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At least 739 records · Page 41

Effect of transient liquid flow on retention characteristics of screen acquisition systems

A design analysis, is developed based on experimental data, to predict the effects of transient flow and pressure surges (caused either by valve or pump operation, or by boiling of liquids in warm lines) on the retention performance of screen acquisition systems. A survey of screen liquid acquisition system applications was performed to determine appropriate system environment and classification. A screen model was developed which assumed that the screen device was a uniformly distributed composite orthotropic structure, and which accounted for liquid inflow/outflow, gas ingestion quality, screen stress, and liquid spill. A series of 177 tests using 13 specimens (5 screen meshes, 4 screen device construction/backup methods, and 2 orientations) with three test fluids (isopropyl alcohol, Freon 114, and LH2) provided data which verified important features of the screen model and resulted in a design tool which could accurately predict the transient startup performance acquisition devices.

Cady, E. C.↗

Unstructured mesh methods for CFD

Mesh generation methods for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are outlined. Geometric modeling is discussed. An advancing front method is described. Flow past a two engine Falcon aeroplane is studied. An algorithm and associated data structure called the alternating digital tree, which efficiently solves the geometric searching problem is described. The computation of an initial approximation to the steady state solution of a given poblem is described. Mesh generation for transient flows is described.

Peraire, J.↗

Navier-Stokes Computations of Longitudinal Forces and Moments for a Blended Wing Body

The object of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of applying CFD methods to aerodynamic analyses for aircraft stability and control. The integrated aerodynamic parameters used in stability and control, however, are not necessarily those extensively validated in the state of the art CFD technology. Hence, an exploratory study of such applications and the comparison of the solutions to available experimental data will help to assess the validity of the current computation methods. In addition, this study will also examine issues related to wind tunnel measurements such as measurement uncertainty and support interference effects. Several sets of experimental data from the NASA Langley 14x22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel and the National Transonic Facility are presented. Two Navier-Stokes flow solvers, one using structured meshes and the other unstructured meshes, were used to compute longitudinal static stability derivatives for an advanced Blended Wing Body configuration over a wide range of angles of attack. The computations were performed for two different Reynolds numbers and the resulting forces and moments are compared with the above mentioned wind tunnel data.

Pao, S. Paul↗

Navier-Stokes Computations of Longitudinal Forces and Moments for a Blended Wing Body

The object of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of applying CFD methods to aerodynamic analyses for aircraft stability and control. The integrated aerodynamic parameters used in stability and control, however, are not necessarily those extensively validated in the state of the art CFD technology. Hence, an exploratory study of such applications and the comparison of the solutions to available experimental data will help to assess the validity of the current computation methods. In addition, this study will also examine issues related to wind tunnel measurements such as measurement uncertainty and support interference effects. Several sets of experimental data from the NASA Langley 14x22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel and the National Transonic Facility are presented. Two Navier-Stokes flow solvers, one using structured meshes and the other unstructured meshes, were used to compute longitudinal static stability derivatives for an advanced Blended Wing Body configuration over a wide range of angles of attack. The computations were performed for two different Reynolds numbers and the resulting forces and moments are compared with the above mentioned wind tunnel data.

Pao, S. Paul↗

Semi-Autonomous Vehicle Project

The primary objective this summer is "evaluating standards for wireless architecture for the internet of things". The Internet of Things is the network of physical objects or "things" embedded with electronics, software, sensors and network connectivity which enables these objects to collect and exchange data and make decisions based on said data. This was accomplished by creating a semi-autonomous vehicle that takes advantage of multiple sensors, cameras, and onboard computers and combined them with a mesh network which enabled communication across large distances with little to no interruption. The mesh network took advantage of what is known as DTN - Disruption Tolerant Networking which according to NASA is the new communications protocol that is "the first step towards interplanetary internet." The use of DTN comes from the fact that it will store information if an interruption in communications is detected and even forward that information via other relays within range so that the data is not lost. This translates well into the project because as the car moves further away from whatever is sending it commands (in this case a joystick), the information can still be forwarded to the car with little to no loss of information thanks to the mesh nodes around the driving area.

Stewart, Christopher↗

Parametric description of intermittent probability distribution functions in solar wind and magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

ABSTRACT In this work, we find empirical evidence that the scale-dependent statistical properties of solar wind and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence can be described in terms of a family of parametric probability distribution functions (PDFs) known as Normal Inverse Gaussian (NIG). Understanding these PDFs is one of the most important goals in turbulence theory, as they are inherently connected to the intermittent properties of solar wind turbulence. We investigate the properties of PDFs of Elsasser increments based on a large statistical sample from solar wind observations and high-resolution numerical simulations of MHD turbulence. In order to measure the PDFs and their corresponding properties, three experiments are presented: fast and slow solar wind for experimental data and a simulation of reduced MHD (RMHD) turbulence. Conditional statistics on a 23-yr-long sample of WIND data near 1 au and high-resolution pseudo-spectral simulation of steadily driven RMHD turbulence on a $2048^3$ mesh are used to construct scale-dependent PDFs. The empirical PDFs are fitted to NIG distributions, which depend on four free parameters. Our analysis shows that NIG distributions accurately capture the evolution of the PDFs, with scale-dependent parameters, from large scales characterized by a Gaussian distribution, turning to exponential tails within the inertial range and stretched exponentials at dissipative scales. We also show that empirically-measured NIG parameters exhibit well-defined scaling properties that are similar across the three empirical data sets, which may be indicative of universal behaviour.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

On the calculation of supersonic separating and reattaching flows

A method is developed for solving the laminar and turbulent compressible boundary layer equations for separating and reattaching flows. Results of this method are compared with experimental data for two laminar and three turbulent layer, shock wave interactions. Several Navier-Stokes solutions are obtained for each of the laminar boundary layer, shock wave interactions considered. Comparison of these solutions indicates a first order sensitivity in C sub f to the computational mesh selected in both the viscous and inviscid portions of the flow. Comparison of the present boundary layer solutions with the Navier-Stokes solutions and with data for a given Mach number indicates that as long as the separation bubble is small, the boundary layer approximation yields solutions whose accuracy is comparable to the Navier-Stokes solutions.

Murphy, J. D.↗

FESTR, Version 0.x

FESTR is a modeling tool for calculating spectroscopic-quality synthetic outputs (e.g., spectra and images) based on (in general) the time evolutions of 3-D spatial distributions of materials characterized by their chemical composition, temperature, and density conditions. FESTR performs raytracing across unstructured meshes, builds intrinsic optical properties of mixed materials by performing equation-of-state lookups in external data, and then solves the radiation-transport equation along rays to obtain emergent time and space resolved synthetic spectra. These results can be further processed into time and/or space integrated spectra, as well as into spectral-band-integrated synthetic images, radiated power histories, and total radiated energy values. FESTR is also applicable to spatial reconstructions of material properties via the analysis of experimental data.

Hakel, Peter↗

PBX9502 PAGOSA/SURF Calibration for 100 µm Grid Size

There are two methods to calibrate the SURF reactive burn explosives model.The first is to calibrate using Pop plot data. Because there are only two main parameters in SURF, called A and B, there is just enough flexibility in SURF to determine the Pop plot line, i.e., equivalent information to a slope and a single point on the line. However, due to the linearity of the Pop plot being based on logarithmic scales, a slight deviation off the Pop plot (though the fit to the Pop plot might be very good overall) can make considerable difference when comparing with the velocity profile data. The second calibration method thusly focuses strongly on matching entire velocity profile data. This is to say that individual velocity profiles extracted from embedded gages (in the case of PBX 9502, we refer to R. Gustavsen’s experimental data) may fit poorly, while the overall fit to the Pop plot may seem reasonable. In addition, there are other factors that could produce slightly different calibrations for SURF, while leading to an overall acceptable fit to data. One of those may be the physics code used and here we use Pagosa. Another is mesh size dependence. A third one stems from fitting a reactive burn model being done in conjunction with an equation of state (EOS) of the reactants and one for the products – different EOS can result in slightly different parameterizations. Finally, there are several secondary material parameters in SURF, and the overall fit will depend on the entire parameterization. The goal of this report is to clarify some of our previously made statements about SURF calibration, as well as to redo a systematic calibration using 100 µm grid resolution.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Impact of solids on composite materials

The failure modes of composite materials as a result of low velocity impact were investigated by simulating the impact with a finite element analysis. An important facet of the project is the modeling of the impact of a solid onto cylindrical shells composed of composite materials. The model under development will simulate the delamination sustained when a composite material encounters impact from another rigid body. The computer equipment was installed, the computer network tested, and a finite element method model was developed to compare results with known experimental data. The model simulated the impact of a steel rod onto a rotating shaft. Pre-processing programs (GMESH and TANVEL) were developed to generate node and element data for the input into the three dimensional, dynamic finite element analysis code (DYNA3D). The finite element mesh was configured with a fine mesh near the impact zone and a coarser mesh for the impacting rod and the regions surrounding the impacting zone. For the computer simulation, five impacting loads were used to determine the time history of the stresses, the scribed surface areas, and the amount of ridging. The processing time of the computer codes amounted from 1 to 4 days. The calculated surface area were within 6-12 percent, relative error when compated to the actual scratch area.

Bronson, Arturo↗

A point implicit unstructured grid solver for the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations

An upwind finite element technique that uses cell centered quantities and implicit and/or explicit time marching has been developed for computing hypersonic laminar viscous flows using adaptive unstructured triangular grids. A structured grid of quadrilaterals is laid out near the body surface. For inviscid flows the method is stable at Courant numbers of over 100,000. A first order basic scheme and a higher order flux corrected transport (FCT) scheme have been implemented. This technique has been applied to the problem of predicting type III and IV shock wave interactions on a cylinder, with a view of simulating the pressure and heating rate augmentation caused by an impinging shock on the leading edge of a cowl lip of an engine inlet. The predictions of wall pressure and heating rates compare very well with experimental data. The flow features are very distinctly captured with a sequence of adaptively generated grids. The adaptive mesh generator and the upwind Navier-Stokes solver are combined in a set of programs called LARCNESS, an acronym for Langley Adaptive Remeshing Code and Navier-Stokes Solver.

Thareja, Rajiv R.↗

Detection of edges using local geometry

Researchers described a new representation, the local geometry, for early visual processing which is motivated by results from biological vision. This representation is richer than is often used in image processing. It extracts more of the local structure available at each pixel in the image by using receptive fields that can be continuously rotated and that go to third order spatial variation. Early visual processing algorithms such as edge detectors and ridge detectors can be written in terms of various local geometries and are computationally tractable. For example, Canny's edge detector has been implemented in terms of a local geometry of order two, and a ridge detector in terms of a local geometry of order three. The edge detector in local geometry was applied to synthetic and real images and it was shown using simple interpolation schemes that sufficient information is available to locate edges with sub-pixel accuracy (to a resolution increase of at least a factor of five). This is reasonable even for noisy images because the local geometry fits a smooth surface - the Taylor series - to the discrete image data. Only local processing was used in the implementation so it can readily be implemented on parallel mesh machines such as the MPP. Researchers expect that other early visual algorithms, such as region growing, inflection point detection, and segmentation can also be implemented in terms of the local geometry and will provide sufficiently rich and robust representations for subsequent visual processing.

Gualtieri, J. A.↗

Turbulent flow calculations using unstructured and adaptive meshes

A method of efficiently computing turbulent compressible flow over complex two dimensional configurations is presented. The method makes use of fully unstructured meshes throughout the entire flow-field, thus enabling the treatment of arbitrarily complex geometries and the use of adaptive meshing techniques throughout both viscous and inviscid regions of flow-field. Mesh generation is based on a locally mapped Delaunay technique in order to generate unstructured meshes with highly-stretched elements in the viscous regions. The flow equations are discretized using a finite element Navier-Stokes solver, and rapid convergence to steady-state is achieved using an unstructured multigrid algorithm. Turbulence modeling is performed using an inexpensive algebraic model, implemented for use on unstructured and adaptive meshes. Compressible turbulent flow solutions about multiple-element airfoil geometries are computed and compared with experimental data.

Mavriplis, Dimitri J.↗

Life and dynamic capacity modeling for aircraft transmissions

A computer program to simulate the dynamic capacity and life of parallel shaft aircraft transmissions is presented. Five basic configurations can be analyzed: single mesh, compound, parallel, reverted, and single plane reductions. In execution, the program prompts the user for the data file prefix name, takes input from a ASCII file, and writes its output to a second ASCII file with the same prefix name. The input data file includes the transmission configuration, the input shaft torque and speed, and descriptions of the transmission geometry and the component gears and bearings. The program output file describes the transmission, its components, their capabilities, locations, and loads. It also lists the dynamic capability, ninety percent reliability, and mean life of each component and the transmission as a system. Here, the program, its input and output files, and the theory behind the operation of the program are described.

Savage, Michael↗

Turbulent flow calculations using unstructured and adaptive meshes

A method of efficiently computing turbulent compressible flow over complex two dimensional configurations is presented. The method makes use of fully unstructured meshes throughout the entire flow field, thus enabling the treatment of arbitrarily complex geometries and the use of adaptive meshing techniques throughout both viscous and inviscid regions of the flow field. Mesh generation is based on a locally mapped Delaunay technique in order to generate unstructured meshes with highly-stretched elements in the viscous regions. The flow equations are discretized using a finite element Navier-Stokes solver, and rapid convergence to steady-state is achieved using an unstructured multigrid algorithm. Turbulence modeling is performed using an inexpensive algebraic model, implemented for use on unstructured and adaptaive meshes. Compressible turbulent flow solutions about multiple-element airfoil geometries are computed and compared with expeirmental data.

Mavriplis, Dimitri J.↗

The Space-Time Conservation Element and Solution Element Method-A New High-Resolution and Genuinely Multidimensional Paradigm for Solving Conservation Laws: Numerical Simulation of Shock Waves and Contact Discontinuities - 2

Without resorting to special treatment for each individual test case, the 1D and 2D CE/SE shock-capturing schemes described previously (in Part I) are used to simulate flows involving phenomena such as shock waves, contact discontinuities, expansion waves and their interactions. Five 1D and six 2D problems are considered to examine the capability and robustness of these schemes. Despite their simple logical structures and low computational cost (for the 2D CE/SE shock-capturing scheme, the CPU time is about 2 micro-secs per mesh point per marching step on a Cray C90 machine), the numerical results, when compared with experimental data, exact solutions or numerical solutions by other methods, indicate that these schemes can accurately resolve shock and contact discontinuities consistently.

Wang, Xiao-Yen↗

ISO Guest Observer Data Analysis and LWS Instrument Team Activities

The following is an interim annual report. Dr. Smith is currently on an extended TDY to the Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI) at the Consilio Nazionale delle Richerche (CNR) in Rome, Italy, where he has been working on a related NASA grant in support of analysis of Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) data on star formation in Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxies and our galaxy. Work emphasizes development of metal mesh grids for use in spacecraft, and the design and fabrication of test elements by the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington D.C. Work has progressed well, but slowly, on that program due to the departure of a key engineer. NASA has been advised of the delay, and granted a no-cost extension, whereby SAO has authorized a delay in the final report from NRL. Nevertheless NRL has continued to make progress. Two papers have been submitted to refereed journals related to this program, and a new design for mesh operating in the 20-40 micron region has been developed. Meetings continue through the summer on these items. A new technical scientist has been made a job offer and hopefully will be on board NRL shortly, although most of the present grant work is already completed. A more complete report, with copies of the submitted papers, designs, and other measures of progress, will be submitted to NASA in September when Dr. Smith returns from his current TDY.

Smith, Howard↗

Comparison of DAC and MONACO DSMC Codes with Flat Plate Simulation

Various implementations of the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method exist in academia, government and industry. By comparing implementations, deficiencies and merits of each can be discovered. This document reports comparisons between DSMC Analysis Code (DAC) and MONACO. DAC is NASA's standard DSMC production code and MONACO is a research DSMC code developed in academia. These codes have various differences; in particular, they employ distinct computational grid definitions. In this study, DAC and MONACO are compared by having each simulate a blunted flat plate wind tunnel test, using an identical volume mesh. Simulation expense and DSMC metrics are compared. In addition, flow results are compared with available laboratory data. Overall, this study revealed that both codes, excluding grid adaptation, performed similarly. For parallel processing, DAC was generally more efficient. As expected, code accuracy was mainly dependent on physical models employed.

Padilla, Jose F.↗