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NASA Tech Briefs, September 2006
Topics covered include: Improving Thermomechanical Properties of SiC/SiC Composites; Aerogel/Particle Composites for Thermoelectric Devices; Patches for Repairing Ceramics and Ceramic- Matrix Composites; Lower-Conductivity Ceramic Materials for Thermal-Barrier Coatings; An Alternative for Emergency Preemption of Traffic Lights; Vehicle Transponder for Preemption of Traffic Lights; Automated Announcements of Approaching Emergency Vehicles; Intersection Monitor for Traffic-Light-Preemption System; Full-Duplex Digital Communication on a Single Laser Beam; Stabilizing Microwave Frequency of a Photonic Oscillator; Microwave Oscillators Based on Nonlinear WGM Resonators; Pointing Reference Scheme for Free-Space Optical Communications Systems; High-Level Performance Modeling of SAR Systems; Spectral Analysis Tool 6.2 for Windows; Multi-Platform Avionics Simulator; Silicon-Based Optical Modulator with Ferroelectric Layer; Multiplexing Transducers Based on Tunnel-Diode Oscillators; Scheduling with Automated Resolution of Conflicts; Symbolic Constraint Maintenance Grid; Discerning Trends in Performance Across Multiple Events; Magnetic Field Solver; Computing for Aiming a Spaceborne Bistatic- Radar Transmitter; 4-Vinyl-1,3-Dioxolane-2-One as an Additive for Li-Ion Cells; Probabilistic Prediction of Lifetimes of Ceramic Parts; STRANAL-PMC Version 2.0; Micromechanics and Piezo Enhancements of HyperSizer; Single-Phase Rare-Earth Oxide/Aluminum Oxide Glasses; Tilt/Tip/Piston Manipulator with Base-Mounted Actuators; Measurement of Model Noise in a Hard-Wall Wind Tunnel; Loci-STREAM Version 0.9; The Synergistic Engineering Environment; Reconfigurable Software for Controlling Formation Flying; More About the Tetrahedral Unstructured Software System; Computing Flows Using Chimera and Unstructured Grids; Avoiding Obstructions in Aiming a High-Gain Antenna; Analyzing Aeroelastic Stability of a Tilt-Rotor Aircraft; Tracking Positions and Attitudes of Mars Rovers; Stochastic Evolutionary Algorithms for Planning Robot Paths; Compressible Flow Toolbox; Rapid Aeroelastic Analysis of Blade Flutter in Turbomachines; General Flow-Solver Code for Turbomachinery Applications; Code for Multiblock CFD and Heat-Transfer Computations; Rotating-Pump Design Code; Covering a Crucible with Metal Containing Channels; Repairing Fractured Bones by Use of Bioabsorbable Composites; Kalman Filter for Calibrating a Telescope Focal Plane; Electronic Absolute Cartesian Autocollimator; Fiber-Optic Gratings for Lidar Measurements of Water Vapor; Simulating Responses of Gravitational-Wave Instrumentation; SOFTC: A Software Correlator for VLBI; Progress in Computational Simulation of Earthquakes; Database of Properties of Meteors; Computing Spacecraft Solar-Cell Damage by Charged Particles; Thermal Model of a Current-Carrying Wire in a Vacuum; Program for Analyzing Flows in a Complex Network; Program Predicts Performance of Optical Parametric Oscillators; Processing TES Level-1B Data; Automated Camera Calibration; Tracking the Martian CO2 Polar Ice Caps in Infrared Images; Processing TES Level-2 Data; SmaggIce Version 1.8; Solving the Swath Segment Selection Problem; The Spatial Standard Observer; Less-Complex Method of Classifying MPSK; Improvement in Recursive Hierarchical Segmentation of Data; Using Heaps in Recursive Hierarchical Segmentation of Data; Tool for Statistical Analysis and Display of Landing Sites; Automated Assignment of Proposals to Reviewers; Array-Pattern-Match Compiler for Opportunistic Data Analysis; Pre-Processor for Compression of Multispectral Image Data; Compressing Image Data While Limiting the Effects of Data Losses; Flight Operations Analysis Tool; Improvement in Visual Target Tracking for a Mobile Robot; Software for Simulating Air Traffic; Automated Vectorization of Decision-Based Algorithms; Grayscale Optical Correlator Workbench; "One-Stop Shopping" for Ocean Remote-Sensing and Model Data; State Analysis Database Tool; Generating CAHV and CAHVOmages with Shadows in ROAMS; Improving UDP/IP Transmission Without Increasing Congestion; FORTRAN Versions of Reformulated HFGMC Codes; Program for Editing Spacecraft Command Sequences; Flight-Tested Prototype of BEAM Software; Mission Scenario Development Workbench; Marsviewer; Tool for Analysis and Reduction of Scientific Data; ASPEN Version 3.0; Secure Display of Space-Exploration Images; Digital Front End for Wide-Band VLBI Science Receiver; Multifunctional Tanks for Spacecraft; Lightweight, Segmented, Mostly Silicon Telescope Mirror; Assistant for Analyzing Tropical-Rain-Mapping Radar Data; and Anion-Intercalating Cathodes for High-Energy- Density Cells.
Effects of Alternate Leading Edge Cutback on the Space Shuttle Main Engine Low Pressure Fuel Pump
A higher order cavitation oscillation observed in the SSME low pressure fuel pump has been eliminated in water flow testing of a modified subscale replica of the inducer. The low pressure pump was modified by removing the outboard sections of two opposing blades of the four-bladed inducer, blending the "cutback" regions into the blades at the leading edge and tip, and removing material on the suction sides to decrease the exposed leading edge thickness. The leading edge tips of the cutback blades were moved approximately 25 degrees from their previous locations, thereby increasing one blade to blade spacing, decreasing the second, while simultaneously moving the cutback tips downstream. The test was conducted in MSFC's inducer test loop at scaled operating conditions in degassed and filtered water. In addition to eliminating HOC across the entire scaled operating regime, rotating cavitation was suppressed while the range of both alternate blade and asymmetric cavitation were increased. These latter phenomena, and more significantly, the shifts between these cavitation modes also resulted in significant changes to the head coefficient at low cavitation numbers. Reverse flow was detected at a slightly larger flow coefficient with the cutback inducer and suction capability was reduced by approximately 1 velocity head at and above approximately 90% of the reference flow coefficient. These performance changes along with more intense reverse flow are consistent with poor flow area management and increased incidence in the cutback region. Although the test demonstrated that the inducer modification was successful at eliminating the higher order cavitation across the entire scaled operating regime, different, previously unobserved, cavitation oscillations were introduced and significant performance penalties were imposed.
Numerical Simulation of Fluidic Actuators for Flow Control Applications
Active flow control technology is finding increasing use in aerospace applications to control flow separation and improve aerodynamic performance. In this paper we examine the characteristics of a class of fluidic actuators that are being considered for active flow control applications for a variety of practical problems. Based on recent experimental work, such actuators have been found to be more efficient for controlling flow separation in terms of mass flow requirements compared to constant blowing and suction or even synthetic jet actuators. The fluidic actuators produce spanwise oscillating jets, and therefore are also known as sweeping jets. The frequency and spanwise sweeping extent depend on the geometric parameters and mass flow rate entering the actuators through the inlet section. The flow physics associated with these actuators is quite complex and not fully understood at this time. The unsteady flow generated by such actuators is simulated using the lattice Boltzmann based solver PowerFLOW R . Computed mean and standard deviation of velocity profiles generated by a family of fluidic actuators in quiescent air are compared with experimental data. Simulated results replicate the experimentally observed trends with parametric variation of geometry and inflow conditions.
Steady Secondary Momentum and Enthalpy Streaming in the Pulse Tube Refrigerator
Our study investigates the steady secondary streaming that occurs in the pulse tube refrigerator through application of the conservation laws and support by flow visualization experiments. A series expansion of the mass, momentum and energy conservation laws for an axisymmetric system yields a set of linear differential equations. The series solution is expanded in the small parameter epsilon = 1/Str where Str is the Strouhal number. The O(1) basic flow problem is solved for the case of a compressible ideal gas oscillating within a cylindrical tube. The phase and amplitude of the boundary conditions on axial velocity are treated as independent parameters. The basic solution for the gas domain is solved for the case of temperature and heat flux coupling to the tube wall. The temperature coupled solution shows how the Fourier number of the tube wall affects the gas temperature, phase angle, and time-averaged enthalpy flow. The basic solution is also examined for the time-averaged Reynolds stresses which are shown to be the driving force that produces steady secondary momentum streaming. Calculated solutions to the steady momentum streaming are shown to be in qualitative agreement with flow visualization experiments.
Euler calculations of unsteady transonic flow in cascades
In the present paper, Euler calculations of unsteady transonic flow in cascades are presented. A finite volume scheme is used to discretize the equations, which are implemented on a blade-fitted deformable mesh. The space-discretized equations are integrated forward in time using a multistage Runge-Kutta scheme. Adaptive dissipation terms of the type proposed by Jameson and Baker are added to capture shocks and to suppress nonphysical oscillations. Phase-shifted boundary conditions are used to reduce the computational domain to a single reference passage. No assumptions of small amplitudes or small flow deflections are made. Thus, the present code makes it possible to carry out aeroelastic calculations for cases where the shock strengths and oscillation amplitudes exceed the inherent limitations of potential flow codes.
Study of unsteady flow field over a forward-looking endoatmospheric hit-to-kill interceptor
Forward-looking recessed aperture interceptor has significant aero-optical and aero-thermal advantages. Previous experimental studies have shown that the flow field in front of a forward-looking cavity is unsteady and the bow shock oscillates at the cavity fundamental resonant frequency. In this study, an advanced CFD code is applied to study the above unsteady phenomena. The code is first validated against the experiments and good comparisons are found. The numerical parametric study shows that the existence of oscillatory bow shock is very sensitive to the cavity geometry. At a FOV of 60 deg, the initial transient quickly dampens out to a steady state. With a decrease of FOV, an unsteady oscillatory flow field is sustained after initial transient and the amplitude of oscillation is a function of FOV. For FOV of 20 deg, the amplitude of pressure oscillation is 25 percent of the mean value in the cavity. For a FOV of 10 deg, it can be as high as 50 percent.
The effects of orbital and climatic variations on Martian surface heat flow
Large changes in the orbital elements of Mars on timescales of 10(exp 4) to 10(exp 6) years will cause widely varying climate, specifically surface temperatures, as a result of varying insolation. These surface temperature oscillations will produce subsurface thermal gradients which contribute to the total surface heat flux. We investigate the thermal behavior of the Martian regolith on orbital timescales and show that this climatological surface heat flux is spatially variable and contributes significantly to the total surface heat flux at many locations. We model the thermal behavior of the Martian regolith by calculating the mean annual surface temperatures for each epoch (spaced 1000 years apart to resolve orbital variations) for the past 200,000 years at a chosen location on the surface. These temperatures are used as a boundary condition for the deeper regolith and subsurface temperature oscillation are then computed. The surface climatological heat flux due to past climate changes can then be found from the temperature gradient between the surface and about 150 m depth (a fraction of the thermal skin depth on these timescales). This method provides a fairly accurate determination of the climatological heat flow component at a point; however, this method is computationally time consuming and cannot be applied to all points on the globe. To map the spatial variations in the surface heat flow we recognize that the subsurface temperature structure will be largely dominated by the most recent surface temperature oscillations. In fact, the climate component of the surface heat flow will be approximately proportional to the magnitude of the most recent surface temperature change. By calculating surface temperatures at all points globally for the present epoch and an appropriate past epoch, and combining these results with a series of more precise calculations described above, we estimate the global distribution of climatological surface heat flow.
Unsteady aerodynamic flow field analysis of the space shuttle configuration. Part 2: Launch vehicle aeroelastic analysis
An exploratory analysis has been made of the aeroelastic stability of the Space Shuttle Launch Configuration, with the objective of defining critical flow phenomena with adverse aeroelastic effects and developing simple analytic means of describing the time-dependent flow-interference effects so that they can be incorporated into a computer program to predict the aeroelastic stability of all free-free modes of the shuttle launch configuration. Three critical flow phenomana have been identified: (1) discontinuous jump of orbiter wing shock, (2) inlet flow between orbiter and booster, and (3) H.O. tank base flow. All involve highly nonlinear and often discontinuous aerodynamics which cause limit cycle oscillations of certain critical modes. Given the appropriate static data, the dynamic effects of the wing shock jump and the HO tank bulbous base effect can be analyzed using the developed quasi-steady techniques. However, further analytic and experimental efforts are required before the dynamic effects of the inlet flow phenomenon can be predicted for the shuttle launch configuration.
Viscous flow drag reduction; Symposium, Dallas, Tex., November 7, 8, 1979, Technical Papers
The symposium focused on laminar boundary layers, boundary layer stability analysis of a natural laminar flow glove on the F-111 TACT aircraft, drag reduction of an oscillating flat plate with an interface film, electromagnetic precipitation and ducting of particles in turbulent boundary layers, large eddy breakup scheme for turbulent viscous drag reduction, blowing and suction, polymer additives, and compliant surfaces. Topics included influence of environment in laminar boundary layer control, generation rate of turbulent patches in the laminar boundary layer of a submersible, drag reduction of small amplitude rigid surface waves, and hydrodynamic drag and surface deformations generated by liquid flows over flexible surfaces.
Unsteady Surface Pressures on the Space Launch System Block 1B Cargo Liftoff Configuration
A 1.75%-scale model of the NASA Space Launch System Block 1B Cargo vehicle was tested at the NASA Langley Research Center 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel. These experiments provided a test bed for validating unsteady surface pressure measurements acquired via lengths of pressure tubing and an ESP pressure scanner. Pressure was measured using an azimuthal array of pressure taps located on the nose of the Block 1B Cargo vehicle. Unique flow physics were observed in the wind tunnel test, especially the interaction between the launch vehicle and the support tower, which produced strong oscillations that were absent in the vehicle-alone configuration. It is suspected that a wake interaction produced resonant flow response when the tower is immediately downstream of the vehicle, and coherent pressure fluctuations were observed at all pressure taps in the azimuthal array.
Suppression of combustion oscillations with mechanical devices Interim report
Static rocket thrust chamber simulator for cylindrical cold flow-type apparatus design
A new two-dimensional oscillating wing apparatus for unsteady aerodynamics research
An apparatus for experimental research into unsteady transonic flows is described. The apparatus, as installed in the NASA-Ames 11 by 11 Foot Transonic Wind Tunnel, can impart full two-degree-of-freedom motions at reduced frequencies to 0.3, oscillatory amplitudes to tn-2 degs, mean angles to 12 degs, Mach numbers to 1.4 and Reynolds numbers to 12x10. The test wing is fully instrumented for dynamic waveform measurements and the data can be acquired, processed, and displayed in real-time with a new computational data acquisition system. Following a description of the apparatus, sample data from a recently completed test program is presented.
Flow structure capturing on overset patched meshes
The present paper describes the application of a simple, robust stable implicit approach to solutions of the conservative equations of gasdynamics on either composite or overset meshes to capture flow structures such as shocks with high resolution in complex geometric domains. Without requiring special flux conservative operators, but rather, interpolating conservative variable data at mesh boundaries, the well posed upwind method provides accurate and oscillation free solutions, even when shocks cross the interior patch boundaries. In three problems with flow complexities that require grid refinement, the paper demonstrates the capability to conveniently carry out for gasdynamics the adaptive refined meshing strategy in overset patches proposed by Berger and Oliger (1984), and it extends this technique to rapidly convergent implicit methods for the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations. The numerical experiments show concretely, in a realistic aerodynamic problem, the savings in mesh points (about an order of magnitude here in two dimensions) for similar accuracy that flow structure aligned adaptive patched meshing affords compared to uniform grid refinement.
Dayside ionospheric convection changes in response to long-period interplanetary magnetic field oscillations - Determination of the ionospheric phase velocity
Ground magnetic field perturbations recorded by the CANOPUS magnetometer network in the 7 to 13 MLT sector are used to examine how reconfigurations of the dayside polar ionospheric flow take place in response to north-south changes of the IMF. During the 6-h interval in question, IMF Bz oscillates between +/- 7 nT with about a 1-h period. Corresponding variations in the ground magnetic disturbance are observed which we infer are due to changes in ionospheric flow. Cross correlation of the data obtained from two ground stations at 73.5 deg magnetic latitude, but separated by about 2 hours in MLT, shows that changes in the flow are initiated in the prenoon sector (about 10 MLT) and then spread outward toward dawn and dusk with a phase speed of about 5 km/s over the longitude range about 8 to 12 MLT, slowing to about 2 km/s outside this range. Cross correlating the data from these ground stations with IMP 8 IMF Bz records produces a MLT variation in the ground response delay relative to the IMF which is compatible with these deduced phase speeds.
User's guide for ENSAERO: A multidisciplinary program for fluid/structural/control interaction studies of aircraft (release 1)
Strong interactions can occur between the flow about an aerospace vehicle and its structural components resulting in several important aeroelastic phenomena. These aeroelastic phenomena can significantly influence the performance of the vehicle. At present, closed-form solutions are available for aeroelastic computations when flows are in either the linear subsonic or supersonic range. However, for aeroelasticity involving complex nonlinear flows with shock waves, vortices, flow separations, and aerodynamic heating, computational methods are still under development. These complex aeroelastic interactions can be dangerous and limit the performance of aircraft. Examples of these detrimental effects are aircraft with highly swept wings experiencing vortex-induced aeroelastic oscillations, transonic regime at which the flutter speed is low, aerothermoelastic loads that play a critical role in the design of high-speed vehicles, and flow separations that often lead to buffeting with undesirable structural oscillations. The simulation of these complex aeroelastic phenomena requires an integrated analysis of fluids and structures. This report presents a summary of the development, applications, and procedures to use the multidisciplinary computer code ENSAERO. This code is based on the Euler/Navier-Stokes flow equations and modal/finite-element structural equations.
Modeling of Non-Spherical Droplet Dynamics
A two-dimensional time-dependent computer code based on the modified Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) technique, has been developed to simulate non-spherical droplet dynamics and evaporation under convective flows at real rocket combustion chamber conditions. The equations of mass, momentum, energy and species are simultaneously solved for both liquid and gas phases with an accurate dynamic interface tracking. The jump boundary conditions across the deforming droplet surface are obtained by applying the integral forms of conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. At each time step, the interface geometry and flow properties at the droplet surface are implicitly solved by satisfying the interface boundary conditions. A Lagrangian technique was developed to track the arbitrarily moving interface between the liquid droplet and the external gas. An elliptic grid generator is adopted to dynamically reconstruct grids both inside and outside the droplet surface. This code has been used to study droplet oscillation, droplet deformation/breakup, nonspherical droplet evaporation in both low and high pressure convective flows. This presentation briefly describes the numerical algorithm for modeling of the nonspherical droplet dynamics and demonstrates the representative simulation results of nonspherical droplet evaporation at low and high pressure convective flows. Potential applications of this code to rocket combustor design and performance predictions are discussed.
Amplitude of Supersonic Diffuser Flow Pulsations
A theoretical method for evaluating the stability characteristics and the amplitude and the frequency of pulsation of ram-jet engines without heat addition is presented herein. Experimental verification of the theoretical results are included where data were available. Theory and experiment show that the pulsation amplitude of a high mass-flow-ratio diffuser having no cone surface flow separation increases with decreasing mass flow. The theoretical trends for changes in amplitude, frequency, and mean-pressure recovery with changes in plenum-chamber volume were experimentally confirmed. For perforated convergent-divergent-type diffusers, a stability hysteresis loop was predicted on the pressure-recovery mass-flow-ratio curve. At a given mean mass-flow ratio, the higher.value of mean pressure recovery corresponded to oscillatory flow in the diffuser while the lower branch was stable. This hysteresis has been observed experimentally. The theory indicates that for a ram-jet engine of given diameter, the amplitude of pulsation of a supersonic diffuser is increased by decreasing the relative size of the plenum chamber with respect to the diffuser volume down to a critical value at which oscillations cease. In the region of these critical values, the stable mass-flow range of the diffuser may be increased either by decreasing the combustion chamber volume or by increasing the length of the diffuser.