Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “V CODES”

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 523 records · Page 29

Finite Element Models for Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication Process

Electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF3) is a member of an emerging class of direct manufacturing processes known as solid freeform fabrication (SFF); another member of the class is the laser deposition process. Successful application of the EBF3 process requires precise control of a number of process parameters such as the EB power, speed, and metal feed rate in order to ensure thermal management; good fusion between the substrate and the first layer and between successive layers; minimize part distortion and residual stresses; and control the microstructure of the finished product. This is the only effort thus far that has addressed computer simulation of the EBF3 process. The models developed in this effort can assist in reducing the number of trials in the laboratory or on the shop floor while making high-quality parts. With some modifications, their use can be further extended to the simulation of laser, TIG (tungsten inert gas), and other deposition processes. A solid mechanics-based finite element code, ABAQUS, was chosen as the primary engine in developing these models whereas a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, Fluent, was used in a support role. Several innovative concepts were developed, some of which are highlighted below. These concepts were implemented in a number of new computer models either in the form of stand-alone programs or as user subroutines for ABAQUS and Fluent codes. A database of thermo-physical, mechanical, fluid, and metallurgical properties of stainless steel 304 was developed. Computing models for Gaussian and raster modes of the electron beam heat input were developed. Also, new schemes were devised to account for the heat sink effect during the deposition process. These innovations, and others, lead to improved models for thermal management and prediction of transient/residual stresses and distortions. Two approaches for the prediction of microstructure were pursued. The first was an empirical approach involving the computation of thermal gradient, solidification rate, and velocity (G,R,V) coupled with the use of a solidification map that should be known a priori. The second approach relies completely on computer simulation. For this purpose a criterion for the prediction of morphology was proposed, which was combined with three alternative models for the prediction of microstructure; one based on solidification kinetics, the second on phase diagram, and the third on differential scanning calorimetry data. The last was found to be the simplest and the most versatile; it can be used with multicomponent alloys and rapid solidification without any additional difficulty. For the purpose of (limited) experimental validation, finite element models developed in this effort were applied to three different shapes made of stainless steel 304 material, designed expressly for this effort with an increasing level of complexity. These finite element models require large computation time, especially when applied to deposits with multiple adjacent beads and layers. This problem can be overcome, to some extent, by the use of fast, multi-core computers. Also, due to their numerical nature coupled with the fact that solid mechanics- based models are being used to represent the material behavior in liquid and vapor phases as well, the models have some inherent approximations that become more pronounced when dealing with multi-bead and multi-layer deposits.

Chandra, Umesh↗

Preliminary thermal analysis for Saturn entry

A preliminary thermal analysis based on recently defined Saturn entry conditions has been conducted. The study, using viscous-shock-layer and engineering codes employed for Project Galileo, investigated nonequilibrium chemistry effects on the Saturn thermal environment, defined the primary heat-transfer mode for heatshield design, delineated some problem areas for future thermal studies, and validated BIRCHES (Blunt Body Inviscid Radiative and Convective Heating Engineering Solutions) for parametric or design studies. The effect of nonequilibrium chemistry appears to significantly influence only the radiative fluxes with effects localized to the stagnation region. However, the heat-transfer mode pertinent to the overall heat-shield design is convection. The convective results of BIRCHES and a detailed code are in good agreement. The resulting mass-loss rates for the currently prescribed nominal Saturn entry conditions are small when compared with the values for nominal Jupiter entry conditions. With coupled carbon-phenolic ablation injection, the convective heating rates are reduced substantially while the radiative heating rates are increased when compared with the corresponding no-injection results.

Zoby, E. V.↗

The primordial sequence, ribosomes, and the genetic code.

Experimental investigation of the key question of the origin of life concerning the chronological order in the primordial sequence of nucleic acid, protein, and cell. It is pointed out that, when viewed against the background of experiments on the selective reaction of basic homopolyamine acids with mononucleotides (Lacey and Pruitt, 1969; Woese, 1968), the experiments made help to establish a basis for understanding how information originally flowed from proteins to nucleic acids.

Fox, S. W.↗

Program For Analyzing Designs Of Liquid-Propellant Rockets

Rocket Combustor Interactive Design Computer Methodology (ROCCID) computer program provides standardized methodology, using state-of-art codes and procedures, for analysis of combustion performance and stability of liquid-propellant rocket engine. Provides combustion analyst with software tool to analyze existing combustor design (point-analysis option), or design high-performance, stable combustor, given set of input design requirements (point-design option). Written in ANSI FORTRAN 77 and VAX FORTRAN.

Klem, Mark D.↗

Transient Response of Rotor on Rolling-Element Bearings with Clearance

Internal clearance in rolling element bearings is usually present to allow for radial and axial growth of the rotor-bearing system and to accommodate bearing fit-up. The presence of this clearance also introduces a "dead band" into the load-deflection behavior of the bearing. Previous studies demonstrated that the presence of dead band clearance might have a significant effect on synchronous rotor response. In this work, the authors investigate transient response of a rotor supported on rolling element bearings with internal clearance. In addition, the stiffness of the bearings varies nonlinearly with bearing deflection and with speed. Bearing properties were accurately calculated with a state of the art rolling bearing analysis code. The subsequent rotordynamics analysis shows that for rapid acceleration rates the maximum response amplitude may be less than predicted by steady-state analysis. The presence of clearance may shift the critical speed location to lower speed values. The rotor vibration response exhibits subharmonic components which are more prominent with bearing clearance.

Fleming, David P.↗

An evaluation of turbulence models for massively blown surfaces

In this study, an evaluation of the various turbulence models for massively blown as well as unblown viscous shock layers has been made. The direct impact of the variations introduced through the different turbulent models has been evaluated by employing a single numerical code for the flow-field computations. The cases analyzed include flows with low and high Reynolds numbers and peaked and uniform surface injection rates. It is observed that with appropriate mixing-length formulation, and the use of an intermittency factor, most of the turbulence models considered predict comparable results for both blown and unblown surfaces.

Gupta, R. N.↗

A vector scanning processing technique for pulsed laser velocimetry

Pulsed-laser-sheet velocimetry yields two-dimensional velocity vectors across an extended planar region of a flow. Current processing techniques offer high-precision (1-percent) velocity estimates, but can require hours of processing time on specialized array processors. Sometimes, however, a less accurate (about 5 percent) data-reduction technique which also gives unambiguous velocity vector information is acceptable. Here, a direct space-domain processing technique is described and shown to be far superior to previous methods in achieving these objectives. It uses a novel data coding and reduction technique and has no 180-deg directional ambiguity. A complex convection vortex flow was recorded and completely processed in under 2 min on an 80386-based PC, producing a two-dimensional velocity-vector map of the flowfield. Pulsed-laser velocimetry data can thus be reduced quickly and reasonably accurately, without specialized array processing hardware.

Wernet, Mark P.↗

Implementation and Characterization of Three-Dimensional Particle-in-Cell Codes on Multiple-Instruction-Multiple-Data Massively Parallel Supercomputers

A three-dimensional electrostatic particle-in-cell (PIC) plasma simulation code has been developed on coarse-grain distributed-memory massively parallel computers with message passing communications. Our implementation is the generalization to three-dimensions of the general concurrent particle-in-cell (GCPIC) algorithm. In the GCPIC algorithm, the particle computation is divided among the processors using a domain decomposition of the simulation domain. In a three-dimensional simulation, the domain can be partitioned into one-, two-, or three-dimensional subdomains ("slabs," "rods," or "cubes") and we investigate the efficiency of the parallel implementation of the push for all three choices. The present implementation runs on the Intel Touchstone Delta machine at Caltech; a multiple-instruction-multiple-data (MIMD) parallel computer with 512 nodes. We find that the parallel efficiency of the push is very high, with the ratio of communication to computation time in the range 0.3%-10.0%. The highest efficiency (> 99%) occurs for a large, scaled problem with 64(sup 3) particles per processing node (approximately 134 million particles of 512 nodes) which has a push time of about 250 ns per particle per time step. We have also developed expressions for the timing of the code which are a function of both code parameters (number of grid points, particles, etc.) and machine-dependent parameters (effective FLOP rate, and the effective interprocessor bandwidths for the communication of particles and grid points). These expressions can be used to estimate the performance of scaled problems--including those with inhomogeneous plasmas--to other parallel machines once the machine-dependent parameters are known.

Lyster, P. M.↗

Influence of third-degree geometric nonlinearities on the vibration and stability of pretwisted, preconed, rotating blades

The governing coupled flapwise bending, edgewise bending, and torsional equations are derived including third-degree geometric nonlinear elastic terms by making use of the geometric nonlinear theory of elasticity in which the elongations and shears are negligible compared to unity. These equations are specialized for blades of doubly symmetric cross section with linear variation of pretwist over the blade length. The nonlinear steady state equations and the linearized perturbation equations are solved by using the Galerkin method, and by utilizing the nonrotating normal modes for the shape functions. Parametric results obtained for various cases of rotating blades from the present theoretical formulation are compared to those produced from the finite element code MSC/NASTRAN, and also to those produced from an in-house experimental test rig. It is shown that the spurious instabilities, observed for thin, rotating blades when second degree geometric nonlinearities are used, can be eliminated by including the third-degree elastic nonlinear terms. Furthermore, inclusion of third degree terms improves the correlation between the theory and experiment.

Subrahmanyam, K. B.↗

Influence of third-degree geometric nonlinearities on the vibration and stability of pretwisted, preconed, rotating blades

The governing coupled flapwise bending, edgewise bending, and torsional equations are derived including third-degree goemetric nonlinear elastic terms by making use of the geometric nonlinear theory of elasticity in which the elongations and shears are negligible compared to unity. These equations are specialized for blades of doubly symmetric cross section with linear variation of Pretwist over the blade length. The nonlinear steady state equations and the linearized perturbation equations are solved by using the Galerkin method, and by utilizing the nonrotating normal modes for the shape functions. Parametric results obtained for various cases of rotating blades from the present theoretical formulation are compared to those produced from the finite element code MSC/NASTRAN, and also to those produced from an in-house experimental test rig. It is shown that the spurious instabilities, observed for thin, rotating blades when second degree geometric nonlinearities are used, can be eliminated by including the third-degree elastic nonlinear terms. Furthermore, inclusion of third degree terms improves the correlation between the theory and experiment.

Subrahmanyam, K. B.↗

Plasma Reactor Modeling and Validation Experiments

Plasma processing is a key processing stop in integrated circuit manufacturing. Low pressure, high density plum reactors are widely used for etching and deposition. Inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source has become popular recently in many processing applications. In order to accelerate equipment and process design, an understanding of the physics and chemistry, particularly, plasma power coupling, plasma and processing uniformity and mechanism is important. This understanding is facilitated by comprehensive modeling and simulation as well as plasma diagnostics to provide the necessary data for model validation which are addressed in this presentation. We have developed a complete code for simulating an ICP reactor and the model consists of transport of electrons, ions, and neutrals, Poisson's equation, and Maxwell's equation along with gas flow and energy equations. Results will be presented for chlorine and fluorocarbon plasmas and compared with data from Langmuir probe, mass spectrometry and FTIR.

Meyyappan, M.↗

HZE beam transport in multilayered materials

A nonperturbative analytic solution of the high charge and energy (HZE) Green's function is used to implement a computer code for laboratory ion beam transport in multiple-layered materials. The code is established to operate on the Langley nuclear fragmentation model used in space engineering applications. Computational procedures are established to generate linear energy transfer (LET) distributions for a specified ion beam and target for comparison with experimental measurement. Comparison with 56Fe ion with Pb-Al and Pb-(CH2)x targets shows reasonable agreement.

NASA Discipline Radiation Health↗

Pressure and current balance conditions during electron beam injections from spacecraft

Electrostatic charging level of a conducting surface in response to injections of electron beams into space plasma is investigated by means of one-dimensional Vlasov code. Injections of Maxwellian beams into a vacuum shows that the surface can charge up to an electric potential phi sub s greater than W sub b, where W sub b is the average electron beam energy. Since Maxwellian beams have extended trails with electrons having energies greater than W sub b, it is difficult to quantify the charging level in terms of the energies of the injected electrons. In order to quantitatively understand the charging in excess of W sub b, simulations were carried out for water-bag types of beam with velocity distribution functions described by f(V) = A for V sub min approx. less than V approx. less than V sub max and f(V) = O otherwise, where A is a constant making the normalized beam density unity. It is found that V sub max does not directly determine the charging level. The pressure distribution in the electron sheath determines the electric field distribution near the surface. The electric field in turn determines the electrostatic potential of the vehicle. The pressure distribution is determined by the beam parameters such as the average beam velocity and the velocity spread of the beam.

Hwang, K. S.↗

Determination of cosmic bodies size-velocity distribution by observation of current impacts on Mars

Collisions of cosmic bodies with terrestrial planets involve many physical processes such as deceleration and ablation during their flight through an atmosphere, the impact at a surface accompanied by cratering, melting and evaporation of surface material, generation of shock waves, etc. If body velocity is high enough then a thermal radiation is very important. All these processes on Mars proceed differently than on the other planets because of the low density of its atmosphere. In particular, this leads to the fact that smaller bodies of sizes of the order of 0.1-10 m strike the planet surface without being decelerated and perform some effects which may be detected by equipment placed on a board of artificial satellites, by a network of stations at the surface of Mars and even from the Earth. These observations can be used to determine size-velocity distribution of such bodies in the Solar System. Numerical simulation of the impacts at the surface of Mars have been carried out using two-dimensional gas dynamic code with detailed consideration of the thermal radiative transfer. This work is an extension of our previous paper. We have expanded a range of projectile sizes up to r sub 0 = 100 m. For such a large-scale body, the initial stage of the impact, involving crate ring and ejection of surface material, is very important. Thus, these effects have been taken into account.

Nemchinov, I. V.↗

HZE beam transport in multilayered materials

A nonperturbative analytic solution of the high charge and energy (HZE) Green's function is used to implement a computer code for laboratory ion beam transport in multiple-layered materials. The code is established to operate on the Langley nuclear fragmentation model used in space engineering applications. Computational procedures are established to generate linear energy transfer (LET) distributions for a specified ion beam and target for comparison with experimental measurement. Comparison with Fe-56 ion with Pb-Al and Pb-(CH2)(x) targets shows reasonable agreement.

Shinn, J. L.↗

Electron Heat Fluxes Generated by Intense Whistler Waves at the Upper Ionospheric Altitudes

Magnetospheric whistler waves, chorus and hiss, can't provide the resonance heating of the core electron plasma population. However, these whistler-mode branches, can implicitly participate in the heating processes of the core plasma thermal electron population by triggering the electron precipitation over a broad energy range from the magnetosphere and subsequent atmospheric ionization processes leading to the production of superthermal electron population. These superthermal electrons play a large role in the magnetosphere-ionosphere-atmosphere energy interplay with participation of both magnetically conjugate hemispheres, and their Coulomb interaction with background magnetospheric thermal electrons. Using strong hiss and chorus wave events measured by the Van Allen Probes and SuperThermal Electron Transport code, we evaluate the formation of electron heat fluxes at the upper ionospheric altitudes and discuss their consequences on the formation of electron temperature. It is found that chorus and hiss waves that initiate the precipitation of magnetospheric electrons with energies below 30 keV and the follow-up production of secondary electrons play an important role in the energy balance of ionosphere-magnetosphere system.

Magnetospheric whistler waves as an implicit sourc↗

Simulation of Radiation-Induced DNA Damage With the Code RITRACKS

INTRODUCTION DNA damage is one of the most physiologically important effects of ionizing radiation. Clustered DNA damage events, like double-strand breaks (DSBs), have the most notable biological consequences. DNA damage types depend on both the track structure of the radiation and the spatial organization of the DNA. High linear energy transfer (LET) charged nuclei, found in galactic cosmic rays (GCR), are known to produce large numbers of complex DNA damage events. The human genome is packaged into chromatin, which can take on locus-dependent and cell type-dependent spatial conformations that correspond to epigenetic states, such as more open, extended structures in transcriptionally active chromatin. These epigenetic differences can affect DNA break patterns in response to ionizing radiation, potentially creating distinct DNA repair and signaling outcomes across the genome in different cells. MATERIAL AND METHODS The code RITRACKS (Relativistic Ion Tracks), which simulates stochastic radiation track structures and radiation chemistry, was used to model damage on isolated and histone-bound DNA by various types of ions and photons. The changes made to the code to perform radiation-induced DNA damage, and simulation results on single nucleosomes are given in our recent paper. In this work, the DNA building capabilities of RITRACKS have been extended to simulate more complex DNA structures build on the coarse-grain simulation framework meso-WLCsim. This code can sample generic chromatin fiber conformation ensembles based on the geometry of nucleosomes and mechanical properties of DNA. Using RITRACKS, we simulated the fragment length distributions (FLD) of irradiated DNA structures built using the chromatin conformations of WLCsim and obtained results representative of those obtained with Radiation-Induced Correlated Cleavage with sequencing (RICC-Seq) experiments [6]. We have also performed Fe ion and photon irradiations of K562, IMR90, BJ and RPE-1 cells at NSRL to experimentally validate results. Sample processing and data analysis are in progress and any available preliminary results will be discussed. DISCUSSION The recent updates in the code RITRACKS allow the calculation of several quantities such as the DNA damage yield and the FLD. This approach can be used to model epigenetic state-specific chromatin structure parameters to leverage the epigenetic state data available for many human cell types to infer relative DNA damage sensitivity among genomic loci.

I Plante↗

Full-Span Tiltrotor Aeroacoustic Model (TRAM) Overview and 40- by 80-Foot Wind Tunnel Test

Most helicopter data trends cannot be extrapolated to tiltrotors because blade geometry and aerodynamic behavior, as well as rotor and fuselage interactions, are significantly different for tiltrotors. A tiltrotor model has been developed to investigate the aeromechanics of tiltrotors, to develop a comprehensive database for validating tiltrotor analyses, and to provide a research platform for supporting future tiltrotor designs. The Full-Span Tiltrotor Aeroacoustic Model (FS TRAM) is a dual-rotor, powered aircraft model with extensive instrumentation for measurement of structural and aerodynamic loads. This paper will present the Full-Span TRAM test capabilities and the first set of data obtained during a 40- by 80-Foot Wind Tunnel test conducted in late 2000 at NASA Ames Research Center. The Full-Span TRAM is a quarter-scale representation of the V-22 Osprey aircraft, and a heavily instrumented NASA and U.S. Army wind tunnel test stand. Rotor structural loads are monitored and recorded for safety-of-flight and for information on blade loads and dynamics. Left and right rotor balance and fuselage balance loads are monitored for safety-of-flight and for measurement of vehicle and rotor aerodynamic performance. Static pressure taps on the left wing are used to determine rotor/wing interactional effects and rotor blade dynamic pressures measure blade airloads. All of these measurement capabilities make the FS TRAM test stand a unique and valuable asset for validation of computational codes and to aid in future tiltrotor designs. The Full-Span TRAM was tested in the NASA Ames Research Center 40- by 80-Foot Wind Tunnel from October through December 2000. Rotor and vehicle performance measurements were acquired in addition to wing pressures, rotor acoustics, and Laser Light Sheet (LLS) flow visualization data. Hover, forward flight, and airframe (rotors off) aerodynamic runs were performed. Helicopter-mode data were acquired during angle of attack and thrust sweeps for a variety of tunnel speeds. Wake geometry images were acquired using LLS photographs and suggest dual tip vortex formation at low thrust conditions. The full paper will include comparisons to isolated-rotor TRAM data acquired at the Duits-Nederlandse Windtunnel (DNW) in 1998. The FS TRAM has been established as a valuable national asset for tiltrotor research. Data reduction and analysis of the 40- by 80-Foot Wind Tunnel test results are underway. Follow-on testing of the FS TRAM is currently being planned for the NASA Ames 80- by 120-Foot Wind Tunnel in late 2001.

McCluer, Megan S.↗