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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 487 records · Page 27

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1977

Application of powered lift and mechanical flap concepts for civil short-haul transport aircraft design

The objective of this paper is to determine various design and performance parameters, including wing loading and thrust loading requirements, for powered-lift and mechanical flap conceptual aircraft constrained by field length and community noise impact. Mission block fuel and direct operating costs (DOC) were found for optimum designs. As a baseline, the design and performance parameters were determined for the aircraft using engines without noise suppression. The constraint of the 90 EPNL noise contour being less than 2.6 sq km (1.0 sq mi) in area was then imposed. The results indicate that for both aircraft concepts the design gross weight, DOC, and required mission block fuel decreased with field length. At field lengths less than 1100 m (3600 ft) the powered lift aircraft had lower DOC and block fuel than the mechanical flap aircraft but produced higher unsuppressed noise levels. The noise goal could easily be achieved with nacelle wall treatment only and thus resulted in little or no performance or weight penalty for all studied aircraft.

Conlon, J. A.↗

NASA NTRS1976

LUMIS Interactive graphics operating instructions and system specifications

The LUMIS program has designed an integrated geographic information system to assist program managers and planning groups in metropolitan regions. Described is the system designed to interactively interrogate a data base, display graphically a portion of the region enclosed in the data base, and perform cross tabulations of variables within each city block, block group, or census tract. The system is designed to interface with U. S. Census DIME file technology, but can accept alternative districting conventions. The system is described on three levels: (1) introduction to the systems's concept and potential applications; (2) the method of operating the system on an interactive terminal; and (3) a detailed system specification for computer facility personnel.

Bryant, N. A.↗

NASA NTRS1983

The JPL near-real-time VLBI system and its application to clock synchronization and earth orientation measurements

The JPL near-real-time VLBI system called Block I is discussed. The hardware and software of the system are described, and the Time and Earth Motion Precision Observations (TEMPO) which utilize Block I are discussed. These observations are designed to provide interstation clock synchronization to 10 nsec and to determine earth orientation (UT1 and polar motion - UTPM) to 30 cm or better in each component. TEMPO results for clock synchronization and UTPM are presented with data from the July 1980-August 1981 analyzed using the most recent JPL solution software and source catalog. Future plans for TEMPO and Block I are discussed.

Callahan, P. S.↗

NASA NTRS1988

HOST turbine heat transfer program summary

The objectives of the HOST Turbine Heat Transfer subproject were to obtain a better understanding of the physics of the aerothermodynamic phenomena and to assess and improve the analytical methods used to predict the flow and heat transfer in high temperature gas turbines. At the time the HOST project was initiated, an across-the-board improvement in turbine design technology was needed. A building-block approach was utilized and the research ranged from the study of fundamental phenomena and modeling to experiments in simulated real engine environments. Experimental research accounted for approximately 75 percent of the funding with the remainder going to analytical efforts. A healthy government/industry/university partnership, with industry providing almost half of the research, was created to advance the turbine heat transfer design technology base.

Heat transfer↗

DOE OSTI2026

FAIR Data and Interpretable AI Framework for Architectured Metamaterials (Final Report)

This research program established a transformative framework for the discovery and design of mechanical metamaterials, which are architected structures engineered to control physical phenomena like sound and vibration in ways natural materials cannot. To overcome the traditional reliance on trial-and-error, the project developed an interpretable Artificial Intelligence (AI) framework that moves beyond "black box" models to reveal the specific geometric patterns—such as "unit-cell templates"—that govern a material’s performance. A major breakthrough was the development of a hierarchical design method, which allows a single material to block vibrations across multiple frequency ranges simultaneously by layering patterns at different scales without them interfering with one another. This was further expanded to include irregular, graph-based designs that use spanning tree algorithms to ensure structural connectivity while allowing for customized, direction-dependent properties like stiffness and acoustic impedance. Beyond design, the project addressed the practicalities of real-world production by developing uncertainty quantification techniques that account for manufacturing defects and material variability, reducing the need for expensive physical testing by orders of magnitude. To speed up the discovery process, the team implemented Gaussian Process Regression and other surrogate models that provide accurate performance predictions at a fraction of the traditional computational cost. The AI-generated designs were successfully validated through fabrication of physical samples and wave propagation experiments, confirming their ability to accurately guide or reflect waves as predicted. By contributing these tools and high-quality FAIR benchmark datasets to the wider scientific community, this work provides a scalable foundation for advancing technologies in aerospace vibration control, medical imaging, and noise reduction.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

NASA NTRS1988

Review and assessment of the database and numerical modeling for turbine heat transfer

The objectives of the HOST Turbine Heat Transfer subproject were to obtain a better understanding of the physics of the aerothermodynamic phenomena and to assess and improve the analytical methods used to predict the flow and heat transfer in high-temperature gas turbines. At the time the HOST project was initiated, an across-the-board improvement in turbine design technology was needed. A building-block approach was utilized and the research ranged from the study of fundamental phenomena and modeling to experiments in simulated real engine environments. Experimental research accounted for approximately 75 percent of the funding while the analytical efforts were approximately 25 percent. A healthy government/industry/university partnership, with industry providing almost half of the research, was created to advance the turbine heat transfer design technology base.

Gladden, H. J.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Review and assessment of the database and numerical modeling for turbine heat transfer

The objectives of the NASA Hot Section Technology (HOST) Turbine Heat Transfer subproject were to obtain a better understanding of the physics of the aerothermodynamic phenomena and to assess and improve the analytical methods used to predict the flow and heat transfer in high-temperature gas turbines. At the time the HOST project was initiated, an across-the-board improvement in turbine design technology was needed. A building-block approach was utilized and the research ranged from the study of fundamental phenomena and modeling to experiments in simulated real engine environments. Experimental research accounted for approximately 75 percent of the funding while the analytical efforts were approximately 25 percent. A healthy government/industry/university partnership, with industry providing almost half of the research, was created to advance the turbine heat transfer design technology base.

H J Gladden↗

NASA NTRS1991

Unsymmetric Lanczos model reduction and linear state function observer for flexible structures

This report summarizes part of the research work accomplished during the second year of a two-year grant. The research, entitled 'Application of Lanczos Vectors to Control Design of Flexible Structures' concerns various ways to use Lanczos vectors and Krylov vectors to obtain reduced-order mathematical models for use in the dynamic response analyses and in control design studies. This report presents a one-sided, unsymmetric block Lanczos algorithm for model reduction of structural dynamics systems with unsymmetric damping matrix, and a control design procedure based on the theory of linear state function observers to design low-order controllers for flexible structures.

Su, Tzu-Jeng↗

NASA NTRS1969

Apollo guidance computer program block 1 /100/ and block 2 Final report, 25 Jul. - 31 Dec. 1969

Design, development, and fabrication of Apollo guidance computer subsystems and associated equipment

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1991

Design, modeling, and analysis of multi-channel demultiplexer/demodulator

Traditionally, satellites have performed the function of a simple repeater. Newer data distribution satellite architectures, however, require demodulation of many frequency division multiplexed uplink channels by a single demultiplexer/demodulator unit, baseband processing and routing of individual voice/data circuits, and remodulation into time division multiplexed (TDM) downlink carriers. The TRW MCDD (Multichannel Demultiplexer/Multirate Demodulator) operates on a 37.4 MHz composite input signal. Individual channel data rates are either 64 Kbps or 2.048 Mbps. The wideband demultiplexer divides the input signal into 1.44 MHz segments containing either a single 2.048 Mbps channel or thirty two 64 Kbps channels. In the latter case, the narrowband demultiplexer further divides the single 1.44 MHz wideband channel into thirty two 45 KHz narrowband channels. With this approach the time domain Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) channelizer processing capacity is matched well to the bandwidth and number of channels to be demultiplexed. By using a multirate demodulator fewer demodulators are required while achieving greater flexibility. Each demodulator can process a wideband channel or thirty two narrowband channels. Either all wideband channels, a mixture of wideband and narrowband channels, or all narrowband channels can be demodulated. The multirate demodulator approach also has lower nonrecurring costs since only one design and development effort is needed. TRW has developed a proof of concept (POC) model which fully demonstrates the signal processing fuctions of MCDD. It is capable of processing either three 2.048 Mbps channels or two 2.048 Mbps channels and thirty two 64 Kbps channels. An overview of important MCDD system engineering issues is presented as well as discussion on some of the Block Oriented System Simulation analyses performed for design verification and selection of operational parameters of the POC model. Systems engineering analysis of the POC model confirmed that the MCDD concepts are not only achievable but also balance the joint goals of minimizing on-board complexity and cost of ground equipment, while retaining the flexibility needed to meet a wide range of system requirements.

Lee, David D.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Developing Rationale for Experimental Designs Employed During Forthcoming NASA Quesst Mission Community Noise Campaigns

Since the publication of R.A. Fisher’s “The Arrangement of Field Experiments” in 1926, the enumerated principles that contributed to the improvement of agricultural field experiments in the early 20th century (randomization, replication, blocking, and appropriate variation of factors) remain hallmarks of all well-designed clinical trials and scientific endeavors in the 21st century. Beginning in 2026, NASA will conduct community noise campaigns with the first-of-kind X-59 experimental aircraft to 1) demonstrate the possibility of quiet supersonic flight over land and 2) to collect live data about annoyance (a categorical response) in relation to estimated noise levels (an experimental factor) produced by the new noise phenomenon, a low-noise “sonic thump”. The resulting predicted relationship between perceptual response and estimated noise level, e.g., mixed logistic regression or related models in the class of generalized linear (mixed) models, is believed to be a useful policy tool that domestic and international regulators can use when deciding whether existing prohibitions of supersonic flight over land can be replaced with a noise-based limit. The X-59 is engineered with the expectation that annoyance in the tested ranges should be a rare outcome, and, consequently, NASA convened an interdisciplinary team to examine and refine the rationale underlying the experimental design for future community campaigns. In this presentation, we review relevant literature on experiments with rare binary outcomes, relate the deliberations of the NASA team to tenets of good experimental design, and highlight several challenges and operational realities of this ambitious campaign.

Design of Experiments; blocking; randomization; co↗

NASA NTRS1997

Improving Discrete-Sensitivity-Based Approach for Practical Design Optimization

In developing the automated methodologies for simulation-based optimal shape designs, their accuracy, efficiency and practicality are the defining factors to their success. To that end, four recent improvements to the building blocks of such a methodology, intended for more practical design optimization, have been reported. First, in addition to a polynomial-based parameterization, a partial differential equation (PDE) based parameterization was shown to be a practical tool for a number of reasons. Second, an alternative has been incorporated to one of the tedious phases of developing such a methodology, namely, the automatic differentiation of the computer code for the flow analysis in order to generate the sensitivities. Third, by extending the methodology for the thin-layer Navier-Stokes (TLNS) based flow simulations, the more accurate flow physics was made available. However, the computer storage requirement for a shape optimization of a practical configuration with the -fidelity simulations (TLNS and dense-grid based simulations), required substantial computational resources. Therefore, the final improvement reported herein responded to this point by including the alternating-direct-implicit (ADI) based system solver as an alternative to the preconditioned biconjugate (PbCG) and other direct solvers.

Baysal, Oktay↗

NASA NTRS2019

Orion Heat Shield Manufacturing Producibility Improvements for the EM-1 Flight Test Program

This paper describes how the Orion program is incorporating improvements in the heat shield design and manufacturing processes reducing programmatic risk and ensuring crew safety in support of NASA’s Exploration Missions. The Orion program successfully completed the EFT-1 flight test in 2014 and is currently developing the EM-1 spacecraft to meet the test objectives of an orbital mission to the moon and return to earth in 2019. Lessons learned from the EFT-1 manufacturing and flight test experience are being incorporated into a wide variety of vehicle systems and manufacturing processes to reduce risk to the Orion missions and flight crew. A critical contributor to crew safety is the heat shield that protects the crew capsule during re-entry through the earth’s atmosphere for return from deep space. The first flight test vehicle, EFT-1, was manufactured and tested in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout (O&C) facility at KSC to demonstrate early risk reduction including the functionality of the Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) for capsule safe return to earth. The approach for the EFT-1 heat shield utilized a low risk approach using Apollo heritage design and manufacturing processes using an Avcoat TPS ablator with a honeycomb substrate to provide a one piece heat shield to meet the mission re-entry heating environments. The manufacturing processes used honeycomb cell injection guns which were redeveloped from the Apollo Lunar Program processes to build the EFT-1 heat shield. The completed heat shield was transported across the country by aircraft to the O&C at KSC for installation onto the capsule. The EFT-1 heat shield successfully performed its mission and experienced ~80% of the re-entry velocity (50% heating rate) for a lunar return for an Exploration Mission. The second flight test vehicle is the EM-1 mission which will have additional flight systems installed to fly to the moon and return. Heat shield design and producibility improvements have been incorporated in the EM-1 vehicle to meet deep space mission and programmatic requirements. The design continues to use the Avcoat material, but in a “block” configuration to enable improvements in the application processes as well as additional improvements in the carrier structure design and manufacturing operations. Incorporating flight test results and producibility improvements from EFT-1 for the heat shield system design and processes have improved the thermal protection capability, improved the producibility, and cost for EM-1 flight test.

Producibility↗

DOE OSTI2025

Ambient mechanosynthesis of flexible two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks

We present the first ambient mechanosynthesis of 16 flexible covalent organic frameworks (COFs) within an hour. Notably, one representative COF exhibited a high iodine uptake capacity of ∼4.3 g g −1 from aqueous solutions and 5.97 g g −1 from vapor. Flexible two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks (2D COFs) constructed from nonplanar building blocks represent an emerging paradigm in COF design. Nevertheless, the prevailing solvothermal synthesis suffers from low time efficiency, environmental unfriendliness, and cumbersome protocols. Here, we address these challenges by developing the first ambient mechanosynthesis of a diverse library of flexible 2D COFs. Sixteen distinct triazine-cored Schiff-base COFs, including five as-yet-unreported ones, were rapidly synthesized via ball milling using 2,4,6-tris(4-aminophenoxy)-1,3,5-triazine (TPT-NH 2 ) and 2,4,6-tris(4-formylphenoxy)-1,3,5-triazine (TPT-CHO) as building blocks. Notably, the representative COF, MC-flexible-COF-1, was synthesized in as little as one hour under mechanosynthesis conditions, whereas it remained unattainable via the traditional solvothermal method, despite prolonged heating and extensive solvent screening. The highly dynamic nature of the imine linkage was unequivocally demonstrated through mechanochemical “scrambling” experiments using molecular model compounds. Furthermore, MC-flexible-COF-1 exhibited a high iodine uptake capacity of ∼4.30 g g −1 from aqueous solutions and 5.97 g g −1 from the vapor phase. This work underscores the immense potential of mechanochemistry as a powerful and sustainable tool for the rapid synthesis of advanced 2D COFs, including those inaccessible via conventional solution-based methods.

Nailwal, Yogendra↗

NASA NTRS2005

In-situ Resource-based Lunar and Martian Habitat Structures Development at NASA/MSFC

As the nation prepares to return to the Moon and subsequently to Mars, it is apparent that the viability of long duration visits with appropriate radiation shielding/crew protection, hinges on the development of habitat structures, preferably in advance of a manned landing, and preferably utilizing in-situ resources. A relatively large number of habitat structure configurations can be developed from a relatively small set of in-situ resource-based construction products, including, blocks, raw regolith, reinforced concrete, and glass products. A much larger group of habitat designs can be developed when "imported" material are brought from Earth, including thin films and liners, and foldable, or expandable metal structures. These, and other technologies have been identified, and subjected to a rigorous trade study evaluation with respect to exploration and other performance criteria. In this paper, results of this trade study will be presented, as well as various habitat structure design concepts and concepts for construction automation. Results of initial tests aimed at concrete, block and glass production using Lunar regolith simulants will also be presented. Key issues and concerns will be discussed, as well as design concepts for a Lunar environment testbed to be developed at MSFC's Microgravity Development Laboratory (MDL).

Bodiford, Melanie P.↗

NASA NTRS2005

In Situ Resource-Based Lunar and Martian Habitat Structures Development at NASA/MSFC

Bodiford, Melanie P.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Design study and performance analysis of a high-speed multistage variable-geometry fan for a variable cycle engine

A design technology study was performed to identify a high speed, multistage, variable geometry fan configuration capable of achieving wide flow modulation with near optimum efficiency at the important operating condition. A parametric screening study of the front and rear block fans was conducted in which the influence of major fan design features on weight and efficiency was determined. Key design parameters were varied systematically to determine the fan configuration most suited for a double bypass, variable cycle engine. Two and three stage fans were considered for the front block. A single stage, core driven fan was studied for the rear block. Variable geometry concepts were evaluated to provide near optimum off design performance. A detailed aerodynamic design and a preliminary mechanical design were carried out for the selected fan configuration. Performance predictions were made for the front and rear block fans.

Sullivan, T. J.↗

DOE OSTI2024

De novo design of modular protein hydrogels with programmable intra- and extracellular viscoelasticity

Relating the macroscopic properties of protein-based materials to their underlying component microstructure is an outstanding challenge. Here, we exploit computational design to specify the size, flexibility, and valency of de novo protein building blocks, as well as the interaction dynamics between them, to investigate how molecular parameters govern the macroscopic viscoelasticity of the resultant protein hydrogels. We construct gel systems from pairs of symmetric protein homo-oligomers, each comprising 2, 5, 24, or 120 individual protein components, that are crosslinked either physically or covalently into idealized step-growth biopolymer networks. Through rheological assessment, we find that the covalent linkage of multifunctional precursors yields hydrogels whose viscoelasticity depends on the crosslink length between the constituent building blocks. In contrast, reversibly crosslinking the homo-oligomeric components with a computationally designed heterodimer results in viscoelastic biomaterials exhibiting fluid-like properties under rest and low shear, but solid-like behavior at higher frequencies. Exploiting the unique genetic encodability of these materials, we demonstrate the assembly of protein networks within living mammalian cells and show via fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) that mechanical properties can be tuned intracellularly in a manner similar to formulations formed extracellularly. We anticipate that the ability to modularly construct and systematically program the viscoelastic properties of designer protein-based materials could have broad utility in biomedicine, with applications in tissue engineering, therapeutic delivery, and synthetic biology.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗