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At least 1,027 records · Page 57

The 3-D viscous flow CFD analysis of the propeller effect on an advanced ducted propeller subsonic inlet

A time marching Navier-Stokes code called PARC3D was used to study the 3-D viscous flow associated with an advanced ducted propeller (ADP) subsonic inlet at take-off operating conditions. At a free stream Mach number of 0.2, experimental data for the inlet-with-propeller test model indicated that the airflow was attached on the cowl windward lip at an angle of attack of 25 degrees became unstable at 29 degrees, and separated at 30 degrees. An experimental study with a similar inlet and with no propeller (through-flow) indicated that flow separation occurred at an angle of attack a few degrees below the value observed when the inlet was tested with the propeller. This tends to indicate that the propeller exerts a favorable effect on the inlet performance. During the through-flow experiment a stationary blockage device was used to successfully simulate the propeller effect on the inlet flow field at angles of attack. In the present numerical study, this flow blockage was modeled via a PARC3D computational boundary condition (BC) called the screen BC. The principle formulation of this BC was based on the one-and-half dimension actuator disk theory. This screen BC was applied at the inlet propeller face station of the computational grid. Numerical results were obtained with and without the screen BC. The application of the screen BC in this numerical study provided results which are similar to the results of past experimental efforts in which either the blockage device or the propeller was used.

Iek, Chanthy↗

Methods for design and evaluation of integrated hardware/software systems for concurrent computation

Two testbed programming environments to support the evaluation of a large range of parallel architectures have been implemented under the program Parallel Implementation of Scientific Computing Environments (PISCES). The PISCES 1 environment was applied to two areas of aerospace interest: a sparse matrix iterative equation solver and a dynamic scene analysis system. Currently, the NICE/SPAR testbed system for structural analysis is being modified for parallel operation under PISCES 2; the PISCES 1 applications are also being adapted for PISCES 2. A new formal model of concurrent computation has been developed, based on the mathematical system known as H graph semantics together with a timed Petri net model of the parallel aspects of a system.

Pratt, Terrence W.↗

Polynomial elimination theory and non-linear stability analysis for the Euler equations

Numerical methods are presented that exploit the polynomial properties of discretizations of the Euler equations. It is noted that most finite difference or finite volume discretizations of the steady-state Euler equations produce a polynomial system of equations to be solved. These equations are solved using classical polynomial elimination theory, with some innovative modifications. This paper also presents some preliminary results of a new non-linear stability analysis technique. This technique is applicable to determining the stability of polynomial iterative schemes. Results are presented for applying the elimination technique to a one-dimensional test case. For this test case, the exact solution is computed in three iterations. The non-linear stability analysis is applied to determine the optimal time step for solving Burgers' equation using the MacCormack scheme. The estimated optimal time step is very close to the time step that arises from a linear stability analysis.

Kennon, S. R.↗

Vectorization on the star computer of several numerical methods for a fluid flow problem

A reexamination of some numerical methods is considered in light of the new class of computers which use vector streaming to achieve high computation rates. A study has been made of the effect on the relative efficiency of several numerical methods applied to a particular fluid flow problem when they are implemented on a vector computer. The method of Brailovskaya, the alternating direction implicit method, a fully implicit method, and a new method called partial implicitization have been applied to the problem of determining the steady state solution of the two-dimensional flow of a viscous imcompressible fluid in a square cavity driven by a sliding wall. Results are obtained for three mesh sizes and a comparison is made of the methods for serial computation.

Lambiotte, J. J., Jr.↗

On practical stability.

In this paper, a class of nonlinear nonautonomous systems with multiple nonlinearities is considered. Sufficient conditions are developed for a type of practical stability with specified settling time. The conditions are independent of the actual form of nonlinear characteristics so that they can be interpreted as conditions for 'absolute' practical stability. The stability test is reduced to verification of the Hurwitz property of a constant matrix. This makes the stability analysis of the considered class of nonlinear systems convenient for machine computations. The proposed practical stability analysis is applied to a third-order system with several nonlinearities.

Grujic, L. T.↗

Improvements in estimating proportions of objects from multispectral data

Methods for estimating proportions of objects and materials imaged within the instantaneous field of view of a multispectral sensor were developed further. Improvements in the basic proportion estimation algorithm were devised as well as improved alien object detection procedures. Also, a simplified signature set analysis scheme was introduced for determining the adequacy of signature set geometry for satisfactory proportion estimation. Averaging procedures used in conjunction with the mixtures algorithm were examined theoretically and applied to artificially generated multispectral data. A computationally simpler estimator was considered and found unsatisfactory. Experiments conducted to find a suitable procedure for setting the alien object threshold yielded little definitive result. Mixtures procedures were used on a limited amount of ERTS data to estimate wheat proportion in selected areas. Results were unsatisfactory, partly because of the ill-conditioned nature of the pure signature set.

Horwitz, H. M.↗

Control system design using frequency domain models and parameter optimization, with application to supersonic inlet controls

A technique is described for designing feedback control systems using frequency domain models, a quadratic cost function, and a parameter optimization computer program. FORTRAN listings for the computer program are included. The approach is applied to the design of shock position controllers for a supersonic inlet. Deterministic or random system disturbances, and the presence of random measurement noise are considered. The cost function minimization is formulated in the time domain, but the problem solution is obtained using a frequency domain system description. A scaled and constrained conjugate gradient algorithm is used for the minimization. The approach to a supersonic inlet included the calculations of the optimal proportional-plus integral (PI) and proportional-plus-integral-plus-derivative controllers. A single-loop PI controller was the most desirable of the designs considered.

Seidel, R. C.↗

Sneak circuit analysis of instrumentation and control systems

The evolvement and implementation is presented of a systematic means for detecting the sneak prone designs of an electrical system which could result in such unplanned modes so that they can be prevented prior to occurrence. Sneak circuit analysis is shown to be a formalized approach based upon topological techniques. The trees employed are produced from manufacturing detail data processed by a computer to orderly completion. The analysis techniques applied on a variety of NASA programs are shown to be particularly applicable to industrial instrumentation and control systems.

Rankin, J. P.↗

Subsonic aerodynamic characteristics of interacting lifting surfaces with separated flow around sharp edges predicted by a vortex-lattice method

Because the potential flow suction along the leading and side edges of a planform can be used to determine both leading- and side-edge vortex lift, the present investigation was undertaken to apply the vortex-lattice method to computing side-edge suction force for isolated or interacting planforms. Although there is a small effect of bound vortex sweep on the computation of the side-edge suction force, the results obtained for a number of different isolated planforms produced acceptable agreement with results obtained from a method employing continuous induced-velocity distributions. By using the method outlined, better agreement between theory and experiment was noted for a wing in the presence of a canard than was previously obtained.

Lamar, J. E.↗

HAL/S - The programming language for Shuttle

HAL/S is a higher order language and system, now operational, adopted by NASA for programming Space Shuttle on-board software. Program reliability is enhanced through language clarity and readability, modularity through program structure, and protection of code and data. Salient features of HAL/S include output orientation, automatic checking (with strictly enforced compiler rules), the availability of linear algebra, real-time control, a statement-level simulator, and compiler transferability (for applying HAL/S to additional object and host computers). The compiler is described briefly.

Martin, F. H.↗

Real time control of satellite tracking station operation for millimeter wave experiments and associated data processing

Real time control, data collection, and data reduction of an earth-satellite millimeter wave system are discussed. Experiment control and data processing requirements are considered with attention to signal data acquisition, weather data acquisition, support and control functions, task classifications, the fundamental data acquisition procedure, and the computer-experiment interface. The general analysis is applied to a description of the Communications Technology Satellite system and its hardware.

Kauffman, S. R.↗

Interpolation and extrapolation of creep rupture data by the minimum commitment method. I - Focal-point convergence

The minimum commitment method has been applied to the analysis of creep-rupture data. The method is based on a parameter representing the focal point of convergence of all isothermals when extended to the long or short times necessary for such convergence to occur. The technique may be applied by manual-graphic analysis on computer code. It is illustrated for the nickel-base alloy Astroloy.

Manson, S. S.↗

Numerical calculation of steady inviscid full potential compressible flow about wind turbine blades

An exact nonlinear mathematical model that accounts for three-dimensional cascade effects about the inner portions of the rotor blades and compressibility effects about the tip regions of the blades was derived. An artificially time dependent version was iteratively solved by a finite volume technique involving an artificial viscosity and a three-level consecutive mesh refinement. The exact boundary conditions were applied by generating a boundary conforming periodic computation mesh.

Dulikravich, D. S.↗

Numerical calculation of steady inviscid full potential compressible flow about wind turbine blades

The air flow through a propeller-type wind turbine rotor is characterized by three-dimensional rotating cascade effects about the inner portions of the rotor blades and compressibility effects about the tip regions of the blades. In the case of large rotor diameter and/or increased rotor angular speed, the existence of small supersonic zones terminated by weak shocks is possible. An exact nonlinear mathematical model (called a steady Full Potential Equation - FPE) that accounts for the above phenomena has been rederived. An artificially time dependent version of FPE was iteratively solved by a finite volume technique involving an artificial viscosity and a three-level consecutive mesh refinement. The exact boundary conditions were applied by generating a boundary conforming periodic computation mesh.

Dulikravich, D. S.↗

Nonlinear grid error effects on numerical solution of partial differential equations

Finite difference solutions of nonlinear partial differential equations require discretizations and consequently grid errors are generated. These errors strongly affect stability and convergence properties of difference models. Previously such errors were analyzed by linearizing the difference equations for solutions. Properties of mappings of decadence were used to analyze nonlinear instabilities. Such an analysis is directly affected by initial/boundary conditions. An algorithm was developed, applied to nonlinear Burgers equations, and verified computationally. A preliminary test shows that Navier-Stokes equations may be treated similarly.

Dey, S. K.↗

An algorithm for spatial heirarchy clustering

A method for utilizing both spectral and spatial redundancy in compacting and preclassifying images is presented. In multispectral satellite images, a high correlation exists between neighboring image points which tend to occupy dense and restricted regions of the feature space. The image is divided into windows of the same size where the clustering is made. The classes obtained in several neighboring windows are clustered, and then again successively clustered until only one region corresponding to the whole image is obtained. By employing this algorithm only a few points are considered in each clustering, thus reducing computational effort. The method is illustrated as applied to LANDSAT images.

Dejesusparada, N.↗