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At least 289 records · Page 16
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2023

Statistical Approach on Utilizing Ground-Based Experiments to Model Break-Up Events

Two laboratory-based impact tests have been conducted to develop and extend the capability of NASA satellite breakup models. The first experiment, the Satellite Orbital Debris Characterization Impact Test (SOCIT), was conducted by the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA in 1992. It employed a fully functional U.S. Navy Transit spacecraft, fabricated from materials commonly used in the 1960s. SOCIT fragmentation data formed the basis of the current NASA Standard Satellite Breakup Model (SSBM). A second experiment, DebriSat, was conducted in 2014 by the DebriSat consortium: the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office, the United States Space Force Space Systems Command, formerly the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, the Air Force Arnold Engineering Development Complex, and the University of Florida. This impact test was performed on a high-fidelity mock-up satellite assembled from modern components. Data from both experiments are expected to contribute to the next-generation models for on-orbit breakup analyses, long-term environment predictions, and debris risk assessment. This paper uses the direct statistical sampling of the SOCIT and DebriSat data ensembles to model an on-orbit breakup event, rather than the analytic expressions estimated from the samples in the SSBM and its predecessor. This direct method involves drawing fragments (i.e., sampling with replacement) from each fragmentation data-subset containing mass, shape category, material density, characteristic length, mass, and cross-sectional area. As part of the sampling process, the properties of sampled fragment data (e.g., area-to-mass ratios) are numerically checked to ensure they do not contain unrealistic quantities. The process to simulate a breakup cloud composed of fragments from SOCIT and DebriSat datasets is discussed. The methodology for ensuring that conservation of overall mass of the sampled fragment cloud under this sampling approach is highlighted. Finally, the results are compared with simulated clouds generated from SSBM for specific historical breakup events.

Andrew Vavrin↗
NASA NTRS2017

Numerical Modeling of Saturated Boiling in a Heated Tube

This paper describes a mathematical formulation and numerical solution of boiling in a heated tube. The mathematical formulation involves a discretization of the tube into a flow network consisting of fluid nodes and branches and a thermal network consisting of solid nodes and conductors. In the fluid network, the mass, momentum and energy conservation equations are solved and in the thermal network, the energy conservation equation of solids is solved. A pressure-based, finite-volume formulation has been used to solve the equations in the fluid network. The system of equations is solved by a hybrid numerical scheme which solves the mass and momentum conservation equations by a simultaneous Newton-Raphson method and the energy conservation equation by a successive substitution method. The fluid network and thermal network are coupled through heat transfer between the solid and fluid nodes which is computed by Chen's correlation of saturated boiling heat transfer. The computer model is developed using the Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program and the numerical predictions are compared with test data.

Majumdar, Alok↗
NASA NTRS1983

Prediction of a propellant tank pressure history using state space methods

An analysis of the time response of a propellant supply system operating in the blowdown mode is presented. The supply system is part of a pump-fed propulsion system intended for use on interplanetary spacecraft. As such, the supply system must provide the pump with propellant at sufficient pressure to avoid pump cavitation. The system, consisting of the tank, the liquid propellant, the pressurant gas and propellant vapor mixture, and a film layer separating the liquid and vapor phases, is analyzed using the principles of mass and energy conservation. The resulting set of ordinary, coupled, nonlinear differential equations for the thermodynamic state variables is integrated as an initial value problem. The resulting histories of total pressure, propellant vapor pressure, propellant liquid temperature, film layer temperature, propellant vapor/pressurant gas temperature, propellant vapor mass, and propellant liquid mass enable the calculation of the net positive suction head available at the pump which determines the viability of the pump-fed system concept when operated in the blowdown mode.

Estey, P. N.↗
NASA NTRS1994

An introduction to generalized functions with some applications in aerodynamics and aeroacoustics

In this paper, we start with the definition of generalized functions as continuous linear functionals on the space of infinitely differentiable functions with compact support. The concept of generalization differentiation is introduced next. This is the most important concept in generalized function theory and the applications we present utilize mainly this concept. First, some of the results of classical analysis, such as Leibniz rule of differentiation under the integral sign and the divergence theorem, are derived using the generalized function theory. It is shown that the divergence theorem remains valid for discontinuous vector fields provided that the derivatives are all viewed as generalized derivatives. This implies that all conservation laws of fluid mechanics are valid as they stand for discontinuous fields with all derivatives treated as generalized deriatives. Once these derivatives are written as ordinary derivatives and jumps in the field parameters across discontinuities, the jump conditions can be easily found. For example, the unsteady shock jump conditions can be derived from mass and momentum conservation laws. By using a generalized function theory, this derivative becomes trivial. Other applications of the generalized function theory in aerodynamics discussed in this paper are derivation of general transport theorems for deriving governing equations of fluid mechanics, the interpretation of finite part of divergent integrals, derivation of Oswatiitsch integral equation of transonic flow, and analysis of velocity field discontinuities as sources of vorticity. Applications in aeroacoustics presented here include the derivation of the Kirchoff formula for moving surfaces,the noise from moving surfaces, and shock noise source strength based on the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equation.

Farassat, F.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Pressurized expulsion of nonisothermal single-phase cryogen

The performance of single-phase storage and expulsion systems as affected by temperature variations within the stored cryogen which are generated during heat transfer is discussed. Peculiar operating responses are indicated by spontaneous changes in fluid pressure which accompany g level changes, increased heater surface temperature, and durations of pressure cycles which differ considerably from that which is computed for an isothermal cryogen. The nonisothermal characteristics are predicted with a numerical model which includes the simultaneous solution of the time dependent conservation equations of mass, energy, and momentum in two space dimensions of Cartesian coordinates for boundary conditions which approximate those of the flight cryogenic system. The methodology of the numerical method and some comparisons between the predictions and the Apollo 12 flight data are included.

Forester, C. K.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Multiple-compartment venting program

Computer program solves time-dependent energy and state equations for gas reservoirs, using the solutions of conductor conservation equations as mass and energy rate changes to reservoirs.

Leblanc, L. P.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Diurnal variations in the thermosphere. I - Theoretical formulation

A nonlinear perturbation theory is formulated for the solution of the multicomponent equations of energy, mass, and momentum conservation in the atmosphere. The theory is three-dimensional and includes the effects of heat conduction and advection, viscosity, ion drag, and diffusion. The theory is described as a superposition of mathematical modes obtained by expanding the physical quantities into vector and spherical harmonics. The coupling between the various modes, both linear and nonlinear, is included. The theory provides a basis for the treatment of the thermosphere and its interaction with the lower atmosphere, where 'mode coupling' is most important. As an example, a comparison is presented between one-dimensional and three-dimensional calculations of the fundamental mode of the diurnal component in the thermosphere. Coupling between the lowest modes is considered to describe the physical conditions of the lower thermosphere where inertia and Coriolis forces become dominant over the ion-drag and viscous forces. In this region, the latitude structures of the temperature, wind field, and diffusively controlled oxygen are shown to change significantly.

Harris, I.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Integration schemes for climate prediction

To assure the conservation of total mass, momentum, energy, vorticity, etc., a method of modifying any given algorithm is presented. The modified scheme has at least the same order of accuracy as the given scheme.

Isaacson, E.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Acoustic behavior of a fibrous bulk material

A semiempirical model is presented describing the acoustic behavior of Kevlar 29, a bulk absorbing material. The model is based on an approximate solution to the one-dimensional equations representing conservation of fluctuating mass, momentum and energy. By treating the material as a momentum sink, theoretical expressions of the material complex propagation constants and characteristic impedance were derived in terms of a single constant. Evaluating the constant at a single frequency for a particular specimen, excellent agreement between prediction and measurement was achieved for a large range of sound frequencies and material porosities and thicknesses. Results show that Kevlar 29 absorbs sound efficiently even at low frequencies. This is explained in terms of a frequency dependent material phase speed.

Hersh, A. S.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Plasma property and performance prediction for mercury ion thrusters

The discharge chambers of mercury ion thrusters are modelled so the principal effects and processes which govern discharge plasma properties and thruster performance are described. The conservation relations for mass, charge and energy when applied to the Maxwellian electron population in the ion production region yield equations which may be made one-dimensional by the proper choice of coordinates. Solutions to these equations with the appropriate boundary conditions give electron density and temperature profiles which agree reasonably well with measurements. It is then possible to estimate plasma properties from thruster design data and those operating parameters which are directly controllable. By varying the operating parameter inputs to the computer code written to solve these equations, perfromance curves are obtained which agree quite well with measurements.

Longhurst, G. R.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Radio emission from nova shells

This paper presents data from multifrequency radio observations of the novae HR Del 1967 and FH Ser 1970 made from June 1970 to December 1978 and of V1500 Cyg 1975 made from September 1975 to December 1978. The data for FH Ser and V1500 Cyg constitute a complete history of the important phases of their radio 'light' curves, while all but the rising portion of the optically thick phase of an expanding nova shell is present for HR Del. A simple solution of the spherically symmetric equations of mass and momentum conservation for an isothermal gas, for which pressure gradients are effectively decoupled from the dynamics, is shown to fit the radio data for all three novae quite well. The main features of this model are strong density and velocity gradients that lead to long periods when the 'observable' shell evolves from an optically thick 'disk' to a completely optically thin shell.

Hjellming, R. M.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Protostellar formation in rotating interstellar clouds. I - Numerical methods and tests

Attention is given to numerical methods and tests of a series of gravitational hydrodynamics computer codes constructed in order to numerically follow the dynamic collapse of spherically symmetric (1-D), axisymmetric (2-D), and non-axisymmetric (3-D) isothermal interstellar clouds. A spherical harmonic expansion is used to solve the Poisson equation for the gravitational potential. It is shown that the use of explicit donor-cell hydrodynamics on a moving spherical coordinate grid ensures mass and momentum conservation and allows the grid to follow the collapse of the fluid. Finally, the performance of the codes is examined.

Boss, A. P.↗
NASA NTRS1981

An analytic treatment of the structure of the bow shock and magnetosheath

A theoretical examination of the jump conditions of the bow shock is used to investigate the influence of the solar wind magnetic fields on the structure of the parameters behind the bow shock. Through the assumption that the average values of the parameters along the radial direction in the magnetosheath are equal to their values just behind the bow shock, the influence of the direction of the solar wind magnetic fields on the average structure of the magnetosheath is determined. From this assumption, a zero-order formula for the thickness of the magnetosheath is deduced which satisfies the boundary conditions and conservation laws of mass and momentum flux. The theoretical estimate of the thickness is compared with satellite observations to check the assumption and select the optimum value of the polytropic exponent of the plasma gas.

Zhuang, H. C.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Influence of land-surface evapotranspiration on the earth's climate

Land-surface evapotranspiration is shown to strongly influence global fields of rainfall, temperature and motion by calculations using a numerical model of the atmosphere, confirming the general belief in the importance of evapotranspiration-producing surface vegetation for the earth's climate. The current version of the Goddard Laboratory atmospheric general circulation model is used in the present experiment, in which conservation equations for mass, momentum, moisture and energy are expressed in finite-difference form for a spherical grid to calculate (1) surface pressure field evolution, and (2) the wind, temperature, and water vapor fields at nine levels between the surface and a 20 km height.

Shukla, J.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Numerical studies of the formation and destruction of vortices in a motored four-stroke piston-cylinder configuration

A finite-difference procedure which solves the conservation equations of mass, momentum, and energy is used to investigate the effects of the compression ratio, engine speed, bore-to-stroke ratio, and air intake flow angle on the turbulent flow field within an axisymmetric piston-cylinder configuration. It is shown that in a four-stroke piston-cylinder configuration, the intake stroke is characterized by the formation of a piston vortex. The piston vortex is stretched during the intake stroke, and the head vortex has an almost constant diameter. For a 0-deg air intake flow angle, both vortices disappear by the end of the compression stroke; for an air intake flow angle of 45 deg, the flow field within the cylinder shows three elongated vortices which persist into the compression stroke and then break up and merge. It is also shown that larger bore-to-stroke ratios give rise to lower turbulent levels than smaller bore-to-stroke ratios and that the turbulent intensity is almost independent of the rpm.

Schock, H. J.↗
NASA NTRS1985

The Scaling of Coronal Models from One Star to Another

The requirements that must be met in order that stationary numerical corona models can be scaled from one star to another are discussed. A corona model is a solution of the conservation equations for mass, momentum, and energy, subject to appropriate boundary conditions, and of the equation of state. In general, the mass M and radius R of the star enter these equations and boundary conditions as free parameters. A given solution can be scaled to other stars only if all equations can be rewritten in such a form that M and R do no longer appear explicitly as free parameters, but only implicitly as scaling factors of the variables. An adequate means to find these scaling factors is a homologous transformation: one multiplies all variables and parameters by separate constants (i.e., scaling factors) and requires that the equations and boundary conditions remain valid. This leads to a set of nonlinear relations between the transformation constants. Only if in this set the two constants associated with M and R can be chosen independently, can a given numerical corona model be scaled to arbitrary stars.

Hammer, R.↗