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At least 307 records · Page 17

Applications of a conservative zonal scheme to transient and geometrically complex problems

A conservative zoning technique, wherein the flow field for a finite-difference calculation is divided into several regions to simplify grid generation, is discussed and is applied in the solution of a two-dimensional problem of complex topology. Calculations are performed on two zonal, or patched, grid systems for the supersonic flow over a double-airfoil configuration. The solution is smooth and continuous across the zonal interfaces, and shock waves pass through the boundaries without distortion. In addition, the time-accuracy of the zonal-boundary method is verified by a two-zone cyclinder calculation with a stationary inner and a rotating outer mesh.The feasibility of the zonal approach for use in the solution of geometrically complex and unsteady problems is thus demonstrated.

Hessenius, K. A.↗

An implicit, conservative, zonal-boundary scheme for Euler equation calculations

A zonal, or patched, grid approach is one in which the flow region of interest is divided into subregions which are then discretized independently, using existing grid generators. The equations of motion are integrated in each subregion in conjunction with zonal boundary schemes which allow proper information transfer across interfaces that separate subregions. The zonal approach greatly simplifies the treatment of complex geometries and also the addition of grid points to selected regions of the flow. A conservative, zonal boundary condition that could be used with explicit schemes was extended so that it can be used with existing second order accurate implicit integration schemes such as the Beam-Warming and Osher schemes. In the test case considered, the implicit schemes increased the rate of convergence considerably (by a factor of about 30 over that of the explicit scheme). Results demonstrating the time accuracy of the zonal scheme and the feasibility of performing calculations on zones that move relative to each other are also presented.

Rai, M. M.↗

A 3-dimensional mass conserving element for compressible flows

A variety of finite element schemes has been used in the numerical approximation of compressible flows particularly in underwater acoustics. In many instances instabilities have been generated due to the lack of mass conservation. Two- and three-dimensional elements are developed which avoid these problems.

Fix, G.↗

An integrated GIS/remote sensing data base in North Cache soil conservation district, Utah: A pilot project for the Utah Department of Agriculture's RIMS (Resource Inventory and Monitoring System)

A basic geographic information system (GIS) for the North Cache Soil Conservation District (SCD) was sought for selected resource problems. Since the resource management issues in the North Cache SCD are very complex, it is not feasible in the initial phase to generate all the physical, socioeconomic, and political baseline data needed for resolving all management issues. A selection of critical varables becomes essential. Thus, there are foud specific objectives: (1) assess resource management needs and determine which resource factors ae most fundamental for building a beginning data base; (2) evaluate the variety of data gathering and analysis techniques for the resource factors selected; (3) incorporate the resulting data into a useful and efficient digital data base; and (4) demonstrate the application of the data base to selected real world resoource management issues.

Wheeler, D. J.↗

A convergent series expansion for hyperbolic systems of conservation laws

The discontinuities piecewise analytic initial value problem for a wide class of conservation laws is considered which includes the full three-dimensional Euler equations. The initial interaction at an arbitrary curved surface is resolved in time by a convergent series. Among other features the solution exhibits shock, contact, and expansion waves as well as sound waves propagating on characteristic surfaces. The expansion waves correspond to he one-dimensional rarefactions but have a more complicated structure. The sound waves are generated in place of zero strength shocks, and they are caused by mismatches in derivatives.

Harabetian, E.↗

Energy conservation in the transient response of nonlinear beam vibration problems subjected to pulse loading - A numerical approach

The nonlinear vibration response of a double cantilevered beam subjected to pulse loading over a central sector is studied. The initial response is generated in detail to ascertain the energetics of the response. The total energy is used as a gauge of the stability and accuracy of the solution. It is shown that to obtain accurate and stable initial solutions an extremely high spatial and time resolution is required. This requirement was only evident through an examination of the energy of the system. It is proposed, therefore, to use the total energy of the system as a necessary stability and accuracy criterion for the nonlinear response of conservative systems. The results also demonstrate that even for moderate nonlinearities, the effects of membrane forces have a significant influence on the system. It is also shown that while the fundamental response is contained in a first mode envelope, the fluctuations caused by the higher order modes must be resolved.

Moyer, E. T., Jr.↗

Breakdown of the conservative potential equation

The conservative full-potential equation is used to study transonic flow over five airfoil sections. The results of the study indicate that once shock waves are present in the flow, the qualitative approximation is different from that observed with the Euler equations. The difference in behavior of the potential eventually leads to multiple solutions.

Salas, M. D.↗

An implicit, conservative, zonal-boundary scheme for Euler equation calculations

A 'zonal', or 'patched-grid', approach is one in which the flow region of interest is divided into subregions which are then discretized independently, using existing grid generators. The equations of motion are integrated in each subregion in conjunction with zonal-boundary schemes which allow proper information transfer across interfaces that separate subregions. The zonal approach greatly simplifies the treatment of complex geometries and also the addition of grid points to selected regions of the flow. In this study a conservative, zonal-boundary condition that could be used with explicit schemes has been extended so that it can be used with existing second-order-accurate implicit integration schemes such as the Beam-Warming and Osher schemes. In the test case considered, the implicit schemes increased the rate of convergence considerably (by a factor of about 30 over that of the explicit scheme). Results demonstrating the time-accuracy of the zonal scheme and the feasibility of performing calculations on zones that move relative to each other are also presented.

Rai, M. M.↗

Identifiability of conservative linear mechanical systems

With a sufficiently great number of sensors and actuators, any finite dimensional dynamic system is identifiable on the basis of input-output data. It is presently indicated that, for conservative nongyroscopic linear mechanical systems, the number of sensors and actuators required for identifiability is very large, where 'identifiability' is understood as a unique determination of the mass and stiffness matrices. The required number of sensors and actuators drops by a factor of two, given a relaxation of the identifiability criterion so that identification can fail only if the system parameters being identified lie in a set of measure zero. When the mass matrix is known a priori, this additional information does not significantly affect the requirements for guaranteed identifiability, though the number of parameters to be determined is reduced by a factor of two.

Sirlin, S. W.↗

Fuel conservative guidance for shipboard landing of powered-lift STOL aircraft

A computer-simulation study was undertaken to investigate the application of Fuel Conservative Guidance (FCG) techniques, developed at NASA Ames Research Center, to improve the fuel efficiency and minimize recovery time of powered-lift short-takeoff-and-landing (STOL) airplanes operating from aircraft carriers at sea. The FCG system consists of a set of algorithms whose coefficients and parameters limits match those of the Quiet Short-Haul Research Aircraft. When a flightpath is specified by a set of initial conditions for the aircraft and a set of positional waypoints with associated airspeeds, the FCG synthesizes the necessary guidance commands to capture the specified path at any specified waypoint and to optimize fuel consumption and time fo fly along the path. Closed-form expressions are developed for calculating the altitude profile synthesized by the algorithm. Results of this simulation study show that when restrictions on the approach flightpath imposed for manual operation are removed completely, fuel consumption during the approach was reduced by as much as 38 percent (434 lb of fuel) and the time required to fly the flightpath was reduced by as much as 28 percent (209 sec). Savings because of FCG were produced by: (1) shortening the total flight time and distance, and (2) keeping the airspeed high as long as possible to minimize time spent flying in a powered-lift mode.

Warner, D. N., Jr.↗

Breakdown of the conservative potential equation

The conservative full-potential equation is used to study transonic flow over five airfoil sections. The results of the study indicate that once shock are present in the flow, the qualitative approximation is different from that observed with the Euler equations. The difference in behavior of the potential eventually leads to multiple solutions.

Salas, M. D.↗

Conservation laws for relativistic guiding-center plasma

A covariant relativistic formulation is used for self-consistent dynamics of a guiding-center plasma in an electromagnetic field. The reciprocal interactions appear as a magnetization in Maxwell's equations and as field gradient forces in the guiding-center dynamical equation. The ten local conservation laws corresponding to translational and rotational invariance of the Minkowski space are expressed in terms of a symmetric energy-momentum tensor.

Similon, P. L.↗

Numerical modeling of rotor flows with a conservative form of the full-potential equations

A computer program has been developed to solve a three-dimensional conservative formulation of the full-potential equation. Its ability to solve transonic, unsteady rotor flows is demonstrated by comparison to forward flight non-lifting pressure data at low to moderate advance ratios. A 'split potential' formulation has been added to the code which incorporates known vorticity fields into the full-potential calculation. Using this methodology, rotor wake contributions have been incorporated into the computer code. Pressure results are presented for lifting rotors in hover. These results are compared to experimental data as well as to other predictions.

Strawn, R. C.↗

Computation of separated flow on a ramp using the space marching conservative supra-characteristics method

Steady, hypersonic viscous flows over compression corners with streamwise separation have been computed using the space marching Conservative Supra-Characteristics Method (CSCM-S) of Lombard. The CSCM-S method permits stable space marching of the parabolized Navier-Stokes (PNS) equations through large separated flow regions. The present method has been used to compute surface pressure, heat transfer, and skin friction coefficients for two compression corner cases studied experimentally by Holden and Moselle. The computed results compare favorably with previous Navier-Stokes results and the experimental data. The present method has also been compared with the conventional Beam-Warming scheme for solving the PNS equations. Comparison are made for accuracy, computer time, and computer storage.

Stookesberry, D. C.↗

Three-dimensional, conservative, Euler computations using patched grid systems and explicit methods

The method of 'zonal approach' (in which the flow field is partitioned into regions with independent grids) for computation of flow over complex geometries, such as aircraft configuration, requires application of a grid-interfacing procedure. A three-dimensional conservative, boundary scheme for patched grids, applicable in generalized coordinates for arbitrary point distributions on a planar zonal surface is presented. The computation technique is derived within the framework of the Osher (1983) upwind scheme, using Euler equations. The three-dimensional interfacing method is applied to the computation of flow about a wing-canard combination using a two-zone, patched grid.

Hessenius, K. A.↗

Numerical advection by conservation of second-order moments

A new, accurate, and nondiffusive method for three-dimensional advection of trace species is presented. The method preserves tracer structures by conserving the second-order moments of the spatial distribution of tracer during advection. Upstream transport and second-order tracer distribution are described, and the moments of the tracer distribution about the center of a grid box are formally defined and related to the polynomial distribution. Formulas are presented which describe how the moments of a grid box are decomposed into a unique set of moments centered about each subbox and how they are reassembled into new grid boxes. A one-dimensional example if tracer transport is given, and limits necessary to maintain positive tracer concentrations are derived. The accuracy and stability of this method are analytically examined, and numerical experiments testing the effective resolution are presented. The method is compared with other methods for numerical advection of tracers.

Prather, M. J.↗

Semi-implicit and fully implicit shock-capturing methods for hyperbolic conservation laws with stiff source terms

Some numerical aspects of finite-difference algorithms for nonlinear multidimensional hyperbolic conservation laws with stiff nonhomogenous (source) terms are discussed. If the stiffness is entirely dominated by the source term, a semi-implicit shock-capturing method is proposed provided that the Jacobian of the soruce terms possesses certain properties. The proposed semi-implicit method can be viewed as a variant of the Bussing and Murman point-implicit scheme with a more appropriate numerical dissipation for the computation of strong shock waves. However, if the stiffness is not solely dominated by the source terms, a fully implicit method would be a better choice. The situation is complicated by problems that are higher than one dimension, and the presence of stiff source terms further complicates the solution procedures for alternating direction implicit (ADI) methods. Several alternatives are discussed. The primary motivation for constructing these schemes was to address thermally and chemically nonequilibrium flows in the hypersonic regime. Due to the unique structure of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors for fluid flows of this type, the computation can be simplified, thus providing a more efficient solution procedure than one might have anticipated.

Yee, H. C.↗