SEARCH · Engineering Papers
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.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
The reflectances of two low-expansion materials, a recrystallized glass ceramic and a high silica glass, have been measured at five angles of incidence from 15 to 85 deg in the wavelength region from 80 to 310 A and in some cases up to 1050 A. Optical constants are derived and silicon core-level transitions analyzed.
Experimental data on ice nucleation, presented in an earlier paper, are analyzed to yield information about the homogeneous nucleation rate of ice from supercooled liquid and the heights of energy barriers to that nucleation. The experiment consisted of using an expansion cloud chamber to nucleate from the vapor a cloud of supercooled pure water drops and the observation of the fraction of drops which subsequently froze. The analysis employed standard classical homogeneous nucleation theory. The data are used to extract the first experimental measurement (albeit indirect) of the activation energy for the transfer of a water molecule across the liquid-ice interface at temperatures near -40 C. The results provide further evidence that the local liquid structure becomes more icelike as the temperature is lowered.
A supersonic diffuser ejector design computer program was developed. Using empirically modified one dimensional flow methods the diffuser ejector geometry is specified by the code. The design code results for calculations up to the end of the diffuser second throat were verified. Diffuser requirements for sea level testing of high expansion ratio space engines were defined. The feasibility of an ejector system using two commonly available turbojet engines feeding two variable area ratio ejectors was demonstrated.
A Priest laser interferometer was developed to measure the thermal strain of composite laminates. The salient features of this interferometer are that: (1) it operates between 116 K and 366 K; (2) it is easy to operate; (3) minimum specimen preparation is required; (4) coefficients of thermal expansion in the range of 0-5 micro epsilon/K can be measured; and (5) the resolution of thermal strain is on the order of micro epsilon. The thermal response of quasi-isotropic, T300/5208, grahite-epoxy composite material was studied with this interferometer. The study showed that: (1) for the material tested, thermal cycling effects are negligible; (2) variability of thermal response from specimen to specimen may become significant at cryogenic temperatures; and (3) the thermal response of 0.6 cm and 2.5 cm wide specimens are the same above room temperature.
The effects of geometric design parameters on the internal performance of nonaxisymmetric single expansion-ramp nozzles were investigated at nozzle pressure ratios up to approximately 10. Forward-flight (cruise), vectored-thrust, and reversed-thrust nozzle operating modes were investigated.
The asymptotic properties for the small Bond number B of the equilibrium capillary interface interior to a circular cylindrical tube vertically dipped in an infinite reservoir of liquid are discussed. (The Bond number B is a dimensionless parameter which is the ratio of gravitational to capillary forces.) The formal expansion in powers of B of the solution to the differential equation describing the equilibrium surface (as can be obtained by standard perturbation methods) is proved to be truly asymptotic -- to all orders and uniformly in the variable and parameter gamma, the contact angle. Sequences of general estimates, in closed form, from above and from below, are also given for the solution and related functions. The M-th term in these sequences are asymptotically exact to order m. An idiosyncrasy of the problem, crucial in obtaining these estimates, is the absolute monotonicity of the structural function of the system in integral form.
Matched asymptotic expansions (MAE) are used to obtain a first order approximation to the solution of a singularly perturbed second order system. A special case is considered in which the uniform asymptotic solution obtained by MAE is shown to converge to the exact solution. Ways in which the method can be used to sole higher-order linear systems, including those which are not singularly perturbed, are also discussed.
Design advancements to enhance stress accommodation in gas turbine engine frames are described. Consideration is given to mechanical stiffness to maintain an adequate spring rate, and to thermal stresses in both ambient and transient modes. Noting that thermal stresses occur due to differing temperatures at different parts of the frame, the matching of the thermal expansion rates of different structural materials is emphasized. Adequate stiffness is necessary to avoid dynamic reactions leading to case cracking as a result of normal imbalances of moving parts. Stress and deflection analysis of a total frame concept using a three-dimensional finite element stress analysis computer program, with modelling of all frame components, is presented, and illustrations are provided.
Moire interferometry by reflection has been demonstrated using a real reference grating of 1200 lines/mm. The method is shown to be well adapted to thermal environments. Thermal expansion coefficients of graphite-epoxy composites have been measured with high precision over a wide range from nearly zero to 3300 microstrains in the temperature range 297-422 K. Random errors characterized by one standard deviation can be as small as one microstrain.
The model dependence of Gauss coefficients associated with a lack of spherical harmonic orthogonality on a nonuniform Magsat data grid is shown to be minor, where the fitting level exceeds the harmonic order by a value of approximately four. The shape of the magnetic energy spectrum outside the core, and the sensitivity to truncation level of magnetic contour location and the number of their intersections on the core-mantle boundary, suggest that spherical harmonic expansions of the main geomagnetic field should be truncated at a truncation level value of not more than eight if they are to be extrapolated to the core.
Galileo Regio is the largest and most prominent unit of dark, ancient, heavily cratered terrain on Ganymede. Its major tectonic feature, an arcuate system of rimmed furrows, formed very early, as nearly the entire cratering record post-dates it. Galileo Regio has undergone very little subsequent structural alteration, as opposed to the rest of the planet (i.e., replacement by grooved and smooth terrain). Its survival as an intact lithospheric unit during the era of grooved terrain formation constrains the concomitant expansion of Ganymede, if any, to be less than one percent in radius. This limit is derived from an analysis which considers Galileo Regio to be a thin, freely floating elastic spherical shell on an expanding planet. A comparison of tectonic features (both endogenic and impact produced) on Ganymede and Callisto suggests that the ultimate source that powered the creation of grooved terrain lies in the Ganymedean core.
The plume flowfield of a helium vent nozzle exhausting into a vacuum is defined by two techniques: the method of characteristics and the direct-simulation Monte Carlo method. The method of characteristics is shown to severely underpredict gas static temperatures due to the assumption of translational equilibrium inherent in the continuum formulation. Mass flow per unit solid angle is shown to be accurately predicted for this flowfield by the method of characteristics until the flow angle approaches within 10 deg of the maximum Prandtl-Meyer expansion angle. Improved treatment of the noncontinuum flow within the nozzle (near the lip) is postulated to have minor effects on the accuracy of this continuum method in comparison with translational nonequilibrium in the external flowfield. Possible treatment of translational nonequilibrium by the method of characteristics is discussed.
A numerical study is reported of heat/mass transfer in the separated flow region created by an abrupt pipe expansion. Computations have employed a hybrid method of central and upwind finite differencing to solve the full Navier-Stokes equations with turbulent model (k approximately equal to epsilon). The study has given its main attention to the simulation of the region in the immediate vicinity of the wall, by formulating near-wall model for the evaluation of the mean generation and destruction rate of the epsilon equation. The computed results were compared with the experimental data and they showed generally encouraging agreement with the measurements.
The use of a prolate spheroidal harmonic expansion to compute far field results in magnetics problems with the DTNSRDC version of NASTRAN is demonstrated. When field problems with infinite exterior domains are solved by the finite element method, the domain must be modeled to infinity. The density of the finite element mesh usually decreases as the distance from the structure increases, thus degrading the results in the far field.
The Langley 16 foot transonic tunnel was used to determine the aeropropulsive characteristics of twin single-expansion-ramp vectoring nozzles installed in a wing-body configuration with forward-swept wings. The configuration was tested with and without fixed canards. The test conditions included free-stream Mach numbers of 0.60, 0.90, and 1.20. The model angle of attack ranged from -2 deg to 14 deg; the nozzle pressure ratio ranged from 1.0 (jet off) to 9.0. The Reynolds number based on the wing mean aerodynamic chord varied from 3.0 x 10 to the 6th power to 4.8 x 10 to the 6th power, depending on Mach number. Aerodynamic characteristics were analyzed to determine the effects of thrust vectoring and the canard effects on the wing-afterbody-nozzle and the wing-afterbody portions of the model. Thrust vectoring had no effect on the angle of attack for the onset of flow separation on the wing but resulted in reduced drag at angle-of-attack values above that required for wing flow separation. The canard was found to have little effect on the thrust-induced lift resulting from vectoring, since canard effects occurred primarily on the wing.
The thermal expansion behavior of graphite epoxy laminates between 116 and 366 degrees Kelvin was investigated using as implementation of the Priest interferometer concept. The design, construction and use of the interferometer along with the experimental results it was used to generate are described. The experimental program consisted of 25 tests on 25.4 mm and 6.35 mm wide, 8 ply pi/4 quasi-isotropic T300-5208 graphite/epoxy specimens and 3 tests on a 25.4 mm wide unidirectional specimen. Experimental results are presented for all tests along with a discussion of the interferometer's limitations and some possible improvements in its design.
The numerical practicality of a matched asymptotic expansion approach for the computation of unsteady three dimensional airloads on a helicopter rotor was improved. This effort utilizes a discretized repesentation of the doublet strength distribution and helical streamlines to decrease the computational requirements of the original analysis. The continuous variation of the doublet strength was approximated by piecewise constant or piecewise quadratic distributions, and the helical trajectory of a fluid particle was approximated by connected straight line segments. As a direct result of these simplified representations the computational time required for the execution of a typical flight condition was reduced by an order of magnitude with respect to the requirements of the original analysis. Airloads which were computed using the discretized method for a two bladed model rotor and a full scale four bladed rotor are in close agreement with measured results and airloads from the original asymptotic analysis. For conditions characterized by significant rotor/wake interaction the piecewise constant representation requires a reduced azimuth spacing to maintain acceptable accuracy.
Since grooved terrain has formed from extensional faulting of at least one half of the surface of Ganymede, grooves may be due to planetary expansion which can be constrained by determining the extension associated with groove formation. The geometry and kinematics of a fault or group of faults must be known in order to determine the extension. Although neither of these is known for grooves on Ganymede, geologically reasonable end members of the dip, displacement and extension of faults which bound the graben can be estimated in order to place valuable constraints on possible surface area and radius increases as well as on the thickness of the Ganymede lithosphere. Minimum lithosphere thickness is estimated to be 5 km in the Marius and 9 km in the Galileo regions, at the time of furrow formation, and 4 km at the time of groove formation.