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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

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NASA NTRS1997

Nonclassical Flight Control for Unhealthy Aircraft

This research set out to investigate flight control of aircraft which has sustained damage in regular flight control effectors, due to jammed control surfaces or complete loss of hydraulic power. It is recognized that in such an extremely difficult situation unconventional measures may need to be taken to regain control and stability of the aircraft. Propulsion controlled aircraft (PCA) concept, initiated at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. represents a ground-breaking effort in this direction. In this approach, the engine is used as the only flight control effector in the rare event of complete loss of normal flight control system. Studies and flight testing conducted at NASA Dryden have confirmed the feasibility of the PCA concept. During the course of this research (March 98, 1997 to November 30, 1997), a comparative study has been done using the full nonlinear model of an F-18 aircraft. Linear controllers and nonlinear controllers based on a nonlinear predictive control method have been designed for normal flight control system and propulsion controlled aircraft. For the healthy aircraft with normal flight control, the study shows that an appropriately designed linear controller can perform as well as a nonlinear controller. On the other hand. when the normal flight control is lost and the engine is the only available means of flight control, a nonlinear PCA controller can significantly increase the size of the recoverable region in which the stability of the unstable aircraft can be attained by using only thrust modulation. The findings and controller design methods have been summarized in an invited paper entitled.

Lu, Ping↗

NASA NTRS2020

Juncture Flow Computations using kL-Based Turbulence Models

The development and implementation of kL-based Reynolds-Average Navier-Stokes (RANS) two-equation turbulence models are reported in this paper. The kL model is based on Abdol-Hamid's closure and Menter's modification to Rotta's two-equation model. Rotta showed that a reliable transport equation can be formed from the turbulence length scale L, and the turbulence kinetic energy k. Rotta's kL equation is well suited for a term-by-term modeling and displays useful features compared to other scale formulations. One of the important differences is the inclusion of higher-order velocity derivatives in the source terms of the scale equation. This can enhance the ability of RANS solvers to simulate unsteady flows in URANS mode. The k-kL scheme has been modified to include the Algebraic Reynolds Stress Model (ARSM) and the Quadratic Constitutive Relation (QCR) as nonlinear models. These models have gone through extensive validations using two-dimensional benchmark problems. The present study documents the application of the k-kL schemes to simulate flow around the Juncture Flow Model (JFM). The k-kL prediction results show generally good comparisons with measurements. The results from this formulation are similar to, or better than results using the SA-RC-QCR2000 two-equation turbulence model. The ARSM and the QCR formulations of k-kL show promise with a similar level of computational resources as basic two-equation turbulence models.

K S Abdol-Hamid↗

NASA NTRS2016

Model-Based Engine Control Architecture with an Extended Kalman Filter

This paper discusses the design and implementation of an extended Kalman filter (EKF) for model-based engine control (MBEC). Previously proposed MBEC architectures feature an optimal tuner Kalman Filter (OTKF) to produce estimates of both unmeasured engine parameters and estimates for the health of the engine. The success of this approach relies on the accuracy of the linear model and the ability of the optimal tuner to update its tuner estimates based on only a few sensors. Advances in computer processing are making it possible to replace the piece-wise linear model, developed off-line, with an on-board nonlinear model running in real-time. This will reduce the estimation errors associated with the linearization process, and is typically referred to as an extended Kalman filter. The nonlinear extended Kalman filter approach is applied to the Commercial Modular Aero-Propulsion System Simulation 40,000 (C-MAPSS40k) and compared to the previously proposed MBEC architecture. The results show that the EKF reduces the estimation error, especially during transient operation.

engine control↗

NASA NTRS2003

Nonlinear Flutter Aspects of the Flexible HSCT Semispan Model

The nonlinear aspects that lead to the flutter of an High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) Flexible Semispan Model are analyzed. A hierarchy of spectral moments was used to determine the characteristics of the aerodynamic loading and structural strains and motions. The results show that the frequency of the bending motion of the wing varied significantly as the Mach number was increased between 0.90 and 0.97. Examination of the pressure coefficients in terms of mean value and fluctuations showed that the flow characteristics over the wing changed significantly around a Mach number of 0.97. A strong shock was identified near the trailing edge. Nonlinear analysis of the pressure fluctuations, under these conditions, showed nonlinear coupling involving low-frequency components at pressure locations where the mean value was at a local minimum. This shows that the aerodynamic forces acting on the model had nonlinearly coupled frequency components. The results presented here show how nonlinear analysis tools can be used to identify nonlinear aspects of the flutter phenomenon which are needed in the validation of nonlinear computational methodologies. Keywords: Nonlinear aeroelasticity, Flutter, Bispectrum.

Hajj, Muhammad R.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Extension of a nonlinear systems theory to general-frequency unsteady transonic aerodynamic responses

A methodology for modeling nonlinear unsteady aerodynamic responses, for subsequent use in aeroservoelastic analysis and design, using the Volterra-Wiener theory of nonlinear systems is presented. The methodology is extended to predict nonlinear unsteady aerodynamic responses of arbitrary frequency. The Volterra-Wiener theory uses multidimensional convolution integrals to predict the response of nonlinear systems to arbitrary inputs. The CAP-TSD (Computational Aeroelasticity Program - Transonic Small Disturbance) code is used to generate linear and nonlinear unit impulse responses that correspond to each of the integrals for a rectangular wing with a NACA 0012 section with pitch and plunge degrees of freedom. The computed kernels then are used to predict linear and nonlinear unsteady aerodynamic responses via convolution and compared to responses obtained using the CAP-TSD code directly. The results indicate that the approach can be used to predict linear unsteady aerodynamic responses exactly for any input amplitude or frequency at a significant cost savings. Convolution of the nonlinear terms results in nonlinear unsteady aerodynamic responses that compare reasonably well with those computed using the CAP-TSD code directly but at significant computational cost savings.

Silva, Walter A.↗

DOE OSTI2023

Comparative Study of Nonlinear Black-Box Modeling for Power Electronics Converters

With the increasing penetration level of renewable sources and power electronics loads in modern power systems, accurate and computationally efficient models are needed. Black-box model (BBM) could be a useful method in such systems. However, not very extensive research efforts have been made for power electronics BBM so far, and existing works mostly focus on steady-state operation, neglecting the important transient behaviors such as load transients, voltage transients, and faults. This paper presents a comparative study of three commonly used nonlinear BBM approaches for transient behaviors of power electronics converters. Comparison methods are proposed, and the evaluations are conducted under different transients using a grid-connected single-phase photovoltaic inverter. The findings of this study provide valuable references for further feasibility investigations on implementing BBMs in large-scale power electronics-rich power systems.

Qiao, Liang↗

DOE OSTI2024

Nonlinear control of the minimum safety factor in tokamaks by optimal allocation of spatially moving electron cyclotron current drive

The minimum value of the safety factor profile is related to the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability of the plasma confined in a tokamak. Therefore, active control of the minimum safety factor may mitigate MHD instabilities that can degrade or even terminate plasma confinement. Typically, in most tokamak scenarios, the minimum safety factor evolves spatially with time, i.e., the location at which the safety factor achieves the minimum value changes with time. In addition to the inherent nonlinearities in the minimum safety factor evolution, its spatial variation makes the control design challenging. In particular, complexity in control design may arise from the need for time-dependent nonlinear models that account for spatial variation of the minimum safety factor. Furthermore, the minimum safety factor may drift to locations where the actuator authority is low. The problem of minimum safety factor control with target location tracking and moving electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) is addressed in this work. A nonlinear time-dependent model that incorporates the spatial variation of the minimum safety factor is presented. A nonlinear controller based on optimal feedback linearization is developed to track a target minimum safety factor. The proposed controller treats the ECCD position as a controllable variable. In other words, the controller prescribes the ECCD position (in addition to the non-inductive powers) in real time based on an optimal criterion that is defined a priori. This work also presents the steps necessary to integrate the minimum safety factor controller with a total energy controller to achieve multiple control objectives simultaneously. In conclusion, the proposed integrated control algorithm is tested using nonlinear simulations in the Control Oriented Transport SIMulator (COTSIM) for a DIII-D tokamak scenario.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

NASA NTRS2016

Model-Based Engine Control Architecture with an Extended Kalman Filter

This paper discusses the design and implementation of an extended Kalman filter (EKF) for model-based engine control (MBEC). Previously proposed MBEC architectures feature an optimal tuner Kalman Filter (OTKF) to produce estimates of both unmeasured engine parameters and estimates for the health of the engine. The success of this approach relies on the accuracy of the linear model and the ability of the optimal tuner to update its tuner estimates based on only a few sensors. Advances in computer processing are making it possible to replace the piece-wise linear model, developed off-line, with an on-board nonlinear model running in real-time. This will reduce the estimation errors associated with the linearization process, and is typically referred to as an extended Kalman filter. The non-linear extended Kalman filter approach is applied to the Commercial Modular Aero-Propulsion System Simulation 40,000 (C-MAPSS40k) and compared to the previously proposed MBEC architecture. The results show that the EKF reduces the estimation error, especially during transient operation.

engine control↗

DOE OSTI2023

Theory and Implementation of the Spectacular Nonlinear Viscoelastic Constitutive Model

This report is a comprehensive guide to the nonlinear viscoelastic Spectacular model, which is an isotropic, thermo-rheologically simple constitutive model for glass-forming materials, such as amorphous polymers. Spectacular is intermediate in complexity to the previous PEC and SPEC models (Potential Energy Clock and Simplified Potential Energy Clock models, respectively). The model form consists of two parts: a Helmholtz free energy functional and a nonlinear material clock that controls the rate of viscoelastic relaxation. The Helmholtz free energy is derived from a series expansion about a reference state. Expressions for the stress and entropy functionals are derived from the Helmholtz free energy following the Rational Mechanics approach. The material clock depends on a simplified expression for the potential energy, which itself is a functional of the temperature and strain histories. This report describes the thermo-mechanical theory of Spectacular, the numerical methods for time-integrating the model, model verification for its implementation in LAMÉ, a user guide for its implementation in LAMÉ, and ideas for future work. A number of appendices provide supplementary mathematical details and a description of the procedure used to derive the simplified potential energy from the full expression for the potential energy. The goal of this report is create a convenient point-of-entry for engineers who wish to learn more about Spectacular, but also to serve as a reference manual for advanced users of the model.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2022

Physics-Informed AI for Climate and Weather Risk Prediction (Final Report)

As part of the work Terrafuse developed 1) a model for wildfire risk in California, and 2) a model for downscaled wind fields from Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) numerical models. The wildfire model is based on 20 years of historical data and captures the dependence of wildfire incidence and spread on climatic, weather and land-use variables by training a machine learning model. Nonlinear relationships between input features are learned and expressed by the model and model transparency allows features to be ranked and interpreted. The fire model is of use for accurately predicting real-time daily and long-term wildfire risk for use cases in energy and insurance. The downscaled wind model is a spatio-temporal deep learning model that emulates the influence of high-resolution variables on wind speed, allowing coarse-resolution operational NWP models to be accurately expressed on fine grids at high resolution, with application to wind energy and weather forecasting.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1988

Rapid slewing of the orbiting Spacecraft Control Laboratory Experiment (SCOLE) using LQR techniques

The rotational equations of motion, describing the dynamics of the (rigidized) proposed orbiting Spacecraft Control Laboratory Experiment (SCOLE) during the station keeping phase, are derived using the Eulerian formulation. When the attitude angles (roll, pitch, and yaw) are assumed small, a stability analysis is conducted for the system. It is seen that the pitch equation decouples from the roll and yaw equations when the interface between the mast on the reflector is not offset or the offset is only along the Shuttle roll axis. When a second offset is introduced along the pitch axis of the system and when the gravity-gradient torques are present in the dynamics, the system assumes a new equilibrium position. The linear regulator theory is used to derive a control law for the linear model of the rigidized SCOLE. This law is applied to the nonlinear model of the same configuration of the system and preliminary single axis slewing maneuvers (20 deg amplitude) are simulated.

Diarra, Cheick M.↗

NASA NTRS2014

A Numerical and Experimental Study of Damage Growth in a Composite Laminate

The present study has three goals: (1) perform an experiment where a simple laminate damage process can be characterized in high detail; (2) evaluate the performance of existing commercially available laminate damage simulation tools by modeling the experiment; (3) observe and understand the underlying physics of damage in a composite honeycomb sandwich structure subjected to low-velocity impact. A quasi-static indentation experiment has been devised to provide detailed information about a simple mixed-mode damage growth process. The test specimens consist of an aluminum honeycomb core with a cross-ply laminate facesheet supported on a stiff uniform surface. When the sample is subjected to an indentation load, the honeycomb core provides support to the facesheet resulting in a gradual and stable damage growth process in the skin. This enables real time observation as a matrix crack forms, propagates through a ply, and then causes a delamination. Finite element analyses were conducted in ABAQUS/Explicit(TradeMark) 6.13 that used continuum and cohesive modeling techniques to simulate facesheet damage and a geometric and material nonlinear model to simulate core crushing. The high fidelity of the experimental data allows a detailed investigation and discussion of the accuracy of each numerical modeling approach.

McElroy, Mark↗

NASA NTRS2014

TPSAS-NF1676L-19616-DND

Mark McElroy↗

NASA NTRS1992

Renormalization group methods for the Reynolds stress transport equations

The Yakhot-Orszag renormalization group is used to analyze the pressure gradient-velocity correlation and return to isotropy terms in the Reynolds stress transport equations. The perturbation series for the relevant correlations, evaluated to lowest order in the epsilon-expansion of the Yakhot-Orszag theory, are infinite series in tensor product powers of the mean velocity gradient and its transpose. Formal lowest order Pade approximations to the sums of these series produce a rapid pressure strain model of the form proposed by Launder, Reece, and Rodi, and a return to isotropy model of the form proposed by Rotta. In both cases, the model constants are computed theoretically. The predicted Reynolds stress ratios in simple shear flows are evaluated and compared with experimental data. The possibility is discussed of deriving higher order nonlinear models by approximating the sums more accurately. The Yakhot-Orszag renormalization group provides a systematic procedure for deriving turbulence models. Typical applications have included theoretical derivation of the universal constants of isotropic turbulence theory, such as the Kolmogorov constant, and derivation of two equation models, again with theoretically computed constants and low Reynolds number forms of the equations. Recent work has applied this formalism to Reynolds stress modeling, previously in the form of a nonlinear eddy viscosity representation of the Reynolds stresses, which can be used to model the simplest normal stress effects. The present work attempts to apply the Yakhot-Orszag formalism to Reynolds stress transport modeling.

Rubinstein, R.↗

NASA NTRS1986

The design of a turboshaft speed governor using modern control techniques

The objectives of this program were: to verify the model of off schedule compressor variable geometry in the T700 turboshaft engine nonlinear model; to evaluate the use of the pseudo-random binary noise (PRBN) technique for obtaining engine frequency response data; and to design a high performance power turbine speed governor using modern control methods. Reduction of T700 engine test data generated at NASA-Lewis indicated that the off schedule variable geometry effects were accurate as modeled. Analysis also showed that the PRBN technique combined with the maximum likelihood model identification method produced a Bode frequency response that was as accurate as the response obtained from standard sinewave testing methods. The frequency response verified the accuracy of linear models consisting of engine partial derivatives and used for design. A power turbine governor was designed using the Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) method of full state feedback control. A Kalman filter observer was used to estimate helicopter main rotor blade velocity. Compared to the baseline T700 power turbine speed governor, the LQR governor reduced droop up to 25 percent for a 490 shaft horsepower transient in 0.1 sec simulating a wind gust, and up to 85 percent for a 700 shaft horsepower transient in 0.5 sec simulating a large collective pitch angle transient.

Delosreyes, G.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Robust control of nonlinear flexible multibody systems using quaternion feedback and dissipative compensation

Global asymptotic stability of a class of nonlinear multibody flexible space structures under dissipative compensation is established. Two cases are considered. The first case allows unlimited nonlinear motions of the entire system and uses quaternion feedback. The second case assumes that the central body motion is in the linear range although the other bodies can undergo unrestricted nonlinear motion. The stability is proved to be robust to the inherent modeling nonlinearities and uncertainties. Furthermore, for the second case, the stability is also shown to be robust to certain actuator and sensor nonlinearities. The stability proofs use the Lyapunov approach and exploit the inherent passivity of such systems. The results are applicable to a wide class of systems, including flexible space structures with articulated flexible appendages.

Kelkar, Atul G.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Robust control of nonlinear flexible multibody systems using quaternion feedback and dissipative compensation

Global asymptotic stability of a class of nonlinear multibody flexible space-stnuctures under dissipative compensation is established. Two cases are considered. The first case allows unlimited nonlinear motions of the entire system and uses quaternion feedback. The second case assumes that the central body motion is in the linear range although the other bodies can undergo unrestricted nonlinear motion. The stability is proved to be robust to the inherent modeling nonlinearities and uncertainties. Furthermore for the second case the stability is also shown to be robust to certain actuator and sensor nonlinearities. The stability proofs use the Lyapunov approach and exploit the inherent passivity of such systems. The results are applicable to a wide class of systems including flexible space-structures with articulated flexible appendages.

Kelkar, Atul G.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Efficient method for approximating nonlinear dynamics: applications to uncertainty propagation and estimation

High-order Taylor series expansions can be used to model nonlinear dynamics at the cost of integrating a large set of variational equations to obtain high-order state-transition tensors (STTs). This paper presents an innovative technique for approximating the high-order STTs that reduces significantly the computational cost by retaining only the dominant secular terms. We propagate the low-order partial derivatives of Kepler’s equation, which only requires the integration of six additional equations to extend an n-th order approximation to order (n + 1). The approximation stems from the Lindstedt-Poincare procedure and exploits the stability properties of orbital motion. Since the method makes no dynamical assumptions, it can accommodate any source of orbital perturbations. We show how the approximation of the second-order STT significantly increases the accuracy of the linear method for uncertainty propagation with only a small computational overhead. Finally, we derive a high-order approximate extended Kalman filter that implements the proposed approximation of the STT and improves the performance of linear filters. Examples of application with different perturbation sources include the heliocentric orbit of an asteroid, an orbiter around Europa, and an Earth-orbiting satellite.

Park, Ryan S↗