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At least 1,027 records · Page 57

A Navier-Stokes solver for cascade flows

A computer code for solving the Reynolds averaged full Navier-Stokes equations has been developed and applied using sheared H-type grids. The Baldwin-Lomax eddy-viscosity model is used for turbulence closure. The integration in time is based on an explicit four-stage Runge-Kutta scheme. Local time stepping, variable coefficient implicit residual smoothing, and a full multigrid method have been implemented to accelerate steady state calculations. Comparisons with experimental data show that the code is an accurate viscous solver and can give very good blade-to-blade predictions for engineering applications in less than 100 multigrid cycles on the finest mesh.

Arnone, A.↗

An unconditionally stable Runge-Kutta method for unsteady flows

A quasi-three dimensional analysis was developed for unsteady rotor-stator interaction in turbomachinery. The analysis solves the unsteady Euler or thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations in a body fitted coordinate system. It accounts for the effects of rotation, radius change, and stream surface thickness. The Baldwin-Lomax eddy viscosity model is used for turbulent flows. The equations are integrated in time using a four stage Runge-Kutta scheme with a constant time step. Implicit residual smoothing was employed to accelerate the solution of the time accurate computations. The scheme is described and accuracy analyses are given. Results are shown for a supersonic through-flow fan designed for NASA Lewis. The rotor:stator blade ratio was taken as 1:1. Results are also shown for the first stage of the Space Shuttle Main Engine high pressure fuel turbopump. Here the blade ratio is 2:3. Implicit residual smoothing was used to increase the time step limit of the unsmoothed scheme by a factor of six with negligible differences in the unsteady results. It is felt that the implicitly smoothed Runge-Kutta scheme is easily competitive with implicit schemes for unsteady flows while retaining the simplicity of an explicit scheme.

Jorgenson, Philip C. E.↗

Implementation of variable time step stochastic dynamics for electronically inelastic gas-surface collisions

A variable time step algorithm has been implemented for solving the stochastic equations of motion for gas-surface collisions. It has been tested for a simple model of electronically inelastic collisions with an insulator surface in which the phonon manifold acts as a heat bath and electronic states are localized. In addition to reproducing the accurate nuclear dynamics of the surface atoms, numerical calculations have shown the algorithm to yield accurate ensemble averages of physical observables such as electronic transition probabilities and total energy loss of the gas atom to the surface. This new algorithm offers a gain in efficieny of up to an order of magnitude compared to fixed time step integration.

Garrett, Bruce C.↗

An explicit Runge-Kutta method for unsteady rotor/stator interaction

A quasi-three-dimensional rotor/stator analysis has been developed for blade-to-blade flows in turbomachinery. The analysis solves the unsteady Euler or thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations in a body-fitted coordinate system. It accounts for the effects of rotation, radius change, and stream-surface thickness. The Baldwin-Lomax eddy-viscosity model is used for turbulent flows. The equations are integrated in time using a four-stage Runge-Kutta scheme with a constant timestep. Results are shown for the first stage of the Space Shuttle Main Engine high pressure fuel turbopump. Euler and Navier-Stokes results are compared on the scaled single- and multi-passage machine. The method is relatively fast and the quasi-three-dimensional formulation is applicable to a wide range of turbomachinery geometries.

Jorgenson, Philip C. E.↗

Counterrotator And Correlator For GPS Receivers

Accurate, all-digital, high-speed processor comprising correlator and down-converter developed for receivers in Global Positioning System (GPS). Processor reduces roundoff and commensurability errors to extremely small values. Use of digital chip and phase advancers provides outstanding control and accuracy in phase and feedback. Great flexibility imparted by provision for arbitrary starting time and integration length. Minimum-bit design requires minimum number of logical elements, thereby reducing size, power, and cost.

Thomas, J. Brooks↗

Cometary dust size distributions from flyby spacecraft

Pior to the Halley flybys in 1986, the distribution of cometary dust grains with particle size were approximated using models which provided reasonable fits to the dynamics of dust tails, anti-tails, and infrared spectra. These distributions have since been improved using fluence data (i.e., particle fluxes integrated over time along the flyby trajectory) from three spacecraft. The fluence derived distributions are appropriate for comparison with simultaneous infrared photometry (from Earth) because they sample the particles in the same way as the IR data do (along the line of sight) and because they are directly proportional to the concentration distribution in that region of the coma which dominates the IR emission.

Divine, Neil↗

An unconditionally stable Runge-Kutta method for unsteady flows

A quasi-three-dimensional analysis was developed for unsteady rotor-stator interaction in turbomachinery. The analysis solves the unsteady Euler or thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations in a body-fitted coordinate system. It accounts for the effects of rotation, radius change, and stream surface thickness. The Baldwin-Lomax eddy viscosity model is used for turbulent flows. The equations are integrated in time using a four-stage Runge-Kutta scheme with a constant time step. Implicit residual smoothing was employed to accelerate the solution of the time accurate computations. The scheme is described and accuracy analyses are given. Results are shown for a supersonic through-flow fan designed for NASA Lewis. The rotor:stator blade ratio was taken as 1:1. Results are also shown for the first stage of the Space Shuttle Main Engine high pressure fuel turbopump. Here the blade ratio is 2:3. Implicit residual smoothing was used to increase the time step limit of the unsmoothed scheme by a factor of six with negligible differences in the unsteady results. It is felt that the implicitly smoothed Runge-Kutta scheme is easily competitive with implicit schemes for unsteady flows while retaining the simplicity of an explicit scheme.

Jorgenson, Philip C. E.↗

Parametric study of statistical bias in laser Doppler velocimetry

Analytical studies have often assumed that LDV velocity bias depends on turbulence intensity in conjunction with one or more characteristic time scales, such as the time between validated signals, the time between data samples, and the integral turbulence time-scale. These parameters are presently varied independently, in an effort to quantify the biasing effect. Neither of the post facto correction methods employed is entirely accurate. The mean velocity bias error is found to be nearly independent of data validation rate.

Gould, Richard D.↗

Transonic cascade flow calculations using non-periodic C-type grids

A new kind of C-type grid is proposed for turbomachinery flow calculations. This grid is nonperiodic on the wake and results in minimum skewness for cascades with high turning and large camber. Euler and Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations are discretized on this type of grid using a finite volume approach. The Baldwin-Lomax eddy-viscosity model is used for turbulence closure. Jameson's explicit Runge-Kutta scheme is adopted for the integration in time, and computational efficiency is achieved through accelerating strategies such as multigriding and residual smoothing. A detailed numerical study was performed for a turbine rotor and for a vane. A grid dependence analysis is presented and the effect of artificial dissipation is also investigated. Comparison of calculations with experiments clearly demonstrates the advantage of the proposed grid.

Arnone, Andrea↗

An unconditionally stable Runge-Kutta method for unsteady rotor-stator interaction

A quasi-three-dimensional analysis has been developed for unsteady rotor-stator interaction in turbomachinery. The analysis solves the unsteady Euler or thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations in a body-fitted coordinate system. It accounts for the effects of rotation, radius change, and stress-surface thickness. The Baldwin-Lomax eddy-viscosity model is used for turbulent flows. The equations are integrated in time using an explicit four-stage Runge-Kutta scheme with a constant time step. Implicit residual smoothing is used to increase the stability limit of the time-accurate computations. The scheme is described, and stability and accuracy analyses are given.

Chima, Rodrick V.↗

CCD observations of orbital debris

A portable 31 cm aperture f/1.3 Schmidt telescope with a CCD sensor at the prime focus has been designed and constructed to carry out photometric studies of earth-orbiting debris. When operated in the time delay integration mode in which the readout rate is matched to the predicted motion of the satellite, this system reaches a limiting diameter of about 10 cm for particles at 400 km height and albedo 0.1. It is used for statistical studies of phase angle effects and for swarm-to-swarm albedo differences between several selected debris groups which include the Cosmos 1275, Cosmos 1375, Landsat 1, Landsat 3, NOAA 3, Nimbus 4, Solwind, and Spot-1/Viking groups.

Henize, Karl G.↗

Use of finite volume schemes for transition simulation

The use of finite-volume methods in the study of spatially and temporally evolving transitional flows over a flat plate is investigated. Schemes are developed with both central and upwind differencing. The compressible Navier-Stokes equations are solved with a Runge-Kutta time stepping scheme. Disturbances are determined using linear theory and superimposed at the inflow boundary. Time accurate integration is then used to allow temporal and spatial disturbance evolution. Characteristic-based boundary conditions are employed. The requirements of using finite-volume algorithms are studied in detail. Special emphasis is placed on difference schemes, grid resolution, and disturbance amplitudes. Moreover, comparisons are made with linear theory for small amplitude disturbances. Both subsonic and supersonic flows are considered, and it is shown that the locations of branch 1 and branch 2 of the neutral stability curve are well predicted, given sufficient resolution.

Fenno, Charles C., Jr.↗

A time-accurate implicit method for chemically reacting flows at all Mach numbers

The objective of this work is to develop a unified solution algorithm capable of treating time-accurate chemically reacting flows at all Mach numbers, ranging from molecular diffusion velocities to supersonic speeds. A rescaled pressure term is used in the momentum equation to circumvent the singular behavior of pressure at low Mach numbers. A dual time-stepping integration procedure is established. The system eigenvalues become well behaved and have the same order of magnitude, even in the very low Mach number regime. The computational efficiency for moderate and high speed flow is competitive with the conventional density-based scheme. The capabilities of the algorithm are demonstrated by applying it to selected model problems including nozzle flows and flame dynamics.

Withington, J. P.↗

Unsteady supersonic flow around delta wings with symmetric and asymmetric flaps oscillation

A parametric study is presented to investigate the effect of reduced frequency of the leading-edge flaps on the locally-conical, unsteady, supersonic flow around a delta wing. This study covers symmetric and antisymmetric forced oscillation of the leading-edge flaps. The effects of the freestream Mach number and angle of attack are also presented. The problem is solved using time-accurate integration of the unsteady, compressible, thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations and the unsteady, linearized, Navier-displacement equations. The delta wing is of aspect ratio of 1.5 and its leading-edge flaps are hinged at 65 percent of the local-half span length. The reduced frequency is varied between 2 pi and pi/2. Two supersonic flow conditions have been investigated; the first is for a freestream Mach number of 2.4 and an angle of attack of 19 deg and the second is for a freestream Mach number of 1.5 and an angle attack of 15 deg.

Kandil, Osama A.↗

Vaporization and combustion of fuel droplets at supercritical conditions

Vaporization and combustion liquid-fuel droplets in both sub- and super-critical environments have been examined. The formulation is based on the complete conservation equations for both gas and liquid phases, and accommodates finite-rate chemical kinetics and a full treatment of liquid-vapor phase equilibrium at the droplet surface. The governing equations and the associated interface boundary conditions are solved numerically using a fully coupled, implicit scheme with the dual time-stepping integration technique. The model is capable of treating the entire droplet history, including the transition from the subcritical to the supercritical state. As a specific example, the combustion of n-pentane fuel droplets in air is studied for pressures of 5-140 atm. In addition, the dynamic responses of droplet vaporization and combustion to ambient-pressure oscillations are investigated. Results indicate that the droplet gasification and burning mechanisms depend greatly on the ambient pressure. In particular, a rapid enlargement of the vaporization and combustion responses occurs when the droplet surface reaches its critical point, mainly due to the strong variations of latent heat of vaporization and thermophysical properties at the critical state.

Yang, Vigor↗

Properties of thermospheric gravity waves on earth, Venus and Mars

A spectral model with spherical harmonics and Fourier components that can simulate atmospheric perturbations in the global geometry of a multiconstituent atmosphere is presented. The boundaries are the planetary surface where the transport velocities vanish and the exobase where molecular heat conduction and viscosity dominate. The time consuming integration of the conservation equations is reduced to computing the transfer function (TF) which describes the dynamic properties of the medium divorced from the complexities in the temporal and horizontal variations of the excitation source. Given the TF, the atmospheric response to a chosen source distribution is then obtained in short order. Theoretical studies are presented to illuminate some properties of gravity waves on earth, Venus and Mars.

Mayr, H. G.↗

Development of computational methods for heavy lift launch vehicles

The research effort has been focused on the development of an advanced flow solver for complex viscous turbulent flows with shock waves. The three-dimensional Euler and full/thin-layer Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations for compressible flows are solved on structured hexahedral grids. The Baldwin-Lomax algebraic turbulence model is used for closure. The space discretization is based on a cell-centered finite-volume method augmented by a variety of numerical dissipation models with optional total variation diminishing limiters. The governing equations are integrated in time by an implicit method based on lower-upper factorization and symmetric Gauss-Seidel relaxation. The algorithm is vectorized on diagonal planes of sweep using two-dimensional indices in three dimensions. A new computer program named CENS3D has been developed for viscous turbulent flows with discontinuities. Details of the code are described in Appendix A and Appendix B. With the developments of the numerical algorithm and dissipation model, the simulation of three-dimensional viscous compressible flows has become more efficient and accurate. The results of the research are expected to yield a direct impact on the design process of future liquid fueled launch systems.

Yoon, Seokkwan↗

Global dynamic modeling of a transmission system

The work performed on global dynamic simulation and noise correlation of gear transmission systems at the University of Akron is outlined. The objective is to develop a comprehensive procedure to simulate the dynamics of the gear transmission system coupled with the effects of gear box vibrations. The developed numerical model is benchmarked with results from experimental tests at NASA Lewis Research Center. The modal synthesis approach is used to develop the global transient vibration analysis procedure used in the model. Modal dynamic characteristics of the rotor-gear-bearing system are calculated by the matrix transfer method while those of the gear box are evaluated by the finite element method (NASTRAN). A three-dimensional, axial-lateral coupled bearing model is used to couple the rotor vibrations with the gear box motion. The vibrations between the individual rotor systems are coupled through the nonlinear gear mesh interactions. The global equations of motion are solved in modal coordinates and the transient vibration of the system is evaluated by a variable time-stepping integration scheme. The relationship between housing vibration and resulting noise of the gear transmission system is generated by linear transfer functions using experimental data. A nonlinear relationship of the noise components to the fundamental mesh frequency is developed using the hypercoherence function. The numerically simulated vibrations and predicted noise of the gear transmission system are compared with the experimental results from the gear noise test rig at NASA Lewis Research Center. Results of the comparison indicate that the global dynamic model developed can accurately simulate the dynamics of a gear transmission system.

Choy, F. K.↗