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At least 865 records · Page 48
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2000

Effects of Space Environment on Flow and Concentration During Directional Solidification

A study of directional solidification of a weak binary alloy (specifically, Bi - 1 at% Sn) based on the fixed grid single domain approach is being undertaken. The enthalpy method is used to solve for the temperature field over the computational domain including both the solid and liquid phases; latent heat evolution is treated with the aid of an effective specific heat coefficient. A source term accounting for the release of solute into the liquid during solidification has been incorporated into the solute transport equation. The vorticity-stream function formulation is used to describe thermosolutal convection in the liquid region. In this paper we numerically investigate the effects of g-jitter on directional solidification. A background gravity of 1 micro-g has been assumed, and new results for the effects of periodic disturbances over a range of amplitudes and frequencies on solute field and segregation have been presented.

Benjapiyaporn, C.↗
NASA NTRS2001

In Situ Monitoring of Crystal Growth Using Mephisto

Experiments were carried out to study the morphological stability of Bi-1atomic% Sn alloys using the MEPHISTO directional solidification apparatus aboard Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-87, launched November 19, 1997). The research program involved collaboration of the University of Florida, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (France), NASA/Glenn Research Center, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the University of New South Wales (Australia). The experiments made use of the Seebeck technique to measure the interface temperature, the resistance change across the sample for determination of the interface velocity, and Peltier current pulsing for demarcation of the interface shape. These data were obtained in real-time during various melting/solidification cycles, and the experiments were controlled via telecommands. The Seebeck signal and temperature measurements in the space experiments, as well as morphological behavior of the solid/liquid interface, were found to be significantly different than those obtained from ground-based studies. For the space-based experiments, interface breakdown was observed at growth velocities of 6.7, 27, and 40 micrometers/s, but not at 1.8 and 3.3 micrometers/s. The results further indicate that the morphological stability threshold for some grain orientations is significantly enhanced, resulting in a staggered planar to cellular transition front. This report summarizes some of these findings.

Abbaschian, Reza↗
NASA NTRS2001

Morphological Stability of Faceted Interfaces

The major focus of this investigation is to study the fundamentals of layer spreading mechanisms during growth of doped Ge (a facet forming material), and to determine the conditions for morphological instability of vicinal solid-liquid interfaces. The investigation will also lead to the determination of the effect of dopants on the layer growth kinetics, step free energy, and dopant capture by the advancing ledges. The theoretical treatment of growth of faceted interfaces indicates that the kinetics of a step on a growing vicinal interface considerably depends on its angle of inclination, the melt concentration, and characteristics of flow currents in the melt. The morphological stability of the interface also depends on these parameters, as well as on the density and spreading velocity of the steps. However, the treatment of the instability of the interface by the layer growth mechanism is rather difficult because it requires exact knowledge of the thermal and solutal fields, hydrodynamics of the melt, and supercooling at the interface. The results of recent space experiments of the principal investigator involving directional solidification of faceted Bi-Sn alloys have shown that the morphological stability of various crystallographic orientations is significantly affected by the anistropy in interfacial properties of the faceted alloy in general, and the interface kinetics in particular. These findings have also raised many important and fundamental questions, particularly with respect to the behavior of interfacial steps, which need to be addressed via additional groundbased and microgravity experiments. For the present investigation we will use a novel crystal growth technique which provides axial heat flux close to the solid-liquid boundary. The Axial Heat Processing (AHP) technique allows for precise control and determination of the heat and mass transfer close to the crystallization front, and the establishment of a planar interface over the entire cross-section of the growing crystal.

Abbaschian, Reza↗
NASA NTRS2000

Effect of g-jitter on Directional Solidification of a Binary Alloy

A study of directional solidification of a weak binary alloy (specifically, Bi - 1 at% Sn) based on the fixed grid single domain approach is being undertaken. The enthalpy method is used to solve for the temperature field over the computational domain including both the solid and liquid phases; latent heat evolution is treated with the aid of an effective specific heat coefficient. A source term accounting for the release of solute into the liquid during solidification has been incorporated into the solute transport equation. The vorticity-stream function formulation is used to describe thermosolutal convection in the liquid region. In this paper we present a numerical simulation of g-jitter: the small, rapid fluctuations in gravitational acceleration which may be experienced in an orbiting space vehicle. A background gravity of 1 micro-g has been assumed, and new results for the effects of orientation angle of the periodic disturbances over a range of amplitudes and frequencies on solute field and segregation have been presented.

Santiviriyapanich, P.↗
NASA NTRS2001

ISS EPS Orbital Replacement Unit Block Diagrams

The attached documents are being provided to Switching Power Magazine for information purposes. This magazine is writing a feature article on the International Space Station Electrical Power System, focusing on the switching power processors. These units include the DC-DC Converter Unit (DDCU), the Bi-directional Charge/Discharge Unit (BCDU), and the Sequential Shunt Unit (SSU). These diagrams are high-level schematics/block diagrams depicting the overall functionality of each unit.

Schmitz, Gregory V.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Reinforcement Learning in Distributed Domains: Beyond Team Games

Distributed search algorithms are crucial in dealing with large optimization problems, particularly when a centralized approach is not only impractical but infeasible. Many machine learning concepts have been applied to search algorithms in order to improve their effectiveness. In this article we present an algorithm that blends Reinforcement Learning (RL) and hill climbing directly, by using the RL signal to guide the exploration step of a hill climbing algorithm. We apply this algorithm to the domain of a constellations of communication satellites where the goal is to minimize the loss of importance weighted data. We introduce the concept of 'ghost' traffic, where correctly setting this traffic induces the satellites to act to optimize the world utility. Our results indicated that the bi-utility search introduced in this paper outperforms both traditional hill climbing algorithms and distributed RL approaches such as team games.

Wolpert, David H.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Investigation of Conjugate Heat Transfer in Turbine Blades and Vanes

We report on work carried out to develop a 3-D coupled Finite Volume/BEM-based temperature forward/flux back (TFFB) coupling algorithm to solve the conjugate heat transfer (CHT) which arises naturally in analysis of systems exposed to a convective environment. Here, heat conduction within a structure is coupled to heat transfer to the external fluid which is convecting heat into or out of the solid structure. There are two basic approaches to solving coupled fluid structural systems. The first is a direct coupling where the solution of the different fields is solved simultaneously in one large set of equations. The second approach is a loose coupling strategy where each set of field equations is solved to provide boundary conditions for the other. The equations are solved in turn until an iterated convergence criterion is met at the fluid-solid interface. The loose coupling strategy is particularly attractive when coupling auxiliary field equations to computational fluid dynamics codes. We adopt the latter method in which the BEM is used to solve heat conduction inside a structure which is exposed to a convective field which in turn is resolved by solving the NASA Glenn compressible Navier-Stokes finite volume code Glenn-HT. The BEM code features constant and bi-linear discontinuous elements and an ILU-preconditioned GMRES iterative solver for the resulting non-symmetric algebraic set arising in the conduction solution. Interface of flux and temperature is enforced at the solid/fluid interface, and a radial-basis function scheme is used to interpolated information between the CFD and BEM surface grids. Additionally, relaxation is implemented in passing the fluxes from the conduction solution to the fluid solution. Results from a simple test example are reported.

Kassab, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Radar Observations of Near Earth Asteroids 6489 Golevka and 4197 (1982 TA)

Radar observations of two near-Earth asteroids were performed using a bi-static radar technique with Kashima 34-m antenna and Usuda 64-m antenna as receiving stations and Goldstone 70-m antenna as a transmitting station. The asteroid 6489 Golevka was observed on June 15, 1995 when its distance from the Earth became 0.048 AU and the radar echo from the asteroid was detected from the data observed with Kashima 34-m antenna. The success of the trans-continental bistatic radar observations became the first detection of a radar echo from a solar system object beyond Moon in Japan. The asteroid 4197 (1982 TA) was observed on October 24, 1996 when its distance to the Earth became 0.086 AU. The radar echo signal from the asteroid was detected from both of the data observed at Kashima and at Usuda. The received signal was coherently sampled and recorded at both stations. By using these data, interferometric data analysis was examined.

Koyama, Yasuhiro↗
NASA NTRS2001

Experimental and Computational Study of Trapped Vortex Combustor Sector Rig with Tri-pass Diffuser

The Trapped Vortex Combustor (TVC) potentially offers numerous operational advantages over current production gas turbine engine combustors. These include lower weight, lower pollutant emissions, effective flame stabilization, high combustion efficiency, excellent high altitude relight capability, and operation in the lean burn or RQL (Rich burn/Quick mix/Lean burn) modes of combustion. The present work describes the operational principles of the TVC, and provides detailed performance data on a configuration featuring a tri-pass diffusion system. Performance data include EINOx (NO(sub x) emission index) results for various fuel-air ratios and combustor residence times, combustion efficiency as a function of combustor residence time, and combustor lean blow-out (LBO) performance. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations using liquid spray droplet evaporation and combustion modeling are performed and related to flow structures observed in photographs of the combustor. The CFD results are used to understand the aerodynamics and combustion features under different fueling conditions. Performance data acquired to date are favorable in comparison to conventional gas turbine combustors. Further testing over a wider range of fuel-air ratios, fuel flow splits, and pressure ratios is in progress to explore the TVC performance. In addition, alternate configurations for the upstream pressure feed, including bi-pass diffusion schemes, as well as variations on the fuel injection patterns, are currently in test and evaluation phases.

Hendricks, Robert C.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Mirror Instability in the Solar Wind: The Theory Revisited

"Magnetic holes", localized depressions in the interplanetary magnetic field, have been identified in Ulysses data over a range of several AU and as far as 23 degrees south in latitude by Winterhalter et al., who concluded that these structures are most likely the remnants of structures caused by occasional mirror-mode instability in the solar wind. However, these authors, like a number of previous investigators, used the mirror stability criterion derived from the kinetic theory under very special assumptions. On the other hand, theoretical investigations using the fully self-consistent kinetic theory (Vlasov-Maxwell equations) have shown that the mirror stability criterion is more complicated when electrons and ions have different anisotropies, as is normally the case in the solar wind. Winterhalter et al used an instability criterion of the form R is greater than 1, where R is a function of the thermal anisotropy; the correct criterion (for bi-Maxwellian distributions) is R R is greater than 1 - x(exp 2), where x is a real quantity that depends on both the proton anisotropy and electron anisotropy. So nonzero x would modify the Winterhalter et al results in the direction of reinforcing their conclusions. We have revisited the instability criterion in its most general form, allowing for (a) non-Maxwellian velocity distributions, (b) multiple ion species, and (c) interparticle streaming. These results should give sound theoretical grounding for future observational studies related to the mirror instability, by Ulysses and other spacecraft.

Barnes, A.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Intermittent Flow Regimes in a Transonic Fan Airfoil Cascade

A study was conducted in the NASA Glenn Research Center linear cascade on the intermittent flow on the suction surface of an airfoil section from the tip region of a modern low aspect ratio fan blade. Experimental results revealed that, at a large incidence angle, a range of transonic inlet Mach numbers exist where the leading-edge shock-wave pattern was unstable. Flush mounted high frequency response pressure transducers indicated large local jumps in the pressure in the leading edge area, which generates large intermittent loading on the blade leading edge. These measurements suggest that for an inlet Mach number between 0.9 and 1.0 the flow is bi-stable, randomly switching between subsonic and supersonic flows. Hence, it appears that the change in overall flow conditions in the transonic region is based on the frequency of switching between two stable flow states rather than on the continuous increase of the flow velocity. To date, this flow behavior has only been observed in a linear transonic cascade. Further research is necessary to confirm this phenomenon occurs in actual transonic fans and is not the byproduct of an endwall restricted linear cascade.

Lepicovsky, J.↗
NASA NTRS1996

RANS-MP: A Portable Parallel Navier-Stokes Solver

RANS-MP, a new implementation of a single-grid Navier-Stokes solver using the diagonalized Beam-Warming approximate-factorization scheme, is presented. This first release of the completely rewritten solver employs the following optimizations: (1) Bi-directional multi-partition method for the ADI solver part; this improves granularity and load balance; (2) Improved cache usage through elimination of non-unit-stride array access (possible in part due to multi-partitioning); (3) Preprocessing of communicating boundary conditions to streamline logic during time stepping; (4) Truly parallel, high-performance I/O using the newly-developed MPI-IO library; (5) Elimination of large amounts of redundant operations through efficient use of workspace. Results of some realistic wing computations on the IBM SP2 computer will be presented. We will demonstrate that excellent absolute performance and scalability are obtained with RANS-MP, even for relatively small grid sizes. Besides high performance, an outstanding feature of RANS-MP is its true portability, due to the use of the portable message passing and I/O libraries MPI and MPI-IO.

VanderWijngaart, Rob F.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Legato: Personal Computer Software for Analyzing Pressure-Sensitive Paint Data

'Legato' is personal computer software for analyzing radiometric pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) data. The software is written in the C programming language and executes under Windows 95/98/NT operating systems. It includes all operations normally required to convert pressure-paint image intensities to normalized pressure distributions mapped to physical coordinates of the test article. The program can analyze data from both single- and bi-luminophore paints and provides for both in situ and a priori paint calibration. In addition, there are functions for determining paint calibration coefficients from calibration-chamber data. The software is designed as a self-contained, interactive research tool that requires as input only the bare minimum of information needed to accomplish each function, e.g., images, model geometry, and paint calibration coefficients (for a priori calibration) or pressure-tap data (for in situ calibration). The program includes functions that can be used to generate needed model geometry files for simple model geometries (e.g., airfoils, trapezoidal wings, rotor blades) based on the model planform and airfoil section. All data files except images are in ASCII format and thus are easily created, read, and edited. The program does not use database files. This simplifies setup but makes the program inappropriate for analyzing massive amounts of data from production wind tunnels. Program output consists of Cartesian plots, false-colored real and virtual images, pressure distributions mapped to the surface of the model, assorted ASCII data files, and a text file of tabulated results. Graphical output is displayed on the computer screen and can be saved as publication-quality (PostScript) files.

Schairer, Edward T.↗
NASA NTRS1997

On-Orbit and Ground Performance of the PGBA Plant Growth Facility

PGBA, a plant growth facility developed for commercial space biotechnology research, successfully grew a total of 30 plants (6 species) for 10 days on board the Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-77) and is scheduled for reflight on board MSL-1 (STS-83) for a 16 day flight. The PGBA life support systems provide atmospheric, thermal, and humidity control as well as lighting and nutrient supply in a 23.6 liter chamber. Atmosphere treatment includes ethylene and other hydrocarbon removal, CO2 replenishment, and O2 control. The normally closed system uses controlled CO2 replenishment from the crew cabin as required by the plants. Temperature is controlled (1 C) at user-specified setpoints between 20-32 C, using water-filled coolant loops, solid state Peltier thermoelectric devices, and liquid heat exchangers. The thermoelectric cooling systems were optimized for low power consumption and high cooling efficiencies. Relative humidity is maintained between 60-100% using a cooled porous metal plate to remove water vapor from the air stream without cooling the bulk air below the dew point. The lighting system utilizes three compact fluorescent bi-axial lights with variable lighting control and light intensity (PAR) between 220 and 330 micromol/sq m/s at a distance of 20 cm in spaceflight configuration (on orbit power limited to 230 Watt for entire payload). A ground, up to 550 micromol/sq m/s light intensity can be achieved with 330 Watt payload power consumption. Plant water and nutrient support is sustained via the 'Nutrient Pack' system including the passive or active 'Water Replenishable Nutrient Pack.' The root matrix material (soil or Agar) and nutrient formulation of each pack is prepared according to plant species and experimental requirements. These systems were designed by NASA Ames personnel. Data acquisition and control systems provide 32 channels of environmental data as well as digitized or analog video signals for downlink.

Hoehn, A.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Relation Between Polar Plumes and Fine Structure in the Solar Wind from Ulysses High-Latitude Observations

Ulysses observations showed that pressure balance structures (PBSs) are a common feature in the high-latitude and high-speed solar winds near the solar minimum. On the other hand, coronal plumes are common in polar coronal holes. PBSs are believed to be remnants of coronal plumes and to be related to network activity such as magnetic reconnection in the photosphere from previous studies. This suggests that information on the magnetic structure of PBSs would help to confirm the relation between PBSs and polar plumes We have investigated the magnetic structures of the PBSs by applying a minimum variance analysis to Ulysses/Magnetometer data and by examining the pitch-angle distribution of energetic electrons measured with Ulysses/SWOOPS. We have found that PBSs have relatively more tangential discontinuities rather than rotational from the minimum variance analysis. Further, most PBSs also show bi-directional electron flux or isotropic pitch-angle distribution or the distribution expected in association with current-sheet structures from the analysis of high-energy electron data. In this, we find further evidence that PBSs are generated due by network activity at the base of polar plumes and their magnetic structures are like current sheets or plasmoids.

Yamauchi, Yohei↗
NASA NTRS2002

Seasonal Characteristics of Tropical Ozone Profiles using the SHADOZ Ozonesonde Data Set: Comparisons with TOMS Tropical Ozone Climatology

Advances in tropospheric ozone data products being developed for tropical and subtropical regions using TOMS (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer) and other satellites are motivating efforts to renew and expand the collection of balloon-borne ozonesonde observations. The SHADOZ (Southern Hemisphere ADditional OZonesondes) project is a web-based archive established since 1998. It's goals are to support validation of TOMS and SBUV (Solar Backscatter UV) satellite ozone measurements and to improve remote sensing techniques for estimating tropical and subtropical ozone. Profile data are taken from balloon-borne ozonesondes, currently at 11 stations coordinating weekly to bi-weekly launches. Station data are publically available at a central location via the internet: . Since the start of the project, the SHADOZ archive has accumulated over 1500 ozonesonde profiles. Data also includes measurements from various SHADOZ supported field campaigns, such as, the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX), Sounding of Ozone and Water in the Equatorial Region (SOWER) and Aerosols99 Atlantic Cruise. Using data from the archive, profile climatologies from selected stations will be shown to 1/characterize the variability of tropospheric tropical ozone among stations, 2/illustrate the seasonal offsets with respect to the tropical profile used in the TOMS v7 algorithm, and 3/estimate the potential error in TOMS retrieval estimates of the tropospheric portion of the atmosphere.

Witte, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS2002

The Effect of Heating on the Degradation of Ground Laboratory and Space Irradiated Teflon(r) FEP

The outer most layer of the multilayer insulation (MLI) blankets on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is back surface aluminized Teflon(R) FEP (fluorinated ethylene propylene). As seen by data collected after each of the three servicing missions and as observed during the second servicing mission (SM2), the FEP has become embrittled in the space environment, leading to degradation of the mechanical properties and severe on-orbit cracking of the FEP. During SM2, a sample of aluminized-FEP was retrieved from HST that had cracked and curled, exposing its aluminum backside to space. Because of the difference in optical properties between FEP and aluminum, this insulation piece reached 200 C on-orbit, which is significantly higher than the nominal MLI temperature extreme of 50 C. This piece was more brittle than other retrieved material from the first and third servicing missions (SM1 and SM3A, respectively). Due to this observation and the fact that Teflon thermal shields on the solar array bi-stems were heated on-orbit to 130 C, experiments have been conducted to determine the effect of heating on the degradation of FEP that has been irradiated in a ground laboratory facility or in space on HST. Teflon FEP samples were X-ray irradiated in a high vacuum facility in order to simulate the damage caused by radiation in the space environment. Samples of pristine FEP, X-ray irradiated FEP and FEP retrieved from the HST during SM3A were heat treated from 50 to 200 C at 25 intervals in a high vacuum facility and then tensile tested. In addition, samples were tested in a density gradient column to determine the effect of the radiation and heating on the density of FEP. Results indicate that although heating does not degrade the tensile properties of non-irradiated Teflon, there is a significant dependence of the percent elongation at failure of irradiated Teflon as a function of heating temperature. Irradiated Teflon was found to undergo increasing degradation in the elongation at failure as temperature was increased from room temperature to 200 C. Rate of degradation changes, which were consistent with the glass I transition temperatures for FEP, appeared to be present in both tensile and density data. The results indicate the significance of the on-orbit temperature of Teflon FEP with respect to its degradation in the low Earth orbital space environment.

deGroh, Kim K.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Initial Results from the Bloomsburg University Goniometer Laboratory

The Bloomsburg University Goniometer Laboratory (B.U.G. Lab) consists of three systems for studying the photometric properties of samples. The primary system is an automated goniometer capable of measuring the entire bi-directional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of samples. Secondary systems include a reflectance spectrometer and digital video camera with macro zoom lens for characterizing and documenting other physical properties of measured samples. Works completed or in progress include the characterization of the BRDF of calibration surfaces for the 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers (MER03), Martian analog soils including JSC-Mars-1, and tests of photometric models.

Shepard, M. K.↗