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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 613 records · Page 34
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1995

Increasing Precision Of Temperature Sensors Of Liquid H2

Commercial silicon-diode temperature sensors intended for use in boiling or nearly boiling liquid hydrogen at temperatures near 37 degrees R recalibrated to greater precision by method involving careful attention to details of design, operation, and computation. Method based on fundamental electrical and thermodynamic principles and good engineering practice, also applicable to recalibration of other temperature sensors intended for use in other boiling or nearly boiling liquids.

Dempsey, Paula J.↗
NASA NTRS2005

DSMC Simulations of Ballute Aerothermodynamics Under Hypersonic Rarefied Conditions

This paper presents computational results obtained with the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method for towed ballute applications. A ballute is an inflatable drag device that can be used to create a large amount of drag at high altitudes. Consequently, ballutes provide a potential technology for achieving aerocapture when the primary spacecraft velocity reduction (ΔV) is achieved at much higher altitudes than with the conventional rigid aeroshell. Since the ΔV is achieved at relatively high altitudes, rarefaction can be significant and is the motivation for the current study with the DSMC method. Computed surface and flow-field results are presented for a toroidal ballute, isolated tethers when exposed to free-stream flow conditions, and the flow interactions resulting from a toroidal ballute when towed by a six meter diameter Mars Pathfinder shaped (without tethers) spacecraft. All results presented are for Earth entry at velocities of 14 to 7 km/s (primary focus is at 8.55 km/s, same as some previous Titan aerocapture studies) and altitudes of 200 to 100 km. Variations of drag and heating coefficients as a function of rarefaction are presented. A description of the flow structure is provided and also an explanation of how it is affected by shock interactions produced solely by the ballute and those resulting from the two body combination of towed ballute and spacecraft is also given.

James N Moss↗
NASA NTRS2008

Aeroheating Test of CEV Entry Vehicle at Turbulent Conditions

An investigation of the aeroheating environment of the Project Orion Crew Entry Vehicle has been performed in the Arnold Engineering Development Center Tunnel 9. Data were measured on a approx. 3.5% scale model (0.1778m/7-inch diam.) of the vehicle using coaxial thermocouples in the Mach 8 and Mach 10 nozzles of Tunnel 9. Runs were performed at free stream Reynolds numbers of 1 106/ft to 20 10(exp 6)/ft in the Mach 10 nozzle and 8 10(exp 6)/ft to 48 10(exp 6)/ft in the Mach 8 nozzle. The test gas in Tunnel 9 is pure N2, which at these operating conditions remains un-dissociated and may be treated as a perfect gas. At these conditions, laminar, transitional, and turbulent flow was produced on the model at Mach 10, and transitional and turbulent conditions were produced on the model at Mach 8. The majority of runs were made on a clean, smooth-surface model configuration and a limited number of runs were made in which inserts with varying boundary-layer trips configurations were used to force the occurrence of transition. Laminar and turbulent predictions were generated for all wind tunnel test conditions and comparisons were performed with the data for the purpose of helping to define uncertainty margins for the computational method. Data from both the wind tunnel test and the computations are presented herein. Figure 1 shows a schematic of the thermocouple locations on the model and figures 2 and 3 show a photo and schematic of the AEDC Hypervelocity Tunnel 9. Figure 4 shows a typical grid used in the computations. From the comparisons shown in figures 5 through 8 it was concluded that for perfect-gas conditions, the computations could predict either fully-laminar or full-turbulent flow to within +/-10% of the experimental data. The experimental data showed that transition began on the leeside of the heatshield at a free stream Reynolds number of 9 10(exp 6)/ft in the Mach 10 nozzle and fully-developed turbulent flow was produced at 20 10(exp 6)/ft. In the Mach 8 nozzle, transition on the leeside of the heat-shield was observed for all test conditions, and full-developed turbulent flow occurred at a free stream Reynolds number of 18 10(exp 6)/ft. On the aftbody of the vehicle no evidence of turbulence was detected at Mach 10 conditions, and at Mach 8 conditions, transition appeared to begin on the windside of the aftbody at free stream Reynolds number of 18x10(exp 6)/ft with fully-developed turbulent flow occurring only at the highest test condition of 48x10(exp 6)/ft.

Hollis, Brian R.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Evolutionary Computation for the Identification of Emergent Behavior in Autonomous Systems

Over the past several years the Center for Evolutionary Computation and Automated Design at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has developed a technique based on Evolutionary Computational Methods (ECM) that allows for the automated optimization of complex computationally modeled systems. An important application of this technique is for the identification of emergent behaviors in autonomous systems. Mobility platforms such as rovers or airborne vehicles are now being designed with autonomous mission controllers that can find trajectories over a solution space that is larger than can reasonably be tested. It is critical to identify control behaviors that are not predicted and can have surprising results (both good and bad). These emergent behaviors need to be identified, characterized and either incorporated into or isolated from the acceptable range of control characteristics. We use cluster analysis of automatically retrieved solutions to identify isolated populations of solutions with divergent behaviors.

Terrile, Richard J.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Model-Invariant Hybrid Computations of Separated Flows for RCA Standard Test Cases

NASA's Revolutionary Computational Aerosciences (RCA) subproject has identified several smooth-body separated flows as standard test cases to emphasize the challenge these flows present for computational methods and their importance to the aerospace community. Results of computations of two of these test cases, the NASA hump and the FAITH experiment, are presented. The computations were performed with the model-invariant hybrid LES-RANS formulation, implemented in the NASA code VULCAN-CFD. The model- invariant formulation employs gradual LES-RANS transitions and compensation for model variation to provide more accurate and efficient hybrid computations. Comparisons revealed that the LES-RANS transitions employed in these computations were sufficiently gradual that the compensating terms were unnecessary. Agreement with experiment was achieved only after reducing the turbulent viscosity to mitigate the effect of numerical dissipation. The stream-wise evolution of peak Reynolds shear stress was employed as a measure of turbulence dynamics in separated flows useful for evaluating computations.

Woodruff, Stephen↗
NASA NTRS2000

Magnetic Field Suppression of Flow in Semiconductor Melt

One of the most promising approaches for the reduction of convection during the crystal growth of conductive melts (semiconductor crystals) is the application of magnetic fields. Current technology allows the experimentation with very intense static fields (up to 80 KGauss) for which nearly convection free results are expected from simple scaling analysis in stabilized systems (vertical Bridgman method with axial magnetic field). However, controversial experimental results were obtained. The computational methods are, therefore, a fundamental tool in the understanding of the phenomena accounting during the solidification of semiconductor materials. Moreover, effects like the bending of the isomagnetic lines, different aspect ratios and misalignments between the direction of the gravity and magnetic field vectors can not be analyzed with analytical methods. The earliest numerical results showed controversial conclusions and are not able to explain the experimental results. Although the generated flows are extremely low, the computational task is a complicated because of the thin boundary layers. That is one of the reasons for the discrepancy in the results that numerical studies reported. Modeling of these magnetically damped crystal growth experiments requires advanced numerical methods. We used, for comparison, three different approaches to obtain the solution of the problem of thermal convection flows: (1) Spectral method in spectral superelement implementation, (2) Finite element method with regularization for boundary layers, (3) Multiquadric method, a novel method with global radial basis functions, that is proven to have exponential convergence. The results obtained by these three methods are presented for a wide region of Rayleigh and Hartman numbers. Comparison and discussion of accuracy, efficiency, reliability and agreement with experimental results will be presented as well.

Fedoseyev, A. I.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Overview of CFD methods and comparison with flight aerothermal data

An overview of previously published aerothermal investigations which demonstrate the capabilities of detailed computational fluid dynamics and engineering codes to predict the aerothermal environment about an entry vehicle is presented. The overview consists of a brief discussion of the computational methods and experimental data and includes comparisons between the computed results and data. The overview focuses primarily on analyses of flight data since these data provide the unique capability to assess the real-gas chemistry options in the codes. The computed results are based on a series of codes which are employed by the Aerothermodynamics Branch of the Space System Division at the Langley Research Center. The flight data, which were measured on the Reentry F, the Space Shuttle, and the Fire II vehicles, represent a wide range of vehicle configurations and freestream conditions. Also, results of one recent set of ground tests are included since the tests provide data on a model of a pending flight project. The comparisons of the predicted results and data demonstrate the adequacy of the present computational fluid dynamics capabilities and indicate the potential to predict the aerothermal environment about future flight vehicles.

Sutton, Kenneth↗
NASA NTRS1977

Analysis of steranes and triterpanes in geolipid extracts by automatic classification of mass spectra

A computer method is described for the automatic classification of triterpanes and steranes into gross structural type from their mass spectral characteristics. The method has been applied to the spectra obtained by gas-chromatographic/mass-spectroscopic analysis of two mixtures of standards and of hydrocarbon fractions isolated from Green River and Messel oil shales. Almost all of the steranes and triterpanes identified previously in both shales were classified, in addition to a number of new components. The results indicate that classification of such alkanes is possible with a laboratory computer system. The method has application to diagenesis and maturation studies as well as to oil/oil and oil/source rock correlations in which rapid screening of large numbers of samples is required.

Wardroper, A. M. K.↗
NASA NTRS1989

A procedure for computing surface wave trajectories on an inhomogeneous surface

Equations are derived for computing surface waves on smooth surfaces, including surfaces with a nonuniform wave speed. The prior literature dealt primarily with the theoretical development with little consideration given to computational methods, and examples were limited to waves on surfaces of simple analytic description, such as cones, spheres, and cylinders. The computational procedure presented is a relatively general method. Sample calculations illustrate the procedure for a class of practical shapes of the type that include aerodynamic and hydrodynamic surfaces. Equations are also included for computing the spreading of rays into a surrounding medium that will support waves.

Barger, Raymond L.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Relaxation techniques for three-dimensional transonic flow about wings.

A relaxation procedure has been developed to treat the three-dimensional, transonic small perturbation equations about finite lifting wings. A combination of two schemes is employed. For flow forward of the wing trailing edge the equations are written in terms of a velocity potential in order to minimize computer algebra and storage. For the remaining flow field the equations are written in terms of the velocity components in order to simplify the enforcement of the Kutta condition. Difference equations and relaxation procedures are described for both schemes. The computational method automatically captures the imbedded shock wave in the three-dimensional flow field. Computed results are given and compared to experiment and other inviscid methods.

Bailey, F. R.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Some aspects of calculating flows about three-dimensional subsonic inlets

As a consequence of the growing interest in the development of V/STOL aircraft technology, efforts are being made to create new designs for a propulsion system which can be operated over a wide range of flight speeds, incidence angles, and throttle settings. In connection with these efforts, various inlet configurations have been proposed. The high experimental costs incurred in the study of various inlet geometries, led to the employment of a computational method for the investigation of inlets. Attention is given to the computer program, paneling and surface static pressure, surface flow pattern, and the inlet flow field. The reported investigation demonstrates that useful information for initial screenings may be obtained from potential flow calculations.

Kao, H. C.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Partial and Interaction Spline Models for the Semiparametric Estimation of Functions of Several Variables

A partial spline model is a model for a response as a function of several variables, which is the sum of a smooth function of several variables and a parametric function of the same plus possibly some other variables. Partial spline models in one and several variables, with direct and indirect data, with Gaussian errors and as an extension of GLIM to partially penalized GLIM models are described. Application to the modeling of change of regime in several variables is described. Interaction splines are introduced and described and their potential use for modeling non-linear interactions between variables by semiparametric methods is noted. Reference is made to recent work in efficient computational methods.

Wahba, Grace↗
NASA NTRS1989

Aerodynamics of high-lift, low-aspect-ratio unswept wings

It is presently demonstrated that highly cambered, low aspect ratio airfoil configurations can be neither experimentally nor numerically developed on the basis of two-dimensional methods; the strong dependency of airfoil shape on aspect ratio requires the definition of a planform to be conducted first, in order to serve as input for three-dimensional optimization methods. It is found that even the simplified three-dimensional computational method presently employed can accelerate a multielement-airfoil wing development.

Katz, Joseph↗
NASA NTRS1990

Advances and trends in computational structures technology

The major goals of computational structures technology (CST) are outlined, and recent advances in CST are examined. These include computational material modeling, stochastic-based modeling, computational methods for articulated structural dynamics, strategies and numerical algorithms for new computing systems, multidisciplinary analysis and optimization. The role of CST in the future development of structures technology and the multidisciplinary design of future flight vehicles is addressed, and the future directions of CST research in the prediction of failures of structural components, the solution of large-scale structural problems, and quality assessment and control of numerical simulations are discussed.

Noor, A. K.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Comparison of general circulation models to Earth Radiation Budget Experiment data - Computation of clear-sky fluxes

A clear-sky flux computation method is described which is representative of the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment data processing, while at the same time being enough straightforward for implementation in a general circulation model (GCM). The method is a hybrid version of Cess and Potter (1987) Method I and Method II clear-sky top-of-the-atmosphere flux computations for GCMs. The procedure is demonstrated using the ECMWF GCM.

Cess, Robert D.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Calculation of Diffusion Properties for Open Shell Molecules

- Navier-Stokes requires as input various collision integrals for gases - Diffusion, - Viscosity - Thermal conductivity - Thermal diffusion ... - Levin, Stallcop and Partridge state-of-the-art - Non-Relativistic Born-Oppenheimer Approximation (freeze nuclei first, let them move second) - Solve electron problem: Compute realistic Potential Curves (PC) from first principles, - Solve nuclei problem: Compute scattering properties for each PC using sophisticated semi-classical method - Compute cross sections - Compute appropriate thermal collision integrals

STMD↗
NASA NTRS1995

Implicit method for the computation of unsteady flows on unstructured grids

An implicit method for the computation of unsteady flows on unstructured grids is presented. Following a finite difference approximation for the time derivative, the resulting nonlinear system of equations is solved at each time step by using an agglomeration multigrid procedure. The method allows for arbitrarily large time steps and is efficient in terms of computational effort and storage. Inviscid and viscous unsteady flows are computed to validate the procedure. The issue of the mass matrix which arises with vertex-centered finite volume schemes is addressed. The present formulation allows the mass matrix to be inverted indirectly. A mesh point movement and reconnection procedure is described that allows the grids to evolve with the motion of bodies. As an example of flow over bodies in relative motion, flow over a multi-element airfoil system undergoing deployment is computed.

Venkatakrishnan, V.↗