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At least 91 records · Page 5

The feasibility of producing aluminum-lithium structures for cryogenic tankage applications by laser beam welding

Aluminum-lithium alloys exhibit high strength, high elastic modulus, and low density as well as excellent cryogenic mechanical properties making them ideal material candidates for cryogenic tanks. NASA has proposed the use of 'built-up' structure for panels fabricated into cryogenic tanks replacing current conventional machining. Superplastically formed stiffeners would be joined to sheet (tank skin) that had been roll formed to the radius of the tank in order to produce panels. Aluminum-lithium alloys of interest for producing the built-up structure include alloy 2095-T6 stiffeners to 2095-T8 sheet and alloy 8090-T6 stiffeners to 2090-T83 sheet. Laser welding, with comparable joint properties, offers the following advantages over conventional welding: higher production rates, minimal degradation within the heat affected zones, and full process automation. This study established process parameters for laser beam welding, mechanical property determinations, metallographic characterization, and fabrication of prototype panels. Tensile tests representing partial penetration of the skin alloys provided joint efficiencies between 65 and 77 percent, depending upon alloy and degree of penetration. Results of tension shear tests of lap welds indicated that the combination of 2095-T6 to 2090-T8 exhibited significantly higher weld shear strength at the interface in comparison to welds of 8090-T6 to 2090-T83. The increased shear strength associated with 2095 is believed to be due to the alloy's ability to precipitation strengthening (naturally age) after welding.

Martukanitz, R. P.↗

Comparing Virtual Reality to Conventional Simulator Visuals: Effects of Peripheral Visual Cues in Roll-Axis Tracking Tasks

This paper compares the effects of peripheral visual cues on manual control between a conventional fixed-base simulator and virtual reality. The results were also compared with those from a previous experiment conducted in a motion-base simulator. Fifteen participants controlled a system with second-order dynamics in a disturbance-rejection task. Tracking performance, control activity, simulator sickness questionnaire answers, and biometrics were collected. Manual control behavior was modeled for the first time in a virtual reality environment. Virtual reality did not degrade participants’ manual control performance or alter their control behavior. However, peripheral cues were significantly more effective in virtual reality. Control activity decreased for all conditions with peripheral cues. The trends introduced by the peripheral visual cues from the previous experiment were replicated. Finally, VR was not more nauseogenic than the conventional simulator. These results suggest that virtual reality might be a good alternative to conventional fixed-base simulators for training manual control skills.

Terenzi, Lorenzo↗

Relative Lifetimes of Several Space Liquid Lubricants Using a Vacuum Spiral Orbit Tribometer (SOT)

A vacuum spiral orbit rolling contact tribometer (SOT) was used to determine the relative lifetimes of several unformulated space liquid lubricants. The lubricants tested included a synthetic hydrocarbon (Pennzane 2001 A), three perfluoropolyethers (Krytox 143AC, Fomblin Z25, and Brayco 815Z), three silahydrocarbons (a tri, a tetra, and a penta) and a polyalphaolefin (Nye PAO-100). The SOT simulates the ball motions in an angular contact bearing and tribochemically degrades microgram quantities of lubricant. Test failure is determined when a preset friction coefficient is exceeded. Relative lifetime (orbits/micro-g) is defined as the number of ball orbits to failure divided by the amount of lubricant on the ball. Conditions included 10 to 200 rpm rotational speed, approximately 50 micro-g lubricant, an initial vacuum < 1.3x10(exp -6) Pa, room temperature (approximately 23 C), a mean Hertzian stress of 1.5 GPa, and 440 C stainless steel specimens. Lubricated lifetimes from longest to shortest were Pennzane 2001 A, the silahydrocarbons and the PAO-100, 143AC, ZI-5, and then 815Z. Relative lifetimes compare favorably to full-scale vacuum gimbal bearing tests. The effect of varying the mean Hertzian stress on the lifetime of some of the lubricants was examined.

Jansen, Mark J.↗

Ground development and flight correlation of the vortex attenuating spline device

Data presented indicate that the wing-mounted spline is a effective vortex-attenuating device. A comparison of the vortex induced rolling moment results at a separation scale distance of 0.70 km with those measured in full scale flight indicate good agreement for the unattenuated vortex configuration. The comparison also indicates that the spline effectiveness in flight was greater than in the ground facility test. The results of an applications study show that, for the heavy commercial jet aircraft studied, use of the splines does result in some degradation of the climb gradient and rate of climb, but the aircraft should meet certification requirements.

Patterson, J. C., Jr.↗

The OAO heat pipes - 8 1/2 years of flight data

Heat pipe performance data taken during the 8 1/2 years of flight of the OAO-C (Copernicus) spacecraft are presented. Three fixed conductance heat pipes (FCHP), each with different wicking concepts (axial groove, pedestal artery, and self-priming spiral artery), and one variable conductance heat pipe (VCHP) are onboard. Aluminum tubes (1/2 in. diameter) rolled into a 48 in. loop containing ultra high purity ammonia as the heat transfer fluid comprise all FCHP, whose purpose is to circumferentially isothermalize the central tube housing the telescope. The VCHP is a hot, non-wicked reservoir concept including a composite artery and methanol heat transfer fluid, and is used to maintain the temperature of the onboard processor. Flight thermal data analysis reveals that no degradation in performance occurred since launch and agrees well with pre-flight data; the onboard processor still shows an offset in control range of 4 F, and the pipes perform the same after 8 1/2 years in orbit.

Harwell, W.↗

Optimal Aircraft Control Upset Recovery With and Without Component Failures

This paper treats the problem of recovering sustainable nondescending (safe) flight in a transport aircraft after one or more of its control effectors fail. Such recovery can be a challenging goal for many transport aircraft currently in the operational fleet for two reasons. First, they have very little redundancy in their means of generating control forces and moments. These aircraft have, as primary control surfaces, a single rudder and pairwise elevators and aileron/spoiler units that provide yaw, pitch, and roll moments with sufficient bandwidth to be used in stabilizing and maneuvering the airframe. Beyond this, throttling the engines can provide additional moments, but on a much slower time scale. Other aerodynamic surfaces, such as leading and trailing edge flaps, are only intended to be placed in a position and left, and are, hence, very slow-moving. Because of this, loss of a primary control surface strongly degrades the controllability of the vehicle, particularly when the failed effector becomes stuck in a non-neutral position where it exerts a disturbance moment that must be countered by the remaining operating effectors. The second challenge in recovering safe flight is that these vehicles are not agile, nor can they tolerate large accelerations. This is of special importance when, at the outset of the recovery maneuver, the aircraft is flying toward the ground, as is frequently the case when there are major control hardware failures. Recovery of safe flight is examined in this paper in the context of trajectory optimization. For a particular transport aircraft, and a failure scenario inspired by an historical air disaster, recovery scenarios are calculated with and without control surface failures, to bring the aircraft to safe flight from the adverse flight condition that it had assumed, apparently as a result of contact with a vortex from a larger aircraft's wake. An effort has been made to represent relevant airframe dynamics, acceleration limits, and actuator limits faithfully, since these contribute to the lack of agility and control power that plays an important role in defining what can be achieved with the vehicle when it is in extremis.

Sparks, Dean W.↗

Simulator study of the effect of control-system time delays on the occurrence of pilot-induced oscillations and on pilot tracking performance with a space-shuttle-orbiter configuration

Using a six degree-of-freedom motion-base simulator, the effect of control-system time delays on the occurrence of pilot-induced oscillations (PIO's) on the vehicle handling qualities and on pilot tracking performance for a landing-approach configuration of the Space Shuttle orbiter was studied. A linearized math model was employed which represented a 300-knot orbiter with almost all time delays removed. Additional time delays were then inserted following the pilot's hand-controller signals. Only pitch and roll commands were used for vehicle control. The simulation employed an air to air tracking task as a means of emphasizing PIO tendencies. Two astronauts, two research pilots, and one simulation engineer served as test subjects. Results showed that PIO's occurred when the amount of added time delay approximated that existing for the orbiter configuration flown in the approach and landing tests. Increasing the amount of delay increased PIO occurrences and resulted in degraded tracking performance. Decreasing the amount of time delay eliminated the PIO's.

Riley, D. R.↗

Studies of friction and wear characteristics of various wires for wire-brush skids

The friction and wear characteristics of 22 types and sizes of wires for potential use in wire-brush skids were studied. These characteristics were determined by placing brushes made from candidate wires on a belt sander whose moving belt simulated landing roll-out distance. At the same time, the drag force and wear behavior were monitored. Data were obtained over distances up to 3048 m (10,000 ft) at preselected bearing pressures of 172 to 1034 kPa (25 to 150 psi). In general, the friction coefficient developed by the candidate wires was found to be independent of bearing pressure and ranged between 0.4 and 0.6 under the test conditions of this investigation. The friction coefficient was not degraded when the surface was wetted and appears to be independent of wire diameter except perhaps when wire size is relatively large compared with the surface asperities. Generally, the high friction demonstrated by the soft materials was accompanied by high wear rates; conversely, the hard materials provided greater wear resistance but offered lower friction. For all test wires, the wear was shown to increase with increasing bearing pressure, in general, for the same bearing pressure, wear increased with increasing wire diameter and decreased when the surface was wetted.

Dreher, R. C.↗

Superplastic forming and diffusion bonding of rapidly solidified, dispersion strengthened aluminum alloys for elevated temperature structural applications

Rapidly solidified alloys, based upon the Al-Fe-V-Si system and designed for elevated temperature applications, were evaluated for superplasticity and diffusion bonding behavior. Alloys with 8, 16, 27, and 36 volume percent silicide dispersoids were produced; dispersoid condition was varied by rolling at 300, 400, and 500 C (572, 752, and 932 F). Superplastic behavior was evaluated at strain rates from 1 x 10(exp -6)/s to 8.5/s at elevated temperatures. The results indicate that there was a significant increase in elongation at higher strain rates and at temperatures above 600 C (1112 F). However, the exposure of the alloys to temperatures greater than 600 C (1112 F) resulted in the coarsening of the strengthening dispersoid and the degradation of mechanical properties. Diffusion bonding was possible using low gas pressure at temperatures greater than 600 C (1112 F) which also resulted in degraded properties. The bonding of Al-Fe-V-Si alloys to 7475 aluminum alloy was performed at 516 C (960 F) without significant degradation in microstructure. Bond strengths equal to 90 percent that of the base metal shear strength were achieved. The mechanical properties and microstructural characteristics of the alloys were investigated.

Ting, E. Y.↗

Extreme Environments Solar Power Project For Use Near Jupiter

The Extreme Environment Solar Power (EESP) Project goal was to develop solar cell and solar array design concept technologies for space power applications in high radiation and low solar intensity, low temperature (LILT) environments. NASA missions focused on outer planets, such as Jupiter, are subjected to intense radiation while experiencing less than ten percent of the solar flux relative to a mission in the general vicinity of Earth. Under these conditions, present solar array technology is not as efficient in converting the sun’s energy, and the solar array performance degrades quickly due to the additional radiation exposure. The EESP Project objectives were accomplished through four competitively selected contracts. These contracts were awarded with a Base and two option periods of performance. The Base requirements included System Design and Component Test & Analysis with a duration of nine and one half (9.5) months. The Option I requirements involved the fabrication of test hardware that NASA would evaluate following its delivery, and this period of performance had a duration of thirteen (13) months. The Option II requirements involved the fabrication of a scalable system prototype that can be integrated into a system level application and be demonstrated in a relevant environment. Option II had a duration of fifteen (15) months. The Transformational Array (TA) is an array concept developed by JHU-APL with Deployable Space Systems (DSS), SolAero Technologies and NewForge Technologies that proceeded through all three contract periods. The TA combines the DSS Roll Out Solar Array (ROSA) with Flexible Array Concentrator Technology (FACT) and SolAero’s Inverted Metamorphic Multijunction (IMM) solar cells for operation in the EESP Project environment. To achieve the EESP Project goals, the JHU-APL team conducted several investigations to improve performance of the solar cells and increase their efficiency, reduce outgassing contamination of the concentrators from the solar cell assembly adhesives, and to test the robustness of a sample blanket during deployment and retraction. Additionally, the team performed vibration, thermal cycling, and performance tests at a Standard Power Module (SPM) level. At the end of Option II, the JHU-APL team achieved the following performance metrics: • 39% beginning of life (BOL) cell efficiency at 5 AU and -125 C • 29% end of life (EOL) efficiency at the blanket level at 50 W/m2, -125 C and 4x1015 1 MeV e/cm2 • Increased specific power to 8 W/kg at EOL for the entire array including structure, deployment, and pointing mechanisms • Demonstrated the ability to survive numerous deploy-retract cycles without degradation • Reached a current System-Level Technology Readiness Level, TRL5 This presentation will describe the Transformational Array and component technologies and will discuss future potential uses for the system.

Anna Maria Pal↗

Combining Simulation and Optimization to Derive Operating Policies for a Concentrating Solar Power Plant

Optimizing short-term decisions over a rolling horizon and/or using deterministic penalties to capture system stochasticity can lead to myopic policies that fail to consider unplanned events and their long-term adverse effects. We present a methodology that integrates an off-line optimization model with a simulation procedure to determine the profitability of different operating strategies; specifically, the latter is used to generate additional constraints for the former when failures occur according to system component operating lifetimes that (i) are subject to exogenous uncertainty, and (ii) may degrade more quickly under specific operating conditions. We use the feedback provided by the simulation model in a parametric analysis to obtain penalties that can be used in short-term operations scheduling to maximize the long-term revenues obtained by the optimization model. We apply this research to a concentrating solar power plant; our results show that the methodology can be used to choose an operating policy that balances maximizing profit while accounting for maintenance costs. Integrating the optimization model with a simulation procedure reveals that aggressive prices for cycling yield about 55% fewer startups and 30% fewer failures compared to using a more typical start-up operating strategy, and can save hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars in repair costs over the lifetime of the plant.

concentrating solar power↗

The effect of a visual/motion display mismatch in a single axis compensatory tracking task

The frequency response of visual systems is typically unity from 0 to 20 rad/sec, while that of motion systems typically falls off in the vicinity of 6 rad/sec. The question arises as to what effect, if any, such a difference in servomechanism performance has on the simulation. Is pilot performance reduced by the conflict between displays? Would a more realistic simulation occur if the visual servomechanisms were degraded to match the motion servomechanisms? Does the pilot need and use the higher frequency information present in the visual display? The purpose of the experiment is to take a step forward toward answering these questions. Work already in the literature which bears on these questions is outlined. A description is then given of an experiment used to check for the effects of a difference in the performance of the visual and motion servomechanisms (the experiment uses a single-axis, compensatory, roll-tracking task). The results of the experiment are then presented and analyzed.

Shirachi, D. K.↗

Rolling contact fatigue behavior of Cu and TiN coatings on bearing steel substrates

The resistance of copper and TiN coatings on various bearing substrates to high-load rolling contact fatigue (RCF) is investigated. Special attention is given to the lubricating characteristics of copper deposited by ion plating, and the wear resistant characteristics of TiN deposited by ion plating and magnetron sputtering techniques. RCF samples of 440C and AMS 5749 bearing steels were coated. Sputter deposited and ion plated films were on the RCF samples in a range of thickness from about 2000 A to 2 microns. Results showed a marked improvement of the RCF for pure copper tested on 440C, but a degradation for copper on AMS 5749. It is also found that the 2000 A TiN films behave favorably on the 440C and AMS 5749 bearing steels at RCF stress levels of 786 ksi. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis were used during the investigation.

Hochman, R. F.↗

Jet Noise Reduction Potential from Emerging Variable Cycle Technologies

Acoustic and flow-field experiments were conducted on exhaust concepts for the next generation supersonic, commercial aircraft. The concepts were developed by Lockheed Martin (LM), Rolls-Royce Liberty Works (RRLW), and General Electric Global Research (GEGR) as part of an N+2 (next generation forward) aircraft system study initiated by the Supersonics Project in NASA s Fundamental Aeronautics Program. The experiments were conducted in the Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory at the NASA Glenn Research Center. The exhaust concepts utilized ejectors, inverted velocity profiles, and fluidic shields. One of the ejector concepts was found to produce stagnant flow within the ejector and the other ejector concept produced discrete-frequency tones that degraded the acoustic performance of the model. The concept incorporating an inverted velocity profile and fluid shield produced overall-sound-pressure-level reductions of 6 dB relative to a single stream nozzle at the peak jet noise angle for some nozzle pressure ratios. Flow separations in the nozzle degraded the acoustic performance of the inverted velocity profile model at low nozzle pressure ratios.

Henderson, Brenda↗

Jet Noise Reduction Potential From Emerging Variable Cycle Technologies

Acoustic and flow-field experiments were conducted on exhaust concepts for the next generation supersonic, commercial aircraft. The concepts were developed by Lockheed Martin (LM), Rolls-Royce Liberty Works (RRLW), and General Electric Global Research (GEGR) as part of an N+2 (next generation forward) aircraft system study initiated by the Supersonics Project in NASA s Fundamental Aeronautics Program. The experiments were conducted in the Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory at the NASA Glenn Research Center. The exhaust concepts utilized ejectors, inverted velocity profiles, and fluidic shields. One of the ejector concepts was found to produce stagnant flow within the ejector and the other ejector concept produced discrete-frequency tones that degraded the acoustic performance of the model. The concept incorporating an inverted velocity profile and fluid shield produced overall-sound-pressure-level reductions of 6 dB relative to a single stream nozzle at the peak jet noise angle for some nozzle pressure ratios. Flow separations in the nozzle degraded the acoustic performance of the inverted velocity profile model at low nozzle pressure ratios.

Source record↗

Modelling and Experimental Validation of Improved Performance of Lithium-Ion Batteries Having Thick Electrodes with Laser-Ablated Micro-Structures

For widespread adoption of electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) need to achieve energy densities of >275 Wh/kg, cost less than $100/Wh, and charge to more than 80% capacity within 15 minutes. Increasing the battery electrode thicknesses is one way to increase cell energy densities while also saving on cell manufacturing cost by increasing the ratio of electrode active material to inactive material within each cell. However, increased electrode loading is often accompanied by decreased Li+-ion diffusion across the full thick electrodes. This leads to significant cell polarization that prevents full capacity utilization and accelerates cell degradation, especially at fast charging/discharging rates. The introduction of secondary pore networks in thick battery electrodes alleviates some of the trade-offs between energy and power performance. These microstructures provide low tortuosity pathways for facile Li+-ion diffusion deep into the thick electrodes, diminishing detrimental concentration gradients within the cell. Ultrafast-pulsed laser ablation is a promising method to introduce micro pores or channels in thick battery electrodes as it allows for precise control of pattern geometries, results in minimal damage to the electrode and can be introduced into existing roll-to-roll electrode manufacturing lines. Herein, the limitations of thick planer electrodes and the advanced predictive models to identify optimal electrode patterns for improved cycling performance will be presented. The impact of electrode laser patterning to create secondary pore networks also will be discussed. Materials characterization techniques (SEM-EDS, XRD) were used to explore the affect ultrafast laser ablation had on the electrode materials’ morphology and structure. The improvements in the patterned electrodes’ electrochemical cycling performances and degrees of wetting will be compared to a pristine baseline case. Finally, the discrepancies between experimentally obtained data and model predictions will be explained.

DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION,ENERGY STORAGE↗

The design of a model-following control system for helicopters

The design of an explicit model-following control system is described and the results of a ground-based simulation experiment investigating the performance and limitations of this control system for a hingeless-rotor and a teetering-rotor helicopter are reported. The explicit model was a linear, decoupled model such that the pilot commanded pitch attitude with the longitudinal cyclic, roll attitude with the lateral cyclic, yaw rate with the pedals, and earth-fixed vertical velocity with the collective. A new model-following performance criterion was developed to optimize the control-law design and to evaluate the model-following performance. The results of the simulation indicate that the performance of the model-following control system is dependent on the dynamics of the explicit model and on the limitations of the actuating system. Increases in the bandwidth of the explicit model placed higher demands on the control system and resulted in degraded model-following performance. Significant improvements in model-following performance were achieved when a control-law switching feature, which was designed to account for position- or rate-limited actuators, was included in the control system. The excellent overall model-following performance obtained for these two radically different helicopters indicates the flexibility and versatility of this control technique.

Hilbert, K. B.↗

CFD Assessment of Aerodynamic Degradation of a Subsonic Transport Due to Airframe Damage

A computational study is presented to assess the utility of two NASA unstructured Navier-Stokes flow solvers for capturing the degradation in static stability and aerodynamic performance of a NASA General Transport Model (GTM) due to airframe damage. The approach is to correlate computational results with a substantial subset of experimental data for the GTM undergoing progressive losses to the wing, vertical tail, and horizontal tail components. The ultimate goal is to advance the probability of inserting computational data into the creation of advanced flight simulation models of damaged subsonic aircraft in order to improve pilot training. Results presented in this paper demonstrate good correlations with slope-derived quantities, such as pitch static margin and static directional stability, and incremental rolling moment due to wing damage. This study further demonstrates that high fidelity Navier-Stokes flow solvers could augment flight simulation models with additional aerodynamic data for various airframe damage scenarios.

Frink, Neal T.↗