Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “process interactions”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 487 records · Page 27

METEOSAT studies of clouds and radiation budget

Radiation budget studies of the atmosphere/surface system from Meteosat, cloud parameter determination from space, and sea surface temperature measurements from TIROS N data are all described. This work was carried out on the interactive planetary image processing system (IPIPS), which allows interactive manipulationion of the image data in addition to the conventional computational tasks. The current hardware configuration of IPIPS is shown. The I(2)S is the principal interactive display allowing interaction via a trackball, four buttons under program control, or a touch tablet. Simple image processing operations such as contrast enhancing, pseudocoloring, histogram equalization, and multispectral combinations, can all be executed at the push of a button.

Saunders, R. W.↗

Nondestructive Evaluation of Metal Fatigue Using Nonlinear Acoustics

Safe-life and damage-tolerant design philosophies of high performance structures have driven the development of various methods to evaluate nondestructively the accumulation of damage in such structures resulting from cyclic loading. Although many techniques have proven useful, none has been able to provide an unambiguous, quantitative assessment of damage accumulation at each stage of fatigue from the virgin state to fracture. A method based on nonlinear acoustics is shown to provide such a means to assess the state of metal fatigue. The salient features of an analytical model are presented of the microelastic-plastic nonlinearities resulting from the interaction of an acoustic wave with fatigue-generated dislocation substructures and cracks that predictably evolve during the metal fatigue process. The interaction is quantified by the material (acoustic) nonlinearity parameter extracted from acoustic harmonic generation measurements. The parameters typically increase monotonically by several hundred percent over the fatigue life of the metal, thus providing a unique measure of the state of fatigue. Application of the model to aluminum alloy 2024-T4, 410Cb stainless steel, and IN100 nickel-base superalloy specimens fatigued using different loading conditions yields good agreement between theory and experiment. Application of the model and measurement technique to the on-site inspection of steam turbine blades is discussed.

Cantrell, John H., Jr.↗

POLYSITE - An interactive package for the selection and refinement of Landsat image training sites

A versatile multifunction package, POLYSITE, developed for Goddard's Land Analysis System, is described which simplifies the process of interactively selecting and correcting the sites used to study Landsat TM and MSS images. Image switching between the zoomed and nonzoomed image, color and shape cursor change and location display, and bit plane erase or color change, are global functions which are active at all times. Local functions possibly include manipulation of intensive study areas, new site definition, mensuration, and new image copying. The program is illustrated with the example of a full TM maser scene of metropolitan Washington, DC.

Mack, Marilyn J. P.↗

Science Planning for the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), launched on August 12, 2005, carries six science instruments, each with unique requirements for repetitive global monitoring, regional or global survey mapping, and/or targeted observations of Mars. Some prefer nadir-only observations, while other instruments require many off-nadir observations (especially for stereo viewing). Because the operations requirements are often incompatible, an interactive science planning process has been developed. This process is more complex than in some recent NASA Mars missions, but less complex (and more repetitive) than processes used by many large planetary missions. It takes full advantage of MRO's novel onboard processing capabilities, and uses simple electronic interactions between geographically distributed teams. This paper describes the process used during MRO's Primary Science Phase (PSP) to plan both interactive and non-interactive observations of Mars, and what has already been learned in the tests and rehearsals preparing for PSP.

planning↗

SIR Glass Test Vehicle Designed to Characterize Process Materials

The exposure to harsh environments can result in reliability issues on highly dense electronic packages and circuit assemblies. One area of concern is electrochemical failure mechanisms caused by electrolytic corrosion, electrochemical migration (dendrites), and leakage currents under humid conditions. These no-fault and no-trouble found failure points are challenging to detect and to perform process control during the assembly process. The focus of this research centers on metallizing glass surface insulation resistance test vehicles to characterize materials on electronic packages and components that exhibit the highest risk of failure due to material interactions and process residues. Glass test vehicles provide a visual representation of materials when they are exposed to moisture content in the air. Harsh environments can cause material interactions resulting in morphology changes, opening, and release of active components. A transparent test vehicle is highly functional for environmental stress testing under temperature, humidity, and bias. The designed experiment will evaluate the effects of material and process residues that can undergo changes in behavior during application, which leads to local failures.

Capen, Bill↗

Launch Vehicle/Carrier Interaction, Improving the Analytical Integration Process

A goal of the aerospace industry is to reduce the cost of space transportation by a significant within the next decade. The present cost of launching a space transportation system which includes propulsion system, vehicle, carrier, and payload integrated together to form a system, encompasses much more than the design of the propulsion system and vehicle. The total cost includes the recurring cost of the process of integrating carriers, and payloads into the vehicle for each flight. The recurring cost of the integration of carrier/payloads systems is driven by the interaction of the vehicle. If the interaction can be well characterized and made to be very predictable for a range of payloads, or if it can be minimized then the cost of integrating a payload can be reduced significantly from today's levels. The Space Shuttle is very interactive with the payload. The interaction has been well characterized through finite element modeling and is reasonably predictable for a specific payload. Experience has shown, however, that the interaction is very manifest dependent, and small changes in one portion of a payload complement can change the interaction significantly in another portion. That is the affects of one on the other are such that if one or the other is changed slightly the environment at the interfaces can change significantly. To date the Shuttle has made in excess of one hundred flights. For each of these flights several iterations of dynamic analyses have been required in the development of each vehicle/carrier/payload system. The iterative analyses are needed because of the sensitivity of the interaction of the launch vehicle to the attached carrier/payload. The Multi Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) is a carrier designed for flight in the Space Shuttle carrying a wide variation of cargo, supplies, and experiments to and from Space Station. Its integration process provides a unique area for improvement in the template in use today for transporting items to space. Discussion of the present MPLM integration analysis requirements and possible areas for improvement of the process are provided in the subject paper. Special emphasis is placed on reduction of requirements based on similarity of items being transported, and the use of carrier hardware for protection of the Shuttle Orbiter.

Shariett, Charles A.↗

Silicon materials task of the low cost solar array project, phase 2

The object of phase 2 of this program is to investigate and define the effects of various processes, contaminants and process-contaminant interactions in the performance of terrestrial solar cells. The major effort this quarter was in the areas of crystal growth and thermal processing, comparison of impurity effects in low and high resistivity silicon, modeling the behavior of p-type ingots containing Mo, and C and, quantitative analysis of bulk lifetime and junction degradation effects in contaminated solar cells. The performance of solar cells fabricated on silicon web crystals grown from melts containing about 10 to the 18th power/cu cm of Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Ti, and V, respectively were measured. Deep level spectroscopy of metal-contaminated ingots was employed to determine the level and density of recombination centers due to Ti, V, Ni, and Cr.

Hopkins, R. H.↗

Materials and Process Activities for NASA's Composite Crew Module

In January 2007, the NASA Administrator and Associate Administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate chartered the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) to design, build, and test a full-scale Composite Crew Module (CCM). The overall goal of the CCM project was to develop a team from the NASA family with hands-on experience in composite design, manufacturing, and testing in anticipation of future space exploration systems being made of composite materials. The CCM project was planned to run concurrently with the Orion project s baseline metallic design within the Constellation Program so that features could be compared and discussed without inducing risk to the overall Program. The materials and process activities were prioritized based on a rapid prototype approach. This approach focused developmental activities on design details with greater risk and uncertainty, such as out-of-autoclave joining, over some of the more traditional lamina and laminate building block levels. While process development and associated building block testing were performed, several anomalies were still observed at the full-scale level due to interactions between process robustness and manufacturing scale-up. This paper describes the process anomalies that were encountered during the CCM development and the subsequent root cause investigations that led to the final design solutions. These investigations highlight the importance of full-scale developmental work early in the schedule of a complex composite design/build project.

Polis, Daniel L.↗

Application of PoF Based Virtual Qualification Methods for Reliability Assessment of Mission Critical PCBs

Reliability is the ability of a product to perform the function for which it was intended for a specified period of time (or cycles) for a given set of life cycle conditions. In today's compressed mission development cycles where designing, building and testing the physical models has to occur in a matter of months not years, Projects don't have the luxury of iteratively building and testing those models. Physics of failure (PoF) is an engineering-based approach to reliability that begins with an understanding of materials, processes, physical interactions, degradation and failure mechanisms, as well as identifying failure models. The PoF approach uses modeling and simulation to qualify a design and manufacturing process, with the ultimate intent of eliminating failures early in the design process by addressing the root cause. The physics-of-failure analysis proactively incorporates reliability into the design process by establishing a scientific basis for evaluating new materials, structures and technologies. Virtual physics-of-failure modeling allows engineers to determine if new technological node can be added to an existing system. This presentation will illustrate an application of a PoF based tool during the initial phases of a printed circuit board assembly development and how the NASA GSFC team was able to dynamically study the effects of electronics parts and printed circuit board material configuration changes under simulated thermal and vibrational stresses

Electronics packaging↗

Application of PoF Based Virtual Qualification Methods for Reliability Assessment of Mission Critical PCBs

Reliability is the ability of a product to perform the function for which it was intended for a specified period of time (or cycles) for a given set of life cycle conditions. In today's compressed mission development cycles where designing, building and testing the physical models has to occur in a matter of months not years, Projects don't have the luxury of iteratively building and testing those models. Physics of failure (PoF) is an engineering-based approach to reliability that begins with an understanding of materials, processes, physical interactions, degradation and failure mechanisms, as well as identifying failure models. The PoF approach uses modeling and simulation to qualify a design and manufacturing process, with the ultimate intent of eliminating failures early in the design process by addressing the root cause. The physics-of-failure analysis proactively incorporates reliability into the design process by establishing a scientific basis for evaluating new materials, structures and technologies. Virtual physics-of-failure modeling allows engineers to determine if new technological node can be added to an existing system. This presentation will illustrate an application of a PoF based tool during the initial phases of a printed circuit board assembly development and how the NASA GSFC team was able to dynamically study the effects of electronics parts and printed circuit board material configuration changes under simulated thermal and vibrational stresses.

Physics of Failure↗

Assessment of Microstructure Prediction Capabilities for Powder Bed Fusion Stainless Steel 316

The Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies program aims to accelerate the development, qualification, demonstration, and deployment of advanced materials and manufacturing technologies to enable reliable and economical nuclear energy. However, the characteristic process-structure-property relationships of additive manufacturing (AM) materials pose challenges for the qualification and certification of AM nuclear components. In particular, component-scale variations in microstructure and properties can be driven by localized changes in melt pool dynamics due to how process parameters interact with different part geometries. Computational modeling tools can play a crucial role in predicting and controlling this variability. This report presents final results on process modeling tools designed to predict microstructure variability in additively manufactured stainless steel 316 parts. It details the software packages and physical modeling approaches employed to simulate an AM component within an automated process modeling workflow. Results are demonstrated through comparisons between predicted microstructures and experimental measurements across various representative processing conditions. The report concludes by discussing identified challenges and future opportunities for connecting the developed simulation workflow with mechanics simulations for prediction of part performance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Multiple arm coordination using concurrent processing

The use of concurrent processing for robot arm coordination is considered, and a hierarchically structured set of routines for the completion of coordinated tasks is discussed. Concurrent programming controls interacting concurrent processes by providing techniques to handle the problems of mutual exclusion, synchronization, and communication. The process is demonstrated for the example of the producer-consumer problem. Software supporting a concurrent environment to control a robotic system is being developed in which parallel rather than sequential thought processes are used.

Basta, Robert A.↗

Solar-terrestrial research opportunities - A look to the future

Recent and proposed research programs and their impact on the understanding of solar-terrestrial interactions, the processes driving solar activity, and the propagation of the solar wind are outlined. The magnetospheres of the earth and major planets have been mapped and their interactions with the solar wind modeled. MHD activity has been identified as the driving force for stellar surface activity, and Pioneer data are permitting a mapping of the outer areas of the heliosphere. Further studies are required to understand solar magnetic field-earth magnetosphere, ionosphere-atmosphere interactions, the effects of solar heating on earth atmosphere ozone levels, and the effects of solar transient events on the earth atmosphere. The initiation of an International Geosphere-Biosphere Program is now under study and several satellites for solar-terrestrial research are under development as cooperative efforts among the U.S., Japanese, and European agencies.

Intriligator, D. S.↗

LANDSAT data and interactive computer mapping

The integration of image processing capabilities with interactive computer mapping systems is discussed. It is noted that the accomplishment of this integration will result in powerful geographic information systems which will enhance the applicatons of LANDSAT and other types of remotely sensed data in solving problems in the resource planning and management domain.

Grady, R. K.↗

Pultrusion process characterization

Pultrusion is a process through which high-modulus, lightweight composite structural members such as beams, truss components, stiffeners, etc., are manufactured. The pultrusion process, though a well-developed processing art, lacks a fundamental scientific understanding. The objective here was to determine, both experimentally and analytically, the process parameters most important in characterizing and optimizing the pultrusion of uniaxial fibers. The effects of process parameter interactions were experimentally examined as a function of the pultruded product properties. A numerical description based on these experimental results was developed. An analytical model of the pultrusion process was also developed. The objective of the modeling effort was the formulation of a two-dimensional heat transfer model and development of solutions for the governing differential equations using the finite element method.

Vaughan, James G.↗

CondiDiag1.0: a flexible online diagnostic tool for conditional sampling and budget analysis in the E3SM atmosphere model (EAM)

Abstract. Numerical models used in weather and climate prediction take into account a comprehensive set of atmospheric processes (i.e., phenomena) such as the resolved and unresolved fluid dynamics, radiative transfer, cloud and aerosol life cycles, and mass or energy exchanges with the Earth's surface. In order to identify model deficiencies and improve predictive skills, it is important to obtain process-level understanding of the interactions between different processes. Conditional sampling and budget analysis are powerful tools for process-oriented model evaluation, but they often require tedious ad hoc coding and large amounts of instantaneous model output, resulting in inefficient use of human and computing resources. This paper presents an online diagnostic tool that addresses this challenge by monitoring model variables in a generic manner as they evolve within the time integration cycle. The tool is convenient to use. It allows users to select sampling conditions and specify monitored variables at run time. Both the evolving values of the model variables and their increments caused by different atmospheric processes can be monitored and archived. Online calculation of vertical integrals is also supported. Multiple sampling conditions can be monitored in a single simulation in combination with unconditional sampling. The paper explains in detail the design and implementation of the tool in the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) version 1. The usage is demonstrated through three examples: a global budget analysis of dust aerosol mass concentration, a composite analysis of sea salt emission and its dependency on surface wind speed, and a conditionally sampled relative humidity budget. The tool is expected to be easily portable to closely related atmospheric models that use the same or similar data structures and time integration methods.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Investigating the interaction between the homeostatic and circadian processes of sleep-wake regulation for the prediction of waking neurobehavioural performance

The two-process model of sleep regulation has been applied successfully to describe, predict, and understand sleep-wake regulation in a variety of experimental protocols such as sleep deprivation and forced desynchrony. A non-linear interaction between the homeostatic and circadian processes was reported when the model was applied to describe alertness and performance data obtained during forced desynchrony. This non-linear interaction could also be due to intrinsic non-linearity in the metrics used to measure alertness and performance, however. Distinguishing these possibilities would be of theoretical interest, but could also have important implications for the design and interpretation of experiments placing sleep at different circadian phases or varying the duration of sleep and/or wakefulness. Although to date no resolution to this controversy has been found, here we show that the issue can be addressed with existing data sets. The interaction between the homeostatic and circadian processes of sleep-wake regulation was investigated using neurobehavioural performance data from a laboratory experiment involving total sleep deprivation. The results provided evidence of an actual non-linear interaction between the homeostatic and circadian processes of sleep-wake regulation for the prediction of waking neurobehavioural performance.

Non-NASA Center↗

Use of graphics in the design office at the Military Aircraft Division of the British Aircraft Corporation

The CAD/CAM interactive computer graphics system was described; uses to which it has been put were shown, and current developments of the system were outlined. The system supports batch, time sharing, and fully interactive graphic processing. Engineers using the system may switch between these methods of data processing and problem solving to make the best use of the available resources. It is concluded that the introduction of on-line computing in the form of teletypes, storage tubes, and fully interactive graphics has resulted in large increases in productivity and reduced timescales in the geometric computing, numerical lofting and part programming areas, together with a greater utilization of the system in the technical departments.

Coles, W. A.↗