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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 NTRS1990

Development of an active truss element for control of precision structures

An active structural element for use in precision control of large space structures is described. The active member is intended to replace a passive strut in a truss-like structure. It incorporates an eddy current displacement sensor and an actuator that is either piezoelectric (PZT) or electrostrictive (PMN). The design of the device is summarized. Performance of separate PZT and PMN actuators is compared for several properties relevant to submicrometer control of precision structures.

Anderson, Eric H.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Radial transport of storm time ring current ions

Radial transport of energetic ions for the development of the main phase of geomagnetic storms is investigated with data from the medium energy particle analyzer (MEPA) on the Charge Composition Explorer spacecraft, which monitored protons, helium ions, and the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen group, which is mostly dominated by oxygen ions. From a study of four geomagnetic storms, we show that the flux increase of these ions in the inner ring current region can be accounted for by an inward displacement of the ring current population by 0.5 to 3.5 R(E). There is a general trend that a larger inward displacement occurs at higher L shells than at lower ones. These results are in agreement with previous findings. The radially injected population consists of the prestorm population modified by substorm injections which occur on a much shorter time scale than that for a storm main phase. It is also found that the inward displacement is relatively independent of ion mass and energy, suggesting that the radial transport of these energetic ions is effected primarily by convective motion from a large electric field or by diffusion resulting from magnetic field fluctuations.

Lui, A. T. Y.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Phase Sensor for Aligning a Segmented Telescope Mirror

A phase sensor has been developed for use in aligning a segmented telescope mirror to within a fraction of a wavelength in piston. (As used here, piston signifies displacement of a mirror segment along the optical axis of the telescope.) Such precise alignment is necessary in order to realize the full benefit of the large aperture achievable through segmentation. This phase sensor is achromatic. It is based on two-wavelength shearing interferometry, and can be modified to utilize an extended or broad-band (e.g., white) light source. The sensor optics include a ruled diffraction grating and an imaging lens. The sensor can measure the piston shift between segments as well as aberrations of the segments. It can measure the surface error of an individual segment, making it possible to compensate for the error with optimal amount(s) of piston and/or tilt. The precise capture range of the sensor depends partly on the telescope design; the largest relative piston shifts measurable by use of this sensor are of the order of 100 m. The accuracy of the sensor also depends partly on the telescope design; in general, the accuracy is sufficient to enable alignment to within approximately half a wavelength. The interferometric image is digitized and processed by a simple algorithm in real time, and the output of the algorithm can be used to maintain alignment in real time, even in the presence of atmospheric turbulence. The sensor is robust. Through calibration, it can be made insensitive to (and, hence, tolerant of) misalignments and aberrations of its own optics, most aberrations of the telescope as a whole (in contradistinction to aberrations of individual segments), and most aberrations introduced by atmospheric turbulence

Stahl, Philip↗
DOE OSTI2024

A layered solid finite element formulation with interlaminar enhanced displacements for the modeling of laminated composite structures

Accurate modeling of layered composite structures often requires the use of detailed finite element models which can sufficiently resolve the kinematics and material behavior within each layer of the composite. However, individually discretizing each material layer into finite elements presents a prohibitive computational expensive given the large number of thin layers comprising some laminated composites. To address these challenges, an 8-node layered solid hexahedral finite element is formulated with the aim of striking an appropriate balance between efficiency and fidelity. The element is discretized into an arbitrary number of distinct material layers, and employs reduced in-plane integration within each layer. The chosen reduced integration scheme is supplemented by a novel physical stabilization approach which includes layerwise enhancements to mitigate various forms of locking phenomena. The proposed framework additionally supports the inclusion of interlaminar enhanced displacements to better represent the kinematics of general layered composite materials. Finally, the described element formulation has been implemented in the ParaDyn finite element code, and its efficacy for modeling laminated composite structures is demonstrated on a variety of verification problems.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1984

A dynamical basis for the parameterization of organized deep convection in large-scale numerical models

A hierarchy of steady, nonlinear, semianalytic models of different types of convection were produced. These provide a theoretical framework for determining cloud outflow fluxes of both dynamic and thermodynamic quantities, which can be used to formulate dynamical transports in parameterization schemes. This was achieved by exploiting certain Lagrangian conservation properties of steady flow, from which an equation for the vertical displacement of particles can be obtained and the outflow entropy, energy and momentum fluxes and the infow/outflow mass fluxes can be determined from solution to the equation. These fluxes are determined in terms of grid scale parameters such as convective available potential energy (CAPE), cloud layer shear, and horizontal pressure gradients. Five main types of system models are identified, respectively representing archtypes of convection in zero shear, large shear, midlatitude squall lines, tropical squall lines and cellular convection. The downdraught is an important aspect in the first four of these and the cloud scale transport of momentum is very distinctive.

Moncrieff, M. W.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Large-scale short-period sea ice atmosphere interaction

Changes in the microwave brightness temperature measured by the Electrically Scanning Microwave Radiometer (ESMR) flown on board the Nimbus V satellite reveal large-scale sea ice fluctuations in the Antarctic marginal ice zone. These ice margin fluctuations arre predominantly wave numbers 1-4, with phase speeds of about 3 m/s independent of wave number. The spatial pattern and eastward advection of the sea ice anomalies match those of the atmospheric sea level pressure, and are consistent with sea ice displacement due to surface wind stress. Examination of the outgoing longwave radiation indicates that suppression of high clouds in regions of increased sea ice inc reases the radiative cooling which contributes to maintaining the ice. Data from three winter seasons indicate about a one-third probability of occurence of this large scale high frequency sea ice atmosphere interaction during any given 2-week period in winter.

Cahalan, Robert F.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Development of a Compact Efficient Cooling Pump for Space Suit Life Support Systems

With the increasing demands placed on extravehicular activity (EVA) for the International Space Station (ISS) assembly and maintenance, along with planned lunar and Martian missions, the need for increased human productivity and capability becomes ever more critical. This is most readily achieved by reduction in space suit weight and volume, and increased hardware reliability, durability, and operating lifetime. Considerable progress has been made with each successive generation of space suit design; from the Apollo A7L suit, to the current Shuttle Extravehicular Mobile Unit (EMU) suit, and the next generation Constellation Space Suit Element (CSSE). However, one area of space suit design which has continued to lag is the fluid pump used to drive the water cooling loop of the Primary Life Support System (PLSS). The two main types of fluid pumps typically used in space applications are rotodynamic pumps (pumping is achieved through a rotary vaned impeller) and displacement pumps (which includes rotary and diaphragm pumps). The rotating and moving parts found in the pumps and electric motor add significantly to the susceptibility to wear and friction, thermal mismatch, and complexity of the pumps. Electric motor-driven pumps capable of achieving high operational reliability are necessarily large, heavy, and energy inefficient. This report describes a development effort conducted for NASA by Lynntech, Inc., who recently demonstrated the feasibility of an electrochemically-driven fluid cooling pump. With no electric motor and minimal lightweight components, an electrochemically-driven pump is expected to be significantly smaller, lighter and achieve a longer life time than conventional rotodynamic and displacement pumps. By employing sulfonated polystyrene-based proton exchange membranes, rather than conventional Nafion membranes, a significant reduction in the actuator power consumption was demonstrated. It was also demonstrated that these membranes possess the necessary mechanical strength, durability, and temperature range for long life space operation. The preliminary design for a Phase II prototype pump compares very favorably to the fluid cooling pumps currently used in space suit portable life support systems (PLSS). Characteristics of the electrochemically-driven pump are described and the benefits of the technology as a replacement for electric motor pumps in mechanically pumped single-phase fluid loops (MPFLs) is discussed.

vanBoeyen, Roger W.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Simulations and symmetries

ABSTRACT We investigate the range of applicability of a model for the real-space power spectrum based on N-body dynamics and a (quadratic) Lagrangian bias expansion. This combination uses the highly accurate particle displacements that can be efficiently achieved by modern N-body methods with a symmetries-based bias expansion which describes the clustering of any tracer on large scales. We show that at low redshifts, and for moderately biased tracers, the substitution of N-body-determined dynamics improves over an equivalent model using perturbation theory by more than a factor of two in scale, while at high redshifts and for highly biased tracers the gains are more modest. This hybrid approach lends itself well to emulation. By removing the need to identify haloes and subhaloes, and by not requiring any galaxy-formation-related parameters to be included, the emulation task is significantly simplified at the cost of modelling a more limited range in scale.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Analytical Model for Atomic Relaxation in Twisted Moiré Materials

By virtue of being atomically thin, the electronic properties of heterostructures built from two-dimensional materials are strongly influenced by atomic relaxation. The atomic layers behave as flexible membranes rather than rigid crystals. Here we develop an analytical theory of lattice relaxation in twisted moiré materials. We obtain analytical results for the lattice displacements and corresponding pseudo gauge fields, as a function of twist angle. We benchmark our results for twisted bilayer graphene and twisted WSe 2 bilayers using large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. Our single-parameter theory is valid in graphene bilayers for twist angles 𝜃 ≳ 0.7°, and in twisted WSe 2 for 𝜃 ≳ 1.6°. Furthermore, we also investigate how relaxation alters the electronic structure in twisted bilayer graphene, providing a simple extension to the continuum model to account for lattice relaxation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Autonomous Inversion of In Situ Deformation Measurement Data for Injection-Induced Stress Change

Geologic carbon storage (GCS) is likely to play a key part of the global effort to dramatically reduce CO2 emissions and perhaps even reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations through carbon negative operations. A critical part of effort to commercialize and widely deploy this technology is developing the capability to rapidly assimilate real-time monitoring data into a form that will enable site operators to make decisions to manage the safe and efficient operations. Two of the risks associate with GCS are the risk of inducing fractures in the sealing formations that can create leakage pathways and the risk of inducing earthquakes of sufficient magnitude to cause public concern, property damage, or safety risks. To properly manage these risks the site operator needs to know the initial state of stress, the change in stress induced by injection, and the relationship between operational parameters such as injection rate and pressure and the change in stress. Current methods of estimating the change in stress require choosing the type of constitutive model and the model parameters based on core, log, and geophysical data during the characterization phase, with little feedback from operational observations to validate or refine these choices. These characterization methods interrogate the geologic formations using length scales, loading rates or magnitudes that are quite different from those encountered by the actual storage system. It is shown that errors in the assumed constitutive response, even when informed by laboratory tests on core samples, are likely to be common, large, and underestimate the magnitude of stress change caused by injection. Recent advances in borehole-based strain instruments and borehole and surface-based tilt and displacement instruments have now enabled monitoring of the deformation of the storage system throughout its operational lifespan. This data can enable validation and refinement of the knowledge of the geomechanical properties and state of the system, but brings with it a challenge to transform the raw data into actionable knowledge. We demonstrate a method that uses automatic differentiation and a finite-element based geomechanical model perform a gradient-based deterministic inversion of geomechanical monitoring data. This approach allows autonomous integration of the instrument data without the need for time consuming manual interpretation and selection of updated model parameters. Furthermore, only isotropic linear elasticity is considered in this paper, the approach presented is very flexible as to what type of geomechanical constitutive response can be used. The approach is easily adaptable to nonlinear physics-based constitutive models to account for common rock behaviors such as creep and plasticity. The approach also enables training of machine learning-based constitutive models by allowing back propagation of errors through the finite element calculations. This enables strongly enforcing known physics, such as conservation of momentum and continuity, while allowing data-driven models to learn the truly unknown physics such as the constitutive or petrophysical responses.

Burghardt, Jeffrey A.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Utilization of ERTS-1 data to monitor and classify eutrophication of inland lakes

The author has identified the following significant results. Channel 7 is highly useful in surveying surface water in lakes, rivers, and large marshes. It is likely to miss detection of elliptically shaped bodies of 4 acres or less. Further, it is possible that the bodies are distorted and displaced because of lack of correction for sensor response time. These errors might not be critical because:(1) location accuracy is not essential to a surface water survey; and (2) an obviously distorted image is often not in error in excess of 5% The finding that Orchard Lake and other lakes in Oakland County have different densities in channels 4, 5, 6, and 7 is important because it implies that the lake wide water color average is different in the separate channels. Channels 6 and 7 were constant in tonal quality among all the lakes while channels 4 and 5 varied from lake to lake and in various parts of Orchard Lake. These findings are significant because it means that small inland lake color differences are recorded by the MSS even on a cloudy or hazy day. It also confirms that ERTS-1 is performing well enough to be used for correlation to ground truth and aircraft underflights.

Chase, P. E.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Elastic plate spallation

The dynamic finite element method was used to investigate elastic stress waves in a plate. Strain displacement and stress strain relations are discussed along with the stiffness and mass matrix. The results of studying point load, and distributed load over small, intermediate, and large radii are reported. The derivation of finite element matrices, and the derivation of lumped and consistent matrices for one dimensional problems with Laplace transfer solutions are included. The computer program JMMSPALL is also included.

Oline, L.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Large amplitude flexural vibration of thin elastic flat plates and shells

The general equations governing the large amplitude flexural vibration of any thin elastic shell using curvilinear orthogonal coordinates are derived and consist of two coupled, nonlinear, partial differential equations in the normal displacement w and the stress function F. From these equations, the governing equations for the case of shells of revolution or flat plates can be readily obtained as special cases. The material of the shell or plate is isotropic and homogeneous and Hooke's law for the two-dimensional case is valid. It is suggested that the difference between the hardening type of nonlinearity in the case of flat plates and straight beams and the softening type of nonlinearity in the case of shells and rings can, in general, be traced to the amount of curvature present in the underformed median surface of the structure concerned.

Pandalia, K. A. V.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Experimental implementation of parameter adaptive control on a free-free beam

A method for identifying modal parameters has been integrated with a modal control scheme and implemented on an experimental beam at the NASA Langley Research Center. This work is the culmination of several studies to develop adaptive control schemes for large flexible spacecraft. The identification scheme is an equation-error technique which generates modal frequency and damping estimates on-line from a set of distributed displacement measurements. The control law is a modal pole placement technique with the objective of vibration suppression. Integration of the identification and control schemes is achieved through a series of tests which validate the identified parameters before they are used for control gain updating. Results using a low order controller show that control gains can be updated in real time based on the validated parameters to improve the performance of the closed loop system. Important factors in the implementation are the test criterion and the a priori assumption of mode shapes.

Williams, J. P.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Accuracy of Three Dimensional Solid Finite Elements

The results of a study to determine the accuracy of the three dimensional solid elements available in NASTRAN for predicting displacements is presented. Of particular interest in the study is determining how to effectively use solid elements in analyzing thick optical mirrors, as might exist in a large telescope. Surface deformations due to thermal and gravity loading can be significant contributors to the determination of the overall optical quality of a telescope. The study investigates most of the solid elements currently available in either COSMIC or MSC NASTRAN. Error bounds as a function of mesh refinement and element aspect ratios are addressed. It is shown that the MSC solid elements are, in general, more accurate than their COSMIC NASTRAN counterparts due to the specialized numerical integration used. In addition, the MSC elements appear to be more economical to use on the DEC VAX 11/780 computer.

Case, W. R.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Shear deformation plate continua of large double-layered space structures

The energy equivalence to construct equivalent continua for the actual lattice structure is described. An energy equivalent continuum is defined as that which has the same amount of strain and kinetic energies stored in it as the original lattice structure when both are subjected to the same loading conditions. The equivalent continuum is characterized by its strain and kinetic energies from which the constitutive relations and the equations of motion can be derived. A simple method to model large rigid jointed lattices as continuous media with couple stresses is presented. The transition from the discrete system to the continuous medium is achieved by expanding the displacements and the rotations of the nodal points in a Taylor series about a suitable chosen origin. Basic kinematic assumptions are introduced to insure that the assumptions used in deriving the governing equations of the modeled continuum are satisfied. The number of terms retained in the Taylor series expansion will depend upon the properties to be evaluated. This implies that the kind of continuum needed to model from the discrete lattice, before the actual properties are derived was to predetermined.

Hefzy, M. S.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Joint for Rapid Structural Assembly

Quickly attaching joint used in variety of truss structures. Split ring made in one piece and split radially after final machining. Mating tapers on split ring and endbells small: approximately 7 degrees. Tapers of this range permit high internal preloads to be obtained, yet parts easily separated when collar released. Results from tests on developmental model indicate load-displacement response linear and substantial preloading accomplished. Quickly-erecting truss structures have variety of applications, from Earth to space-station keel beams, antenna masts, and large platforms.

Rhodes, M. D.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Post-instability behavior of solids

The necessity of model reformulation in elasticity results from the failure of hyperbolicity of the governing equations of motion for classical models. The reformulation is based upon the introduction of additional kinematical microstructures in the form of multivalued displacement and velocity field (or fractal functions) which are generated by the mechanism of the instability. The small scale motions describing this microstructure interact with the original large scale motion and restore the hyperbolicity of new governing equations of motion. The applications of the reformulated models to the problem of vibrational control and impact energy absorption are discussed.

Zak, M.↗