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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 631 records · Page 35

Concepts for a theoretical and experimental study of lifting rotor random loads and vibrations (identification of lifting rotor system parameters from transient response data), Phase 7-B

System identification methods have been applied to rotorcraft to estimate stability derivatives from transient flight control response data. While these applications assumed a linear constant coefficient representation of the rotorcraft, the computer experiments used transient responses in flap-bending and torsion of a rotor blade at high advance ratio which is a rapidly time varying periodic system. It was found that a simple system identification method applying a linear sequential estimator also called least square estimator or equation of motion estimator, is suitable for this periodic system and can be used directly if only the acceleration data are noise polluted. In the case of noise being present also in the state variable data the direct application of the estimator gave poor results.

Hohenemser, K. H.↗

NASA Tech Briefs, July 2013

Dielectrophoresis-Based Particle Sensor Using Nanoelectrode Arrays; Multi-Dimensional Damage Detection for Surfaces and Structures; ULTRA: Underwater Localization for Transit and Reconnaissance Autonomy; Autonomous Cryogenic Leak Detector for Improving Launch Site Operations; Submillimeter Planetary Atmospheric Chemistry Exploration Sounder; Method for Reduction of Silver Biocide Plating on Metal Surfaces; Silicon Micromachined Microlens Array for THz Antennas; Forward-Looking IED Detector Ground Penetrating Radar; Fully Printed, Flexible, Phased Array Antenna for Lunar Surface Communication, Battery Charge Equalizer with Transformer Array; An Efficient, Highly Flexible Multi-Channel Digital Downconverter Architecture; Dimmable Electronic Ballast for a Gas Discharge Lamp; Conductive Carbon Nanotube Inks for Use with Desktop Inkjet Printing Technology; Enhanced Schapery Theory Software Development for Modeling Failure of Fiber-Reinforced Laminates; High-Performance, Low-Temperature-Operating, Long-Lifetime Aerospace Lubricants; Carbon Nanotube Microarrays Grown on Nanoflake Substrates; Differential Muon Tomography to Continuously Monitor Changes in the Composition of Subsurface Fluids; Microgravity Drill and Anchor System; 20 Granular Media-Based Tunable Passive Vibration Suppressor; 21 Miga Aero Actuator and 2D Machined Mechanical Binary Latch; Micro-XRF for In Situ Geological Exploration of Other Planets; Hydrogen-Enhanced Lunar Oxygen Extraction and Storage Using Only Solar Power; Uplift of Ionospheric Oxygen Ions During Extreme Magnetic Storms; Miniaturized, High-Speed, Modulated X-Ray Source; Hollow-Fiber Spacesuit Water Membrane Evaporator 25 High-Power Single-Mode 2.65-micrometers InGaAsSb/AlInGaAsSb Diode Lasers; Optical Device for Converting a Laser Beam Into Two Co-aligned but Oppositely Directed Beams; A Hybrid Fiber/Solid-State Regenerative Amplifier with Tunable Pulse Widths for Satellite Laser Ranging; X-Ray Diffractive Optics; SynGenics Optimization System (SynOptSys); 29 CFD Script for Rapid TPS Damage Assessment; radEq Add-On Module for CFD Solver Loci-CHEM; Science Opportunity Analyzer (SOA) Version 8; 30 Autonomous Byte Stream Randomizer; Distributed Engine Control Empirical/Analytical Verification Tools; Dynamic Server-Based KML Code Generator Method for Level-of-Detail Traversal of Geospatial Data; Automated Planning of Science Products Based on Nadir Overflights and Alerts for Onboard and Ground Processing; Linked Autonomous Interplanetary Satellite Orbit Navigation; Risk-Constrained Dynamic Programming for Optimal Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing; Scheduling Operations for Massive Heterogeneous Clusters; Deepak Condenser Model (DeCoM); Flight Software Math Library; Recirculating 1-K-Pot for Pulse-Tube Cryostats; 35 Method for Processing Lunar Regolith Using Microwaves; Wells for In Situ Extraction of Volatiles from Regolith (WIEVR); and Estimating the Backup Reaction Wheel Orientation Using Reaction Wheel Spin Rates Flight Telemetry from a Spacecraft.

Source record↗

Application of the Spectral Element Method to Acoustic Radiation

This report summarizes research to develop a capability for analysis of interior noise in enclosed structures when acoustically excited by an external random source. Of particular interest was the application to the study of noise and vibration transmission in thin-walled structures as typified by aircraft fuselages. Three related topics are focused upon. The first concerns the development of a curved frame spectral element, the second shows how the spectral element method for wave propagation in folded plate structures is extended to problems involving curved segmented plates. These are of significance because by combining these curved spectral elements with previously presented flat spectral elements, the dynamic response of geometrically complex structures can be determined. The third topic shows how spectral elements, which incorporate the effect of fluid loading on the structure, are developed for analyzing acoustic radiation from dynamically loaded extended plates.

Doyle, James F.↗

Insulation of nonlinear and random vibrations in the mining industry

The insulation of nonlinear and random vibrations is considered for some ore preparing and sorting implements: rotary crushers, resonance screens, hammer mills, etc. The appearance of subharmonic vibrations is analyzed, and the conditions for their appearance are determined. A method is given for calculating the insulation of these vibrations by means of elastic elements made of rubber. The insulation of the random vibrations produced by Symons crushers is calculated by determining the transmissability and deformation of the insulation system for a narrow band random response.

Zeveleanu, C.↗

Air data system optimization using a genetic algorithm

An optimization method for flush-orifice air data system design has been developed using the Genetic Algorithm approach. The optimization of the orifice array minimizes the effect of normally distributed random noise in the pressure readings on the calculation of air data parameters, namely, angle of attack, sideslip angle and freestream dynamic pressure. The optimization method is applied to the design of Pressure Distribution/Air Data System experiment (PD/ADS) proposed for inclusion in the Aeroassist Flight Experiment (AFE). Results obtained by the Genetic Algorithm method are compared to the results obtained by conventional gradient search method.

Deshpande, Samir M.↗

Parameter identification using a creeping-random-search algorithm

A creeping-random-search algorithm is applied to different types of problems in the field of parameter identification. The studies are intended to demonstrate that a random-search algorithm can be applied successfully to these various problems, which often cannot be handled by conventional deterministic methods, and, also, to introduce methods that speed convergence to an extremal of the problem under investigation. Six two-parameter identification problems with analytic solutions are solved, and two application problems are discussed in some detail. Results of the study show that a modified version of the basic creeping-random-search algorithm chosen does speed convergence in comparison with the unmodified version. The results also show that the algorithm can successfully solve problems that contain limits on state or control variables, inequality constraints (both independent and dependent, and linear and nonlinear), or stochastic models.

Parrish, R. V.↗

Computational Study of Low-Speed Boundary-Layer Laminar-Turbulent Transition over a 30º Swept Plate in a Channel

Reliable boundary-layer laminar-turbulent transition predictions are critical for the design of aircraft that use natural or controlled laminar flow to achieve low drag and better fuel efficiency. During cruise flight through low turbulence, the three-dimensional boundary layer over swept surfaces can transition prematurely due to stationary crossflow instabilities induced by surface roughness. Parabolized stability equations analyses have been successfully used to explain the different phases of the transition process under well controlled perturbations such as steps or discrete roughness elements. However, methodologies are still lacking to model the boundary layer receptivity to distributed random roughness, and the following non-linear instability stages leading to transition. For engineering applications, several semi-empirical methods based on linear amplification factors or local helicity have found growing adoption, but their reliability is limited by their level of simplification and the sparsity of data they are based on. To address this gap, a new study of the effect of distributed random surface roughness on crossflow transition was started, using a 30◦ swept plate as a test vehicle. The plate, which is mounted in the 2 Foot × 3 Foot Low-Speed Boundary-Layer Channel at the NASA Langley Research Center, has been tested with micro-scale roughness of varied geometry near the leading edge. In order to analyze the flow in the test section and prepare Direct Numerical Simulations with resolved roughness, Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations of the flow over the plate installed in the wind tunnel test section were performed using the Langtry-Menter transition model with stationary crossflow extension. This paper presents the results of these simulations, with comparison to the experiment.

ARMD↗

Selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibition as a human model of orthostatic intolerance

BACKGROUND: Observations in patients with functional mutations of the norepinephrine transporter (NET) gene suggest that impaired norepinephrine uptake may contribute to idiopathic orthostatic intolerance. METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied the effect of the selective NET blocker reboxetine and placebo in a randomized, double-blind, crossover fashion on cardiovascular responses to cold pressor testing, handgrip testing, and a graded head-up tilt test (HUT) in 18 healthy subjects. In a subset, we determined isoproterenol and phenylephrine sensitivities. Subjects ingested 8 mg reboxetine or placebo 12 hours and 1 hour before testing. In the supine position, heart rate was 65+/-2 bpm with placebo and 71+/-3 bpm with reboxetine. At 75 degrees HUT, heart rate was 84+/-3 and 119+/-4 bpm with placebo and with reboxetine (P<0.0001). Mean arterial pressure was 85+/-2 with placebo and 91+/-2 mm Hg with reboxetine while supine (P<0.01) and 88+/-2 mm Hg and 90+/-3 mm Hg at 75 degrees HUT. Blood pressure responses to cold pressor and handgrip testing were attenuated with reboxetine. Reboxetine increased the sensitivity to the chronotropic effect of isoproterenol and the pressor effect of phenylephrine. Vasovagal reactions occurred in 9 subjects on placebo and in 1 subject on reboxetine. CONCLUSIONS: Selective NET blockade creates a phenotype that resembles idiopathic orthostatic intolerance. This observation supports the hypothesis that disordered norepinephrine uptake mechanisms can contribute to human cardiovascular disease. Our study also suggests that NET inhibition might be useful in preventing vasovagal reactions.

Non-NASA Center↗

Rover mast calibration, exact camera pointing, and camara handoff for visual target tracking

This paper presents three technical elements that we have developed to improve the accuracy of the visual target tracking for single-sol approach-and-instrument placement in future Mars rover missions. An accurate, straightforward method of rover mast calibration is achieved by using a total station, a camera calibration target, and four prism targets mounted on the rover. The method was applied to Rocky8 rover mast calibration and yielded a 1.1-pixel rms residual error. Camera pointing requires inverse kinematic solutions for mast pan and tilt angles such that the target image appears right at the center of the camera image. Two issues were raised. Mast camera frames are in general not parallel to the masthead base frame. Further, the optical axis of the camera model in general does not pass through the center of the image. Despite these issues, we managed to derive non-iterative closed-form exact solutions, which were verified with Matlab routines. Actual camera pointing experiments aver 50 random target image paints yielded less than 1.3-pixel rms pointing error. Finally, a purely geometric method for camera handoff using stereo views of the target has been developed. Experimental test runs show less than 2.5 pixels error on high-resolution Navcam for Pancam-to-Navcam handoff, and less than 4 pixels error on lower-resolution Hazcam for Navcam-to-Hazcam handoff.

camera handoff↗

Fluctuation analysis of relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions in emulsion chambers

An analytical technique was developed for identifying enhanced fluctuations in the angular distributions of secondary particles produced from relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions. The method is applied under the assumption that the masses of the produced particles are small compared to their linear momenta. The importance of particles rests in the fact that enhanced fluctuations in the rapidity distributions is considered to be an experimental signal for the creation of the quark-gluon-plasma (QGP), a state of nuclear matter predicted from the quantum chromodynamics theory (QCD). In the approach, Monte Carlo simulations are employed that make use of a portable random member generator that allow the calculations to be performed on a desk-top computer. The method is illustrated with data taken from high altitude emulsion exposures and is immediately applicable to similar data from accelerator-based emulsion exposures.

Mcguire, Stephen C.↗

A procedure for combining acoustically induced and mechanically induced loads (first passage failure design criterion)

The combined load statistics are developed by taking the acoustically induced load to be a random population, assumed to be stationary. Each element of this ensemble of acoustically induced loads is assumed to have the same power spectral density (PSD), obtained previously from a random response analysis employing the given acoustic field in the STS cargo bay as a stationary random excitation. The mechanically induced load is treated as either (1) a known deterministic transient, or (2) a nonstationary random variable of known first and second statistical moments which vary with time. A method is then shown for determining the probability that the combined load would, at any time, have a value equal to or less than a certain level. Having obtained a statistical representation of how the acoustic and mechanical loads are expected to combine, an analytical approximation for defining design levels for these loads is presented using the First Passage failure criterion.

Crowe, D. R.↗

Polyaryl ethers and related polysiloxane copolymer molecular coatings preparation and radiation degrdation

Poly(arylene ether sulfones) comprise a class of materials known as engineering thermoplastics which have a variety of important applications. These polymers are tough, rigid materials with good mechanical properties over a wide temperature range, and they are processed by conventional methods into products typically having excellent hydrolytic, thermal, oxidative and dimensional stability. Wholly aromatic random copolymers of hydroquinone and biphenol with 4.4 prime dichlorodiphenyl sulfone were synthesized via mechanical nucleophilic displacement. Their structures were characterized and mechanical behavior studied. These tough, ductile copolymers show excellent radiation resistance to electron beam treatment and retain much of the mechanical properties up to at least 700 Mrads under argon.

Mcgrath, J. E.↗

On-line methods for rotorcraft aeroelastic mode identification

The requirements for the on-line identification of rotorcraft aeroelastic blade modes from random response test data are presented. A recursive maximum likelihood (RML) technique is used in conjunction with a bandpass filter to identify isolated blade mode damping and frequency. The RML technique is demonstrated to have excellent convergence characteristics in random measurement noise and random process noise excitation. The RML identification technique uses an ARMA representation for the aeroelastic stochastic system and requires virtually no user interaction while providing accurate confidence bands on the parameter estimates. Comparisons are made with an off-line Newton type maximum likelihood algorithm which uses a state variable model representation. Results are presented from simulation random response data which quantify the identifed parameter convergence behavior for various levels of random excitation which is typical of wind tunnel turbulence levels. The RML technique is applied to hingless rotor test data from the NASA Langley Research Center Helicopter Hover Facility.

Molusis, J. A.↗

Simplified Worst-Case Analysis of Complex Systems

Statistical method avoids excessive computer time. Technique involves simplified Monte Carlo simulation of system with randomly chosen parameters and comparison of tolerance extremes of several of worst-case situations found. Resulting combination of tolerance extremes then used in detailed analysis - one that makes use of full complex nonlinear model capable of accurate simulations.

Pond, C. L.↗

The inference of vector magnetic fields from polarization measurements with limited spectral resolution

A method is presented for recovery of the vector magnetic field and thermodynamic parameters from polarization measurement of photospheric line profiles measured with filtergraphs. The method includes magneto-optic effects and may be utilized on data sampled at arbitrary wavelengths within the line profile. The accuracy of this method is explored through inversion of synthetic Stokes profiles subjected to varying levels of random noise, instrumental wave-length resolution, and line profile sampling. The level of error introduced by the systematic effect of profile sampling over a finite fraction of the 5 minute oscillation cycle is also investigated. The results presented here are intended to guide instrumental design and observational procedure.

Lites, B. W.↗

Turbulence control on airborne laser platform

An avctive flow control device to generate large-scale, periodic structures in a turbulent shear flow is developed. Together with adaptive optics, the device may be used on airborne laser platforms to reduce or eliminate optical distortion caused by the turbulence in the aircraft's boundary layer. A flat plate towed in a water channel is used as a test bed. A cyclic jet issuing from a spanwise slot is used to collect the turbulent boundary layer for a finite time during its 'on' period. When the jet is turned 'off', all of the turbulent fluid is released instantaneously in one large eddy that convects downstream. Flow visualization and hot-film probe measurements are used together with pattern recognition algorithms to demonstrate the viability of the flow control method. The instantaneous velocity signal is used to compute important statistical quantities of the random velocity field, such as the mean, the root-mean-square, the spectral distribution, and the probability density function. When optimized for a given boundary layer, the cyclic jet produces periodic structures that are qualitatively similar to the random, naturally occurring ones. These structures seem to trigger the onset of bursting events near the wall. Thus, the present device generates periodic structures in both the outer and inner regions of a turbulent boundary layer.

Gad-El-hak, Mohamed↗

Orbital debris: Technical issues and future directions

An international conference on orbital debris sponsored jointly by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, NASA, and the Department of Defense, was held in Baltimore, Maryland, 16-19 Apr. 1990. Thirty-three papers were presented. The papers were grouped into the areas of measurements, modeling, and implications of orbital debris for space flight. New radar and optical measurements of orbital debris were presented that showed the existence of a large population of small debris. Modeling of potential future environments showed that runaway growth of the debris population from random collisions was a real possibility. New techniques for shielding against orbital debris and methods for removal of satellites from orbit were discussed.

Potter, Andrew↗