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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 55 records · Page 3

Miles In Trail (MIT) Restrictions: A Perspective

Miles-in-trail restrictions are issued to meet the airport and/or airspace capacity. The purpose of this paper is to review the currently practiced miles-in-trail operations for traffic flow management at a typical en route Air Traffic Control Center. The paper describes roles and considerations of both traffic management coordinators and the controllers in planning, coordination, execution, and monitoring of miles-in-trail restrictions. The paper addresses the type of decisions that traffic management coordinators must make and the different information required to plan and monitor miles-in-trail restrictions. The implications of miles-in-trail restrictions on controller workload are also addressed. Using the Cleveland center as an example, the paper also identified some challenging traffic situations that required miles-in-trail restrictions on a regular basis. The paper is expected to benefit the research and development community as it provides the current challenges in traffic flow management and strengths and weakness of miles-in-trail operations.

Kopardekar, Parimal↗

Electricity Transmission, Pipelines, and National Trails: An Analysis of Current and Potential Intersections on Federal Lands in the Eastern United States, Alaska, and Hawaii

As has been noted in many reports and publications, acquiring new or expanded rights-of-way for transmission is a challenging process, because numerous land use and land ownership constraints must be overcome to develop pathways suitable for energy transmission infrastructure. In the eastern U.S., more than twenty federally protected national trails (some of which are thousands of miles long, and cross many states) pose a potential obstacle to the development of new or expanded electricity transmission capacity. However, the scope of this potential problem is not well-documented, and there is no baseline information available that could allow all stakeholders to study routing scenarios that could mitigate impacts on national trails. This report, Electricity Transmission, Pipelines, and National Trails: An Analysis of Current and Potential Intersections on Federal Lands in the Eastern United States, was prepared by the Environmental Science Division of Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne). Argonne was tasked by DOE to analyze the “footprint” of the current network of National Historic and Scenic Trails and the electricity transmission system in the 37 eastern contiguous states, Alaska, and Hawaii; assess the extent to which national trails are affected by electrical transmission; and investigate the extent to which national trails and other sensitive land use types may be affected in the near future by planned transmission lines. Pipelines are secondary to transmission lines for analysis, but are also within the analysis scope in connection with the overall directives of Section 368 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and because of the potential for electrical transmission lines being collocated with pipelines.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DIRBE Comet Trails

Re-examination of the COBE DIRBE data reveals the thermal emission of several comet dust trails.The dust trails of 1P/Halley, 169P/NEAT, and 3200 Phaethon have not been previously reported.The known trails of 2P/Encke, and 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 are also seen. The dust trails have 12 and 25 microns surface brightnesses of <0.1 and <0.15 MJy/sr, respectively, which is <1% of the zodiacal light intensity. The trails are very difficult to see in any single daily image of the sky, but are evident as rapidly moving linear features in movies of the DIRBE data. Some trails are clearest when crossing through the orbital plane of the parent comet, but others are best seen at high ecliptic latitudes as the Earth passes over or under the dust trail. All these comets have known associations with meteor showers. This re-examination also reveals one additional comet and 13 additional asteroids that had not previously been recognized in the DIRBE data.

COMET↗

Trails Management at LANL - A Presentation to the Los Alamos County Parks and Recreation Board

Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) trail management program goals include reduce risk of damage and injury to property, human life, and health, and sensitive natural and cultural resources from social trail use at LANL, facilitate the establishment of a safe viable network of linked trails, maintain security of LANL operations, and many more, respect the wishes of local Pueblos, adapt trail use to changing conditions in a responsive manner, and maintain the recreational functionality of the DOE lands. There are approximately 30 miles of LANL trails. Some are open to the public and allow bicycles, horses, hikers, and runners. Know the rules of the trails to stay safe.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Low-speed wind-tunnel parametric investigation of flight spoilers as trailing-vortex-alleviation devices on a transport aircraft model

The trailing-wing sensor technique was used in the Langley V/STOL tunnel to determine the effectiveness of 11 combinations of the existing flight-spoiler segments on a jumbo-jet transport aircraft model when they were deflected as trailing-vortex-alleviation devices. All 11 of the flight-spoiler configurations investigated were effective in reducing the induced rolling moment on the trailing model. This investigation is an extension of earlier wind-tunnel and flight tests which showed that the existing flight spoilers on the jumbo-jet aircraft can be used as effective trailing-vortex-alleviation devices. Essentially, all of the reduction in induced rolling moment on the trailing-wing model was realized at a spoiler deflection of 45 deg for single-spoiler configurations, 30 for two-spoiler configurations, and 15 deg for both the three- and four-spoiler configurations. Of the 11 flight-spoiler configurations investigated, the most promising configuration for trailing-vortex abatement on the jumbo-jet aircraft appears to be the three inboard flight spoilers deflected 15 deg.

Croom, D. R.↗

Numerical prediction of vortex cores of the leading and trailing edges of delta wings

The purpose of the present paper is to predict the roll-up of the vortex sheets emanating from the leading- and trailing-edges of delta wings with emphasis on the interaction of vortex cores beyond the trailing edge. The motivation behind the present work is the recent experimental data published by Hummel. The Nonlinear Discrete-Vortex method (NDV-method) is modified and extended to predict the leading- and trailing-vortex cores beyond the trailing edge. The present model alleviates the problems previously encountered in predicting satisfactory pressure distributions. This is accomplished by lumping the free-vortex lines during the iteration procedure. The leading- and trailing-edge cores and their feeding sheets are obtained as parts of the solution. The numerical results show that the NDV-method is successful in confirming the formation of a trailing-edge core with opposite circulation and opposite roll-up to those of the leading-edge core. This work is a breakthrough in the high angle of attack aerodynamics and moreover, it is the first numerical prediction done on this problem

Kandil, O. A.↗

Wind-tunnel investigations of wings with serrated sharp trailing edges

Exploratory wind-tunnel force measurements are presented for two wing geometries with small-scale planar and nonplanar serrated trailing-edge devices (chord-Reynolds numbers ranged from 1.0 to 3.7 million). The planar serrated trailing-edge extensions reduced the drag at conditions when trailing-edge separation occurred at low angles of attack. The introduction of serrations reduced or eliminated the drag penalty, due to the small (1-2 percent of the chord length) nonplanar trailing-edge flaps, while maintaining the effects of increase in camber. The presence of streamwise vortices immediately downstream of the serrated trailing edges is believed to have favorably affected the boundary-layer flow approaching the trailing edge and the near-wake development, resulting in reduced pressure (form) drag.

Vijgen, P. M. H. W.↗

Wind-tunnel investigations of wings with serrated sharp trailing edges

Exploratory wind-tunnel force measurements are presented for two wing geometries with small-scale planar and nonplanar serrated trailing-edge devices (chord-Reynolds numbers ranged from 1.0 - 3.7 x 10 to the 6th). The planar serrated trailing-edge extensions reduced the drag at conditions when trailing-edge separation occurred at low angles of attack. The introduction of serrations reduced or eliminated the drag penalty due to the small (1-2 percent of the chord length) nonplanar trailing-edge flaps, while maintaining the effects of increase in camber. The presence of streamwise vortices immediately downstream of the serrated trailing edges is believed to have favorably affected the boundary-layer flow approaching the trailing edge and the near-wake development, resulting in reduced pressure drag.

Vijgen, P. M. H. W.↗

Low-speed aerodynamics of the trailed-rotor high-speed rotorcraft concept in cruise configuration

An experimental investigation was performed to determine the low-speed aerodynamic performance characteristics of the trailed-rotor high-speed rotorcraft concept in its cruise configuration. A 15 percent scale semispan model was tested at speeds up to 180 knots in the NASA Ames 7-by 10-Foot Subsonic Wind Tunnel. The objective of this investigation was to determine specific aerodynamic performance characteristics to assist in evaluating the trailed rotor as a high-speed rotorcraft. The aerodynamic influence of the following model configuration changes were determined: ailerons, flaps, wing/pod angle, number of trailed blades, trailed-blade twist and azimuth, and wing/pod filet radius. The low-speed performance objectives for the concept were met and results indicated that the trailed-rotor model had no significant adverse aerodynamic characteristics. The optimum low-speed cruise configuration was determined. Results suggest the trailed-rotor concept has better low-speed cruise performance characteristics than the folding tiltrotor configuration.

Johnson, Jeffrey L.↗

Experimental evaluation of certification trails using abstract data type validation

Certification trails are a recently introduced and promising approach to fault-detection and fault-tolerance. Recent experimental work reveals many cases in which a certification-trail approach allows for significantly faster program execution time than a basic time-redundancy approach. Algorithms for answer-validation of abstract data types allow a certification trail approach to be used for a wide variety of problems. An attempt to assess the performance of algorithms utilizing certification trails on abstract data types is reported. Specifically, this method was applied to the following problems: heapsort, Hullman tree, shortest path, and skyline. Previous results used certification trails specific to a particular problem and implementation. The approach allows certification trails to be localized to 'data structure modules,' making the use of this technique transparent to the user of such modules.

Wilson, Dwight S.↗

Effect of Trailing Edge Flow Injection on Fan Noise and Aerodynamic Performance

An experimental investigation using trailing edge blowing for reducing fan rotor/guide vane wake interaction noise was completed in the NASA Glenn 9- by 15-foot Low Speed Wind Tunnel. Data were acquired to measure noise, aerodynamic performance, and flow features for a 22" tip diameter fan representative of modern turbofan technology. The fan was designed to use trailing edge blowing to reduce the fan blade wake momentum deficit. The test objective was to quantify noise reductions, measure impacts on fan aerodynamic performance, and document the flow field using hot-film anemometry. Measurements concentrated on approach, cutback, and takeoff rotational speeds as those are the primary conditions of acoustic interest. Data are presented for a 2% (relative to overall fan flow) trailing edge injection rate and show a 2 dB reduction in Overall Sound Power Level (OAPWL) at all fan test speeds. The reduction in broadband noise is nearly constant and is approximately 1.5 dB up to 20 kHz at all fan speeds. Measurements of tone noise show significant variation, as evidenced by reductions of up to 6 dB in the 2 BPF tone at 6700 rpm.: and increases of nearly 2 dB for the 4 BPF tone at approach speed. Aerodynamic performance measurements show the fan with 2 % injection has an overall efficiency that is comparable to the baseline fan and operates, as intended, with nearly the same pressure ratio and mass flow parameters. Hot-film measurements obtained at the approach operating condition indicate that mean blade wake filling in the tip region was not as significant as expected. This suggests that additional acoustic benefits could be realized if the trailing edge blowing could be modified to provide better filling of the wake momentum deficit. Nevertheless, the hot-film measurements indicate that the trailing edge blowing provided significant reductions in blade wake turbulence. Overall, these results indicate that further work may be required to fully understand the proper implementation of injecting flow at/near the trailing edge as a wake filling strategy. However, data do support the notion that noise reductions can be realized not only for tones but perhaps more importantly, also for broadband. Furthermore, the technique can be implemented without adversely effecting overall fan aerodynamic performance.

Fite, E. Brian↗

Preliminary Design and Evaluation of an Airfoil with Continuous Trailing-Edge Flap

This paper presents the preliminary design and evaluation of an airfoil with active continuous trailing-edge flap (CTEF) as a potential rotorcraft active control device. The development of structural cross-section models of a continuous trailing-edge flap airfoil is described. The CTEF deformations with MFC actuation are predicted by NASTRAN and UM/VABS analyses. Good agreement is shown between the predictions from the two analyses. Approximately two degrees of CTEF deflection, defined as the rotation angle of the trailing edge, is achieved with the baseline MFC-PZT bender. The 2D aerodynamic characteristics of the continuous trailing-edge flap are evaluated using a CFD analysis. The aerodynamic efficiency of a continuous trailing-edge flap is compared to that of a conventional discrete trailing-edge flap (DTEF). It is found that the aerodynamic characteristics of a CTEF are equivalent to those of a conventional DTEF with the same deflection angle but with a smaller flap chord. A fluid structure interaction procedure is implemented to predict the deflection of the continuous trailingedge flap under aerodynamic pressure. The reductions in CTEF deflection are overall small when aerodynamic pressure is applied: 2.7% reduction is shown with a CTEF deflection angle of two degrees and at angle of attack of six degrees. In addition, newly developed MFC-PMN actuator is found to be a good supplement to MFC-PZT when applied as the bender outside layers. A mixed MFC-PZT and MFC-PMN bender generates 3% more CTEF deformation than an MFC-PZT only bender and 5% more than an MFC-PMN only bender under aerodynamic loads.

Shen, Jinwei↗

Evaluation of Algorithms for a Miles-in-Trail Decision Support Tool

Four machine learning algorithms were prototyped and evaluated for use in a proposed decision support tool that would assist air traffic managers as they set Miles-in-Trail restrictions. The tool would display probabilities that each possible Miles-in-Trail value should be used in a given situation. The algorithms were evaluated with an expected Miles-in-Trail cost that assumes traffic managers set restrictions based on the tool-suggested probabilities. Basic Support Vector Machine, random forest, and decision tree algorithms were evaluated, as was a softmax regression algorithm that was modified to explicitly reduce the expected Miles-in-Trail cost. The algorithms were evaluated with data from the summer of 2011 for air traffic flows bound to the Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) over the ARD, PENNS, and SHAFF fixes. The algorithms were provided with 18 input features that describe the weather at EWR, the runway configuration at EWR, the scheduled traffic demand at EWR and the fixes, and other traffic management initiatives in place at EWR. Features describing other traffic management initiatives at EWR and the weather at EWR achieved relatively high information gain scores, indicating that they are the most useful for estimating Miles-in-Trail. In spite of a high variance or over-fitting problem, the decision tree algorithm achieved the lowest expected Miles-in-Trail costs when the algorithms were evaluated using 10-fold cross validation with the summer 2011 data for these air traffic flows.

Bloem, Michael↗

Trails at LANL - Public Meeting and Forum - July 26, 2016

These are the slides of a meeting about trails at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The meeting goals are the folllowing: to inform and educate citizens about LANL trails management issues that include resource protection, safety, security and trails etiquette; to explain how and why LANL trails can be closed and reopened; and to understand your concerns and ideas about LANL trails use.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Demonstration of object location, classification, and characterization by developed deep learning dust ablation trail analysis code package using plasma jets

Based on deep learning, a Dust Ablation Trail Analysis (DATA) code package is developed to detect dust ablation trails in tokamaks, which is intended to analyze a large amount data of tokamak dusts. To validate and benchmark the DATA code package, 2440 plasma jet images are exploited for the training and test of the deep learning DATA code package, since plasma jets resemble the shape and size of dust ablation clouds in tokamaks. After being trained by 1920 plasma jet images, the DATA code package is able to locate 100% plasma jets, classify plasma jets with the accuracy of >99.9%, and output image skeleton information for classified plasma jets. The DATA code package trained by the plasma jet images is also used to analyze the dust ablation trails captured in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting (EAST) tokamak with the satisfactory performance, further verifying its applicability in the fusion dust ablation investigation. Based on its excellent performance presented here, it is demonstrated that our DATA code package is able to automatically identify and analyze dust ablation trails in tokamaks, which can be used for further detailed investigations, such as the three-dimensional reconstruction of dusts and their ablation trails.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Evaluating the Effect of Vane Trailing Edge Flow on Turbine Rim Sealing

Abstract Modern gas turbine development continues to move toward increased overall efficiency, driven in part by higher firing temperatures that point to a need for more cooling air to prevent catastrophic component failure. However, using additional cooling flow bled from the upstream compressor causes a corresponding detriment to overall efficiency. A primary candidate for cooling flow optimization is purge flow, which contributes to sealing the stator–rotor cavity and prevents ingestion of hot main gas path (MGP) flow into the wheelspace. Previous research has identified that the external main gas path flow physics play a significant role in driving rim seal ingestion. However, the potential impact of other cooling flow features on ingestion behavior, such as vane trailing edge (VTE) flow, is absent in the open literature. This paper presents experimental measurements of rim cavity cooling effectiveness collected from a one-stage turbine operating at engine-representative Reynolds and Mach numbers. Carbon dioxide (CO2) was used as a tracer gas in both the purge flow and vane trailing edge flow to investigate flow migration into and out of the wheelspace. Results show that the vane trailing edge flow does in fact migrate into the rim seal and that there is a superposition relationship between individual cooling flow contributions. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations using unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) were used to confirm VTE flow ingestion into the rim seal cavity. Radial and circumferential traverse surveys were performed to quantify cooling flow radial migration through the main gas path with and without vane trailing edge flow. The surveys confirmed that vane trailing edge flow is entrained into the wheelspace as purge flow is reduced. Local CO2 measurements also confirmed the presence of VTE flow deep in the wheelspace cavity.

Engineering↗

Mitigation of LEO Satellite Brightness and Trail Effects on the Rubin Observatory LSST

In this work, we report studies on the mitigation of optical effects of bright low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites on Vera C. Rubin Observatory and its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). These include options for pointing the telescope to avoid satellites, laboratory investigations of bright trails on the Rubin Observatory LSST camera sensors, algorithms for correcting image artifacts caused by bright trails, experiments on darkening SpaceX Starlink satellites, and ground-based follow-up observations. The original Starlink v0.9 satellites are g ~ 4.5 mag, and the initial experiment "DarkSat" is g ~ 6.1 mag. Future Starlink darkening plans may reach g ~ 7 mag, a brightness level that enables nonlinear image artifact correction to well below background noise. However, the satellite trails will still exist at a signal-to-noise ratio ~ 100, generating systematic errors that may impact data analysis and limit some science. For the Rubin Observatory 8.4 m mirror and a satellite at 550 km, the full width at half maximum of the trail is about 3'' as the result of an out-of-focus effect, which helps avoid saturation by decreasing the peak surface brightness of the trail. For 48,000 LEOsats of apparent magnitude 4.5, about 1% of pixels in LSST nautical twilight images would need to be masked.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Externally blown flap trailing edge noise reduction by slot blowing: A preliminary study

Short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft using externally blown flaps (EBF) for lift augmentation develop considerable jet-flap interaction noise. A proposed method to reduce the EBF trailing edge noise is to locate a slot near the trailing edge of a flap through which low velocity secondary air is blown. Limited OASPL noise data were obtained from the interaction of the jet exhaust from a 5.08 cm diameter convergent nozzle with the trailing edge of a plate, and are presented for five slot configurations located near or at the trailing edge of the plate. Also presented are some significant jet trailing edge interaction data using a mixer nozzle with one of the slot configurations.

Mckinzie, D. J., Jr.↗