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At least 847 records · Page 47

Dislocation dynamics during the growth of silicon ribbon

The thermal viscoplastic stresses and the dislocation densities in silicon ribbon are computed for an axially changing thermal profile by using an iterative finite difference method. A material constitutive equation (Haasen-Sumino model) which involves an internal variable (mobile dislocation density) is used. The results are interpreted as showing that there is a maximum width of silicon ribbon that can be grown when viscoplasticity and dislocations are considered. This maximum width limitation does not exist if the material behavior is elastic.

Dillon, O. W., Jr.↗

A transonic-small-disturbance wing design methodology

An automated transonic design code has been developed which modifies an initial airfoil or wing in order to generate a specified pressure distribution. The design method uses an iterative approach that alternates between a potential-flow analysis and a design algorithm that relates changes in surface pressure to changes in geometry. The analysis code solves an extended small-disturbance potential-flow equation and can model a fuselage, pylons, nacelles, and a winglet in addition to the wing. A two-dimensional option is available for airfoil analysis and design. Several two- and three-dimensional test cases illustrate the capabilities of the design code.

Phillips, Pamela S.↗

Analysis of a closed-kinematic chain robot manipulator

Presented are the research results from the research grant entitled: Active Control of Robot Manipulators, sponsored by the Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA) under grant number NAG-780. This report considers a class of robot manipulators based on the closed-kinematic chain mechanism (CKCM). This type of robot manipulators mainly consists of two platforms, one is stationary and the other moving, and they are coupled together through a number of in-parallel actuators. Using spatial geometry and homogeneous transformation, a closed-form solution is derived for the inverse kinematic problem of the six-degree-of-freedom manipulator, built to study robotic assembly in space. Iterative Newton Raphson method is employed to solve the forward kinematic problem. Finally, the equations of motion of the above manipulators are obtained by employing the Lagrangian method. Study of the manipulator dynamics is performed using computer simulation whose results show that the robot actuating forces are strongly dependent on the mass and centroid locations of the robot links.

Nguyen, Charles C.↗

The solution of the Elrod algorithm for a dynamically loaded journal bearing using multigrid techniques

A numerical solution to a theoretical model of vapor cavitation in a dynamically loaded journal bearing is developed utilizing a multigrid iteration technique. The method is compared with a noniterative approach in terms of computational time and accuracy. The computational model is based on the Elrod algorithm, a control volume approach to the Reynolds equation which mimics the Jakobsson-Floberg and Olsson cavitation theory. Besides accounting for a moving cavitation boundary and conservation of mass at the boundary, it also conserves mass within the cavitated region via a smeared mass or striated flow extending to both surfaces in the film gap. The mixed nature of the equations (parabolic in the full film zone and hyperbolic in the cavitated zone) coupled with the dynamic aspects of the problem create interesting difficulties for the present solution approach. Emphasis is placed on the methods found to eliminate solution instabilities. Excellent results are obtained for both accuracy and reduction of computational time.

Woods, Claudia M.↗

Unsteady aerodynamics of rotor-stator interaction in a turbine stage

The two-dimensional, compressible, unsteady, thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations have been used to study the turbulent flow field of a turbine rotor/stator configuration in the high pressure oxidizer turbopump of the Space Shuttle main engine. The calculations were performed on a system of patched and overlaid grids. The grid system consists of 'O-' and 'H-' grids, with the inner 'O-'grid enclosing the blade surface for an accurate resolution of the leading and trailing edges, while the outer 'H-'grid makes the treatment of boundary conditions easier. The integration scheme used is an iterative, factored, implicit method with numerical fluxes evaluated by the third-order accurate upwind-biased Osher scheme. Computed results in the form of pressure contours, Mach number contours, time-averaged surface pressure, unsteady pressure amplitude and unsteady velocity vectors are presented. Many flow phenomena, such as wake cutting by rotor airfoils and evolution of unsteady passage vortices, are discussed.

Yang, R.-J.↗

Treatment of body forces in boundary element design sensitivity analysis

The inclusion of body forces has received a good deal of attention in boundary element research. The consideration of such forces is essential in the desgin of high performance components such as fan and turbine disks in a gas turbine engine. Due to their critical performance requirements, optimal shapes are often desired for these components. The boundary element method (BEM) offers the possibility of being an efficient method for such iterative analysis as shape optimization. The implicit-differentiation of the boundary integral equations is performed to obtain the sensitivity equations. The body forces are accounted for by either the particular integrals for uniform body forces or by a surface integration for non-uniform body forces. The corresponding sensitivity equations for both these cases are presented. The validity of present formulations is established through a close agreement with exact analytical results.

Saigal, Sunil↗

The solution of the Elrod algorithm for a dynamically loaded journal bearing using multigrid techniques

A numerical solution to a theoretical model of vapor cavitation in a dynamically loaded journal bearing is developed utilizing a multigrid iteration technique. The method is compared with a noniterative approach in terms of computational time and accuracy. The computational model is based on the Elrod algorithm, a control volume approach to the Reynolds equation which mimics the Jakobsson-Floberg and Olsson cavitation theory. Besides accounting for a moving cavitation boundary and conservation of mass at the boundary, it also conserves mass within the cavitated region via a smeared mass or striated flow extending to both surfaces in the film gap. The mixed nature of the equations (parabolic in the full film zone and hyperbolic in the cavitated zone) coupled with the dynamic aspects of the problem create interesting difficulties for the present solution approach. Emphasis is placed on the methods found to eliminate solution instabilities. Excellent results are obtained for both accuracy and reduction of computational time.

Woods, C. M.↗

A Strassen-Newton algorithm for high-speed parallelizable matrix inversion

Techniques are described for computing matrix inverses by algorithms that are highly suited to massively parallel computation. The techniques are based on an algorithm suggested by Strassen (1969). Variations of this scheme use matrix Newton iterations and other methods to improve the numerical stability while at the same time preserving a very high level of parallelism. One-processor Cray-2 implementations of these schemes range from one that is up to 55 percent faster than a conventional library routine to one that is slower than a library routine but achieves excellent numerical stability. The problem of computing the solution to a single set of linear equations is discussed, and it is shown that this problem can also be solved efficiently using these techniques.

Bailey, David H.↗

Conjugate Gradient Algorithms For Manipulator Simulation

Report discusses applicability of conjugate-gradient algorithms to computation of forward dynamics of robotic manipulators. Rapid computation of forward dynamics essential to teleoperation and other advanced robotic applications. Part of continuing effort to find algorithms meeting requirements for increased computational efficiency and speed. Method used for iterative solution of systems of linear equations.

Fijany, Amir↗

Thermal structural analysis of the RCC chin panel

This paper presents the design constraints, flight environments, conceptual design iterations and analytical methods used in the design and flight certification of the Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) chin panel for the Space Shuttle Orbiter. A discussion of the thermal/structural response of the chin panel to the imposed environments is presented. As with all critical airframe components, it was desirable to conduct a structural test to verify design adequacy. However, with the chin panel, a meaningful test to simulate the critical thermal stresses was not considered feasible.

Bohlmann, Frank J.↗

Iterative repair for scheduling and rescheduling

An iterative repair search method is described called constraint based simulated annealing. Simulated annealing is a hill climbing search technique capable of escaping local minima. The utility of the constraint based framework is shown by comparing search performance with and without the constraint framework on a suite of randomly generated problems. Results are also shown of applying the technique to the NASA Space Shuttle ground processing problem. These experiments show that the search methods scales to complex, real world problems and reflects interesting anytime behavior.

Zweben, Monte↗

A method for designing blended wing-body configurations for low wave drag

A procedure for tailoring a blended wing-body configuration to reduce its computed wave drag is described. The method utilizes an iterative algorithm within the framework of first-order linear theory. Four computed examples are included. In each case, the zero-lift wave drag was reduced without an increase in the drag due to lift.

Barger, Raymond L.↗

Profile negotiation - A concept for integrating airborne and ground-based automation for managing arrival traffic

The profile negotiation process (PNP) concept as applied to the management of arrival traffic within the extended terminal area is presented, focusing on functional issues from the ground-based perspective. The PNP is an interactive process between an aircraft and air traffic control (ATC) which combines airborne and ground-based automation capabilities to determine conflict-free trajectories that are as close to an aircraft's preference as possible. Preliminary results from a real-time simulation study show that the controller teams are able to consistently and effectively negotiate conflict-free vertical profiles with 4D-equipped aircraft. The ability of the airborne 4D flight management system to adapt to ATC specified 4D trajectory constraints is found to be a requirement for successful execution of the PNP. It is recommended that the conventional method of cost index iteration for obtaining the minimum fuel 4D trajectory be supplemented by a method which constrains the profile speeds to those desired by ATC.

Green, Steven M.↗

Preconditioned conjugate-gradient methods for low-speed flow calculations

An investigation is conducted into the viability of using a generalized Conjugate Gradient-like method as an iterative solver to obtain steady-state solutions of very low-speed fluid flow problems. Low-speed flow at Mach 0.1 over a backward-facing step is chosen as a representative test problem. The unsteady form of the two dimensional, compressible Navier-Stokes equations is integrated in time using discrete time-steps. The Navier-Stokes equations are cast in an implicit, upwind finite-volume, flux split formulation. The new iterative solver is used to solve a linear system of equations at each step of the time-integration. Preconditioning techniques are used with the new solver to enhance the stability and convergence rate of the solver and are found to be critical to the overall success of the solver. A study of various preconditioners reveals that a preconditioner based on the Lower-Upper Successive Symmetric Over-Relaxation iterative scheme is more efficient than a preconditioner based on Incomplete L-U factorizations of the iteration matrix. The performance of the new preconditioned solver is compared with a conventional Line Gauss-Seidel Relaxation (LGSR) solver. Overall speed-up factors of 28 (in terms of global time-steps required to converge to a steady-state solution) and 20 (in terms of total CPU time on one processor of a CRAY-YMP) are found in favor of the new preconditioned solver, when compared with the LGSR solver.

Ajmani, Kumud↗

Determining the number of hidden units in multi-layer perceptrons using F-ratios

The hidden units in multi-layer perceptrons are believed to act as feature extractors. In other words, the outputs of the hidden units represent the features in a more traditional statistical classification paradigm. This viewpoint offers a statistical, objective approach to determining the optimal number of hidden units required. This approach is based on an F-ratio test, and proceeds in an iterative fashion. The method and its application to simulated time-series data are presented.

Jansen, Ben H.↗

Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient methods for low speed flow calculations

An investigation is conducted into the viability of using a generalized Conjugate Gradient-like method as an iterative solver to obtain steady-state solutions of very low-speed fluid flow problems. Low-speed flow at Mach 0.1 over a backward-facing step is chosen as a representative test problem. The unsteady form of the two dimensional, compressible Navier-Stokes equations are integrated in time using discrete time-steps. The Navier-Stokes equations are cast in an implicit, upwind finite-volume, flux split formulation. The new iterative solver is used to solve a linear system of equations at each step of the time-integration. Preconditioning techniques are used with the new solver to enhance the stability and the convergence rate of the solver and are found to be critical to the overall success of the solver. A study of various preconditioners reveals that a preconditioner based on the lower-upper (L-U)-successive symmetric over-relaxation iterative scheme is more efficient than a preconditioner based on incomplete L-U factorizations of the iteration matrix. The performance of the new preconditioned solver is compared with a conventional line Gauss-Seidel relaxation (LGSR) solver. Overall speed-up factors of 28 (in terms of global time-steps required to converge to a steady-state solution) and 20 (in terms of total CPU time on one processor of a CRAY-YMP) are found in favor of the new preconditioned solver, when compared with the LGSR solver.

Ajmani, Kumud↗

Finite element study of plate buckling induced by spatial temperature gradients

Finite element analyses of thermal buckling of thin metallic plates with prescribed spatial temperature distributions are described. Thermally induced compressive membrane stresses and transverse plate displacement imperfections initiate plates buckling. A finite element formulation based on von Karman plate theory is presented. The resulting nonlinear equations are solved for incremental temperature increases by Newton-Raphson iteration. The computational method is used to investigate the buckling response of rectangular plates with steady and unsteady spatially varying temperature distributions. The role of initial plate imperfections and temperature distributions on the nonlinear response of plate displacements and stresses is described. The relatively high levels of stress induced by spatial temperature gradients should be considered carefully in the postbuckling design of panels for aerospace vehicles subjected to combined mechanical and thermal loads.

Thornton, Earl A.↗

Kepler Equation solver

Kepler's Equation is solved over the entire range of elliptic motion by a fifth-order refinement of the solution of a cubic equation. This method is not iterative, and requires only four transcendental function evaluations: a square root, a cube root, and two trigonometric functions. The maximum relative error of the algorithm is less than one part in 10(exp 18), exceeding the capability of double-precision computer arithmetic. Roundoff errors in double-precision implementation of the algorithm are addressed, and procedures to avoid them are developed.

Markley, F. Landis↗