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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 469 records · Page 26
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1985

Constitutive modeling for isotropic materials

The first year of progress on a NASA-Lewis contract with the General Electric Co is documented. The purpose of this contract (NAS3-23927) is to develop and evaluate unified constitutive equations for applications to hot-path components of aircraft gas turbine engines such as high pressure turbine blades and vanes. To accomplish this goal, uniaxial, notched, and multiaxial specimens made of conventionally cast Rene 80 are being tested under conditions that simulate engine operating conditions. To reduce the raw data, automated data reduction techniques are being developed that produce computer files containing the information needed to analyze proposed constitutive theories. Described are the analytical methods being developed to determine the parameters for these nonlinear unified theories by using the reduced data files. In another activity, a dedicated finite-element computer code is being developed to use unified theories in the structural analysis of hot-section components. This code was extensively verified for one such theory by successfully predicting the strain histories measured experimentally at the notch root of complex specimens taken from complex laboratory specimens.

Ramaswamy, V. G.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Experiences in applying optimization techniques to configurations for the Control Of Flexible Structures (COFS) Program

Optimization procedures are developed to systematically provide closely-spaced vibration frequencies. A general-purpose finite-element program for eigenvalue and sensitivity analyses is combined with formal mathematical programming techniques. Results are presented for three studies. The first study uses a simple model to obtain a design with two pairs of closely-spaced frequencies. Two formulations are developed: an objective function-based formulation and constraint-based formulation for the frequency spacing. It is found that conflicting goals are handled better by a constraint-based formulation. The second study uses a detailed model to obtain a design with one pair of closely-spaced frequencies while satisfying requirements on local member frequencies and manufacturing tolerances. Two formulations are developed. Both the constraint-based and the objective function-based formulations perform reasonably well and converge to the same results. However, no feasible design solution exists which satisfies all design requirements for the choices of design variables and the upper and lower design variable values used. More design freedom is needed to achieve a fully satisfactory design. The third study is part of a redesign activity in which a detailed model is used. The use of optimization in this activity allows investigation of numerous options (such as number of bays, material, minimum diagonal wall thicknesses) in a relatively short time. The procedure provides data for judgments on the effects of different options on the design.

Walsh, Joanne L.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Effect of internal convection and internal radiation on the structural temperatures of Space Shuttle Orbiter

Structural performance and resizing of the finite-element thermal analysis computer program was used in the reentry heat transfer analysis of the space shuttle orbiter. One midfuselage cross section and one midspan wing segment were selected to study the effects of internal convection and internal radiation on the structural temperatures. The effect of internal convection was found to be more prominent than that of internal radiation in the orbiter thermal analysis. Without these two effects, the calculated structural temperatures at certain stations could be as much as 45 to 90 percent higher than the measured values. By considering internal convection as free convection, the correlation between the predicted and measured structural temperatures could be improved greatly.

Ko, William L.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Composite transport wing technology development

The design, fabrication, testing, and analysis of stiffened wing cover panels to assess damage tolerance criteria are discussed. The damage tolerance improvements were demonstrated in a test program using full-sized cover panel subcomponents. The panels utilized a hard skin concept with identical laminates of 44-percent 0-degree, 44-percent plus or minus 45-degree, and 12-percent 90-degree plies in the skins and stiffeners. The panel skins were impacted at midbay between the stiffeners, directly over the stiffener, and over the stiffener flange edge. The stiffener blades were impacted laterally. Impact energy levels of 100 ft-lb and 200 ft-lb were used. NASTRAN finite-element analyses were performed to simulate the nonvisible damage that was detected in the panels by nondestructive inspection. A closed-form solution for generalized loading was developed to evaluate the peel stresses in the bonded structure. Two-dimensional delamination growth analysis was developed using the principle of minimum potential energy in terms of closed-form solution for critical strain. An analysis was conducted to determine the residual compressive stress in the panels after impact damage, and the analytical predictions were verified by compression testing of the damaged panels.

Madan, Ram C.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Factors influencing elastic stresses in double cantilever beam specimens

An elastic stress analysis was conducted for a double cantilever beam (DCB) specimen using finite-element methods. The purpose of this study was to identify the important parameters that influence stresses ahead of the delamination front. The study focused on an aluminum DCB specimen, typical of adhesively-bonded joints, and on a graphite/epoxy specimen representing a cocured composite. Opening mode sigma sub y stresses ahead of the crack tip were calculated and compared with those for a monolithic reference specimen. Beyond the singularity-dominated region very near the crack tip, the sigma sub y distribution was elevated compared to the monolithic case. Both the adhesive thickness and the adherend transverse (thickness-direction) stiffness were found to influence the elevation of sigma sub y. In contrast, adherend thickness and longitudinal stiffness has very little effect on this stress distribution. Estimates for adhesive yielding beyond the aluminum DCB crack tip showed that both the area and height of the plastic zone increased to a peak value for increasing adhesive thicknesses. Results from this study would provide insight for comparing data from different DCB specimens and for designing new DCB specimens.

Crews, J. H., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Recent developments in the experimental identification of the dynamics of a highly flexible grid

Control effectiveness tests of reaction wheel actuators attached to a highly flexible grid are reported. Analytic determination of actuator control effectiveness is accomplished with finite-element modeling. Experimental determination is done with a least-square parameter identification algorithm that identifies the control coefficients of the second-order difference equation model of each vibration mode. The algorithm assumes a model with frequency and damping predetermined from free-decay tests for each mode. Accounting for the difference in forced and resonant frequency was necessary to produce control effectiveness estimates that are in reasonable agreement with the analytic predictions. The average error for control effectiveness coefficients greater than 5/sq sec was 6.384 percent.

Montgomery, Raymond C.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Efficient vibration mode analysis of aircraft with multiple external store configurations

A coupling method for efficient vibration mode analysis of aircraft with multiple external store configurations is presented. A set of low-frequency vibration modes, including rigid-body modes, represent the aircraft. Each external store is represented by its vibration modes with clamped boundary conditions, and by its rigid-body inertial properties. The aircraft modes are obtained from a finite-element model loaded by dummy rigid external stores with fictitious masses. The coupling procedure unloads the dummy stores and loads the actual stores instead. The analytical development is presented, the effects of the fictitious mass magnitudes are discussed, and a numerical example is given for a combat aircraft with external wing stores. Comparison with vibration modes obtained by a direct (full-size) eigensolution shows very accurate coupling results. Once the aircraft and stores data bases are constructed, the computer time for analyzing any external store configuration is two to three orders of magnitude less than that of a direct solution.

Karpel, M.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Finite elements: Theory and application

Recent advances in FEM techniques and applications are discussed in reviews and reports presented at the ICASE/LaRC workshop held in Hampton, VA in July 1986. Topics addressed include FEM approaches for partial differential equations, mixed FEMs, singular FEMs, FEMs for hyperbolic systems, iterative methods for elliptic finite-element equations on general meshes, mathematical aspects of FEMS for incompressible viscous flows, and gradient weighted moving finite elements in two dimensions. Consideration is given to adaptive flux-corrected FEM transport techniques for CFD, mixed and singular finite elements and the field BEM, p and h-p versions of the FEM, transient analysis methods in computational dynamics, and FEMs for integrated flow/thermal/structural analysis.

Dwoyer, D. L.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Block-Krylov component synthesis method for structural model reduction

A new analytical method is presented for generating component shape vectors, or Ritz vectors, for use in component synthesis. Based on the concept of a block-Krylov subspace, easily derived recurrence relations generate blocks of Ritz vectors for each component. The subspace spanned by the Ritz vectors is called a block-Krylov subspace. The synthesis uses the new Ritz vectors rather than component normal modes to reduce the order of large, finite-element component models. An advantage of the Ritz vectors is that they involve significantly less computation than component normal modes. Both 'free-interface' and 'fixed-interface' component models are derived. They yield block-Krylov formulations paralleling the concepts of free-interface and fixed-interface component modal synthesis. Additionally, block-Krylov reduced-order component models are shown to have special disturbability/observability properties. Consequently, the method is attractive in active structural control applications, such as large space structures. The new fixed-interface methodology is demonstrated by a numerical example. The accuracy is found to be comparable to that of fixed-interface component modal synthesis.

Craig, Roy R., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Computational structural mechanics and fluid dynamics: Advances and trends; Proceedings of the Symposium, Washington, DC, Oct. 17-19, 1988

Recent advances in computational structural and fluid dynamics are discussed in reviews and reports. Topics addressed include fluid-structure interaction and aeroelasticity, CFD techniques for reacting flows, micromechanics, stability and eigenproblems, probabilistic methods and chaotic dynamics, and perturbation and spectral methods. Consideration is given to finite-element, finite-volume, and boundary-element methods; adaptive methods; parallel processing machines and applications; and visualization, mesh generation, and AI interfaces.

Noor, Ahmed K.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Theory and application of radiation boundary operators

A succinct unified review is provided of the theory of radiation boundary operators. With the recent introduction of the on-surface radiation condition (OSRC) method and the continued growth of finite-difference and finite-element techniques for modeling electromagnetic wave scattering problems, the understanding and use of radiation boundary operators has become increasingly important. Results are presented to illustrate the application of radiation boundary operators in both these areas. Recent OSRC results include analysis of the scattering behavior of both electrically small and large cylinders, a reactively loaded acoustic sphere, and a simple reentrant duct. Radiation boundary operator results include the demonstration of the effectiveness of higher-order operators in truncating finite-difference time-domain grids.

Moore, Thomas G.↗
NASA NTRS1988

The Galerkin/least-squares method for advective-diffusive equations

Galerkin/least-squares finite-element methods are presented for advective-diffusive equations. Galerkin/least-squares represents a conceptual simplification of streamline-upwind Petrov-Galerkin methods, and is in fact applicable to a wide variety of other problem types. A convergence analysis and error estimates are presented. Some numerical results for compressible Navier-Stokes flows are presented.

Hughes, T. J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Paradigmatic error calculations for adaptive finite element approximations of convection dominated flows

New error estimation techniques are described for two-dimensional convection-dominated flows. Examples of applications to linear convection problems are given. The methods are based on discontinuous finite-element techniques. Results show that conventional interpolation methods may lead to gross underestimates of actual error and be inadequate for use in adaptive methods.

Oden, J. T.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Analytical modeling of helicopter static and dynamic induced velocity in GRASP

The methodology used by the General Rotorcraft Aeromechanical Stability Program (GRASP) to model the characteristics of the flow through a helicopter rotor in hovering or axial flight is described. Since the induced flow plays a significant role in determining the aeroelastic properties of rotorcraft, the computation of the induced flow is an important aspect of the program. Because of the combined finite-element/multibody methodology used as the basis for GRASP, the implementation of induced velocity calculations presented an unusual challenge to the developers. To preserve the modelling flexibility and generality of the code, it was necessary to depart from the traditional methods of computing the induced velocity. This is accomplished by calculating the actuator disk contributions to the rotor loads in a separate element called the air mass element, and then performing the calculations of the aerodynamic forces on individual blade elements within the aeroelastic beam element.

Kunz, Donald L.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Constitutive modeling for isotropic materials (HOST)

The results of the third year of work on a program which is part of the NASA Hot Section Technology program (HOST) are presented. The goals of this program are: (1) the development of unified constitutive models for rate dependent isotropic materials; and (2) the demonstration of the use of unified models in structural analyses of hot section components of gas turbine engines. The unified models selected for development and evaluation are those of Bodner-Partom and of Walker. A test procedure was developed for assisting the generation of a data base for the Bodner-Partom model using a relatively small number of specimens. This test procedure involved performing a tensile test at a temperature of interest that involves a succession of strain-rate changes. The results for B1900+Hf indicate that material constants related to hardening and thermal recovery can be obtained on the basis of such a procedure. Strain aging, thermal recovery, and unexpected material variations, however, preluded an accurate determination of the strain-rate sensitivity parameter is this exercise. The effects of casting grain size on the constitutive behavior of B1900+Hf were studied and no particular grain size effect was observed. A systematic procedure was also developed for determining the material constants in the Bodner-Partom model. Both the new test procedure and the method for determining material constants were applied to the alternate material, Mar-M247 . Test data including tensile, creep, cyclic and nonproportional biaxial (tension/torsion) loading were collected. Good correlations were obtained between the Bodner-Partom model and experiments. A literature survey was conducted to assess the effects of thermal history on the constitutive behavior of metals. Thermal history effects are expected to be present at temperature regimes where strain aging and change of microstructure are important. Possible modifications to the Bodner-Partom model to account for these effects are outlined. The use of a unified constitutive model for hot section component analyses was demonstrated by applying the Walker model and the MARC finite-element code to a B1900+Hf airfoil problem.

Chan, Kwai S.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Numerical fracture simulation of compact and bend specimens

An elastic-plastic finite-element analysis with a critical crack-tip-opening displacement criterion was used to simulate fracture of various size compact and bend specimens made of HY-130 steel. From the calculated load-crack-extension and load-displacement curves, J-resistance (J-R) curves were determined by several methods. The simulated 3-R curves were insensitive to specimen size up to maximum load but were sensitive to specimen configuration for crack extensions greater than 10 percent of the initial uncracked ligament length.

Shivakumar, K. N.↗
NASA NTRS1976

The Effects of Variable Mass and Geometry, Pretwist, Shear Deformation and Rotatory Inertia on the Resonant Frequencies of Intact Long Bones: A Finite Element Model Analysis

The influence of pretwist, nonuniformities in mass and flexural stiffness, rotatory inertia and shear deformation on the natural frequencies of intact bones is evaluated by means of a linear elastic, finite-element model which has been programmed for solution on the digital computer. Theoretical results are compared to the results on the forced vibration of intact canine radii obtained experimentally by Thompson. Surprisingly, inclusion of fairly large pretwist angles (from -14 to 12 deg for one specimen) had little affect on the first three frequencies of transverse vibration in either the cranial or lateral directions. Inclusion of shear deformation reduced the third-mode frequency in the stiffest (lateral) direction by about six percent, otherwise shear deformation played a minor role in determining natural frequencies. Similarly. rotatory inertia had negligible influence up to the third natural frequency. The predominant influence on the first three natural frequencies of transverse vibration could be attributed to the variations in mass and flexural stiffness along the length of the test specimens. Different effective moduli of elasticity are required to yield correct absolute values for the frequencies which correspond to experimental findings. thus implying the presence of some inhomogeneities in material properties around the bone cross-section and/or along its length.

Young, Donald R.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Subtle alternating electrocardiographic morphology as an indicator of decreased cardiac electrical stability

Observations from finite-element computer models, together with analytic developments based on percolation theory have suggested that subtle fluctuations of ECG morphology might serve as an indicator diminished cardiac electrical stability. With fixed-rate atrial pacing in canines, we have previously observed a pattern of alternation in T wave energy which correlated with cardiac electrical stability. We report here on a series of 20 canine experiments in which cardiac electrical stability (measured via Ventricular Fibrillation Threshold determination) was compared to a non-degenerate, multidimensional measurement of the degree of alternating activity present in the ECG complex morphology. The decrease in cardiac electrical stability brought on by both coronary artery occlusion and systemic hypothermia was consistently accompanied by subtle alternation in ECG morphology, with the absolute degree of alternating activity being significantly (negatively) correlated with cardiac electrical stability.

Ventricular Fibrillation↗