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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 NTRS1969

Analysis of a Multiprocessor Guidance Computer

The design of the next generation of spaceborne digital computers is described. It analyzes a possible multiprocessor computer configuration. For the analysis, a set of representative space computing tasks was abstracted from the Lunar Module Guidance Computer programs as executed during the lunar landing, from the Apollo program. This computer performs at this time about 24 concurrent functions, with iteration rates from 10 times per second to once every two seconds. These jobs were tabulated in a machine-independent form, and statistics of the overall job set were obtained. It was concluded, based on a comparison of simulation and Markov results, that the Markov process analysis is accurate in predicting overall trends and in configuration comparisons, but does not provide useful detailed information in specific situations. Using both types of analysis, it was determined that the job scheduling function is a critical one for efficiency of the multiprocessor. It is recommended that research into the area of automatic job scheduling be performed.

Maltach, E. G.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Initial comparison of single cylinder Stirling engine computer model predictions with test results

A NASA developed digital computer code for a Stirling engine, modelling the performance of a single cylinder rhombic drive ground performance unit (GPU), is presented and its predictions are compared to test results. The GPU engine incorporates eight regenerator/cooler units and the engine working space is modelled by thirteen control volumes. The model calculates indicated power and efficiency for a given engine speed, mean pressure, heater and expansion space metal temperatures and cooler water inlet temperature and flow rate. Comparison of predicted and observed powers implies that the reference pressure drop calculations underestimate actual pressure drop, possibly due to oil contamination in the regenerator/cooler units, methane contamination in the working gas or the underestimation of mechanical loss. For a working gas of hydrogen, the predicted values of brake power are from 0 to 6% higher than experimental values, and brake efficiency is 6 to 16% higher, while for helium the predicted brake power and efficiency are 2 to 15% higher than the experimental.

Tew, R. C., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Methods and systems for providing reconfigurable and recoverable computing resources

A method for optimizing the use of digital computing resources to achieve reliability and availability of the computing resources is disclosed. The method comprises providing one or more processors with a recovery mechanism, the one or more processors executing one or more applications. A determination is made whether the one or more processors needs to be reconfigured. A rapid recovery is employed to reconfigure the one or more processors when needed. A computing system that provides reconfigurable and recoverable computing resources is also disclosed. The system comprises one or more processors with a recovery mechanism, with the one or more processors configured to execute a first application, and an additional processor configured to execute a second application different than the first application. The additional processor is reconfigurable with rapid recovery such that the additional processor can execute the first application when one of the one more processors fails.

Stange, Kent↗
DOE OSTI2017

Integrating Sudo-Kaminaga Correlation to the Safety Analysis Code PARET-ANL

The accuracy and reliability of the reactor safety analysis code are critical because the specifications of the safety systems will depend on the analytical results for initiating events that could occur to the reactor. In safety analyses for power reactors, there exist many proficient and applicable computer codes such as RELAP5, CATHARE, RETRAN, or CATHENA. For non-power research reactors, an issue arises, however, due to lacking of such specialized codes. As a result, computer codes developed for the transient analysis of power reactors need to be applied carefully after proving their applicability to a specified research reactor. The safety analysis discussed in this paper concerns the prevention of fuel damage in hypothetical accidental scenarios for the new research reactor design at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). One fuel integrity criterion is analyzed by investigating the Minimum Critical Heat Flux Ratio (MCHFR) in the core during the accidental transients. Some previous studies develop a relationship that correlates the nominal value of the minimum CHFR with the probability of CHF occurring and causing fuel damage. Using a statistical approach, the nominal value of the MCHFR for the low-enriched uranium (LEU) reactor needs to remain above the recommended limiting value to better ensure the safety of the research reactor. The probability of no fuel failure increases as the MCHFR increases. More importantly, as long as the MCHFR remains above the recommended limiting value of 1.301, the reactor will have a 90% probability that CHF is not reached. The safety analysis program PARET, developed by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), is employed to obtain the CHFR information in this study. PARET/ANL is a digital computer programming code intended primarily for the analysis of test and research reactors that use plate-type (flat) fuel elements. This program has its own set of correlations that are used to calculate the CHFR. One of them is the Mirshak correlation, which was believed to provide the best estimation of the critical heat flux under the operating conditions of the new reactor at the time. Following the critical heat flux (CHF) experiments for vertical rectangular channels in the JRR-3 (Japan Research Reactor unit 3), the CHF calculations now use the Sudo- Kaminaga correlation. This correlation is of our interest because this method has an enhanced geometric similarity and an increased range of applicability that are more representative of the actual operating conditions of our current design, and has a more mechanistic approach [9]. Since the source code of PARET/ANL is inaccessible, a MATLAB-based utility has been written to integrate the Sudo-Kaminaga correlation as a substitute for the Mirshak correlation in the code. As a result, both the Mirshak and the Sudo-Kaminaga correlations are used to analyze the standard output from the PARET program to calculate the CHFR.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
NASA NTRS1986

Estimation of absolute water surface temperature based on atmospherically corrected thermal infrared multispectral scanner digital data

Airborne remote sensing systems, as well as those on board Earth orbiting satellites, sample electromagnetic energy in discrete wavelength regions and convert the total energy sampled into data suitable for processing by digital computers. In general, however, the total amount of energy reaching a sensor system located at some distance from the target is composed not only of target related energy, but, in addition, contains a contribution originating from the atmosphere itself. Thus, some method must be devised for removing or at least minimizing the effects of the atmosphere. The LOWTRAN-6 Program was designed to estimate atmospheric transmittance and radiance for a given atmospheric path at moderate spectral resolution over an operational wavelength region from 0.25 to 28.5 microns. In order to compute the Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner (TIMS) digital values which were recorded in the absence of the atmosphere, the parameters derived from LOWTRAN-6 are used in a correction equation. The TIMS data were collected at 1:00 a.m. local time on November 21, 1983, over a recirculating cooling pond for a power plant in southeastern Mississippi. The TIMS data were analyzed before and after atmospheric corrections were applied using a band ratioing model to compute the absolute surface temperature of various points on the power plant cooling pond. The summarized results clearly demonstrate the desirability of applying atmospheric corrections.

Anderson, James E.↗