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At least 775 records · Page 43
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1998

Parallelization of Rocket Engine Simulator Software (PRESS)

We have outlined our work in the last half of the funding period. We have shown how a demo package for RESSAP using MPI can be done. However, we also mentioned the difficulties with the UNIX platform. We have reiterated some of the suggestions made during the presentation of the progress of the at Fourth Annual HBCU Conference. Although we have discussed, in some detail, how TURBDES/PUMPDES software can be run in parallel using MPI, at present, we are unable to experiment any further with either MPI or PVM. Due to X windows not being implemented, we are also not able to experiment further with XPVM, which it will be recalled, has a nice GUI interface. There are also some concerns, on our part, about MPI being an appropriate tool. The best thing about MPr is that it is public domain. Although and plenty of documentation exists for the intricacies of using MPI, little information is available on its actual implementations. Other than very typical, somewhat contrived examples, such as Jacobi algorithm for solving Laplace's equation, there are few examples which can readily be applied to real situations, such as in our case. In effect, the review of literature on both MPI and PVM, and there is a lot, indicate something similar to the enormous effort which was spent on LISP and LISP-like languages as tools for artificial intelligence research. During the development of a book on programming languages [12], when we searched the literature for very simple examples like taking averages, reading and writing records, multiplying matrices, etc., we could hardly find a any! Yet, so much was said and done on that topic in academic circles. It appears that we faced the same problem with MPI, where despite significant documentation, we could not find even a simple example which supports course-grain parallelism involving only a few processes. From the foregoing, it appears that a new direction may be required for more productive research during the extension period (10/19/98 - 10/18/99). At the least, the research would need to be done on Windows 95/Windows NT based platforms. Moreover, with the acquisition of Lahey Fortran package for PC platform, and the existing Borland C + + 5. 0, we can do work on C + + wrapper issues. We have carefully studied the blueprint for Space Transportation Propulsion Integrated Design Environment for the next 25 years [13] and found the inclusion of HBCUs in that effort encouraging. Especially in the long period for which a map is provided, there is no doubt that HBCUs will grow and become better equipped to do meaningful research. In the shorter period, as was suggested in our presentation at the HBCU conference, some key decisions regarding the aging Fortran based software for rocket propellants will need to be made. One important issue is whether or not object oriented languages such as C + + or Java should be used for distributed computing. Whether or not "distributed computing" is necessary for the existing software is yet another, larger, question to be tackled with.

Cezzar, Ruknet↗
NASA NTRS1999

A Design Tool for Liquid Rocket Engine Injectors

A practical design tool for the analysis of flowfields near the injector face has been developed and used to analyze the Fastrac engine. The objective was to produce a computational design tool which was detailed enough to predict the interactive effects of injector element impingement angles and points and the momenta of the individual orifice flows. To obtain a model which could be used to simulate a significant number of individual orifices, a homogeneous computational fluid dynamics model was developed. To describe liquid and vapor sub- and super-critical flows, the model included thermal and caloric equations of state which were valid over a wide range of pressures and temperatures. A homogeneous model was constructed such that the local state of the flow was determined directly, i.e. the quality of the flow was calculated. Such a model does not identify drops or their distribution, but it does allow the flow along the injector face and into the acoustic cavity to be predicted. It also allows the film coolant flow to be accurately described. The initial evaluation of the injector code was made by simulating cold flow from an unlike injector element and from a like-on-like overlapping fan (LOL) injector element. The predicted mass flux distributions of these injector elements compared well to cold flow test results. These are the same cold flow tests which serve as the data base for the JANNAF performance prediction codes. The flux distributions 1 inch downstream of the injector face are very similar; the differences were somewhat larger at further distances from the faceplate. Since the cold flow testing did not achieve good mass balances when integrations across the entire fan were made, the CFD simulation appears to be reasonable alternative to future cold flow testing. To simulate the Fastrac, an RP-1/LOX combustion model must be chosen. This submodel must be relatively simple to accomplish three-dimensional, multiphase flow simulations. Single RP-1 pyrolysis and partial oxidation steps were chosen and the combustion was completed with the wet CO mechanism. Soot was also formed with a single global reaction. To validate the combustion submodel, global data from gas generator tests and from subscale motor test were used to predict qualitatively correct mean molecular weights, temperature, and soot levels. Because such tests do not provide general kinetics rates, the methodology is not necessarily appropriate for other than rocket type flows conditions. Soot predictions were made so that radiation heating to the motor walls can be made. These initial studies of the Fastrac were for a small region close to the injector face and chamber wall which included a segment of the acoustic cavity. The region analyzed includes 11 individual orifice holes to represent the LOL elements and the H2 film coolant holes. Typical results of this simulation are shown in Figure 1. At this point the only available test data to verify the predictions are temperatures measured in the acoustic cavity. These temperatures are in reasonable agreement at about 2000R (1111 K). Future work is expected to include improving the computational efficiency or the CFD model and/or using more computer capacity than the single Pentium PC with which these simulations were made.

Farmer, Richard C.↗
NASA NTRS1966

Rocket engine vibration accurately measured by photography

High speed instrumentation camera focused on a partially masked light bulb which is securely mounted to the test fixture permits measurement of engine performance parameters when usual electronic vibration instrumentation is unavailable. Vibration is recorded as a light trace deviating from the light rays photographed in the static hardware condition.

Craig, K. A.↗