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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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The Interplanetary Program to Optimize Space Trajectories (IPOST) is intended to support many analysis phases, from early interplanetary feasibility studies through spacecraft development and operations. Here, information is given on the IPOST code.
It is shown that by using the known (or estimated) value of carrier tracking loop signal to noise ratio (SNR) in the decision metric, it is possible to improve the error probability performance of a partially coherent multiple phase-shift-keying (MPSK) system relative to that corresponding to the commonly used ideal coherent decision rule. Using a maximum-likeihood approach, an optimum decision metric is derived and shown to take the form of a weighted sum of the ideal coherent decision metric (i.e., correlation) and the noncoherent decision metric which is optimum for differential detection of MPSK. The performance of a receiver based on this optimum decision rule is derived and shown to provide continued improvement with increasing length of observation interval (data symbol sequence length). Unfortunately, increasing the observation length does not eliminate the error floor associated with the finite loop SNR. Nevertheless, in the limit of infinite observation length, the average error probability performance approaches the algebraic sum of the error floor and the performance of ideal coherent detection, i.e., at any error probability above the error floor, there is no degradation due to the partial coherence. It is shown that this limiting behavior is virtually achievable with practical size observation lengths. Furthermore, the performance is quite insensitive to mismatch between the estimate of loop SNR (e.g., obtained from measurement) fed to the decision metric and its true value. These results may be of use in low-cost Earth-orbiting or deep-space missions employing coded modulations.
A multigrid-based numerical scheme for solving the Navier-Stokes and Euler equations on block-structured grids is presented for flows over complex aircraft configurations. Self-consistency checks are conducted to ascertain that the multiblock code reproduces previously known solutions from single-block codes by splitting a single-block grid into multiple blocks. The newly-developed multiblock code maintains multigrid performance of an equivalent single-block code.
Modeling uncertainty is defined in terms of the difference between predicted and measured eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Data compiled from 22 sets of analysis/test results was used to create statistical databases for large truss-type space structures and both pretest and posttest models of conventional satellite-type space structures. Modeling uncertainty is propagated through the model to produce intervals of uncertainty on frequency response functions, both amplitude and phase. This methodology was used successfully to evaluate the predictive accuracy of several structures, including the NASA CSI Evolutionary Structure tested at Langley Research Center. Test measurements for this structure were within + one-sigma intervals of predicted accuracy for the most part, demonstrating the validity of the methodology and computer code.
A major component of any liquid propellant rocket is the propellant injection system. Issues of interest include the degree of liquid vaporization and its impact on the combustion process, the pressure and temperature fields in the combustion chamber, and the cooling of the injector face and chamber walls. The Finite Difference Navier-Stokes (FDNS) code is a primary computational tool used in the MSFC Computational Fluid Dynamics Branch. The branch has dedicated a significant amount of resources to development of this code for prediction of both liquid and solid fuel rocket performance. The FDNS code is currently being upgraded to include the capability to model liquid/gas multi-phase flows for fuel injection simulation. An important aspect of this effort is benchmarking the code capabilities to predict existing experimental injection data. The objective of this MSFC/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship term was to evaluate the capabilities of the modified FDNS code to predict flow fields with liquid injection. Comparisons were made between code predictions and existing experimental data. A significant portion of the effort included a search for appropriate validation data. Also, code simulation deficiencies were identified.
Turbo codes were recently proposed by Berrou, Glavieux, and Thitimajshima, and it has been claimed these codes achieve near-Shannon-limit error correction performance with relatively simple component codes and large interleavers. A required E(b)/N(o) of 0.7 dB was reported for a bit error rate of 10(exp -5), using a rate 1/2 turbo code. However, some important details that are necessary to reproduce these results were omitted. This article confirms the accuracy of these claims, and presents a complete description of an encoder/decoder pair that could be suitable for deep-space applications, where lower rate codes can be used. We describe a new simple method for trellis termination, analyze the effect of interleaver choice on the weight distribution of the code, and introduce the use of unequal rate component codes, which yield better performance.
The Direct Broadcast Satellite-Radio (DBS-R) receiver is being developed for operation in a multipath Rayleigh channel. This receiver uses equalization and concatenated coding, in addition to open loop and closed loop architectures for carrier demodulation and symbol synchronization. Performance test results of this receiver are presented in both AWGN and multipath Rayleigh channels. Simulation results show that the performance of the receiver operating in a multipath Rayleigh channel is significantly improved by using equalization. These results show that fractional-symbol equalization offers a performance advantage over full symbol equalization. Also presented is the base-line performance of the DBS-R receiver using concatenated coding and interleaving.
A nonequilibrium, axisymmetric, Navier-Stokes flow solver with coupled radiation has been developed for use in the design or thermal protection systems for vehicles where radiation effects are important. The present method has been compared with an existing now and radiation solver and with the Project Fire 2 experimental data. Good agreement has been obtained over the entire Fire 2 trajectory with the experimentally determined values of the stagnation radiation intensity in the 0.2-6.2 eV range and with the total stagnation heating. The effects of a number of flow models are examined to determine which combination of physical models produces the best agreement with the experimental data. These models include radiation coupling, multitemperature thermal models, and finite rate chemistry. Finally, the computational efficiency of the present model is evaluated. The radiation properties model developed for this study is shown to offer significant computational savings compared to existing codes.
The NASA Engine Performance Program (NEPP) can configure and analyze almost any type of gas turbine engine that can be generated through the interconnection of a set of standard physical components. In addition, the code can optimize engine performance by changing adjustable variables under a set of constraints. However, for engine cycle problems at certain operating points, the NEPP code can encounter difficulties: nonconvergence in the currently implemented Powell's optimization algorithm and deficiencies in the Newton-Raphson solver during engine balancing. A project was undertaken to correct these deficiencies. Nonconvergence was avoided through a cascade optimization strategy, and deficiencies associated with engine balancing were eliminated through neural network and linear regression methods. An approximation-interspersed cascade strategy was used to optimize the engine's operation over its flight envelope. Replacement of Powell's algorithm by the cascade strategy improved the optimization segment of the NEPP code. The performance of the linear regression and neural network methods as alternative engine analyzers was found to be satisfactory. This report considers two examples-a supersonic mixed-flow turbofan engine and a subsonic waverotor-topped engine-to illustrate the results, and it discusses insights gained from the improved version of the NEPP code.
A nonequilibrium, axisymmetric, Navier-Stokes flow solver with coupled radiation has been developed to use in the design of thermal protection systems for vehicles where radiation effects are important. The present method has been compared with an existing flow and radiation solver and with the Project Fire II experimental data. Very good agreement has been obtained over the entire Fire II trajectory with the experimentally determined values of the stagnation radiation intensity in the .2 to 6.2 eV range and with the total stagnation heating. The agreement was significantly better than previous numerical predictions. The effects of a number of flow models are examined to determine which combination of physical models produces the best agreement with the experimental data. These models include radiation coupling, multi-temperature thermal models, finite-rate chemistry, and a quasi-steady-state or Boltzmann assumption for the calculation of the excited electronic states. Finally, the computational efficiency of the present model is evaluated. The radiation properties model developed for this study is shown to offer significant computational savings compared to existing codes.
Dust grains immersed in plasma discharges acquire a large negative charge and settle into a dust cloud at the edge of the sheath. In this region, the plasma ions stream toward the electrode at a velocity u approx. cs=(T(sub e)/m(sub i))(exp 1/2). Experimentally at sufficiently high gas pressure P, the random kinetic energy of the grains is damped by gas friction, and the grains are strongly coupled and self-organize into a crystalline configuration. For lower pressures despite the dissipation of grain kinetic energy to gas friction, the dust grains reach a steady-state kinetic temperature T(sub d) which is much larger than the temperature of any other component in the plasma. T(sub d) is so large that the dust acts like a fluid. We have used the dynamically shielded dust (DSD) model to simulate these physical processes. We find that the known experimental features are nicely reproduced in the simulations, and that additional features are revealed. In the figure we plot the variation of T(sub d) as P is continuously varied in a DSD code run. A marked difference is evident between the critical pressure P(sub m) for the melting transition as P is decreased, and the critical pressure P(sub c) for the condensation transition as P is increased. For P(sub m) is less than P is less than P(sub c), mixed phase states are seen. This hysteresis occurs because the instability which triggers melting is different from the instability that heats the dust in the fluid phase and inhibits freezing. At low pressure, the dust is subject to a two-stream instability with the ions. This instability is responsible for the high temperature of the dust at low pressure. The basic physics underlying the melting transition has been elucidated in a series of papers. We are developing a first-principles analytic approach to the melting transition, which embodies the same physics that is present in the DSD code.
Recently, three-dimensional Stirling engine simulations have been accomplished utilizing commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics software. The validations reported can be somewhat inconclusive due to the lack of precise time accurate experimental results from engines, export control/proprietary concerns, and the lack of variation in the methods utilized. The last issue may be addressed by solving the same flow problem with alternate methods. In this work, a comprehensive examination of the methods utilized in the commercial codes is compared with more recently developed high-order methods. Specifically, Lele's compact scheme and Dyson's Ultra Hi-Fi method will be compared with the SIMPLE and PISO methods currently employed in CFD-ACE, FLUENT, CFX, and STAR-CD (all commercial codes which can in theory solve a three-dimensional Stirling model with sliding interfaces and their moving grids limit the effective time accuracy). We will initially look at one-dimensional flows since the current standard practice is to design and optimize Stirling engines with empirically corrected friction and heat transfer coefficients in an overall one-dimensional model. This comparison provides an idea of the range in which commercial CFD software for modeling Stirling engines may be expected to provide accurate results. In addition, this work provides a framework for improving current one-dimensional analysis codes.
The UCLA Parallel PIC Framework (UPIC) has been developed to provide trusted components for the rapid construction of new, parallel Particl-in-Cell (PIC) codes.
Recently, three-dimensional Stirling engine simulations have been accomplished utilizing commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics software. The validations reported can be somewhat inconclusive due to the lack of precise time accurate experimental results from engines, export control/ proprietary concerns, and the lack of variation in the methods utilized. The last issue may be addressed by solving the same flow problem with alternate methods. In this work, a comprehensive examination of the methods utilized in the commercial codes is compared with more recently developed high-order methods. Specifically, Lele's Compact scheme and Dyson s Ultra Hi-Fi method will be compared with the SIMPLE and PISO methods currently employed in CFD-ACE, FLUENT, CFX, and STAR-CD (all commercial codes which can in theory solve a three-dimensional Stirling model although sliding interfaces and their moving grids limit the effective time accuracy). We will initially look at one-dimensional flows since the current standard practice is to design and optimize Stirling engines with empirically corrected friction and heat transfer coefficients in an overall one-dimensional model. This comparison provides an idea of the range in which commercial CFD software for modeling Stirling engines may be expected to provide accurate results. In addition, this work provides a framework for improving current one-dimensional analysis codes.
Thin Film Heat Flux Sensors: Design and Methodology: (1) Heat flux is one of a number of parameters, together with pressure, temperature, flow, etc. of interest to engine designers and fluid dynamists, (2) The measurement of heat flux is of interest in directly determining the cooling requirements of hot section blades and vanes, and (3)In addition, if the surface and gas temperatures are known, the measurement of heat flux provides a value for the convective heat transfer coefficient that can be compared with the value provided by CFD codes.
Context. In the framework of the Virtual Observatory (VO), the German Astrophysical VO (GAVO) developed the registered service TheoSSA (Theoretical Stellar Spectra Access). It provides easy access to stellar spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and is intended to ingest SEDs calculated by any model-atmosphere code, generally for all effective temperatures, surface gravities, and elemental compositions. We will establish a database of SEDs of flux standards that are easily accessible via TheoSSA's web interface. Aims. The OB-type subdwarf Feige 110 is a standard star for flux calibration. State-of-the-art non-local thermodynamic equilibrium stellar-atmosphere models that consider opacities of species up to trans-iron elements will be used to provide a reliable synthetic spectrum to compare with observations. Methods. In case of Feige 110, we demonstrate that the model reproduces not only its overall continuum shape from the far-ultraviolet (FUV) to the optical wavelength range but also the numerous metal lines exhibited in its FUV spectrum. Results. We present a state-of-the-art spectral analysis of Feige 110. We determined Teff =47 250 +/- 2000 K, log g=6.00 +/- 0.20, and the abundances of He, N, P, S, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn, and Ge. Ti, V, Mn, Co, Zn, and Ge were identified for the first time in this star. Upper abundance limits were derived for C, O, Si, Ca, and Sc. Conclusions. The TheoSSA database of theoretical SEDs of stellar flux standards guarantees that the flux calibration of astronomical data and cross-calibration between different instruments can be based on models and SEDs calculated with state-of-the-art model atmosphere codes.
Since February 2001, the Hypervelocity Impact Technology (HVIT) group at the Johnson Space Center in Houston has performed 26 post-flight inspections on space exposed hardware that have been returned from the International Space Station. Data on 1,024 observations of MMOD damage have been collected from these inspections. Survey documentation typically includes impact feature location and size measurements as well as microscopic photography (25-200x). Sampling of impacts sites for projectile residue was performed for the largest features. Results of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis to discern impactor source is included in the database. This paper will summarize the post-flight MMOD inspections, and focus on two inspections in particular: (1) Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 (PMA-2) cover returned in 2015 after 1.6 years exposure with 26 observed damages, and (2) Airlock shield panels returned in 2010 after 8.7 years exposure with 58 MMOD damages. Feature sizes from the observed data are compared to predictions using the Bumper risk assessment code.
Serial concatenation of an outer binary convolutional code with an inner TCM code over a multidimensional Euclidean constellation through an interleaver, allows to extend the extremely good performance of turbo codes to the case of high spectral efficiency.