial coordinate system and the unique constraints for the conversion between the inertial and non-inertial coordinate systems are discussed. A consistent transformation of the states of aeroelastic models to flight dynamics models is derived, which enables the integration of data from higher fidelity computational fluid dynamics models or wind-tunnel testing. The present method of integrating multidisciplinary data was used to create models that compare well with X-56A flight-test data, including conditions past the flutter speed.

Ouellette, Jeffrey↗

NASA NTRS1978

CELFE: Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Finite Element program for high velocity impact. Part 1: Theory and formulation

A 3-D finite element program capable of simulating the dynamic behavior in the vicinity of the impact point, together with predicting the dynamic response in the remaining part of the structural component subjected to high velocity impact is discussed. The finite algorithm is formulated in a general moving coordinate system. In the vicinity of the impact point contained by a moving failure front, the relative velocity of the coordinate system will approach the material particle velocity. The dynamic behavior inside the region is described by Eulerian formulation based on a hydroelasto-viscoplastic model. The failure front which can be regarded as the boundary of the impact zone is described by a transition layer. The layer changes the representation from the Eulerian mode to the Lagrangian mode outside the failure front by varying the relative velocity of the coordinate system to zero. The dynamic response in the remaining part of the structure described by the Lagrangian formulation is treated using advanced structural analysis. An interfacing algorithm for coupling CELFE with NASTRAN is constructed to provide computational capabilities for large structures.

Lee, C. H.↗

DOE OSTI2026

PAVplotR

PAVplotR is an R package that accepts as input a haploid VCF and, for a user-specified bin size, calculates proportional presence-absence variation (PAV). First, all variants in the file are considered to calculate an expanded coordinate system that accounts for insertions relative to the reference sequence. Next, for each sample in the VCF, proportional PAV is summarized per bin in the expanded coordinate system and finally, PAV is plotted such that rows are samples and columns are bins with the x-axis (chromosome position) labeled according to the reference haplotype's original coordinate system.

Harder, Avril↗

NASA NTRS1987

A unified lunar control network - The near side

A unified lunar control network for the moon's near side, which combines all the data collected by the Lunokhod 2 and Apollo 11, 14, 15, 16, and 17 missions, is presented. Transformations involving translation, rotation, and scale were determined that adjusted the coordinates of the points of three Apollo control networks, computed previously, to the center of mass origin and the mean earth/polar axis coordinate system defined by the lunar ranging retroreflector experiment. The transformed control network computed by the Defense Mapping Agency Aerospace Center was found to be the best fit to the Apollo ALSEP antenna coordinates and was selected as a base to transform all points in Meyer's (1979) telescopic network to the new origin and coordinate system. New coordinates of 1156 of these points are given as are 10 points from a Mariner 10 solution in the north polar region.

Davies, Merton E.↗

DOE OSTI2022

A BOUT++ extension for full annular tokamak edge MHD and turbulence simulations

For tokamak edge plasma simulation, a plasma simulation framework BOUT++ employs a dual coordinate system to simulate moderate-n and high-n plasma instability with reasonable computational cost, where n is the toroidal mode number. This coordinate system however limits the computational domain to the toroidal wedge (full torus divided into N parts in the toroidal direction) for computational efficiency and the use of flute-ordering approximation in the field solver calculating the flow potential from the vorticity which may not be valid for low-n modes. Improving numerical treatment of low-n modes is however indispensable to address simulations of low-n current-driven edge localized mode (ELM), ELM control by resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs), edge turbulence with RMPs and so on. In this work, BOUT++ is extended to simulate the interplay between $n=0$, low-n and high-n plasma components in a full annular tokamak edge domain through hybrid modeling of the flow potential and the vorticity. Low-n modes of flow potential are calculated in an orthogonal flux surface coordinate and high-n modes in the dual coordinate system separately in Fourier space. Finally, the proposed scheme can capture an interplay between $n=1$ global modes and high-n turbulence during pedestal collapse in a full annular torus domain with a circular cross section.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

NASA NTRS1974

Determining spacecraft and airplane angular orientation from star photographs

The advantages of determining spacecraft angular orientation from star photographs include the documental nature and objectivity of the photographic image and also the high accuracy of construction of the reference system based on the stars. Use of the method presupposes installation aboard the vehicle of a specialized photographic camera adapted for photographing the stellar sky. From the mathematical viewpoint, the essence of the method amounts to: (1) Certain directions in space are identified and their direction cosines are determined in a specified coordinate system. (2) The direction cosines of these same directions are determined relative to a coordinate system fixed with the vehicle. (3) The sought angular orientation of the vehicle is calculated using the coupling equations between the specified and vehicle-fixed coordinate systems. In principle, vehicle angular orientation can be determined relative to any given reference system.

Elbakyan, K. I.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Marching Cubes in Cylindrical and Spherical Coordinates

Isosurface extraction is a common analysis and visualization technique for three-dimensional scalar data. Marching Cubes is the most commonly-used algorithm for finding polygonal representations of isosurfaces in such data. We extend Marching Cubes to produce geometry for data sets that lie in spherical and cylindrical coordinate systems as well as show the steps for derivation of transformations for other coordinate systems.

techniques marching cubes isosurfaces coordinate s↗

NASA NTRS1976

Streamline curvature effects on turbulent boundary layers

A theoretical tool has been developed for predicting, in a nonempirical manner, effects of streamline curvature and coordinate-system rotation on turbulent boundary layers. The second-order closure scheme developed by Wilcox and Traci has been generalized for curved streamline flow and for flow in a rotating coordinate system. A physically based straightforward argument shows that curvature/rotation primarily affects the turbulent mixing energy; the argument yields suitable curvature/rotation terms which are added to the mixing-energy equation. Singular-perturbation solutions valid in the wall layer of a curved-wall boundary layer and a fully developed rotating channel flow demonstrate that, with the curvature/rotation terms, the model predicts the curved-wall and the rotating coordinate system laws of the wall. Results of numerical computations of curved-wall boundary layers and of rotating channel flow show that curvature/rotation effects can be computed accurately with second-order closure.

Wilcox, D. C.↗