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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 73 records · Page 4

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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Axisymmetric Two-Dimensional Modeling of No Vent Filling of a Cryogenic Tank using Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program

This paper presents preliminary analysis using a finite volume based computational method for network flow analysis for the simulation of chill and fill of a cryogenic tank. An axisymmetric two-dimensional model of a spherical tank was developed using a nodal approach. No Vent Filling (NVF) was accomplished using a Thermodynamic Vent System assisted injector where the injector was cooled by the cold gas generated by Joule-Thompson expansion of the liquid propellant. The numerical model accounts for a) different regimes of pool boiling heat transfer, b) condensation of vapor around spray droplets, and c) condensation of vapor at the interface of the cooled injector and ullage. The numerical predictions of tank pressure, filling rate, and wall temperatures were compared with the test data and one-dimensional (1D) model predictions. It was demonstrated that the axisymmetric 2D model provided a more realistic prediction than the 1D model.

Cryogenics↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Performance Analysis of Magnetohydrodynamic Drag Modulation for Actively Controlled Aerocapture at Neptune

Missions to the Ice Giants are a top priority for flagship missions this coming decade. However, a fully propulsive orbital insertion into these planets requires an immense amount of fuel, taking a significant portion of the spacecraft mass and restricting the scientific payload. To mitigate this, aerocapture has been heavily investigated. Although simulations have shown that aerodynamically controlled aerocapture can successfully insert into an orbit around both Ice Giants, the deep atmospheric pass required necessitates a complex, mass expensive, and sometimes prohibitive thermal protection system. Magnetohydrodynamic drag modulation serves as a potential alternative control method for aerocapture which could not only save propellant mass compared to fully propulsive orbital insertion, but also save thermal protection system mass compared to conventional aerocapture methods. Both aerodynamically controlled and magnetohydrodynamically controlled aerocapture methodologies were simulated in NASA Langley’s high-fidelity six degree-of-freedom flight dynamics code, the Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories II. Each method was simulated to identical missions to Neptune using a numerical predictor-corrector algorithm to optimize the control towards the target orbit. The results concluded that magnetohydrodynamic drag modulation can successfully capture and performs on par with aerodynamic drag modulation while significantly reducing the heatflux and aeroshell complexity.

Danny N Nguyen↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Validating Drag and Heating Coefficients for Hollow Reentry Objects in Continuum Flow Using a Mach 7 Ludwieg Tube

Drag and heating coefficient databases and models are crucial to destructive reentry simulation. The NASA Orbital Debris Program Office (ODPO) develops, maintains, and performs analysis with the Object Reentry Survival Analysis Tool (ORSAT), which comprises drag and heating models for free molecular, transitional, and continuum flow regimes. These models have, in the past, only included solid, convex, blunt shapes (such as boxes, spheres, and cylinders). Previous work led by ODPO includes the extension of these models to hollow cylinders and square boxes in free molecular and transitional flow using the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. Since 2019, the ODPO has continued its program of DSMC simulations and extended the project to include analyses with the NASA Data Parallel Line Relaxation (DPLR) program on hollow cylinders and boxes (with varying wall thickness-diameter ratio). In fall 2022, the ODPO began a collaboration with the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) to use the Mach 7 Ludwieg Tube facility to validate the model built using numerical simulations. This facility can replicate (at a scale of approximately 100:1) the conditions seen by reentering objects near typical demise altitudes. We present here the drag and heating coefficients derived from the continued DSMC simulations, the new DPLR simulations, and the 26-test series at UTSA.

Chris Ostrom↗

NASA NTRS2023

Validating Drag and Heating Coefficients for Hollow Reentry Objects in Continuum Flow Using a Mach 7 Ludwieg Tube

Chris Ostrom↗

NASA NTRS1992

A brief overview of computational structures technology related activities at NASA Lewis Research Center

The presentation gives a partial overview of research and development underway in the Structures Division of LeRC, which collectively is referred to as the Computational Structures Technology Program. The activities in the program are diverse and encompass four major categories: (1) composite materials and structures; (2) probabilistic analysis and reliability; (3) design optimization and expert systems; and (4) computational methods and simulation. The approach of the program is comprehensive and entails exploration of fundamental theories of structural mechanics to accurately represent the complex physics governing engine structural performance, formulation, and implementation of computational techniques and integrated simulation strategies to provide accurate and efficient solutions of the governing theoretical models by exploiting the emerging advances in computer technology, and validation and verification through numerical and experimental tests to establish confidence and define the qualities and limitations of the resulting theoretical models and computational solutions. The program comprises both in-house and sponsored research activities. The remainder of the presentation provides a sample of activities to illustrate the breadth and depth of the program and to demonstrate the accomplishments and benefits that have resulted.

Hopkins, Dale A.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Slip Validation and Prediction for Mars Exploration Rovers

This paper presents a novel technique to validate and predict the rover slips on Martian surface for NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers. Different from the traditional approach, the proposed method uses the actual velocity profile of the wheels and the digital elevation map (DEM) from the stereo images of the terrain to formulate simplified equations of motion of the rovers. A weighted factor to the wheel-ground speed from the empirical data comprises the velocity equations of the simplified differential-algebraic system of the rover motion. Applying the discretization operator to these equations, the full kinematics state of the rover is then resolved by the configuration kinematics solution in the Robot Sequencing and Visualization Program (RSVP). This method produced accurate simulation of the rover movements compared with these of the earth testing vehicle. Using the telemetry from the onboard Visual Odometry, the simulated rover path also compares well with the actual track of the vehicle. Preliminary results indicated that the proposed computational method is very effective in planning the path of the rovers on the high-slope areas.

Mars Rovers↗

NASA NTRS1972

Probable solar flare doses encountered on an interplanetary mission as calculated by the MCFLARE code

The computer program, MCFLARE, uses Monte Carlo methods to simulate solar flare occurrences during an interplanetary space voyage. The total biological dose inside a shielded crew compartment due to the flares encountered during the voyage is determined. The computer program evaluates the doses obtained on a large number of trips having identical trajectories. From these results, a dose D sub p having a probability p of not being exceeded during the voyage can be determined as a function of p for any shield material configuration. To illustrate the use of the code, a trip to Mars and return is calculated, and estimated doses behind several thicknesses of aluminum shield and water shield are presented.

Lahti, G. P.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Rotor dynamic simulation and system identification methods for application to vacuum whirl data

Methods of using rotor vacuum whirl data to improve the ability to model helicopter rotors were developed. The work consisted of the formulation of the equations of motion of elastic blades on a hub using a Galerkin method; the development of a general computer program for simulation of these equations; the study and implementation of a procedure for determining physical parameters based on measured data; and the application of a method for computing the normal modes and natural frequencies based on test data.

Berman, A.↗

NASA NTRS1995

High-performance parallel analysis of coupled problems for aircraft propulsion

This research program deals with the application of high-performance computing methods to the numerical simulation of complete jet engines. The program was initiated in 1993 by applying two-dimensional parallel aeroelastic codes to the interior gas flow problem of a by-pass jet engine. The fluid mesh generation, domain decomposition and solution capabilities were successfully tested. Attention was then focused on methodology for the partitioned analysis of the interaction of the gas flow with a flexible structure and with the fluid mesh motion driven by these structural displacements. The latter is treated by an ALE technique that models the fluid mesh motion as that of a fictitious mechanical network laid along the edges of near-field fluid elements. New partitioned analysis procedures to treat this coupled 3-component problem were developed in 1994. These procedures involved delayed corrections and subcycling, and have been successfully tested on several massively parallel computers. For the global steady-state axisymmetric analysis of a complete engine we have decided to use the NASA-sponsored ENG10 program, which uses a regular FV-multiblock-grid discretization in conjunction with circumferential averaging to include effects of blade forces, loss, combustor heat addition, blockage, bleeds and convective mixing. A load-balancing preprocessor for parallel versions of ENG10 has been developed. It is planned to use the steady-state global solution provided by ENG10 as input to a localized three-dimensional FSI analysis for engine regions where aeroelastic effects may be important.

Felippa, C. A.↗

NASA NTRS1996

High-Performance Parallel Analysis of Coupled Problems for Aircraft Propulsion

This research program dealt with the application of high-performance computing methods to the numerical simulation of complete jet engines. The program was initiated in January 1993 by applying two-dimensional parallel aeroelastic codes to the interior gas flow problem of a bypass jet engine. The fluid mesh generation, domain decomposition and solution capabilities were successfully tested. Attention was then focused on methodology for the partitioned analysis of the interaction of the gas flow with a flexible structure and with the fluid mesh motion driven by these structural displacements. The latter is treated by a ALE technique that models the fluid mesh motion as that of a fictitious mechanical network laid along the edges of near-field fluid elements. New partitioned analysis procedures to treat this coupled three-component problem were developed during 1994 and 1995. These procedures involved delayed corrections and subcycling, and have been successfully tested on several massively parallel computers, including the iPSC-860, Paragon XP/S and the IBM SP2. For the global steady-state axisymmetric analysis of a complete engine we have decided to use the NASA-sponsored ENG10 program, which uses a regular FV-multiblock-grid discretization in conjunction with circumferential averaging to include effects of blade forces, loss, combustor heat addition, blockage, bleeds and convective mixing. A load-balancing preprocessor tor parallel versions of ENG10 was developed. During 1995 and 1996 we developed the capability tor the first full 3D aeroelastic simulation of a multirow engine stage. This capability was tested on the IBM SP2 parallel supercomputer at NASA Ames. Benchmark results were presented at the 1196 Computational Aeroscience meeting.

Felippa, C. A.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Remotely piloted vehicle: Application of the GRASP analysis method

The application of General Reliability Analysis Simulation Program (GRASP) to the remotely piloted vehicle (RPV) system is discussed. The model simulates the field operation of the RPV system. By using individual component reliabilities, the overall reliability of the RPV system is determined. The results of the simulations are given in operational days. The model represented is only a basis from which more detailed work could progress. The RPV system in this model is based on preliminary specifications and estimated values. The use of GRASP from basic system definition, to model input, and to model verification is demonstrated.

Andre, W. L.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Haze and sun angle effects on automatic classification of satellite data-simulation and correction

Variations in sun angle and haze level change the spectral signatures collected by multispectral scanners (MSS). This paper describes methods and computer programs that have been developed to simulate the effect of such variations and to correct for them. A basic program, Prediction of the Response of Earth Pointed Sensors (PREPS), is used to calculate the response of the sensor as a function of solar angle, atmospheric haze level, and target reflectance. It is then simply a matter of interpolating these results to simulate changes in haze level or solar angle. In principle, this can be done for any sensor, although at the present time it has been completed for only one - the ERTS-1 MSS.

Potter, J. F.↗

DOE OSTI2023

Compare Mechanistic Predictions for Doped UO 2 Mechanical Response and Other Properties with Empirical Models and Experimental Measurements

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation program develops predictive capabilities using computational methods for the analysis and design of advanced reactor and fuel cycle systems. This program has been supporting the development of BISON, a high-fidelity, high resolution fuel performance tool at the engineering scale. As part of its development, additional modeling capabilities and improvements have been developed for relevant fuel forms. In this work, a fuel creep deformation model for Cr-doped fuel has been implemented into BISON, along with improvements to the empirical UO 2 fuel creep model based on experimental data and improvements to the radial power factor calculation for doped fuels. This work allows for more accurate simulation analyses for both UO 2 and doped-UO 2 fuels.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2021

QuaSiMo: A composable library to program hybrid workflows for quantum simulation

Abstract A composable design scheme is presented for the development of hybrid quantum/classical algorithms and workflows for applications of quantum simulation. The proposed object‐oriented approach is based on constructing an expressive set of common data structures and methods that enables programming of a broad variety of complex hybrid quantum simulation applications. The abstract core of the scheme is distilled from the analysis of the current quantum simulation algorithms. Subsequently, it allows synthesis of new hybrid algorithms and workflows via the extension, specialisation, and dynamic customisation of the abstract core classes defined by the proposed design. The design scheme is implemented using the hardware‐agnostic programming language QCOR into the QuaSiMo library. To validate the implementation, the authors test and show its utility on commercial quantum processors from IBM and Rigetti, running some prototypical quantum simulations.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2023

QMMM 2023: A program for combined quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical modeling and simulations

Combined quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical (QM/MM) methods play an important role in multiscale modeling and simulations. QMMM 2023 is a general-purpose program for single-point calculations, geometry optimizations, transition-state optimizations, and molecular dynamics (MD) at the QM/MM level. It calls a QM package and an MM package to perform the required single-level calculations and combines them into a QM/MM energy by a variety of schemes. QMMM 2023 supports GAMESS-US, Gaussian, and ORCA as QM packages and Tinker as the MM package. Four types of treatments are available for embedding the QM subsystem in the MM environment: mechanical embedding with gas-phase calculations of the QM region, electronic embedding that allows polarization of the QM region by the MM environment, polarizable embedding for mutual polarization of the QM and MM regions, and flexible embedding for both mutual polarization and partial charge transfer between the QM and MM regions. Boundaries between QM and MM regions that pass through covalent bonds can be treated by several methods, including the redistributed charge (RC) scheme, redistributed charge and dipole (RCD) scheme, balanced-RC scheme, balanced-RCD scheme, screened charge scheme that takes account of charge penetration effects, and smeared charge scheme that delocalizes the MM charges near the QM–MM boundary. Geometry optimization can be done using the optimizer implemented in QMMM 2023 or the Berny optimizer in Gaussian through external calls to Gaussian. Molecular dynamics simulations can be performed at the pure-MM level, pure-QM level, fixed-partitioning QM/MM level, and adaptive-partitioning QM/MM level. As a result, the adaptive-partitioning treatments permit on-the-fly relocation of the QM–MM boundary by dynamically reclassifying atoms or groups into the QM or MM subsystems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2023

Introduction to Finite Element Analysis: Abaqus Tutorial [Slides]

Abaqus is a suite of powerful engineering simulation programs, based on the finite element method, that can solve a variety of problems, ranging from simple to complex, including the fields of: Structural mechanics, Structural dynamics, Thermodynamics, Heat transfer, and more

42 ENGINEERING↗

NASA NTRS1978

Application of special-purpose digital computers to rotorcraft real-time simulation

The use of an array processor as a computational element in rotorcraft real-time simulation is studied. A multilooping scheme was considered in which the rotor would loop over its calculations a number of time while the remainder of the model cycled once on a host computer. To prove that such a method would realistically simulate rotorcraft, a FORTRAN program was constructed to emulate a typical host-array processor computing configuration. The multilooping of an expanded rotor model, which included appropriate kinematic equations, resulted in an accurate and stable simulation.

Mackie, D. B.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Direct simulation Monte Carlo technique for modeling of the environment in the vicinity of the Space Shuttle Orbiter

A program for analyzing the flowfield parameters in the neighborhood of the Space Shuttle Orbiter has been developed. The program uses the direct simulation Monte Carlo method, which is a completely probabilistic Monte Carlo technique capable of analyzing 3-dimensional steady or unsteady flow with prescribed internal and external boundary conditions. The freestream flux densities incident on the external flowfield boundaries are calculated from the drifting Maxwellian gas properties of the freestream. The flux entering the flowfield from the internal boundary is calculated from the outgassing flux density distribution over the Shuttle external surface and the prescribed discrete source fluxes. This technique produces a numerical flowfield solution which is the probabilistic equivalent of a complete solution of the time-dependent, 3-dimensional Boltzmann equation. Flowfield results are presented for the following configurations: (1) Shuttle angles of attack of 0 and 90 deg, (2) freestream density 10 to the 9th - 10 to the 11th per cu cm, (3) Shuttle outgassing flux density, and (4) operation of the aft downfiring vernier Reaction Control System (RCS) engine. Results are presented for column density distribution of outgassed and engine species and for the flux density of outgassed and engine species incident on the Shuttle bay and the windshield.

Melfi, L. T., Jr.↗