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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 361 records · Page 20

The implementation of the graphics of program EAGLE: A numerical grid generation code on NASA Langley SNS computer system

Program EAGLE (Eglin Arbitrary Geometry Implicit Euler) Numerical Grid Generation System is a composite (multi-block) algebraic or elliptic grid generation system designed to discretize the domain in and/or around any arbitrarily shaped three dimensional regions. This system combines a boundary conforming surface generation scheme and includes plotting routines designed to take full advantage of the DISSPLA Graphics Package (Version 9.0). Program EAGLE is written to compile and execute efficiently on any Cray machine with or without solid state disk (SSD) devices. Also, the code uses namelist inputs which are supported by all Cray machines using the FORTRAN compiler CFT77. The namelist inputs makes it easier for the user to understand the inputs and operation of Program EAGLE. EAGLE's numerical grid generator is constructed in the following form: main program, EGG (executive routine); subroutine SURFAC (surface generation routine); subroutine GRID (grid generation routine); and subroutine GRDPLOT (grid plotting routines). The EAGLE code was modified to use on the NASA-LaRC SNS computer (Cray 2S) system. During the modification a conversion program was developed for the output data of EAGLE's subroutine GRID to permit the data to be graphically displayed by IRIS workstations, using Plot3D. The code of program EAGLE was modified to make operational subroutine GRDPLOT (using DI-3000 Graphics Software Packages) on the NASA-LaRC SNS Computer System. How to implement graphically, the output data of subroutine GRID was determined on any NASA-LaRC graphics terminal that has access to the SNS Computer System DI-300 Graphics Software Packages. A Quick Reference User Guide was developed for the use of program EAGLE on the NASA-LaRC SNS Computer System. One or more application program(s) was illustrated using program EAGLE on the NASA LaRC SNS Computer System, with emphasis on graphics illustrations.

Houston, Johnny L.↗

Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) Engineering Test Facility (ETF) 200 MWe power plant. Conceptual Design Engineering Report (CDER). Volume 4: Supplementary engineering data

The reference conceptual design of the Magnetohydrodynamic Engineering Test Facility (ETF), a prototype 200 MWe coal-fired electric generating plant designed to demonstrate the commercial feasibility of open cycle MHD is summarized. Main elements of the design are identified and explained, and the rationale behind them is reviewed. Major systems and plant facilities are listed and discussed. Construction cost and schedule estimates, and identification of engineering issues that should be reexamined are also given. The latest (1980-1981) information from the MHD technology program are integrated with the elements of a conventional steam power electric generating plant. Supplementary Engineering Data (Issues, Background, Performance Assurance Plan, Design Details, System Design Descriptions and Related Drawings) is presented.

Source record↗

Synthesis: Intertwining product and process

Synthesis is a proposed systematic process for rapidly creating different members of a program family. Family members are described by variations in their requirements. Requirements variations are mapped to variations on a standard design to generate production quality code and documentation. The approach is made feasible by using principles underlying design for change. Synthesis incorporates ideas from rapid prototyping, application generators, and domain analysis. The goals of Synthesis and the Synthesis process are discussed. The technology needed and the feasibility of the approach are also briefly discussed. The status of current efforts to implement Synthesis methodologies is presented.

Weiss, David M.↗

Study of SEP solar array modifications

The feasibility of modifying the solar electric propulsion (SEP) 66 watt/kilogram, 12.5 kilowatt solar array blanket design to incorporate ultra-low mass blanket technology and to generate conceptual design data by modifying the SEP solar array design to 17.5kW power output was performed. Five modified designs were developed, which substituted present SEP solar array design components with one or more of 50 micron thick solar cells, 75 micron cell coverglasses, and a different blanket substrate developed by GE. A parametric analysis was performed to determine the solar array mast least weight and blanket tension required to maintain a minimum natural frequency of 0.04 Hz. The solar array wing assembly weights and power outputs were calculated, and preliminary cost estimates for flight hardware development, fabrication and qualification were made for each case studied.

Antonides, G. J.↗

A bandwidth compressive modulation system using multi-amplitude minimum shift keying /MAMSK/

A bandwidth compressive modem making use of multi-amplitude minimum shift keying (MAMSK) has been designed and implemented in a laboratory environment at microwave frequencies. This system achieves a substantial bandwidth reduction over binary PSK and operates within 0.5 dB of theoretical performance. A number of easily implemented microwave transmitters have been designed to generate the required set of 16 signals. The receiver has been designed to work at 1 Mbit/s and contains the necessary phase tracking, AGC, and symbol synchronization loops as well as a lock detector, SNR estimator and provisions for differential decoding. This paper describes this entire system and presents the experimental results.

Weber, W. J., III↗

Emergent Aerospace Designs Using Negotiating Autonomous Agents

This paper presents a distributed design methodology where designs emerge as a result of the negotiations between different stake holders in the process, such as cost, performance, reliability, etc. The proposed methodology uses autonomous agents to represent design decision makers. Each agent influences specific design parameters in order to maximize their utility. Since the design parameters depend on the aggregate demand of all the agents in the system, design agents need to negotiate with others in the market economy in order to reach an acceptable utility value. This paper addresses several interesting research issues related to distributed design architectures. First, we present a flexible framework which facilitates decomposition of the design problem. Second, we present overview of a market mechanism for generating acceptable design configurations. Finally, we integrate learning mechanisms in the design process to reduce the computational overhead.

Deshmukh, Abhijit↗

Novel Thermal Powered Technology for UUV Persistent Surveillance

Buoyancy Generation: Various technology attempts include melting a wax, which pushes directly against a piston (U.S. Patent 5,291,847) or against a bladder (Webb Research), using ammonia or Freon 21 (U.S. Patent 5,303,552), and using solar heat to expand an oil (www.space.com, April, 10, 2002). All these heat-activated buoyancy control designs have thus far proved impractical and have ultimately failed during repeated cycling in ocean testing. JPL has demonstrated fully reversible 10 C encapsulated wax phase change, which can be used to change buoyancy without electrical hydraulic pumps. This technique has greatly improved heat transfer and much better reversibility than previous designs. Power Generation: Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) systems have been designed that transfer deep, cold sea water to the surface to generate electricity using turbine cycles with ammonia or water as the working fluid. JPL has designed several UUV systems: 1) Using a propeller water turbine to generate power on a gliding submersible; 2) Employing a compact CO2 turbine cycle powered by moving through thermoclines; and 3) Using melted wax to directly produce power through a piston-geared generator.

submersible↗

Experimental Evaluation of Transonic Stators Preliminary Analysis and Design Report

A flow-generating rotor has been designed under NASA contract NAS3-7614 to enable three transonic stators to be tested. The stators were designed by NASA in conjunction with the Contractor. Design analyses were conducted and the results indicate that the rotor will produce the required inlet flow to the stators. Structural and vibration analyses indicate that resonances and critical speeds occur outside the operating range and that the component stresses will be well within the capabilities of the materials used. Design details of the flow generation rotor and the three transonic stators are presented.

INLET FLOW↗

EHD analysis of and experiments on pumping Leningrader seals

Analysis and design charts have been generated to provide design data for Pumping Leningrader Reciprocating Rod Seals. The analytical treatment divides the seal into three regions: an inlet zone, induced with the use of an expansion ring, a contact zone, and an exit zone. Complete solutions have been obtained by matching elasticity equations with hydrodynamic theory. Experiments, although of a limited nature, did demonstrate the ability of the seal design analysis to provide viable seals.

Eusepi, M. W.↗

Distributed operating system for NASA ground stations

NASA ground stations are characterized by ever changing support requirements, so application software is developed and modified on a continuing basis. A distributed operating system was designed to optimize the generation and maintenance of those applications. Unusual features include automatic program generation from detailed design graphs, on-line software modification in the testing phase, and the incorporation of a relational database within a real-time, distributed system.

Doyle, John F.↗

Multivariable control of the Space Shuttle Remote Manipulator System using linearization by state feedback

This paper demonstrates an approach to nonlinear control system design that uses linearization by state feedback to allow faster maneuvering of payloads by the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS). A nonlinear feedback law is defined to cancel the nonlinear plant dynamics so that a linear controller can be designed for the SRMS. First a nonlinear design model was generated via SIMULINK. This design model included nonlinear arm dynamics derived from the Lagrangian approach, linearized servo model, and linearized gearbox model. The current SRMS position hold controller was implemented on this system. Next, a trajectory was defined using a rigid body kinematics SRMS tool, KRMS. The maneuver was simulated. Finally, higher bandwidth controllers were developed. Results of the new controllers were compared with the existing SRMS automatic control modes for the Space Station Freedom Mission Build 4 Payload extended on the SRMS.

Gettman, Chang-Ching L.↗

Design and Analysis of Turbines for Space Applications

In order to mitigate the risk of rocket propulsion development, efficient, accurate, detailed fluid dynamics analysis of the turbomachinery is necessary. This analysis is used for component development, design parametrics, performance prediction, and environment definition. To support this requirement, a task was developed at NASAh4arshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to improve turbine aerodynamic performance through the application of advanced design and analysis tools. There are four major objectives of this task: 1) to develop, enhance, and integrate advanced turbine aerodynamic design and analysis tools; 2) to develop the methodology for application of the analytical techniques; 3) to demonstrate the benefits of the advanced turbine design procedure through its application to a relevant turbine design point; and 4) to verify the optimized design and analysis with testing. The turbine chosen on which to demonstrate the procedure was a supersonic design suitable for a reusable launch vehicle (RLV). The hot gas path and blading were redesigned to obtain an increased efficiency. The redesign of the turbine was conducted with a consideration of system requirements, realizing that a highly efficient turbine that, for example, significantly increases engine weight, is of limited benefit. Both preliminary and detailed designs were considered. To generate an improved design, one-dimensional (1D) design and analysis tools, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), response surface methodology (RSM), and neural nets (NN) were used.

Griffin, Lisa W.↗

Automated Finite Element Analysis of Elastically-Tailored Plates

A procedure for analyzing and designing elastically tailored composite laminates using the STAGS finite element solver has been presented. The methodology used to produce the elastic tailoring, namely computer-controlled steering of unidirectionally reinforced composite material tows, has been reduced to a handful of design parameters along with a selection of construction methods. The generality of the tow-steered ply definition provides the user a wide variety of options for laminate design, which can be automatically incorporated with any finite element model that is composed of STAGS shell elements. Furthermore, the variable stiffness parameterization is formulated so that manufacturability can be assessed during the design process, plus new ideas using tow steering concepts can be easily integrated within the general framework of the elastic tailoring definitions. Details for the necessary implementation of the tow-steering definitions within the STAGS hierarchy is provided, and the format of the ply definitions is discussed in detail to provide easy access to the elastic tailoring choices. Integration of the automated STAGS solver with laminate design software has been demonstrated, so that the large design space generated by the tow-steering options can be traversed effectively. Several design problems are presented which confirm the usefulness of the design tool as well as further establish the potential of tow-steered plies for laminate design.

Jegley, Dawn C.↗

Boundary-Layer-Ingesting Inlet Flow Control

This paper gives an overview of a research study conducted in support of the small-scale demonstration of an active flow control system for a boundary-layer-ingesting (BLI) inlet. The effectiveness of active flow control in reducing engine inlet circumferential distortion was assessed using a 2.5% scale model of a 35% boundary-layer-ingesting flush-mounted, offset, diffusing inlet. This experiment was conducted in the NASA Langley 0.3-meter Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel at flight Mach numbers with a model inlet specifically designed for this type of testing. High mass flow actuators controlled the flow through distributed control jets providing the active flow control. A vortex generator point design configuration was also tested for comparison purposes and to provide a means to examine a hybrid vortex generator and control jets configuration. Measurements were made of the onset boundary layer, the duct surface static pressures, and the mass flow through the duct and the actuators. The distortion and pressure recovery were determined by 40 total pressure measurements on 8 rake arms each separated by 45 degrees and were located at the aerodynamic interface plane. The test matrix was limited to a maximum free-stream Mach number of 0.85 with scaled mass flows through the inlet for that condition. The data show that the flow control jets alone can reduce circumferential distortion (DPCPavg) from 0.055 to about 0.015 using about 2.5% of inlet mass flow. The vortex generators also reduced the circumferential distortion from 0.055 to 0.010 near the inlet mass flow design point. Lower inlet mass flow settings with the vortex generator configuration produced higher distortion levels that were reduced to acceptable levels using a hybrid vortex generator/control jets configuration that required less than 1% of the inlet mass flow.

Owens, Lewis R.↗

Boundary-Layer-Ingesting Inlet Flow Control

This paper gives an overview of a research study conducted in support of the small-scale demonstration of an active flow control system for a boundary-layer-ingesting (BLI) inlet. The effectiveness of active flow control in reducing engine inlet circumferential distortion was assessed using a 2.5% scale model of a 35% boundary-layer-ingesting flush-mounted, offset, diffusing inlet. This experiment was conducted in the NASA Langley 0.3-meter Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel at flight Mach numbers with a model inlet specifically designed for this type of testing. High mass flow actuators controlled the flow through distributed control jets providing the active flow control. A vortex generator point design configuration was also tested for comparison purposes and to provide a means to examine a hybrid vortex generator and control jets configuration. Measurements were made of the onset boundary layer, the duct surface static pressures, and the mass flow through the duct and the actuators. The distortion and pressure recovery were determined by 40 total pressure measurements on 8 rake arms each separated by 45 degrees and were located at the aerodynamic interface plane. The test matrix was limited to a maximum free-stream Mach number of 0.85 with scaled mass flows through the inlet for that condition. The data show that the flow control jets alone can reduce circumferential distortion (DPCP(sub avg)) from 0.055 to about 0.015 using about 2.5% of inlet mass flow. The vortex generators also reduced the circumferential distortion from 0.055 to 0.010 near the inlet mass flow design point. Lower inlet mass flow settings with the vortex generator configuration produced higher distortion levels that were reduced to acceptable levels using a hybrid vortex generator/control jets configuration that required less than 1% of the inlet mass flow.

Owens, Lewis R.↗

Axiomatic Design of Space Life Support Systems

Systems engineering is an organized way to design and develop systems, but the initial system design concepts are usually seen as the products of unexplained but highly creative intuition. Axiomatic design is a mathematical approach to produce and compare system architectures. The two axioms are:- Maintain the independence of the functional requirements.- Minimize the information content (or complexity) of the design. The first axiom generates good system design structures and the second axiom ranks them. The closed system human life support architecture now implemented in the International Space Station has been essentially unchanged for fifty years. In contrast, brief missions such as Apollo and Shuttle have used open loop life support. As mission length increases, greater system closure and increased recycling become more cost-effective.Closure can be gradually increased, first recycling humidity condensate, then hygiene wastewater, urine, carbon dioxide, and water recovery brine. A long term space station or planetary base could implement nearly full closure, including food production. Dynamic systems theory supports the axioms by showing that fewer requirements, fewer subsystems, and fewer interconnections all increase system stability. If systems are too complex and interconnected, reliability is reduced and operations and maintenance become more difficult. Using axiomatic design shows how the mission duration and other requirements determine the best life support system design including the degree of closure.

Axiomatic design↗