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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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At least 217 records · Page 12
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1984

Biaxial load effects in the mechanics of fracture

Experimental findings on the effects of biaxial loading on fracture toughness, non-self-similar growth problems, fatigue crack propagation, and subcritical growth properties are reviewed, together with the fundamental analytical solutions for problems of crack in an elastic solid under biaxial loading. Basic asymptotic field representations, and some stress-intensity factor solutions are presented. The effects of biaxial loading on problems involving plastic deformation are illustrated with recent numerical results. Early asymptotic solutions for a nonlinear elastic solid are discussed with emphasis on the solution of problems with significant plastic deformation, and on stable crack growth. A brief survey of the applications literature, and recommendations for future studies are included.

Moyer, E. T., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The NASA Lewis Research Center Internal Fluid Mechanics Facility

An experimental facility specifically designed to investigate internal fluid duct flows is described. It is built in a modular fashion so that a variety of internal flow test hardware can be installed in the facility with minimal facility reconfiguration. The facility and test hardware interfaces are discussed along with design constraints of future test hardware. The plenum flow conditioning approach is also detailed. Available instrumentation and data acquisition capabilities are discussed. The incoming flow quality was documented over the current facility operating range. The incoming flow produces well behaved turbulent boundary layers with a uniform core. For the calibration duct used, the boundary layers approached 10 percent of the duct radius. Freestream turbulence levels at the various operating conditions varied from 0.64 to 0.69 percent of the average freestream velocity.

Porro, A. R.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Thermo-mechanical characterization of shale using nanoindentation

Abstract Shale can be a potential buffer for high-level radioactive nuclear wastes. To be an effective buffer while subject to waste heat, shale's mechanical response at elevated temperature must be known. Many researchers have experimentally characterized the mechanical behavior of various shales at different length scales in adiabatic conditions. However, its mechanical performance at elevated temperatures at the nano-scale remains unknown. To investigate the temperature dependency of nanomechanical properties of shale, we conducted both experimental and numerical studies. In this study, we measured mechanical and fracture properties of shale, such as hardness, elastic modulus, anisotropy, and fracture toughness from 25 °C up to 300 °C at different bedding planes. Statistical analysis of the results suggests that hardness and fracture toughness significantly increased at temperatures from 100 to 300 °C; while, temperature does not have a significant impact on elastic modulus. Data also shows that the bedding plane orientations have a substantial impact on both mechanical and fracture properties of shale at the nano-scale leading to distinct anisotropic behavior at elevated temperature below 100 °C. Additionally, we numerically investigated the mechanical performance of the shale samples at room temperature to gain an insight into its mechanical response through the thickness. Numerical results were validated against the experimental results, confirming the simulation can be used to predict shale deformation at the nano-scale or potentially be used in multi-scale simulations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Experimental Simulations of Field-Induced Mechanical Abuse Conditions

Mechanical failure of cell components is an important component to understanding safety outcomes for batteries subjected to external loading. Several key parameters governing the mechanical response at the component to the module level are discussed in this chapter. Specifically, nuances associated with experimental measurements of these properties – including development of test methods, fixturing the test articles, ways to minimize errors in measurements, and improving the repeatability of some of these experiments – are examined closely.

Torres-castro, Loraine↗
DOE OSTI2021

Developing an experimental-computational framework to investigate the deformation mechanisms and mechanical properties of Al-8Ce-10Mg alloys at micro and macroscales

There is a promising future for the use of aluminum-cerium-magnesium alloys in a broad range of applications, including devices that operate at high temperatures. With cerium currently considered a waste product of rare earth mining validation studies of possible applications are essential to reduce the environmental waste. Here, a computational-experimental framework is developed to investigate the role both the intermetallic and matrix have on the mechanical properties of these alloys. A set of experiments, including SEM/EBSD imaging, nanoindentation, in-situ SEM tensile testing, and in-situ SEM-DIC tests are performed to characterize the microstructure and mechanical properties of these alloys. Furthermore, the elastic, plastic, and failure deformation mechanisms of the microstructure, and their correlation with the bulk scale mechanical properties are investigated. Experimental results are also used to calibrate parameters for a crystal plasticity finite element model, by performing a computational framework that minimizes the error between the computational and experimental results. This model is then utilized to investigate how the area percentage of intermetallics and the crystallographic texture control the mechanical properties of the alloy. Simulation results show that an increase in the percentage of intermetallics increase the strength but decrease the ductility of the alloy. Also, a change in material texture improves strength and reduces damage that leads to material failure. The development of the crystal plasticity model, as discussed in this work, opens opportunities for future investigations of similar aluminum-cerium-magnesium alloys.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1989

Determining damping mechanisms in a composite beam by experimental modal analysis

A method of estimating the distributed damping parameters of a beam based on measured modal parameters (frequency and damping ratios) is derived. Three different mathematical models were used to model the damping mechanism of a quasi-isotropic pultruded cantilevered beam. These three models were (1) viscous (air) damping, (2) strain-rate damping, and (3) both viscous and strain-rate damping. Values were obtained for each of the damping models as well as the modulus of elasticity of the beam. It is found that the two-parameter damping model provides the best fit to measure modal data. However, the two-parameter damping model can only reproduce the measured damping ratios to within 85 percent.

Cudney, H. H.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Mechanism and models for zinc metal morphology in alkaline media

Based on experimental observations, a mechanism is presented to explain existence of the different morphologies of electrodeposited zinc in alkaline solution. The high current density dendrites appear to be due to more rapid growth on the nonbasal crystallographic planes than on the basal plane. The low current density moss apparently results from dissolution from the nonbasal planes at low cathodic voltages. Electrochemical models were sought which would produce such a phenomenon. The fundamental plating mechanism alone accounts only for different rates on different planes, not for zinc dissolution from a plane in the cathodic region. Fourteen models were explored; two models were in accord with the proposed mechanism. One involves rapid disproportionation of the zinc +1 species on the nonbasal planes. The other involves a redox reaction (corrosion) between the zinc-zincate and hydrogen-water systems.

May, C. E.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Midfit dislocation generation mechanisms in InGaAs/GaAs heterostructures

An experimental investigation of misfit dislocation generation mechanisms at an InGaAs/GaAs heterointerface is reported. InGaAs epitaxial layers were grown by low-pressure oragnometallic vapor-phase epitaxy on patterned and unpatterned GaAs substrate having etch-pit densities (EPD) of 200, 1400, and 10,000 cm(exp -2). After epitaxial growth, the samples were annealed at temperatures between 650 and 750 C, and analyzed by optical and transmission electron microscopy. For the range of substrate EPD studied, it was found that the substrate EPD controls the onset of misfit dislocation generation for low-temperature epitaxy (less than 600 C) on unpatterned substrates. When epilayers were annealed at 750 C, the density of misfit dislocations was independent of the substrate EPD. These studies also show that the dominant misfit dislocation generation mechanism for films grown on patterned substrates is nucleation at the growth-mesa edge. The density of preexisting threading dislocations has little influence on misfit dislocation generation for films selectively deposited within 100 x 100 sq micrometer growth windows. For selective heteroepitaxy, misfit dislocation generation strongly depends on the crystallographic orientation of the growth-mesa edge.

Kui, J.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Adaptation of Diaphyseal Structure With Aging and Increased Mechanical Usage in the Adult Rat: A Histomorphometrical and Biomechanical Study

The experimental increase in mechanical usage or overloading of the left hindlimb was produced by immobilization of the contralateral hindlimb. The right hindlimb was placed in a flexed position against the body and was immobilized using an elastic bandage. Some control animals were sacrificed initially at time zero and increased mechanical usage and age-matched control animals were sacrificed after 2, 10, 18, and 26 weeks of treatment. All animals received double bone fluorochrome labeling prior to sacrifice. Cortical bone histomorphometry and cross-sectional moments of inertia were determined. Marrow cavity enlargement and total cross-sectional area expansion represented the age-related cortical bone changes. Increased mechanical usage enhanced periosteal bone modeling in the formation mode and dampened endocortical bone remodeling and bone modeling in the resorption mode (resorption drift) to create a slight positive bone balance. These observations are in general agreement with Frost's postulate for mechanical effects on bone modeling and remodeling. The maximum moment of inertia did not change significantly in either control or overloaded tibial shafts. The minimum and polar moment of inertias in overloaded bones increases over those of controls at 18 and 26 weeks of the experiment.

Jee, Webster S. S.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Adaptation of Diaphyseal Structure with Aging and Increased Mechanical Usage in the Adult Rat: A Histomorphometrical and Biomechanical Study

The experimental increase in mechanical usage or overloading of the left hindlimb was produced by immobilization of the contralateral hindlimb. The right hindlimb was placed in a flexed position against the body and was immobilized using an elastic bandage. Some control animals were sacrificed initially at time zero and increased mechanical usage and age-matched control animals were sacrificed after 2, 10, 18, and 26 weeks of treatment. All animals received double bone fluorochrome labeling prior to sacrifice. Cortical bone histomorphometry and cross-sectional moments of inertia were determined. Marrow cavity enlargement and total cross-sectional area expansion represented the age-related cortical bone changes. Increased mechanical usage enhanced periosteal bone modeling in the formation mode and dampened endocortical bone remodeling and bone modeling in the resorption mode (resorption drift) to create a slight positive bone balance. These observations are in general agreement with Frost's postulate for mechanical effects on bone modeling and remodeling. The maximum moment of inertia did not change significantly in either control or overloaded tibial shafts. The minimum and polar moment of inertias in overloaded bones increases over those of controls at 18 and 26 weeks of the experiment.

Jee, Webster S. S.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Formation Mechanism of Iron-Rich Olivine: Experimental Constrains into Early Fluid-Assisted Hydration and Dehydration Processes on Asteroids

Iron-rich olivine is one of the major minerals in the matrices of unequilibrated ordinary (UOCs) and carbonaceous (CV, CK, CO) chondrites whose petrologic type is >3.1. There has been an extensive discussion in the literature as to the formation mechanism of these olivines; however, their origin is poorly understood. The formation of ferroan olivine during hydrothermal alteration has been demonstrated to be thermodynamically viable. The stability of ferroan olivine is highly dependent on several variables, including temperature, water/ rock (W/R) ratio, pressure, oxygen fugacity, and bulk rock composition. So far, hydrothermal alteration experiments have not been successful at forming FeO-rich olivines with the compositions and textures observed in the matrices of chondrites. Therefore, understanding the formation conditions of FeO-rich olivines remains a key problem to explain the effects of hydrothermal alteration on chondrite matrices.

Iron-rich olivine↗
DOE OSTI2022

Chemical kinetic interactions and sensitivity analyses for 2-ethylhexyl nitrate-doped PRF91 using a reduced mechanism

A numerical and experimental investigation about the chemical kinetic interactions between 2-ethylhexylnitrate (EHN) and PRF91 was performed in this study. Rapid compression machine experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of EHN on the autoignition reactivity of the fuel, and a reduced chemical kinetic mechanism was developed including an EHN sub-model. Experiments showed that the ignition delay decreases as the fuel is doped with EHN, but the effect of the doping level of EHN on the ignition is highly non-linear. Moreover, experiments showed that the EHN effectiveness is lowest during the transition between the low-temperature regime and the negative temperature coefficient (NTC) regime, and it rapidly increases as the temperature increases. Both detailed and (developed) reduced mechanisms were validated against the experimental results, allowing a more in-depth EHN-fuel chemistry study. Additionally, ignition delay sensitivity and EHN effectiveness sensitivity analyses were performed with the reduced mechanism to identify the reactions that control the interaction between EHN and the fuel. As the result, EHN thermal decomposition is only relevant for very low temperatures. The chemistry of EHN-doped fuel is more sensitive to intermediate temperature reactions than that of straight fuel, especially at lower temperatures, due to the effect of EHN on the NTC behavior of the fuel. Finally, the chemistry of EHN-doped fuel is very sensitive to NO 2 -to-NO reactions, especially at high temperatures, because these reactions transform the NO 2 generated by EHN into NO, which is a very effective fuel reactivity enhancer.

2-ethylhexyl nitrate↗
DOE OSTI2022

Building an extensible cell wall

Abstract This article recounts, from my perspective of four decades in this field, evolving paradigms of primary cell wall structure and the mechanism of surface enlargement of growing cell walls. Updates of the structures, physical interactions, and roles of cellulose, xyloglucan, and pectins are presented. This leads to an example of how a conceptual depiction of wall structure can be translated into an explicit quantitative model based on molecular dynamics methods. Comparison of the model’s mechanical behavior with experimental results provides insights into the molecular basis of complex mechanical behaviors of primary cell wall and uncovers the dominant role of cellulose–cellulose interactions in forming a strong yet extensible network.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Shock tube investigation of high-temperature, extremely-rich oxidation of several co-optima biofuels for spark-ignition engines

To reduce the reliance on fossil fuels in the transportation sector and increase combustion efficiency, the Co-Optima initiative from US Department of Energy identified the top 10 biofuels for downsized, boosted, spark-ignition engines. Most of these biofuels have detailed reaction mechanisms available in literature developed based on studies at temperatures lower than 1700 K and an equivalence ratio of less than five. As such, the performance of these detailed mechanisms at high temperature and extremely rich conditions are unknown. It is important to validate kinetic mechanisms at these conditions because they are conducive to soot formation. Prediction of soot by chemical kinetic models relies on the prediction of underlying benchmark species like carbon monoxide and ethylene. In this work, we conduct high temperature (1700–2050 K) and high equivalence ratio(Φ=8.6) oxidation of these biofuels, namely 2,4,4-trimethyl-1-pentene (α-diisobutylene), ethanol, cyclopentanone, methyl acetate, and 2-methylfuran, blended in ethylene behind reflected shock waves at 4–4.7 atm pressure. Carbon monoxide and ethylene time histories are measured simultaneously using a continuous feedback quantum cascade laser near 4.9 µm and a tunable CO 2 gas laser at 10.532 nm, respectively. Results show that ethanol blend forms more carbon monoxide than other biofuels and consumes ethylene faster than the biofuel blends in the temperature range considered. Overall, the performance of different mechanisms in literature are evaluated against the experimental results. The novel reaction mechanism ‘the Co-Optima model’, which includes the sub mechanisms for all the biofuels in this study, was found to be the best mechanism for the experimental conditions studied.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
NASA NTRS1968

Analytical and experimental studies of the steady state combustion mechanism of solid propellants

Our present state of understanding of the steady-state combustion mechanisms of solid propellants is reviewed. Attention is focused principally on heterogeneous propellants. Both experimental and theoretical work is discussed. The recent advances considered include studies of linear pyrolysis of propellant constituents, deflagration of exothermic oxidizers, combustion of oxidizer spheres in gaseous fuels, porous-bed combustion, reactions between gaseous fuel and gaseous oxidizer components, metal combustion, propellant strand burning, rocket motor combustion and microcinematographic experimentation. A theoretical analysis of a model of homogeneous propellant combustion is outlined in detail, with special emphasis placed on surface gasification laws and on flammability limits in nonadiabatic systems. Low pressure, moderate pressure, plateau and high pressure domains of combustion are identified for ammonium perchlorate composite propellants. It is concluded that a better foundation for investigating composite propellant combustion properties is available for ammonium perchlorate than for any other oxidizer. Avenues for potentially fruitful future research are recommended.

M Barrère↗
NASA NTRS2003

Analytical and Experimental Study of Near-Threshold Interactions Between Crack Closure Mechanisms

The results of an analytical closure model that considers contributions and interactions between plasticity-, roughness-, and oxide-induced crack closure mechanisms are presented and compared with experimental data. The analytical model is shown to provide a good description of the combined influences of crack roughness, oxide debris, and plasticity in the near-threshold regime. Furthermore, analytical results indicate that closure mechanisms interact in a non-linear manner such that the total amount of closure is not the sum of closure contributions for each mechanism.

Newman, John A.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Experimental Observation of a New Attenuation Mechanism in hcp ‐Metals That May Operate in the Earth's Inner Core

Abstract Seismic observations show the Earth's inner core has significant and unexplained variation in seismic attenuation with position, depth and direction. Interpreting these observations is difficult without knowledge of the visco‐ or anelastic dissipation processes active in iron under inner core conditions. Here, a previously unconsidered attenuation mechanism is observed in zinc, a low pressure analog ofhcp‐iron, during small strain sinusoidal deformation experiments. The experiments were performed in a deformation‐DIA combined with X‐radiography, at seismic frequencies (∼0.003–0.1 Hz), high pressure and temperatures up to ∼80% of melting temperature. Significant dissipation (0.077 ≤ Q −1 (ω) ≤ 0.488) is observed along with frequency dependent softening of zinc's Young's modulus and an extremely small activation energy for creep (⩽7 kJ mol −1 ). In addition, during sinusoidal deformation the original microstructure is replaced by one with a reduced dislocation density and small, uniform, grain size. This combination of behavior collectively reflects a mode of deformation called “internal stress superplasticity”; this deformation mechanism is unique to anisotropic materials and activated by cyclic loading generating large internal stresses. Here we observe a new form of internal stress superplasticity, which we name as “elastic strain mismatch superplasticity.” In it the large stresses are caused by the compressional anisotropy. If this mechanism is also active inhcp‐iron and the Earth's inner‐core it will be a contributor to inner‐core observed seismic attenuation and constrain the maximum inner‐core grain‐size to ≲10 km.

Geochemistry & Geophysics↗