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At least 127 records · Page 7

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2014

Experimental Study of Slat Noise from 30P30N Three-Element High-Lift Airfoil in JAXA Hard-Wall Low-Speed Wind Tunnel

Aeroacoustic measurements associated with noise radiation from the leading edge slat of the canonical, unswept 30P30N three-element high-lift airfoil configuration have been obtained in a 2 m x 2 m hard-wall wind tunnel at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Performed as part of a collaborative effort on airframe noise between JAXA and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the model geometry and majority of instrumentation details are identical to a NASA model with the exception of a larger span. For an angle of attack up to 10 degrees, the mean surface Cp distributions agree well with free-air computational fluid dynamics predictions corresponding to a corrected angle of attack. After employing suitable acoustic treatment for the brackets and end-wall effects, an approximately 2D noise source map is obtained from microphone array measurements, thus supporting the feasibility of generating a measurement database that can be used for comparison with free-air numerical simulations. Both surface pressure spectra obtained via KuliteTM transducers and the acoustic spectra derived from microphone array measurements display a mixture of a broad band component and narrow-band peaks (NBPs), both of which are most intense at the lower angles of attack and become progressively weaker as the angle of attack is increased. The NBPs exhibit a substantially higher spanwise coherence in comparison to the broadband portion of the spectrum and, hence, confirm the trends observed in previous numerical simulations. Somewhat surprisingly, measurements show that the presence of trip dots between the stagnation point and slat cusp enhances the NBP levels rather than mitigating them as found in a previous experiment.

Murayama, Mitsuhiro↗

DOE OSTI2024

Acoustic sensing and autoencoder approach for abnormal gas detection in a spent nuclear fuel canister mock-up

Currently, spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from commercial nuclear power plants is stored in stainless-steel canisters for interim dry storage. To provide an inert environment, these canisters are backfilled with helium after vacuum drying. However, the helium environment may be contaminated during extended storage because of the material degradation. For example, the heavier fission gas xenon may be released from the fuel rods into the canister cavity should the fuel cladding be breached. Other gases such as air and water vapor may also be present as a result of leakage caused by chloride-induced stress corrosion cracking on the canister walls or by insufficient vacuum drying. Therefore, monitoring the gas composition can provide critical information about the health of SNF canisters. In this study, noninvasive testing was conducted on a 2/3-scaled SNF canister mock-up using acoustic sensing. Ultrasonic transducers were placed on the exterior surface of the canister to probe the gas composition. A dataset was collected by sealing the canister mock-up and introducing up to 1.53% argon or 1.29% air into the helium background gas. Three methods were used to detect changes in the gas composition: the time-of-flight (TOF) method, the differential method, and the autoencoder method. Results showed that the TOF method had sufficient resolution to detect abnormal gas concentrations of less than 1.0%. The differential method demonstrated a periodic in-phase and out-of-phase behavior between the benchmark (i.e., pure helium) and abnormal (i.e., with argon or air) state signals. The variational autoencoder (VAE) and the Wasserstein autoencoder (WAE) were trained on the benchmark data and were applied directly to the abnormal state data. It was found that both the unsupervised VAE and the WAE were able to distinguish the benchmark and abnormal states of the canister mock-up based on the reconstruction error.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Brine Availability Test in Salt (BATS) FY21 Update

This report summarizes the 2021 fiscal year (FY21) status of ongoing borehole heater tests in salt funded by the disposal research and development (R&D) program of the Office of Spent Fuel & Waste Science and Technology (SFWST) of the US Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy’s (DOE-NE) Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition (SFWD). This report satisfies SFWST milestone M2SF- 21SN010303052 by summarizing test activities and data collected during FY21. The Brine Availability Test in Salt (BATS) is fielded in a pair of similar arrays of horizontal boreholes in an experimental area at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). One array is heated, the other unheated. Each array consists of 14 boreholes, including a central borehole with gas circulation to measure water production, a cement seal exposure test, thermocouples to measure temperature, electrodes to infer resistivity, a packer-isolated borehole to add tracers, fiber optics to measure temperature and strain, and piezoelectric transducers to measure acoustic emissions. The key new data collected during FY21 include a series of gas tracer tests (BATS phase 1b), a pair of liquid tracer tests (BATS phase 1c), and data collected under ambient conditions (including a period with limited access due to the ongoing pandemic) since BATS phase 1a in 2020. A comparison of heated and unheated gas tracer test results clearly shows a decrease in permeability of the salt upon heating (i.e., thermal expansion closes fractures, which reduces permeability).

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

NASA NTRS1967

System enables more complete calibrations of dynamic-pressure transducers

Absolute pressure calibration system using a Michelson interferometer calibrates phase characteristics and pressure sensitivities of the transducers that monitor acoustic or aerodynamic pressure fields. The interferometer uses a helium-neon laser light source and interchangeable acoustic signal generators to produce acoustic waves.

Pernet, D. F.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Particle Impact Noise Detection (PIND) test

Technique applies water-soluble ultrasonic couplant to transducer to facilitate acoustical nondestructive test for sealed and semisealed devices.

Reilly, W.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Sonic levitation apparatus

A sonic levitation apparatus is disclosed which includes a sonic transducer which generates acoustical energy responsive to the level of an electrical amplifier. A duct communicates with an acoustical chamber to deliver an oscillatory motion of air to a plenum section which contains a collimated hole structure having a plurality of parallel orifices. The collimated hole structure converts the motion of the air to a pulsed. Unidirectional stream providing enough force to levitate a material specimen. Particular application to the production of microballoons in low gravity environment is discussed.

Dunn, S. A.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Ultrasonic Monitor To Determine Crack-Opening Load

New ultrasonic monitor to determine crack-opening load in compact tension specimen uses transducers to pass acoustic wave across crack region. Definite improvement in signal-to-noise ratio. Process possesses substantial immunity from noise caused by operation of load frame and associated parts. In addition to applications for aerospace community, this monitor and concept clearly have general utility in testing of materials and potentially in nondestructive evaluation of solid parts.

Yost, William T.↗

NASA NTRS1997

Application of Normal Mode Expansion to AE Waves in Finite Plates

Breckenridge et al. (1975), Hsu (1985) and Pao (1978) adapted approaches from seismology to calculate the response at the surface of an infinite half-space and an infinite plate. These approaches have found use in calibrating acoustic emission (AE) transducers. However, it is difficult to extend this theoretical approach to AE testing of practical structures. Weaver and Pao (1982) considered a normal mode solution to the Lamb equations. Hutchinson (1983) pointed out the potential relevance of Mindlin's plate theory (1951) to AE. Pao (1982) reviewed Medick s (1961) classical plate theory for a point source, but rejected it as useful for AE and no one seems to have investigated its relevance to AE any further. Herein, a normal mode solution to the classical plate bending equation was investigated for its applicability to AE. The same source-time function chosen by Weaver and Pao is considered. However, arbitrary source and receiver positions are chosen relative to the boundaries of the plate. This is another advantage of the plate theory treatment in addition to its simplicity. The source does not have to be at the center of the plate as in the axisymmetric treatment. The plate is allowed to remain finite and reflections are predicted. The importance of this theory to AE is that it can handle finite plates, realistic boundary conditions, and can be extended to composite materials.

Gorman, M. R.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Comparison of the Effects of using Tygon Tubing in Rocket Propulsion Ground Test Pressure Transducer Measurements

This paper documents acoustics environments data collected during liquid oxygen- ethanol hot-fire rocket testing at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in November- December 2003. The test program was conducted during development testing of the RS-88 development engine thrust chamber assembly in support of the Orbital Space Plane Crew Escape System Propulsion Program Pad Abort Demonstrator. In addition to induced environments analysis support, coincident data collected using other sensors and methods has allowed benchmarking of specific acoustics test measurement methodologies during propulsion tests. Qualitative effects on data characteristics caused by using tygon sense lines of various lengths in pressure transducer measurements is discussed here.

Farr, Rebecca A.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Digital control of high-intensity acoustic testing

A high intensity acoustic test system is reported that consists of a reverberation room measuring 18 feet wide by 21 feet long by 26 feet high, with an internal volume of 10,900 cubic feet. The room is rectangular in shape. Acoustic energy is supplied through two 50-Hz cutoff exponential horns about 12 feet long. Each of the two horns has two transducers rated at 4000 acoustic watts each. A gaseous nitrogen supply is used to supply the energy. The equalized electrical signal is corrected by a circuit designed to compensate for the transducer nonlinearity, then fed into one channel of a phase linear power amplifier, then into the transducer. The amplifiers have been modified to increase their reliability. The acoustic energy in the room is monitored by six B and K 1/2-inch condenser microphones. The electrical signal from each microphone is fed into a six channel real time averager to give a spatial average of the signals.

Slusser, R. A.↗

NASA NTRS1984

How to design and construct multielement ultrasonic transducers

The practical 'how to' design and construction of multielement ultrasonic transducers are described. First, design procedures based on direct calculations of the desired acoustic field are reviewed. Second, techniques for implementing these designs using piezoelectric active elements are discussed. Finally, optical and acoustic test methods for transducer calibration are indicated.

Burrier, R. A.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Improved acoustic emission locations

A technique for locating acoustic emission in brittle rock specimens is described. An array of eight piezoelectric transducers was used to detect acoustic emission and to receive velocity measurement pulses. Axial and transverse velocities were calculated from the transmission data; the use of the velocity data to locate the acoustic emissions is discussed. Waveforms were recorded for about 140 acoustic emissions during the deformation of the Westerly granite specimen and about 100 acoustic emissions were located. The effect of transducer size and incident angle on apparent arrival times is evaluated using a lead zirconium titinate transducer bonded to a small brass rider with a curved surface matched to the brass specimen. The relation between location accuracy in various regions of the specimen and the geometry of the receiver array is studied. It is observed that for incidence angles away from the normal, the velocity appears to be higher than for normal incidences.

Getting, I. C.↗

DOE OSTI2020

Hybrid semiconductor-piezoacoustic radiofrequency device

An amplifying radiofrequency device includes a piezoelectric film and a semiconductor amplifier layer. The piezoelectric film is conformed as an acoustic waveguide. The piezoelectric film has a principal acoustic propagation direction parallel to the principal conduction direction of the amplifier layer. Interdigitated transducers are positioned on the piezoelectric film to respectively launch an acoustic wave in response to an input RF signal, and transduce the acoustic wave back to an output RF signal. There is a distance of less than the acoustic wavelength between the semiconductor amplifier layer and the piezoelectric film. The piezoelectric film has a thickness of less than the acoustic wavelength. According to a method for making such a device, a stack of III-V layers is epitaxially grown on a III-V substrate, wherein the stack comprises a first etch stop layer, a second etch stop layer, an amplifier layer, and a contact layer. The stack is bonded to a lithium niobate film. The III-V substrate is removed by etching down to the first etch stop layer. Deposition windows are opened by etching from the first etch stop layer down to the contact layer. Metal contact electrodes are deposited in the deposition windows.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

NASA NTRS2015

Ultrasonic Device for Assessing the Quality of a Wire Crimp

A system for determining the quality of an electrical wire crimp between a wire and ferrule includes an ultrasonically equipped crimp tool (UECT) configured to transmit an ultrasonic acoustic wave through a wire and ferrule, and a signal processor in communication with the UECT. The signal processor includes a signal transmitting module configured to transmit the ultrasonic acoustic wave via an ultrasonic transducer, signal receiving module configured to receive the ultrasonic acoustic wave after it passes through the wire and ferrule, and a signal analysis module configured to identify signal differences between the ultrasonic waves. The signal analysis module is then configured to compare the signal differences attributable to the wire crimp to a baseline, and to provide an output signal if the signal differences deviate from the baseline.

Yost, William T.↗

DOE OSTI2021

System and method for acoustic to electronic transduction

According to various embodiments, a system for acoustic to electronic transduction is disclosed. The system includes a transducing medium configured to convert a received acoustic signal into a transduced electronic signal when a voltage is applied. The system further includes a high-pass filter coupled to the transducing medium, the high-pass filter configured to isolate the transduced signal from the applied voltage.

Carlsson, Johan A.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Rapidly quantifying the relative distention of a human bladder

A device and method was developed to rapidly quantify the relative distention of the bladder of a human subject. An ultrasonic transducer is positioned on the human subject near the bladder. A microprocessor controlled pulser excites the transducer by sending an acoustic wave into the human subject. This wave interacts with the bladder walls and is reflected back to the ultrasonic transducer where it is received, amplified, and processed by the receiver. The resulting signal is digitized by an analog to digital converter, controlled by the microprocessor again, and is stored in data memory. The software in the microprocessor determines the relative distention of the bladder as a function of the propagated ultrasonic energy. Based on programmed scientific measurements and the human subject's past history as contained in program memory, the microprocessor sends out a signal to turn on any or all of the available alarms. The alarm system includes and audible alarm, the visible alarm, the tactile alarm, and the remote wireless alarm.

Companion, John A.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Improvements to pulsed phase locked loop strain monitor

A pulse phase locked loop system according to the present invention is described. A frequency generator such as a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) generates an output signal and a reference signal having a frequency equal to that of the output signal. A transmitting gate gates the output frequency signal and this gated signal drives a transmitting transducer which transmits an acoustic wave through a material. A sample/hold samples a signal indicative of the transmitted wave which is received by a receiving transducer. Divide-by-n counters control these gating and sampling functions in response to the reference signal of the frequency generator. Specifically, the output signal is gated at a rate of F/h, wherein F is the frequency of the output signal and h is an integer; and the received signal is sampled at a delay of F/n wherein n is an integer.

Froggatt, Mark E.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Pulsed phase locked loop strain monitor

Froggatt, Mark E.↗