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Annual Procurement Report, Fiscal Year 1997

This report presents summary data on all NASA procurement actions and detailed information on contracts, grants, agreements, and other procurements over $25,000 awarded by NASA during Fiscal Year 1997. The dollar value on procurements over $25,000 amounted to 98 percent of the total dollar value of procurement actions completed during Fiscal Year 1997. However, these larger procurements accounted for only 43 percent of the total actions. Procurement action, as used in this report means contractual actions to obtain supplies, services or construction which increase or decrease funds. A procurement action thus may be a new procurement or modifications such as supplemental agreements, change orders, or termination's to an existing contract that change the total amount of funds obligated. An obligation is a contractual commitment to pay for supplies or services that are specified in the contract. The Annual Procurement Report is also available via the internet on the Procurement homepage.

Source record↗

Mach Number Effects on Turbine Blade Transition Length Prediction

The effect of a Mach number correction on a model for predicting the length of transition was investigated. The transition length decreases as the turbulent spot production rate increases. Much of the data for predicting the spot production rate comes from low speed flow experiments. Recent data and analysis showed that the spot production rate is affected by Mach number. The degree of agreement between analysis and data for turbine blade heat transfer without film cooling is strongly dependent of accurately predicting the length of transition. Consequently, turbine blade heat transfer data sets were used to validate a transition length turbulence model. A method for modifying models for the length of transition to account for Mach number effects is presented. The modification was made to two transition length models. The modified models were incorporated into the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes code, RVCQ3D. Comparisons were made between predicted and measured midspan surface heat transfer for stator and rotor turbine blades. The results showed that accounting for Mach number effects significantly improved the agreement with the experimental data.

Boyle, R. J.↗

An Investigation of the Effect of Surface Impurities on the Adsorption Kinetics of Hydrogen Chemisorbed onto Iron

The original goal of this program was to investigate the effect surface impurities have on the heterogeneous kinetic processes of those molecular species which produce gaseous hydrogen degradation of the mechanical properties of metallic structural materials. However, shortly after the initiation of the original program, the program's NASA Technical Monitor, Dr. Howard Nelson, requested that the effort supported by this Co-operative Agreement be redirected to study more pressing materials issues associated to the development of the National Aero-Space Plane (NASP). The results of these efforts are outlined in this report. Detailed discussions of specific work, including experimental techniques and procedures, will be found in the publications listed with the subsection discussing that specific work as well and in Section 5. No inventions were generated or disclosed within this Agreement.

Shanabarger, M. R.↗

Assessment of an Euler-Interacting Boundary Layer Method Using High Reynolds Number Transonic Flight Data

Flight-measured high Reynolds number turbulent-flow pressure distributions on a transport wing in transonic flow are compared to unstructured-grid calculations to assess the predictive ability of a three-dimensional Euler code (USM3D) coupled to an interacting boundary layer module. The two experimental pressure distributions selected for comparative analysis with the calculations are complex and turbulent but typical of an advanced technology laminar flow wing. An advancing front method (VGRID) was used to generate several tetrahedral grids for each test case. Initial calculations left considerable room for improvement in accuracy. Studies were then made of experimental errors, transition location, viscous effects, nacelle flow modeling, number and placement of spanwise boundary layer stations, and grid resolution. The most significant improvements in the accuracy of the calculations were gained by improvement of the nacelle flow model and by refinement of the computational grid. Final calculations yield results in close agreement with the experiment. Indications are that further grid refinement would produce additional improvement but would require more computer memory than is available. The appendix data compare the experimental attachment line location with calculations for different grid sizes. Good agreement is obtained between the experimental and calculated attachment line locations.

Bonhaus, Daryl L.↗

HALOE Science Investigation

This cooperative agreement has investigated a number of spectroscopic problems of interest to the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE). The types of studies performed are in two parts, namely, those that involve the testing and characterization of correlation spectrometers and those that provide basic molecular spectroscopic information. In addition, some solar studies were performed with the calibration data returned by HALOE from orbit. In order to accomplish this a software package was written as part of this cooperative agreement. The HALOE spectroscopic instrument package was used in various tests of the HALOE flight instrument. These included the spectral response test, the early stages of the gas response test and various spectral response tests of the detectors and optical elements of the instruments. Considerable effort was also expended upon the proper laboratory setup for many of the prelaunch tests of the HALOE flight instrument, including the spectral response test and the gas response test. These tests provided the calibration and the assurance that the calibration was performed correctly.

Benner, D. Chris↗

First results from the aerosol lidar and backscatter sonde intercomparison campaign STRAIT'1997 at table mountain facility during February-March 1997

First results of an intercomparison measurement campaign between three aerosol lidar instruments and in-situ backscatter sondes performed at Table Mountain Facility (34.4 deg N, 117.7 deg E, 2280 m asl) in February-March 1997 are presented. During the campaign a total of 414 hours of lidar data were acquired by the Aerosol-Temperature-Lidar (ATL, Goddard Space Flight Center) the Mobile-aerosol-Raman-Lidar (MARL, Alfred Wegener Institute), and the TMF-Aerosol-Lidar (TAL, Jet Propulsion Laboratory), and four backscatter sondes were launched. From the data set altitude profiles of backscatter ratio and volume depolarization of stratospheric background aerosols at altitudes between 15 and 25 km and optically thin high-altitude cirrus clouds at altitudes below 13 km are derived. On the basis of a sulfuric acid aerosol model color ratio profiles obtained from two wavelength lidar data are compared to the corresponding profiles derived from the sonde observations. We find an excellent agreement between the in-situ and ATL lidar data with respect to backscatter and color ratio. Cirrus clouds were present on 16 of 26 nights during the campaign. Lidar observations with 17 minute temporal and 120-300 m spatial resolution indicate high spatial and temporal variability of the cirrus layers. Qualitative agreement is found between concurrent lidar measurements of backscatter ratio and volume depolarization.

Beyerle, G.↗

Hydrodynamic Characteristics of Two Low-Drag Supercavitating Hydrofoils

An experimental investigation has been conducted in Langley tank no. 2 to determine the hydrodynamic characteristics of two low-drag supercavitating hydrofoils operating in a range of cavitation numbers from 0 to approximately 6. The hydrofoils had aspect ratios of 1 and 3, and the sections were derived by assuming five terms in the vorticity-distribution expansion of the equivalent airfoil. The aspect-ratio-1 hydrofoil was also tested at zero cavitation number with two sets of end plates having depths of 3/8 and 1/4 chords. Zero cavitation number was established by operating the hydrofoils near the water surface so that complete ventilation of the upper surfaces could be obtained. For those depths of submersion where complete ventilation was not obtained through vortex ventilation, two probes were used to introduce air to the upper surfaces of the hydrofoils and to induce complete ventilation. Data were obtained for a range of speeds from 20 to 80 fps, angles of attack from 2 to 20 deg, and ratios of depth of submersion to chord from 0 to 0.85. The experimental results obtained from the aspect-ratio-1 and aspect-ratio-3, five-term hydrofoils were compared with a three-dimensional zero-cavitation-number theory. The theoretical and experimental values of lift and center of pressure for the aspect-ratio-1 hydrofoil were in agreement, within engineering accuracy, for the range of lift coefficients investigated. The theoretical drag coefficients were lower, by a constant amount, than the experimental drag coefficients. The theoretical expressions derived for the lift, drag, and center of pressure of the aspect-ratio-3 hydrofoil were in agreement, within engineering accuracy, with the experimental values. The theoretical and experimental drag coefficients of the aspect-ratio-3 five-term hydrofoil were lower than the theoretical drag coefficients computed for a comparable Tulin-Burkart hydrofoil.

McGehee, John R.↗

The Effect of Beam Loading on Water Impact Loads and Motions

An investigation of the effect of beam loading on impact loads and motions has been conducted in the Langley impact basin. Water impact tests of flat-bottom 5-inch-and 8-inch-beam models having beam-loading coefficients C(sub Delta) from 62.5 to 544 and a 30 deg dead-rise 5-inch-beam model A having beam-loading coefficients from 208 to 530 are described and the results analyzed to show trends of these heavy-beam-loading data with initial flight-path angle, trim angle, dead-rise angle, and time through- out the impact. Data from flat-bottom model tests, C(sub Delta) = 4.4 to 36.5, and from 30 deg dead-rise model tests, C(sub Delta) = 0.58 and 18.8, are included, along with the heavy-beam-loading data; and variations of these data with beam-loading coefficients are shown. Each of the load and motion coefficients is found to be directly proportional to a power factor of C(sub Delta). For instance, the maximum impact lift coefficient is found C(sub L,max) to be directly proportional to C(sub Delta, exp 0,33) for the flat-bottom model and C(sub Delta, exp 0,45) for the 30 deg dead-rise model. These variations of C(sub L, max) with C(sub Delta) are found to be in agreement with theoretical variations. Finally, an empirical equation for the prediction of C(sub L,max) is presented and is shown to give good agreement with experimental C(sub L, max) for about 500 fixed-trim smooth-water impacts. The range of variables included dead-rise angles from 0 deg to deg, beam-loading coefficients from o.48 to 544, trim angles from 3 deg to deg, and initial flight-path angles from about 2 deg to about deg.

Mixson, John S.↗

Experimental Investigation of Two Low-Drag Supercavitating Hydrofoils at Speeds up to 200 Feet per Second

An experimental investigation has been made in the Langley highspeed hydrodynamics facility to determine the force and moment characteristics of two hydrofoils (one having an aspect ratio of 1 and the other having an aspect ratio of 3) designed to have improved lift-drag ratios when operating under either supercavitating or ventilated conditions. Measurements were made of lift, drag, and pitching moment over a range of angles of attack from 40 to 200 for depths of submersion varying from 0 to approximately 1 chord. The range of speed for the investigation was from 110 to 200 feet per second. When the upper surface of the hydrofoils was completely unwetted, the experimental values of lift and drag forces were in good agreement with the theoretical values obtained from the zero-cavitation-number theory. The theoretical values for minimum angle of attack for operation with the upper surface of the hydrofoil unwetted define the lower limits of angle of attack for which the experimental values of lift coefficient are either in agreement with or slightly greater than those predicted by theory.

Christopher, Kenneth W.↗

An Investigation of the Drag Characteristics of a Tailless Delta-Wing Airplane in Flight, Including Comparison with Wind-Tunnel Data

A series of flight tests were conducted to determine the lift and drag characteristics of an F4D-1 airplane over a Mach number range of 0.80 to 1.10 at an altitude of 40,000 feet. Apparently satisfactory agreement was obtained between the flight data and results from wind-tunnel tests of an 0.055-scale model of the airplane. Further tests show the apparent agreement was a consequence of the altitude at which the first tests were made.

Rolls, L. Stewart↗

An Investigation of the Performance of Various Reaction Control Devices

An investigation of a small-scale reaction control devices in still air with both subsonic and supersonic internal flows has shown that lateral forces approaching 70 percent of the resultant force of the undeflected jet can be obtained. These results were obtained with a tilted extension at a deflection of 40 deg. The tests of tilted extensions indicated an optimum length-to-diameter ratio of approximately 0.75 to 1.00, dependent upon the deflection angle. For the two geometric types of spoiler tabs tested, blockage-area ratio appears to be the only variable affecting the lateral force developed. Usable values of lateral force were developed by the full-eyelid type of device with reasonably small losses in the thrust and weight flow. Somewhat larger values of lateral force were developed by injecting a secondary flow normal to the primary jet, but for conditions of these tests the losses in thrust and weight flow were large. Relatively good agreement with other investigations was obtained for several of the devices. The agreement of the present results with those of an investigation made with larger-scale equipment indicates that Reynolds number may not be critical for these tests. In as much as the effects of external flow could influence the performance and other factors affecting the choice of a reaction control for a specific use, it would appear desirable to make further tests of the devices described in this report in the presence of external flow.

Hunter, Paul A.↗

Inclined Bodies of Various Cross Sections at Supersonic Speeds

To aid in assessing effects of cross-sectional shape on body aerodynamics, the forces and moments have been measured for bodies with circular, elliptic, square, and triangular cross sections at Mach numbers 1.98 and 3.88. Results for bodies with noncircular cross sections have been compared with results for bodies of revolution having the same axial distribution of cross-sectional area (and, thus, the same equivalent fineness ratio). Comparisons have been made for bodies of fineness ratios 6 and 10 at angles of attack from 0 deg to about 20 deg and for Reynolds numbers, based on body length, of 4.0 x 10(exp 6) and 6.7 x 10(exp 6). The results of this investigation show that distinct aerodynamic advantages can be obtained by using bodies with noncircular cross sections. At certain angles of bank, bodies with elliptic, square, and triangular cross sections develop considerably greater lift and lift-drag ratios than equivalent bodies of revolution. For bodies with elliptic cross sections, lift and pitching-moment coefficients can be correlated with corresponding coefficients for equivalent circular bodies. It has been found that the ratios of lift and pitching-moment coefficients for an elliptic body to those for an equivalent circular body are practically constant with change in both angle of attack and Mach number. These lift and moment ratios are given very accurately by slender-body theory. As a result of this agreement, the method of NACA Rep. 1048 for computing forces and moments for bodies of revolution has been simply extended to bodies with elliptic cross sections. For the cases considered (elliptic bodies of fineness ratios 6 and 10 having cross-sectional axis ratios of 1.5 and 2), agreement of theory with experiment is very good. As a supplement to the force and moment results, visual studies of the flow over bodies have been made by use of the vapor-screen, sublimation, and white-lead techniques. Photographs from these studies are included in the report.

Jorgensen, Leland H.↗

The Effect of Beam Loading on Water Impact Loads and Motions

An investigation of the effect of beam loading on impact loads and motions has been conducted in the Langley impact basin. Water impact tests of flat-bottom 5-inch- and 8-inch-beam models having beam-loading coefficients C(sub Delta) from 62.5 to 544 and a 30 0 dead-rise 5-inch-beam model A having beam-loading coefficients from 208 to 530 are described and the results analyzed to show trends of these heavy-beam-loading data with initial flight-path angle, trim angle, dead-rise angle, and time throughout the impact. Data from flat-bottom model tests, C(sub Delta) = 4.4 to 36.5, and from 300 dead-rise model tests, C(sub Delta)A = 0.58 and 18.8, are included, along with the heavy-beam-loading data; and variations of these data with beam-loading coefficients are shown. Each of the load and motion coefficients is found to be directly proportional to a power factor ofC(sub Delta). For instance, the maximum impact lift coefficient C(sub L,max)is found to be directly proportional to C(sub Delta)(sup 0.33) for the flat-bottom model and C(sub Delta)(sup 0.45) for the 30 deg dead-rise model. These variations of C(sub L,max) C(sub Delta) are found to be in agreement with theoretical variations. Finally, an empirical equation for the prediction of C(sub L,max) is presented and is shown to give good agreement with experimental C(sub L,max) for about 500 fixed-trim smooth-water impacts. The range of variables included dead-rise angles from 0 deg to 30 deg, beam-loading coefficients from 0.48 to 544, trim angles from 3 deg to 45 deg and initial flight-path angles from about 2 deg to about 27 deg.

Mixson, John S.↗

Computation of Turbulent Recirculating Flow in Channels, and for Impingement Cooling

Fully elliptic forms of the transport equations have been solved numerically for two flow configurations. The first is turbulent flow in a channel with transverse rectangular ribs, and the second is impingement cooling of a plane surface. Both flows are relevant to proposed designs for active cooling of hypersonic vehicles using supercritical hydrogen as the coolant. Flow downstream of an abrupt pipe expansion and of a backward-facing step were also solved with various near-wall turbulence models as benchmark problems. A simple form of periodicity boundary condition was used for the channel flow with transverse rectangular ribs. The effects of various parameters on heat transfer in channel flow with transverse ribs and in impingement cooling were investigated using the Yap modified Jones and Launder low Reynolds number k-epsilon turbulence model. For the channel flow, predictions were in adequate agreement with experiment for constant property flow, with the results for friction superior to those for heat transfer. For impingement cooling, the agreement with experiment was generally good, but the results suggest that improved modelling of the dissipation rate of turbulence kinetic energy is required in order to obtain improved heat transfer prediction, especially near the stagnation point. The k-epsilon turbulence model was used to predict the mean flow and heat transfer for constant and variable property flows. The effect of variable properties for channel flow was investigated using the same turbulence model, but comparison with experiment yielded no clear conclusions. Also, the wall function method was modified for use in the variable properties flow with a non-adiabatic surface, and an empirical model is suggested to correctly account for the behavior of the viscous sublayer with heating.

Chang, Byong Hoon↗

Modeling Macro- and Micro-Scale Turbulent Mixing and Chemistry in Engine Exhaust Plumes

Simulation of turbulent mixing and chemical processes in the near-field plume and plume-vortex regimes has been successfully carried out recently using a reduced gas phase kinetics mechanism which substantially decreased the computational cost. A detailed mechanism including gas phase HOx, NOx, and SOx chemistry between the aircraft exhaust and the ambient air in near-field aircraft plumes is compiled. A reduced mechanism capturing the major chemical pathways is developed. Predictions by the reduced mechanism are found to be in good agreement with those by the detailed mechanism. With the reduced chemistry, the computer CPU time is saved by a factor of more than 3.5 for the near-field plume modeling. Distributions of major chemical species are obtained and analyzed. The computed sensitivities of major species with respect to reaction step are deduced for identification of the dominant gas phase kinetic reaction pathways in the jet plume. Both the near field plume and the plume-vortex regimes were investigated using advanced mixing models. In the near field, a stand-alone mixing model was used to investigate the impact of turbulent mixing on the micro- and macro-scale mixing processes using a reduced reaction kinetics model. The plume-vortex regime was simulated using a large-eddy simulation model. Vortex plume behind Boeing 737 and 747 aircraft was simulated along with relevant kinetics. Many features of the computed flow field show reasonable agreement with data. The entrainment of the engine plumes into the wing tip vortices and also the partial detrainment of the plume were numerically captured. The impact of fluid mechanics on the chemical processes was also studied. Results show that there are significant differences between spatial and temporal simulations especially in the predicted SO3 concentrations. This has important implications for the prediction of sulfuric acid aerosols in the wake and may partly explain the discrepancy between past numerical studies (that employed parabolic or temporal approximations) and the measured data. Finally to address the major uncertainty in the near-field plume modeling related to the plume processing of sulfur compounds and advanced model was developed to evaluate its impact on the chemical processes in the near wake. A comprehensive aerosol model is developed and it is coupled with chemical kinetics and the axisymmetric turbulent jet flow models. The integrated model is used to simulate microphysical processes in the near-field jet plume, including sulfuric acid and water binary homogeneous nucleation, coagulation, non-equilibrium heteromolecular condensation, and sulfur-induced soot activation. The formation and evolution of aerosols are computed and analyzed. The computed results show that a large number of ultra-fine (0.3--0.6 nm in radius) volatile HSO4 - HO embryos are generated in the near-field plume. These embryos further grow in size by self coagulation and condensation. Soot particles can be activated by both heterogeneous nucleation and scavenging of H2SO4-H2O aerosols. These activated soot particles can serve as water condensation nuclei for contrail formation. Conditions under which ice contrails can form behind aircrafts are studied. The sensitivities of the threshold temperature for contrail formation with respect to aircraft propulsion efficiency, relative humidity, and ambient pressure are evaluated. The computed aerosol properties for different extent of fuel sulfur conversion to S(VI) (SO3 and H2SO4) in engine are examined and the results are found to be sensitive to this conversion fraction.

Menon, Suresh↗

A Study of Failure in Small Pressurized Cylindrical Shells Containing a Crack

The deformation in the vicinity of axial cracks in thin pressurized cylinders is examined using small experimental The deformation in the vicinity of axial cracks in thin pressurized cylinders is examined using small experimental models. The loading applied was either symmetric or unsymmetric about the crack plane, the latter being caused by structural constraints such as stringers. The objective was two fold - one, to provide the experimental results which will allow computer modeling techniques to be evaluated for deformations that are significantly different from that experienced by flat plates, and the other to examine the deformations and conditions associated with the onset of crack kinking which often precedes crack curving. The stresses which control crack growth in a cylindrical geometry depend on conditions introduced by the axial bulging, which is an integral part of this type of failure. For the symmetric geometry, both the hoop and radial strain just ahead off the crack, r = a, were measured and these results compared with those obtained from a variety of structural analysis codes, in particular STAGS [1], ABAQUS and ANSYS. In addition to these measurements, the pressures at the onset of stable and unstable crack growth were obtained and the corresponding crack deformations measured as the pressures were increased to failure. For the unsymmetric cases, measurements were taken of the crack kinking angle, and the displacements in the vicinity of the crack. In general, the strains ahead of the crack showed good agreement between the three computer codes and between the codes and the experiments. In the case of crack behavior, it was determined that modeling stable tearing with a crack-tip opening displacement fracture criterion could be successfully combined with the finite-element analysis techniques as used in structural analysis codes. The analytic results obtained in this study were very compatible with the experimental observations of crack growth. Measured crack kinking angles also showed good agreement with theories based on the maximum principle stress criterion.

Barwell, Craig A.↗

The 'CommTech' Methodology: A Demand-Driven Approach to Efficient, Productive and Measurable Technology Transfer

Market research sources were used to initially gather primary technological problems and needs data from non-aerospace companies in targeted industry sectors. The company-supplied information served as input data to activate or start-up an internal, phased match-making process. This process was based on technical-level relationship exploration followed by business-level agreement negotiations, and culminated with project management and execution. Space Act Agreements represented near-term outputs. Company product or process commercialization derived from Lewis support and measurable economic effects represented far-term outputs.

Horsham, Gray A. P.↗

CFD Modelling of Bore Erosion in Two-Stage Light Gas Guns

A well-validated quasi-one-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code for the analysis of the internal ballistics of two-stage light gas guns is modified to explicitly calculate the ablation of steel from the gun bore and the incorporation of the ablated wall material into the hydrogen working cas. The modified code is used to model 45 shots made with the NASA Ames 0.5 inch light gas gun over an extremely wide variety of gun operating conditions. Good agreement is found between the experimental and theoretical piston velocities (maximum errors of +/-2% to +/-6%) and maximum powder pressures (maximum errors of +/-10% with good igniters). Overall, the agreement between the experimental and numerically calculated gun erosion values (within a factor of 2) was judged to be reasonably good, considering the complexity of the processes modelled. Experimental muzzle velocities agree very well (maximum errors of 0.5-0.7 km/sec) with theoretical muzzle velocities calculated with loading of the hydrogen gas with the ablated barrel wall material. Comparison of results for pump tube volumes of 100%, 60% and 40% of an initial benchmark value show that, at the higher muzzle velocities, operation at 40% pump tube volume produces much lower hydrogen loading and gun erosion and substantially lower maximum pressures in the gun. Large muzzle velocity gains (2.4-5.4 km/sec) are predicted upon driving the gun harder (that is, upon using, higher powder loads and/or lower hydrogen fill pressures) when hydrogen loading is neglected; much smaller muzzle velocity gains (1.1-2.2 km/sec) are predicted when hydrogen loading is taken into account. These smaller predicted velocity gains agree well with those achieved in practice. CFD snapshots of the hydrogen mass fraction, density and pressure of the in-bore medium are presented for a very erosive shot.

Bogdanoff, D. W.↗