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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 307 records · Page 17
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2010

Ares I-X Launch Vehicle Modal Test Overview

The first test flight of NASA's Ares I crew launch vehicle, called Ares I-X, is scheduled for launch in 2009. Ares IX will use a 4-segment reusable solid rocket booster from the Space Shuttle heritage with mass simulators for the 5th segment, upper stage, crew module and launch abort system. Flight test data will provide important information on ascent loads, vehicle control, separation, and first stage reentry dynamics. As part of hardware verification, a series of modal tests were designed to verify the dynamic finite element model (FEM) used in loads assessments and flight control evaluations. Based on flight control system studies, the critical modes were the first three free-free bending mode pairs. Since a test of the free-free vehicle is not practical within project constraints, modal tests for several configurations in the nominal integration flow were defined to calibrate the FEM. A traceability study by Aerospace Corporation was used to identify the critical modes for the tested configurations. Test configurations included two partial stacks and the full Ares I-X launch vehicle on the Mobile Launcher Platform. This paper provides an overview for companion papers in the Ares I-X Modal Test Session. The requirements flow down, pre-test analysis, constraints and overall test planning are described.

Buehrle, Ralph D.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The design of two-stage-to-orbit vehicles

Two separate student design groups developed conceptual designs for a two-stage-to-orbit vehicle, with each design group consisting of a carrier team and an orbiter team. A two-stage-to-orbit system is considered in the event that single-stage-to-orbit is deemed not feasible in the foreseeable future; the two-stage system would also be used as a complement to an already existing heavy lift vehicle. The design specifications given are to lift a 10,000-lb payload 27 ft long by 10 ft diameter, to low Earth orbit (300 n.m.) using an air breathing carrier configuration that will take off horizontally within 15,000 ft. The staging Mach number and altitude were to be determined by the design groups. One group designed a delta wing/body carrier with the orbiter nested within the fuselage of the carrier, and the other group produced a blended cranked-delta wing/body carrier with the orbiter in the more conventional piggyback configuration. Each carrier used liquid hydrogen-fueled turbofanramjet engines, with data provided by General Electric Aircraft Engine Group. While one orbiter used a full-scale Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), the other orbiter employed a half-scale SSME coupled with scramjet engines, with data again provided by General Electric. The two groups conceptual designs, along with the technical trade-offs, difficulties, and details that surfaced during the design process are presented.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1984

Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication. Status of Understanding

The development of elastohydrodynamic lubrication can be divided into three main stages. The first stage is the development of the idealized form of elastohydrodynamic lubrication, namely where the surfaces are smooth, the fluid behavior is assumed to be Newtonian, and isothermal considerations are assumed. Results based on these assumptions are presented for the complete spectrum of contact geometries (rectangular and elliptical), contact materials (hard and soft), and lubricant availability (fully flooded and starved). The status of understanding for the idealized stage of elastohydrodynamic lubrication is fairly well covered in the existing literature. The second stage of development separately incorporates the effects of a non-Newtonian fluid model, thermal effects, and surface roughness effects into the elastohydrodynamic lubrication model developed in stage 1. Results showing recent developments in this stage are presented. The third stage collectively considers the items considered in stage 2 in investigating the lubrication of real surfaces in their operating environments.

Bernard J Hamrock↗
NASA NTRS2019

Connecting resonant trajectories to a Europa capture through Lissajous staging orbits

The current interest in studying the surface of Europa in search of biosignatures demands efficient strategies in mission design to reach this distant world. An affordable strategy is to use a low energy moon tour, which has natural access to the moon via the L2 gateway. Staging around this libration point allows to decouple the approaching moon tour and the landing trajectory, which enables the option of designing each phase separately. Furthermore, a staging step frees the landing time from the capture phase, adding an additional degree of freedom. Lissajous orbits are the dynamical structures used for these staging orbits. In this paper, the possible ballistic connections between the resonances from the moon tour and Lissajous orbits are studied, including the different geometries that allow for time phasing control.

Anderson, Rodney L.↗
NASA NTRS1976

SCOUT Nozzle Data Book

Available analyses and material property information are summarized relevant to the design of four rocket motor nozzles currently incorporated in the four solid propellant rocket stages of the NASA SCOUT launch vehicle. The nozzles discussed include those for the following motors: (1) first stage - Algol IIIA; (2) second stage - Castor IIA; (3) third stage - Antares IIA; and (4) fourth stage - Altair IIIA. Separate sections for each nozzle provide complete data packages. Information on the Antares IIB motor which had limited usage as an alternate motor for the third stage is included.

Shieds, S.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Single step detection of blurred images in a coherent optical processor.

Two important operations that can be performed by coherent optical processing systems are image detection and image restoration. These operations require complex spatial filters, and if both operations are to be performed, cascaded processing stages employing two separate spatial filters are usually needed. Spatial filters are described that will perform in a single step both operations simultaneously, thus eliminating the need for extra processing stages while providing the advantages of higher efficiency and smaller space requirements. The filters are characterized by their simplicity and are easily fabricated using conventional techniques. Experimental results are presented.

Jablonowski, D. P.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Method for separating components using solids producing multi-stage direct and indirect-contact exchange

A process for forming a solid product or products is disclosed. The process is provided with n desublimating exchangers. An exchanger E1 being associated with a first exchanger and an exchanger En being associated with an nth exchanger, n representing the number of exchangers. The n exchangers comprise at least one direct-contact exchanger comprising a contact fluid. A process fluid is passed through the n exchangers in order from E1 through En. The process fluid comprises a product component or components. The solid product or products form from the product component or components in the plurality of exchangers by desublimation. The solid product or products are separated from the process fluid. In this manner, a solid product or products is formed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Treatment of Highly Saline Brines by Supercritical Precipitation Followed by Supercritical Membrane Separation

A two-stage supercritical (SC) desalination system is proposed to treat highly saline brines to high-purity steam that could be used in power generation. Highly saline brines with up to similar to 20% salt content are pressurized and heated to SC conditions of 500 degrees C and 3500 psi to rapidly precipitate the dissolved salts and generate SC steam containing similar to 100 ppm salts. Two highly saline brines, collected from an oil field and a deep saline formation, and two concentrated NaCl solutions were treated in the SC desalination system. A SC membrane separation system with carbon filters is developed and used to purify the SC steam to a high purity level. Promising carbon filters or membranes prepared and tested for purifying SC steam included a porous graphite disk, a flexible graphite sheet, and a carbon nanotube-based membrane. Finally, the best performing membranes exhibited a very high water flux of similar to 200-800 kg/m 2 .h, with a salt rejection of >90%.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Direct Recycling of Blended Cathode Materials by Froth Flotation

We report that direct Li-ion battery recycling involves separating cathode active materials in the solid phase while preserving their electrochemical performance. To reuse the recycled ones in new batteries, it is necessary to separate individual cathode components, which would typically occur prior to the rejuvenation and any compositional reformulation processes. Herein, a froth flotation process is developed to separate pristine lithium nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide (LiNi 0.333 Mn 0.333 Co 0.333 O 2 , NMC111) and lithium manganese oxide (LMO) materials. The flotation results show that with multiple stages of the separation processes, a satisfactory separation is achieved with 95% grade or above of NMC111 in the froth product and 95% grade of LMO in the tailing product. The electrochemistry results show that the flotation chemicals have negligible impact on the electrochemical performance of recycled active materials, whereas the NMC111 exhibits a minor capacity fade after being in contact with deionized water at 2% solid concentration. An improvement in both the rate and cycling performance is achieved at 10% solid concentration or higher. It is found that there is little compositional and structural change to the aqueous recycled NMC111 powders. An effective and low-cost separation method for direct recycling mixed cathode compositions is demonstrated.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
NASA NTRS2016

Space Launch System Booster Separation Aerodynamic Database Development and Uncertainty Quantification

The development of the aerodynamic database for the Space Launch System (SLS) booster separation environment has presented many challenges because of the complex physics of the ow around three independent bodies due to proximity e ects and jet inter- actions from the booster separation motors and the core stage engines. This aerodynamic environment is dicult to simulate in a wind tunnel experiment and also dicult to simu- late with computational uid dynamics. The database is further complicated by the high dimensionality of the independent variable space, which includes the orientation of the core stage, the relative positions and orientations of the solid rocket boosters, and the thrust lev- els of the various engines. Moreover, the clearance between the core stage and the boosters during the separation event is sensitive to the aerodynamic uncertainties of the database. This paper will present the development process for Version 3 of the SLS booster separa- tion aerodynamic database and the statistics-based uncertainty quanti cation process for the database.

Chan, David T.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Complexation of Lanthanides and Heavy Actinides with Aqueous Sulfur-Donating Ligands

The separation of trivalent lanthanides and actinides is challenging because of their similar sizes and charge densities. S-donating extractants have shown significant selectivity for trivalent actinides over lanthanides, with single-stage americium/ lanthanide separation efficiencies for some thiol-based extractants reported at >99.999%. While such separations could transform the nuclear waste management landscape, these systems are often limited by the hydrolytic and radiolytic stability of the extractant. Progress away from thiol-based systems is limited by the poorly understood and complex interactions of these extractants in organic phases, where molecular aggregation and micelle formation obfuscates assessment of the metal–extractant coordination environment. Because S-donating thioethers are generally more resistant to hydrolysis and oxidation and the aqueous phase coordination chemistry is anticipated to lack complications brought on by micelle formation, we have considered three thioethers, 2,2'-thiodiacetic acid (TDA), (2R,5S)- tetrahydrothiophene-2,5-dicarboxylic acid, and 2,5-thiophenedicarboxylic acid (TPA), as possible trivalent actinide selective reagents. Formation constants, extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy, and computational studies were completed for thioether complexes with a variety of trivalent lanthanides and actinides including Nd, Eu, Tb, Am, Cm, Bk, and Cf. TPA was found to have moderately higher selectivity for the actinides because of its ability to bind actinides in a different manner than lanthanides, but the utility of TPA is limited by poor water solubility and high rigidity. While significant competition with water for the metal center limits the efficacy of aqueous-based thioethers for separations, the characterization of these solution-phase, S-containing lanthanide and actinide complexes is the most comprehensively available in the literature to date. Here, this is due to the breadth of lanthanides and actinides considered as well as the techniques deployed and serves as a platform for the further development of Scontaining reagents for actinide separations. Additionally, this paper reports on the first bond lengths for Cf and Bk with a neutral S donor.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS2009

Ares I First Stage Booster Deceleration System: An Overview

In 2005, the Congressional NASA Authorization Act enacted a new space exploration program, the "Vision for Space Exploratien". The Constellation Program was formed to oversee the implementation of this new mission. With an intent not simply to support the International Space Station, but to build a permanent outpost on the Moon and then travel on to explore ever more distant terrains, the Constellation Program is supervising the development of a brand new fleet of launch vehicles, the Ares. The Ares lineup will include two new launch vehicles: the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle and the Ares V Cargo Launch Vehicle. A crew exploration vehicle, Orion, will be launched on the Ares I. It will be capable of docking with the Space Station, the lunar lander, Altair, and the Earth Departure Stage of Ares V. The Ares V will be capable of lifting both large-scale hardware and the Altair into space. The Ares First Stage Team is tasked with developing the propulsion system necessary to liftoff from the Earth and loft the entire Ares vehicle stack toward low Earth orbit. The Ares I First Stage booster is a 12-foot diameter, five-segment, reusable solid rocket booster derived from the Space Shuttle's four segment reusable solid rocket booster (SRB). It is separated from the Upper Stage through the use of a Deceleration Subsystem (DSS). Booster Tumble Motors are used to induce the pitch tumble following separation from the Upper Stage. The spent Ares I booster must be recoverable using a parachute deceleration system similar to that of the Shuttle SRB heritage system. Since Ares I is much heavier and reenters the Earth's atmosphere from a higher altitude at a much higher velocity than the SRB, all of the parachutes must be redesigned to reliably meet the operational requisites of the new launch vehicles. This paper presents an overview of this new booster deceleration system. It includes comprehensive detail of the parachute deceleration system, its design and deployment sequences, including how and why it is being developed, the requirements it must meet, and the testing involved in its implementation.

King, Ron↗
NASA NTRS1972

Abort staging characteristics of an external oxygen tank separating from the space shuttle 040-A orbiter (.006 scale model) at Mach numbers of 0.6, 2.0, and 4.0

Experimental aerodynamic investigations were conducted on a .006 scale model of the space shuttle 040-A orbiter and its external fuel tank utilizing the NASA/MFSC dual sting support system in the MFSC 14 x 14 inch Trisonic Wind Tunnel. Normal force, pitching moment and axial force components were recorded simultaneously on the orbiter and the tank at selected tank field positions beneath the orbiter as both models were pitched through an angle of attack range of -5 deg to 20 deg. Incidence angles between orbiter and tank of 0 deg, 5 deg, 10 deg and 15 deg were investigated. During these tests Mach number was set at 0.6, 2.0 and 4.0.

Fossler, I. H.↗
NASA NTRS2018

A Two-Stage Biological Reactor for Treatment of Space Based Waste Waters

Previous works on Membrane Aerobic Biological Reactors (MABR) CoMANDR 1.0, CoMANDR 2.0, and R-CoMANDAR have demonstrated their ability to stabilize various space based waste streams over operating periods of ~1 year. Biological pretreatment by MABR systems can stabilize space based waste streams. Biological stabilization includes reducing the pH, conversion of organic N to NOx- and oxidation of dissolved organic matter to CO2. These processes produce a more stable waste product (brine), facilitate the distillation processes, and enable evaporative or membrane based systems. An alternative to aerobic operation would be to include anoxic operation to promote denitrification and production of N2 gas. This results in a reduced O2 demand and increases ammonia oxidation efficiency. Denitrifictaion can be accomplished in either a single reactor (Simultaneous Nitrification Denitrification) or in a two-stage system with separate aerobic and anoxic reactors. We evaluated the performance of both architectures in pilot scale systems (1-2 crew/d). Each system was continuously operated for over 2 years during which they processed a variety of habitation waste streams (ISS, Transit, and EPB) in both a continuous and on production feed mode. Here we report the results of the two stage system. Results indicate that the two stage system can successfully remove organic carbon, lower pH and convert organic N to N2 gas. Organic carbon and organic N oxidation reaction rates for the two stage system are similar to past studies for single stage aerobic systems. The two stage system is more complex and requires an additional pump. While no maintenance was required on the system during the nearly two year period of operation, the packed bed did produce N2 gas for many operational test points. The performance and comparison of operational conditions are detailed below

Water↗
DOE OSTI2025

Locality in collider tests of quantum mechanics with top quark pairs

Tests of quantum properties of fundamental particles in high energy colliders are starting to appear. Entanglement and Bell inequality violation in top and antitop quark system is of particular interest since top quarks are unstable particles that undergo a cascade decay. We argue for criteria for the spacelike separation between top and antitop quarks at their different decay stages. We considered causal separation at three different instances: at the top quark decay, at the 𝑊 boson decay, and at the lepton/jet contact with the macroscopic apparatus. We showed that the spacelike fraction of events is the smallest, when requiring that both top quarks and 𝑊 bosons decay within the spacelike interval. For high invariant masses, typically required for the Bell inequality violation, this is almost identical to just the top quark decay requirement. We also include an option for the angular correlation of the 𝑏 quarks from top quark decay to be used for the spin correlation measurement. We require that both top quark and 𝑏 hadron decays are spacelike separated. Again, we find that at high invariant masses it is almost identical to just the requirement of spacelike separation between top and antitop quarks. We provide numerical values for our proposed criteria. If such a criterion is satisfied, the system is guaranteed to not be in a causal connection.

Entanglement in field theory↗
DOE OSTI2018

Efficient Separation and Extraction of Vanadium and Chromium in High Chromium Vanadium Slag by Selective Two-Stage Roasting–Leaching

Vanadium and chromium are important rare metals, leading to a focus on high chromium vanadium slag (HCVS) as a potential raw material to extract vanadium and chromium in China. In this work, a novel method based on selective two-stage roasting–leaching was proposed to separate and extract vanadium and chromium efficiently in HCVS. XRD, FT-IR, and SEM were utilized to analyze the phase evolutions and microstructure during the whole process. Calcification roasting, which can calcify vanadium selectively using thermodynamics, was carried out in the first roasting stage to transfer vanadium into acid-soluble vanadate and leave chromium in the leaching residue as (Fe{sub 0.6}Cr{sub 0.4}){sub 2}O{sub 3} after H{sub 2}SO{sub 4} leaching. When HCVS and CaO were mixed in the molar ratio CaO/V{sub 2}O{sub 3} (n(CaO)/n(V{sub 2}O{sub 3})) of 0.5 to 1.25, around 90 pct vanadium and less than 1 pct chromium were extracted in the first leaching liquid, thus achieving the separation of vanadium and chromium. In the second roasting stage, sodium salt, which combines with chromium easily, was added to the first leaching residue to extract chromium and 95.16 pct chromium was extracted under the optimal conditions. The total vanadium and chromium leaching rates were above 95 pct, achieving the efficient separation and extraction of vanadium and chromium. The established method provides a new technique to separate vanadium and chromium during roasting rather than in the liquid form, which is useful for the comprehensive application of HCVS.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Electronic effects in radiation-induced collision cascades in nickel

The accurate treatment of electronic effects in multi-million-atom simulations of radiation-induced collision cascades is crucial for reliable predictions of primary radiation damage. In this work, we explore the fidelity of a recently developed two-temperature molecular dynamics model implementing an electron density-dependent coupling of electronic and atomic subsystems for cascade simulations in nickel. We show that the parameter-free model realistically captures the instantaneous energy losses during all stages of the highly nonequilibrium cascade process. Our simulations predict two distinct coupling regimes, corresponding to the rapid energy losses through electronic stopping in the early stages of the cascade and to the slow equilibration through the electron-phonon coupling mechanism in the later stages, without the use of separate models or coupling terms. The intermediate stage of the cascade dynamics displays a complex energy transfer between the subsystems, which cannot be interpreted by comparison to either electronic stopping or electron-phonon coupling theories. We therefore compare the predicted atomic mixing, which is sensitive to the energy losses during the intermediate cascade stage, with experimental ion beam mixing measurements. We find good agreement with the experiments, validating the coupling model for the intermediate stage of the cascade. Predictions of final defect numbers and cluster sizes are found in line with the results from conventional electronic stopping-based methods, while significantly reducing the theoretical uncertainty in the outcomes of conventional models stemming from arbitrary choices of thresholds for different coupling terms. Our results represent a notable improvement in cascade damage predictions in nickel, providing validation of the electron density-dependent coupling model for radiation damage simulations in general. The results lead us to propose an interpretation of the electronic energy losses in the intermediate regime of velocities, where we find an effectively nonlinear dissipation.

Crystal defects↗
DOE OSTI2018

Elucidation of microstructural evolution of beta-type titanium alloy joint during friction stir welding using liquid CO2 cooling

Highlights: • Microstructural evolution during FSW was elucidated along real material flow line. • Stirring and cooling stages of FSW can be investigated separately using CO{sub 2} cooling. • In stirring stage, discontinuous dynamic recrystallization predominantly occurred. • In cooling stage, static recovery and grain growth mainly occurred. - Abstract: Normal friction stir welding (FSW) and liquid CO{sub 2} cooling FSW were conducted on the β-type Ti-15V-3Cr-3Al-3Sn (Ti-15-3, mass%) alloy plates under a processing condition. Since liquid CO{sub 2} cooling with high cooling efficiency can freeze the microstructure formed during the high-temperature stirring stage of FSW, it is possible to separately elucidate the microstructural evolution of the Ti-15-3 alloy during the high-temperature stirring stage and the post-stirring cooling stage in FSW. The deformation temperature during the normal and the CO{sub 2} cooling FSW was similar in the top and the bottom of stir zone, which is considered to be owing to that the top and bottom are located adjacent to the heat sources, i.e., the shoulder and probe surfaces. In the high-temperature stirring stage of FSW, discontinuous dynamic recrystallization predominantly occurred, and a simple shear texture generated in an early stage of the material flow around the tool, then the microstructure started to evolve steadily after a steady-state dynamic recrystallization. In the post-stirring cooling stage of FSW, static recovery and grain growth were found to mainly occur within the stir zone.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗