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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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At least 955 records · Page 53
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1989

Laboratory and theoretical studies of baroclinic processes

An understanding is being developed for processes which may be important in the atmosphere, and the definition and analysis of baroclinic experiments utilizing the geophysical fluid flow cells (GFFC) apparatus in microgravity space flights. Included are studies using numerical codes, theoretical models, and terrestrial laboratory experiments. The numerical modeling is performed in three stages: calculation of steady axisymmetric flow, calculation of fastest-growing linear eigenmodes, and nonlinear effects (first, wave-mean flow interactions, then wave-wave interactions). The code can accommodate cylindrical, spherical, or channel geometry. It uses finite differences in the vertical and meridional directions, and is spectral in the azimuthal. The theoretical work was mostly in the area of effects of topography upon the baroclinic instability problem. The laboratory experiments are performed in a cylindrical annulus which has a temperture gradient imposed upon the lower surface and an approximately isothermal outer wall, with the upper and inner surfaces being nominally thermally insulating.

Miller, Timothy↗
NASA NTRS1991

Ground based preparation for microgravity growth of alloy semiconductors

Ground-based research conducted in order to prepare a microgravity space flight experiment is presented. The thermophysical properties of a PbSnTe alloy used for semiconductors are investigated, and furnace calibration and fluid-flow measurements are performed. The alloy has a zero energy crossing at approximately 40 percent SnTe in its band-gap vs composition diagram, which facilitates the design of long-wavelength IR detectors and lasers. The uniformity of devices made from this material depends on the ratio of PbTe and SnTe and requires the composition of the crystal growth to be closely controlled. The main obstacle to such control is the fact that liquid of this material is always solutally or thermally unstable, and, in a high-temperature gradient, the double convective instability cannot be made stable by balancing thermal and solutal expansion. In order to extend the science of crystal growth, the limits of suppression of convection have to be tested in low earth orbit.

Fripp, Archibald L.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Experimental determination of gap flow-conditioned forces at turbine stages and their effect on the running stability of simple rotors

Instabilities in turbine operation can be caused by forces which are produced in connection with motions involving the oil film in the bearings. An experimental investigation regarding the characteristics of such forces in the case of three typical steam turbine stages is conducted, taking into account the effect of various parameters. Supplementary kinetic tests are carried out to obtain an estimate of the flow forces which are proportional to the velocity. The measurements are based on the theoretical study of the damping characteristics of a vibrational model. A computational analysis of the effect of the measured fluid forces on the stability characteristics of simple rotor model is also conducted.

Wohlrab, R.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Dynamics of face and annular seals with two-phase flow

A detailed study was made of face and annular seals under conditions where boiling, i.e., phase change of the leaking fluid, occurs within the seal. Many seals operate in this mode because of flashing due to pressure drop and/or heat input from frictional heating. High pressure, water pumps, industrial chemical pumps, and cryogenic pumps are mentioned as a few of many applications. The initial motivation was the LOX-GOX seals for the space shuttle main engine, but the study was expanded to include any face or annular seal where boiling occurs. Some of the distinctive behavior characteristics of two-phase seals were discussed, particularly their axial stability. While two-phase seals probably exhibit instability to disturbances of other degrees of freedom such as wobble, etc., under certain conditions, such analyses are too complex to be treated at present. Since an all liquid seal (with parallel faces) has a neutral axial stiffness curve, and is stabilized axially by convergent coning, other degrees of freedom stability analyses are necessary. However, the axial stability behavior of the two-phase seal is always a consideration no matter how well the seal is aligned and regardless of the speed. Hence, axial stability is thought of as the primary design consideration for two-phase seals and indeed the stability behavior under sub-cooling variations probably overshadows other concerns. The main thrust was the dynamic analysis of axial motion of two-phase face seals, principally the determination of axial stiffness, and the steady behavior of two-phase annular seals. The main conclusions are that seals with two-phase flow may be unstable if improperly balanced. Detailed theoretical analyses of low (laminar) and high (turbulent) leakage seals are presented along with computer codes, parametric studies, and in particular a simplified PC based code that allows for rapid performance prediction. A simplified combined computer code for the performance prediction over the laminar and turbulent ranges of a two-phase seal is described and documented. The analyses, results, and computer codes are summarized.

Hughes, William F.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Assessment of diffuse-interface methods for compressible multiphase fluid flows and elastic-plastic deformation in solids

This work describes three diffuse-interface methods for the simulation of immiscible, compressible multiphase fluid flows and elastic-plastic deformation in solids. The first method is the localized-artificial-diffusivity approach of Cook, Subramaniam et al., and Adler and Lele, in which artificial diffusion terms are added to the individual phase mass fraction transport equations and are coupled with the other conservation equations. The second method is the gradient-form approach that is based on the quasi-conservative method of Shukla et al., in which the diffusion and sharpening terms (together called regularization terms) are added to the individual phase volume fraction transport equations and are coupled with the other conservation equations. The third approach is the divergence-form approach that is based on the fully conservative method of Jain et al., in which the regularization terms are added to the individual phase volume fraction transport equations and are coupled with the other conservation equations. In the present study, all three diffuse-interface methods are used in conjunction with a four-equation, multicomponent mixture model, in which pressure and temperature equilibria are assumed among the various phases. The primary objective of this work is to compare these three methods in terms of their ability to: maintain constant interface thickness throughout the simulation; conserve mass, momentum, and energy; and maintain accurate interface shape for long-time integration. The second objective of this work is to consistently extend these methods to model interfaces between solid materials with strength. To assess and compare the methods, they are used to simulate a wide variety of problems, including (1) advection of an air bubble in water, (2) shock interaction with a helium bubble in air, (3) shock interaction and the collapse of an air bubble in water, and (4) Richtmyer–Meshkov instability of a copper–aluminum interface. The current work focuses on comparing these methods in the limit of relatively coarse grid resolution, which illustrates the true performance of these methods. In conclusion, this is because it is rarely practical to use hundreds of grid points to resolve a single bubble or drop in large-scale simulations of engineering interest.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS1989

The stability of a compressible stratified shear layer

The stability of a shear layer under the effect of gravity is investigated using the compressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations, including an effective gravity term to represent the curvature effects of the flow and magnetic field line geometry. A general eigenmode equation is derived for a two-dimensional MHD fluid, and an energy-principle analysis to explain the effect of compressibility on the critical Richardson number is presented. For the case of a hyperbolic tangent shear flow and exponential density profile, it was found that, in the Boussinesq approximation, the compressibility raises the critical Richardson number from 1/4 to as much as 1/2, with the exact value depending on the value of the magnetic field at infinity. Under approximation of a strong asymptotic magnetic field, without invoking the Boussinesq approximation, it is shown both analytically and numerically that the density gradient terms cause the shear instability to be dispersive. The long-wavelength stability boundary for the Richardson number J = 0 is characterized by a normalized phase velocity c =

Wang, Z.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Singularities in water waves and Rayleigh-Taylor instability

Singularities in inviscid two-dimensional finite-amplitude water waves and inviscid Rayleigh-Taylor instability are discussed. For the deep water gravity waves of permanent form, through a combination of analytical and numerical methods, results describing the precise form, number, and location of singularities in the unphysical domain as the wave height is increased are presented. It is shown how the information on the singularity in the unphysical region has the same form as for deep water waves. However, associated with such a singularity is a series of image singularities at increasing distances from the physical plane with possibly different behavior. Furthermore, for the Rayleigh-Taylor problem of motion of fluid over a vacuum and for the unsteady water wave problem, integro-differential equations valid in the unphysical region are derived, and how these equations can give information on the nature of singularities for arbitrary initial conditions is shown.

Tanveer, S.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Singularities in water waves and Rayleigh-Taylor instability

Singularities in inviscid two-dimensional finite-amplitude water waves and inviscid Rayleigh-Taylor instability are discussed. For the deep water gravity waves of permanent form, through a combination of analytical and numerical methods, results describing the precise form, number, and location of singularities in the unphysical domain as the wave height is increased are presented. It is shown how the information on the singularity in the unphysical region has the same form as for deep water waves. However, associated with such a singularity is a series of image singularities at increasing distances from the physical plane with possibly different behavior. Furthermore, for the Rayleigh-Taylor problem of motion of fluid over a vacuum and for the unsteady water wave problem, integro-differential equations valid in the unphysical region are derived, and how these equations can give information on the nature of singularities for arbitrary initial conditions is shown.

Tanveer, S.↗
NASA NTRS2017

CFD Simulations of the Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (SIAD) Ballistic Range Tests

A series of ballistic range tests were performed on a scaled model of the Supersonic Flight Demonstration Test (SFDT) intended to test the Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (SIAD) geometry. The purpose of these experiments were to provide aerodynamic coefficients of the vehicle to aid in mission and vehicle design. The experimental data spans the moderate Mach number range, $3.8-2.0$, with a total angle of attack ($alpha_T$) range, $10o-20o$. These conditions are intended to span the Mach-$alpha$ space for the majority of the SFDT experiment. In an effort to validate the predictive capabilities of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for free-flight aerodynamic behavior, numerical simulations of the ballistic range experiment are performed using the unstructured finite volume Navier-Stokes solver, US3D. Comparisons to raw vehicle attitude, and post-processed aerodynamic coefficients are made between simulated results and experimental data. The resulting comparisons for both raw model attitude and derived aerodynamic coefficients show good agreement with experimental results. Additionally, near body pressure field values for each trajectory simulated are investigated. Extracted surface and wake pressure data gives further insights into dynamic flow coupling leading to a potential mechanism for dynamic instability.

CFD modeling↗
NASA NTRS1993

Numerical simulation using vorticity-vector potential formulation

An accurate and efficient computational method is needed for three-dimensional incompressible viscous flows in engineering applications. On solving the turbulent shear flows directly or using the subgrid scale model, it is indispensable to resolve the small scale fluid motions as well as the large scale motions. From this point of view, the pseudo-spectral method is used so far as the computational method. However, the finite difference or the finite element methods are widely applied for computing the flow with practical importance since these methods are easily applied to the flows with complex geometric configurations. However, there exist several problems in applying the finite difference method to direct and large eddy simulations. Accuracy is one of most important problems. This point was already addressed by the present author on the direct simulations on the instability of the plane Poiseuille flow and also on the transition to turbulence. In order to obtain high efficiency, the multi-grid Poisson solver is combined with the higher-order, accurate finite difference method. The formulation method is also one of the most important problems in applying the finite difference method to the incompressible turbulent flows. The three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations have been solved so far in the primitive variables formulation. One of the major difficulties of this method is the rigorous satisfaction of the equation of continuity. In general, the staggered grid is used for the satisfaction of the solenoidal condition for the velocity field at the wall boundary. However, the velocity field satisfies the equation of continuity automatically in the vorticity-vector potential formulation. From this point of view, the vorticity-vector potential method was extended to the generalized coordinate system. In the present article, we adopt the vorticity-vector potential formulation, the generalized coordinate system, and the 4th-order accurate difference method as the computational method. We present the computational method and apply the present method to computations of flows in a square cavity at large Reynolds number in order to investigate its effectiveness.

Tokunaga, Hiroshi↗
NASA NTRS2010

Design and Implementation of a Characterization Test Rig for Evaluating High Bandwidth Liquid Fuel Flow Modulators

A test rig was designed and developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) for the purpose of characterizing high bandwidth liquid fuel flow modulator candidates to determine their suitability for combustion instability control research. The test rig is capable of testing flow modulators at up to 600 psia supply pressure and flows of up to 2 gpm. The rig is designed to provide a quiescent flow into the test section in order to isolate the dynamic flow modulations produced by the test article. Both the fuel injector orifice downstream of the test article and the combustor are emulated. The effect of fuel delivery line lengths on modulator dynamic performance can be observed and modified to replicate actual fuel delivery systems. For simplicity, water is currently used as the working fluid, although future plans are to use jet fuel. The rig is instrumented for dynamic pressures and flows and a high-speed data system is used for dynamic data acquisition. Preliminary results have been obtained for one candidate flow modulator.

Saus, Joseph R.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Cross-beam energy transfer in direct-drive ICF. II. Theory and simulation of mitigation through increased laser bandwidth

The response of the cross-beam energy transfer instability (CBET) to laser bandwidth is investigated through a combination of theory and simulation. Existing linear theory is generalized to treat broadband lasers, demonstrating that CBET is most effectively suppressed when the bandwidth exceeds the ion-acoustic wave (IAW) frequency. It is shown that for such bandwidths, reverse (seed to pump) transfer becomes possible, which reduces the net energy transfer rapidly as bandwidth is increased. The CBET gain exponent in this regime scales with bandwidth (Δω) as Δω−3 for Gaussian or Lorentzian laser spectra with different scalings possible for other spectra. Comparison of our theory with linearized fluid and particle-in-cell simulations, performed with the laser-plasma simulation environment (LPSE) and vector particle in cell (VPIC) codes, respectively, finds that the model is accurate in the absence of nonlinear processes. However, linear analysis also finds that the IAW energy density scales as Δω−1, implying that nonlinear effects may be more difficult to control than the CBET scaling would suggest. Indeed, nonlinear effects are found to be present in VPIC simulations with high-intensity lasers, despite minimal apparent CBET. Nonlinear processes in the VPIC cases include particle trapping, the two-ion wave decay, and ion wave self-focusing. In some high intensity VPIC cases, these effects lead to net energy transfer from seed to pump and increases to backscatter stimulated Brillouin scattering reflectivities. Finally, for a given bandwidth, we show that improved control of nonlinear processes can be achieved via smoothing by spectral dispersion.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1999

Computations of Boiling in Microgravity

The absence (or reduction) of gravity, can lead to major changes in boiling heat transfer. On Earth, convection has a major effect on the heat distribution ahead of an evaporation front, and buoyancy determines the motion of the growing bubbles. In microgravity, convection and buoyancy are absent or greatly reduced and the dynamics of the growing vapor bubbles can change in a fundamental way. In particular, the lack of redistribution of heat can lead to a large superheat and explosive growth of bubbles once they form. While considerable efforts have been devoted to examining boiling experimentally, including the effect of microgravity, theoretical and computational work is limited to very simple models. In this project, the growth of boiling bubbles is studied by direct numerical simulations where the flow field is fully resolved and the effects of inertia, viscosity, surface deformation, heat conduction and convection, as well as the phase change, are fully accounted for. The proposed work is based on previously funded NASA work that allowed us to develop a two-dimensional numerical method for boiling flows and to demonstrate the ability of the method to simulate film boiling. While numerical simulations of multi-fluid flows have been advanced in a major way during the last five years, or so, similar capability for flows with phase change are still in their infancy. Although the feasibility of the proposed approach has been demonstrated, it has yet to be extended and applied to fully three-dimensional simulations. Here, a fully three-dimensional, parallel, grid adaptive code will be developed. The numerical method will be used to study nucleate boiling in microgravity, with particular emphasis on two aspects of the problem: 1) Examination of the growth of bubbles at a wall nucleation site and the instabilities of rapidly growing bubbles. Particular emphasis will be put on accurately capturing the thin wall layer left behind as a bubble expands along a wall, on computing instabilities on bubble surfaces as bubbles grow, and on quantifying the effects of both these phenomena on heat transfer; and 2) Examination of the effect of shear flow on bubble growth and heat transfer.

Tryggvason, Gretar↗
NASA NTRS2003

Radial Clearance Found To Play a Key Role in the Performance of Compliant Foil Air Bearings

Compliant foil air bearings are at the forefront of the Oil-Free turbomachinery revolution, which supports gas turbine engines with hydrodynamic bearings that use air instead of oil as the working fluid. These types of bearings have been around for almost 50 years and have found a home in several commercial applications, such as in air cycle machines, turbocompressors, and microturbines, but are now being aggressively pursued for use in small and midrange aircraft gas turbine engines. Benefits include higher operating speeds and temperatures, lower maintenance costs, and greater reliability. The Oil-Free Turbomachinery team at the NASA Glenn Research Center is working to foster the transition of Oil-Free technology into gas turbine engines by performing in-house experiments on foil air bearings in order to gain a greater insight into their complex operating principles. A research program recently undertaken at Glenn focused on the concept of radial clearance and its influence on bearing performance. The tests were conducted on foil bearings with different radial clearances. As defined for a foil bearing, radial clearance is a measure of the small amount of shaft radial motion that is present from play that exists in the elastic support structure, such as between the top and bump foils and the bump foils and bearing shell (see the drawing). With an insufficient amount of radial clearance, the bearing imparts a high preload on the shaft, which when excessive, can reduce the loadcarrying capability of the bearing. On the other hand, systems using foil bearings with excessive radial clearance may experience rotordynamic instabilities because of low bearing preload. Therefore, without a more thorough understanding of radial clearance, it is difficult to accurately predict the performance of a given bearing design. The test program demonstrated that there is a direct correlation between radial clearance and the performance of foil air bearings. As shown in the graph, an optimum radial clearance exists that will maximize the amount of load that the bearing is capable of supporting. With respect to this optimum, two different performance regimes were observed that are a function of the amount of radial clearance. Tests showed that bearings with radial clearances below the optimum in regime I were susceptible to sudden seizure, a failure mode indicative of thermal runaway caused by high preload. The high preload is in response to an insufficient amount of radial clearance available to accommodate the thermal growth of the bearing and shaft. However, radial clearances greater than the optimum in regime II resulted in low bearing preloads that did not cause any heat-related problems, and the failure mode was due to fluid-film breakdown. In fact, bearings operating with radial clearances twice as much as the optimum suffered a decrease in the maximum load capacity of only about 20 percent. Therefore, special attention has to be given to the range of operating conditions expected in the bearing/shaft system since changes in temperature, centrifugal, and hydrodynamic effects can all affect radial clearance. This enhanced understanding of foil air bearing behavior will greatly aid our efforts to transition Oil-Free technology to future aircraft engines.

Radil, Kevin C.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Hydrodynamic instability at impact interfaces and planetary implications

Abstract Impact-induced mixing between bolide and target is fundamental to the geochemical evolution of a growing planet, yet aside from local mixing due to jetting – associated with large angles of incidence between impacting surfaces – mixing during planetary impacts is poorly understood. Here we describe a dynamic instability of the surface between impacting materials, showing that a region of mixing grows between two media having even minimal initial topography. This additional cause of impact-induced mixing is related to Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI), and results from pressure perturbations amplified by shock-wave refraction through the corrugated interface between impactor and target. However, unlike RMI, this new impact-induced instability appears even if the bodies are made of the same material. Hydrocode simulations illustrate the growth of this mixing zone for planetary impacts, and predict results suitable for experimental validation in the laboratory. This form of impact mixing may be relevant to the formation of stony-iron and other meteorites.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Influences of δB contribution and parallel inertial term of energetic particles on MHD-kinetic hybrid simulations: a case study of the 1/1 internal kink mode

The magnetohydrodynamic-kinetic (MHD-kinetic) hybrid model (Park et al 1992 Phys. Fluids B 4 2033–7) has been widely applied in studying energetic particles (EPs) problems in fusion plasmas for past decades. The pressure-coupling scheme or the current-coupling scheme is adopted in this model. However, two noteworthy issues arise in the model application: firstly, the coupled term introduced in the pressure-coupling scheme, (∇•P h ) ⟂ , is often simplified by ∇•P h , which is equivalent to neglecting the parallel inertial term of EPs; secondly, besides the $δf$ contribution caused by changing in the EP distribution function, the magnetic field perturbation (the $δB$ contribution) generated during development of the instabilities should also be considered, but it is often ignored in existing hybrid simulations. In this paper, we derive the analytical formulations under these two coupling schemes and then numerically study the representative case of the linear stability of the $m/n$ = $1/1$ internal kink mode (IKM) (Fu et al 2006 Phys. Plasmas 13 052517) by using the CLT-K code. Further, it is found that the approximated models can still yield reasonable results when EPs are isotopically distributed. But it fails completely in cases with anisotropic EP distributions. In addition, we further investigate the influence of EP's orbit width on the stability of IKM and verify the equivalence between pressure-coupling scheme and the current-coupling scheme.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS2003

Finite Element Method for Capturing Ultra-relativistic Shocks

While finite element methods are used extensively by researchers solving computational fluid dynamics in fields other than astrophysics, their use in astrophysical fluid simulations has been predominantly overlooked. Current simulations using other methods such as finite difference and finite volume (based on finite difference) have shown remarkable results, but these methods are limited by their fundamental properties in aspects that are important for simulations with complex geometries and widely varying spatial and temporal scale differences. We have explored the use of finite element methods for astrophysical fluids in order to establish the validity of using such methods in astrophysical environments. We present our numerical technique applied to solving ultra-relativistic (Lorentz Factor Gamma >> 1) shocks which are prevalent in astrophysical studies including relativistic jets and gamma-ray burst studies. We show our finite element formulation applied to simulations where the Lorentz factor ranges up to 2236 and demonstrate its stability in solving ultra-relativistic flows. Our numerical method is based on the Flowfield Dependent Variation (FDV) Method, unique in that numerical diffusion is derived from physical parameters rather than traditional artificial viscosity methods. Numerical instabilities account for most of the difficulties when capturing shocks in this regime. Our method results in stable solutions and accurate results as compared with other methods.

Richardson, G. A.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Dynamic Stability Analysis Using Free-Flight CFD

Blunt body probes are the primary design for atmospheric entry. The blunted capsule shape, while desirable for the decreased forebody heating, typically experiences dynamic instability at low supersonic and transonic flight. At moderate to low supersonic conditions, the unsteady wake begins to adversely interact with the vehicle in free-flight resulting in attitude oscillations which can grow in time and result in tumbling. Understanding vehicle dynamics is thus important when considering vehicle entry design and guidance navigation and control (GN&C) considerations. Historically, dynamic stability has been carried out exclusively using experimental techniques. The wide range of experimental approaches provide reasonable coverage in Mach and dynamic pressure space for a given trajectory, however achieving flight similitude is often difficult or impossible. Advancements in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques allow for dynamic motion of the vehicle surface during the simulation with either forced/prescribed motion or free motion in response to fluid forces. Several examples of CFD software with the ability to simulate fluid dynamics and vehicle motion are available in literature. The Free-Flight CFD (FF-CFD) capability developed by NASA Ames within the US3D flow solver has shown extensive validation and verification (V&V) efforts from moderate to low supersonic flow across a range of vehicle architectures. The solver is able to simulate full rotational and translation motion resulting in full 6 degrees-of-freedom (DoF) motion. The validation and verification efforts the solver's ability to predict the motion of a ballistic range model as compared to experimental results. Similar to other computational capabilities in literature, FF-CFD relied on heritage data reduction methodologies and processes for reducing dynamic data into aerodynamic coefficients intended for use in design and trajectory codes. These heritage approaches, initially developed with the assumptions (and restrictions) of ground test facilities, resulted in the significant culling of the full 6-DoF dynamic data set to discrete values which are then fit using an aerodynamic model. Recent development of simulation and data reduction methodologies has resulted in an improved approach to FF-CFD simulations of vehicle dynamics which leverage the control of dynamic constraints within a simulation set-up. The presentation of this work will cover the constrained dynamic simulation approach for deriving dynamic coefficients for a Genesis capsule. The methodology will be outlined and a discussion of implications in motion restriction will be discussed. Finally, reconstructed vehicle trajectories using FF-CFD derived aerodynamic coefficients will be presented.

Joseph M Brock↗