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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.

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At least 1,261 records · Page 70

Composite load spectra for select space propulsion structural components

The objective of this program is to develop generic load models with multiple levels of progressive sophistication to simulate the composite load spectra that are induced in space propulsion system components, representative of Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME), such as transfer ducts, turbine blades, and liquid oxygen (LOX) posts and system ducting. These models will be developed using two independent approaches. The first approach consists of using state-of-the-art probabilistic methods to describe the individual loading conditions and combinations of these loading conditions to synthesize the composite load spectra simulation. The methodology required to combine the various individual load simulation models (hot-gas dynamic, vibrations, instantaneous position, centrifugal field, etc.) into composite load spectra simulation models will be developed under this program. A computer code incorporating the various individual and composite load spectra models will be developed to construct the specific load model desired. The second approach, which is covered under the options portion of the contract, will consist of developing coupled models for composite load spectra simulation which combine the (deterministic) models for composite load dynamic, acoustic, high-pressure and high rotational speed, etc., load simulation using statistically varying coefficients. These coefficients will then be determined using advanced probabilistic simulation methods with and without strategically selected experimental data. This report covers the efforts of the third year of the contract. The overall program status is that the turbine blade loads have been completed and implemented. The transfer duct loads are defined and are being implemented. The thermal loads for all components are defined and coding is being developed. A dynamic pressure load model is under development. The parallel work on the probabilistic methodology is essentially completed. The overall effort is being integrated in an expert system code specifically developed for this project.

Newell, J. F.↗

Coupling Carbon Oxidation and Surface Recession in Direct-Simulation Monte Carlo Code, SPARTA

Ablative thermal protection system (TPS) materials for spacecraft are composites that are often made out of carbon-based reinforcement and a polymeric matrix. They endure high-temperature oxidation and surface recession when re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. Ablation is the result of many coupled and competing thermal, mechanical, and chemical phenomena, and it is difficult to isolate the role of each on the overall degradation of the TPS. Here we develop an ablation model for material recession coupled explicitly to finite rate carbon oxidation in complex microstructures. In this work, Stochastic PArallel Rarified-gas Time-accurate Analyzer (SPARTA), a direct-simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) code, is modified to allow oxidation-driven ablation of implicitly defined carbon surfaces. In SPARTA, implicit surfaces are generated from the grid corner point values via a marching cubes algorithm, therefore creating a new set of surface elements every time ablation is performed. The finite-rate oxidation model developed by Gopalan et. al, was adapted to tally surface reactions and other surface data on a per-grid cell basis. The ablation functionality was also adjusted so once the reactions have occurred, the number of reactions leading to CO formation can be converted to corner point reduction values; therefore, carbon removal is directly proportional to surface recession. We also develop robust algorithms which handle the evolution of the flow cells and solid material regions, including split cells (flow cell divided in two by a solid surface). Finally, we demonstrate our implicit chemistry model for 2D and 3D geometries by producing reaction statistics and detailed visualization of oxidation-induced material recession at the microscale.

V Arias↗

More About Vector Adaptive/Predictive Coding Of Speech

Report presents additional information about digital speech-encoding and -decoding system described in "Vector Adaptive/Predictive Encoding of Speech" (NPO-17230). Summarizes development of vector adaptive/predictive coding (VAPC) system and describes basic functions of algorithm. Describes refinements introduced enabling receiver to cope with errors. VAPC algorithm implemented in integrated-circuit coding/decoding processors (codecs). VAPC and other codecs tested under variety of operating conditions. Tests designed to reveal effects of various background quiet and noisy environments and of poor telephone equipment. VAPC found competitive with and, in some respects, superior to other 4.8-kb/s codecs and other codecs of similar complexity.

Jedrey, Thomas C.↗

Parallelized Carbon Oxidation and Surface Recession Model in Direct-Simulation Monte Carlo Code, SPARTA

Ablative thermal protection system (TPS) materials for spacecraft are composites that often consist of a carbon-based reinforcement and a polymeric matrix. During Earth re-entry, they endure high-temperature oxidation and surface recession. Oxidation is an important mechanism for ablation, sometimes leading to the weakening, spallation, or failure of the oxidized fibers at the surface and in the char layer. However, more details are required including accurate material properties of the fiber microstructure, whether the fibers recede homogenously or localized at pits, and the role of pyrolysis outgassing in order to evaluate the role oxidation plays in the degradation and failure mechanisms of these materials. In this work, we demonstrate a parallelizable oxidation-driven ablation model developed for detailed, large-scale simulations in the DSMC code SPARTA. We also develop robust algorithms which handle the conservation of the surface state after an ablation step. Finally, we verify our model for both simple and more complex chemistry as well as microstructures with reaction statistics, oxidation depth calculations, and detailed visualization of oxidation-induced material recession at the microscale.

V Arias↗

Multichannel Error Correction Code Decoder

NASA Lewis Research Center's Digital Systems Technology Branch has an ongoing program in modulation, coding, onboard processing, and switching. Recently, NASA completed a project to incorporate a time-shared decoder into the very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) onboard-processing mesh architecture. The primary goal was to demonstrate a time-shared decoder for a regenerative satellite that uses asynchronous, frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) uplink channels, thereby identifying hardware and power requirements and fault-tolerant issues that would have to be addressed in a operational system. A secondary goal was to integrate and test, in a system environment, two NASA-sponsored, proof-of-concept hardware deliverables: the Harris Corp. high-speed Bose Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) codec and the TRW multichannel demultiplexer/demodulator (MCDD). A beneficial byproduct of this project was the development of flexible, multichannel-uplink signal-generation equipment.

Source record↗

Performance Evaluation of Heterogeneous GPU Programming Frameworks for Hemodynamic Simulations

Preparing for the deployment of large scientific and engineering codes on upcoming exascale systems with GPU-dense nodes is made challenging by the unprecedented diversity of device architectures and heterogeneous programming models. In this work, we evaluate the process of porting a massively parallel, fluid dynamics code written in CUDA to SYCL, HIP, and Kokkos with a range of backends, using a combination of automated tools and manual tuning. We use a proxy application along with a custom performance model to inform the results and identify additional optimization strategies. At scale performance of the programming model implementations are evaluated on pre-production GPU node architectures for Frontier and Aurora, as well as on current NVIDIA device-based systems Summit and Polaris. Real-world workloads representing 3D blood flow calculations in complex vasculature are assessed. Our analysis highlights critical trade-offs between code performance, portability, and development time.

Martin, Aristotle↗

Current possibilities and future opportunities for erasure coded computations

The key capability established through the research funded by this award are erasure coded computations for linear systems, in serial and in parallel. This capability enables powerful efficient and scalable alternatives to existing linear system solvers in fault-prone computational systems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Nuclear imaging to diagnose and correct target-driver registration at high-repetition-rate for improved reactor efficiency

Inertial Confinement Fusion produces energy from a burning plasma lasting a fraction of a nanosecond. Power plant designs based on Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) will need to ignite targets 1-10 times a second, fired as projectiles into a chamber and delivering the driver to the target location. Driver asymmetry is known to impact ICF experiments at gain near unity and remains a candidate for primary yield degradation, and therefore fusion power plant energy output, for high-gain target designs. For a Fusion Power Plant (FPP), continuous and real-time monitoring of target performance provides an opportunity to stabilize or correct the target-driver registration. This requires x-ray and neutron imaging with a large field-of-view, sufficiently high resolution, fast analysis and to subtend a minimal solid angle. We introduce design criteria for such an imaging system that uses a coded aperture and time-gated, lens-coupled scintillators as a viable solution and outline the research steps required to field such a system. Integrating the imaging system into an IFE power plant as part of an active feedback loop could increase average power output by reducing the failure rate due to mis-aligned drivers with respect to the target.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Binary sequence detector uses minimum number of decision elements

Detector of an n bit binary sequence code within a serial binary data system assigns states to memory elements of a code sequence detector by employing the same order of states for the sequence detector as that of the sequence generator when the linear recursion relationship employed by the sequence generator is given.

Perlman, M.↗

Automating the multiprocessing environment

An approach to automate the programming and operation of tree-structured networks of multiprocessor systems is discussed. A conceptual, knowledge-based operating environment is presented, and requirements for two major technology elements are identified as follows: (1) An intelligent information translator is proposed for implementating information transfer between dissimilar hardware and software, thereby enabling independent and modular development of future systems and promoting a language-independence of codes and information; (2) A resident system activity manager, which recognizes the systems capabilities and monitors the status of all systems within the environment, is proposed for integrating dissimilar systems into effective parallel processing resources to optimally meet user needs. Finally, key computational capabilities which must be provided before the environment can be realized are identified.

Arpasi, Dale J.↗

Finding the complete path and weight enumerators of convolutional codes

A method for obtaining the complete path enumerator T(D, L, I) of a convolutional code is described. A system of algebraic equations is solved, using a new algorithm for computing determinants, to obtain T(D, L, I) for the (7,1/2) NASA standard code. Generating functions, derived from T(D, L, I) are used to upper bound Viterbi decoder error rates. This technique is currently feasible for constraint length K less than 10 codes. A practical, fast algorithm is presented for computing the leading nonzero coefficients of the generating functions used to bound the performance of constraint length K less than 20 codes. Code profiles with about 50 nonzero coefficients are obtained with this algorithm for the experimental K = 15, rate 1/4, code in the Galileo mission and for the proposed K = 15, rate 1/6, 2-dB code.

Onyszchuk, I.↗

Modernizing the Legacy Fission Wire Measurement System for the Advanced Test Reactor-Critical Facility

Operational lifetime extensions of existing research reactors have emphasized the need for refurbishment, replacements, and upgrades to supporting equipment and instrumentation. The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), which entered service in 1967, has recently completed the sixth core internals change-out and has scheduled operations until at least 2040. Reactor maintenance and operational risk management is critically important in the research reactor community, however supporting measurement systems sometimes get overlooked when maintenance is planned. The Fission Wire Measurement System (FWMS) is a custom measurement system designed in the 1960s to measure the beta-particle activity of irradiated uranium-aluminum fission wires. This measurement is conducted to determine the fission rate profile of the Advanced Reactor Test Critical (ATR-C) facility. The ATR-C is an open-pool, low-power test reactor that was purpose driven to resemble ATR and is used to qualify experiment configurations and verify core models prior to full-power experiment irradiations in ATR. A power distribution measurement in ATR-C uses uranium-aluminum wires that are distributed throughout the ATR-C core to validate simulation and modeling results. These measurements require 340 to 1500 wires to be irradiated and measured within a 12-hour window. The activity of the wires is measured in the required time with the FWMS, which was put into service in 1965 at the Radiation Measurements Laboratory (RML). The system consists of 4 measurement channels and one reference channel, each with a 2-pi proportional gas flow detector and the measurement channels each have an automated sample changer. This legacy system is crucial to the continued operations of ATR and has undergone some minor hardware upgrades since 1965, however the system presently relies on custom control boards, custom gas ion chambers, analog amplifiers/discriminators, and a user interface (UI) for the system written in outdated code. Much of the equipment and software is custom with no commercial replacements or support and limited documentation. The existing control software requires an operating system that is no longer supported, creating more vulnerabilities to continued operations. A project is underway with a third-party vendor to design, build, and document a new control and data acquisition system (CDAS) for the FWMS. The new upgrade will replace the control system, computer, UI, sample changer motors, and main power supply while maintaining the interface with existing detector hardware. The upgraded system will be operated in parallel with the current hardware and software to conduct validation testing. This equipment upgrade demonstrates the commitment at ATR to ensuring successful operations and potential future research reactors at INL.

46 - INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AN↗

Method and System for Temporal Filtering in Video Compression Systems

Three related innovations combine improved non-linear motion estimation, video coding, and video compression. The first system comprises a method in which side information is generated using an adaptive, non-linear motion model. This method enables extrapolating and interpolating a visual signal, including determining the first motion vector between the first pixel position in a first image to a second pixel position in a second image; determining a second motion vector between the second pixel position in the second image and a third pixel position in a third image; determining a third motion vector between the first pixel position in the first image and the second pixel position in the second image, the second pixel position in the second image, and the third pixel position in the third image using a non-linear model; and determining a position of the fourth pixel in a fourth image based upon the third motion vector. For the video compression element, the video encoder has low computational complexity and high compression efficiency. The disclosed system comprises a video encoder and a decoder. The encoder converts the source frame into a space-frequency representation, estimates the conditional statistics of at least one vector of space-frequency coefficients with similar frequencies, and is conditioned on previously encoded data. It estimates an encoding rate based on the conditional statistics and applies a Slepian-Wolf code with the computed encoding rate. The method for decoding includes generating a side-information vector of frequency coefficients based on previously decoded source data and encoder statistics and previous reconstructions of the source frequency vector. It also performs Slepian-Wolf decoding of a source frequency vector based on the generated side-information and the Slepian-Wolf code bits. The video coding element includes receiving a first reference frame having a first pixel value at a first pixel position, a second reference frame having a second pixel value at a second pixel position, and a third reference frame having a third pixel value at a third pixel position. It determines a first motion vector between the first pixel position and the second pixel position, a second motion vector between the second pixel position and the third pixel position, and a fourth pixel value for a fourth frame based upon a linear or nonlinear combination of the first pixel value, the second pixel value, and the third pixel value. A stationary filtering process determines the estimated pixel values. The parameters of the filter may be predetermined constants.

Lu, Ligang↗

Coded-mask-based X-ray phase-contrast and dark-field imaging

Phase contrast and dark-field X-ray imaging enable imaging of objects that absorb or reflect very little X-ray light. Disclosed is a method and systems for performing coded-mask-based multi-contrast imaging (CMMI). The method includes providing radiation to a coded mask that has a known phase and absorption profile according to a pre-determined pattern. The radiation is then impingent upon a sample, and the radiation is detected to perform phase-reconstruction and image processing. The method and associated systems allow for the use of maximum-likelihood and machine learning methods for reconstruction images of the sample from the detected radiation.

Shi, Xianbo↗

User's manual for a computer program to calculate discrete frequency noise of conventional and advanced propellers

A user's manual is presented for a computer program for the calculation of discrete frequency noise of conventional and advanced propellers. The structure of the program and the subroutines describing the input functions are discussed. Input variables and their default values and the variables in the output data sheet are defined. Two versions of the program are available. These differ only in the graphic output capability. One version has only printed output capability. A second version with extensive graphic output capability is available for the computer system at Langley. This Manual includes four detailed examples of both the printed and graphic outputs. These examples may be reproduced by users to check their code on their computer system.

Martin, R. M.↗

Highlights from a Mach 4 Experimental Demonstration of Inlet Mode Transition for Turbine-Based Combined Cycle Hypersonic Propulsion

NASA is focused on technologies for combined cycle, air-breathing propulsion systems to enable reusable launch systems for access to space. Turbine Based Combined Cycle (TBCC) propulsion systems offer specific impulse (Isp) improvements over rocket-based propulsion systems in the subsonic takeoff and return mission segments along with improved safety. Among the most critical TBCC enabling technologies are: 1) mode transition from the low speed propulsion system to the high speed propulsion system, 2) high Mach turbine engine development and 3) innovative turbine based combined cycle integration. To address these challenges, NASA initiated an experimental mode transition task including analytical methods to assess the state-of-the-art of propulsion system performance and design codes. One effort has been the Combined-Cycle Engine Large Scale Inlet Mode Transition Experiment (CCE-LIMX) which is a fully integrated TBCC propulsion system with flowpath sizing consistent with previous NASA and DoD proposed Hypersonic experimental flight test plans. This experiment was tested in the NASA GRC 10 by 10-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel (SWT) Facility. The goal of this activity is to address key hypersonic combined-cycle engine issues including: (1) dual integrated inlet operability and performance issues-unstart constraints, distortion constraints, bleed requirements, and controls, (2) mode-transition sequence elements caused by switching between the turbine and the ramjet/scramjet flowpaths (imposed variable geometry requirements), and (3) turbine engine transients (and associated time scales) during transition. Testing of the initial inlet and dynamic characterization phases were completed and smooth mode transition was demonstrated. A database focused on a Mach 4 transition speed with limited off-design elements was developed and will serve to guide future TBCC system studies and to validate higher level analyses.

Foster, Lancert E.↗

Advancing Open Science Through Innovative Data System Solutions: The Joint ESA-NASA Multi-Mission Algorithm and Analysis Platform (MAAP)'s Data Ecosystem

Collaborative open science practices are changing the way research is conducted. These changes affect how scientists work together on data, code and information. Data systems enhance open science by offering forward thinking technological solutions, such as providing data and computation on the cloud, to enable collaboration, sharing and analysis. In this paper, we present our vision for a conceptual data system on the cloud that enables open science. We also present our work on the Multi-Mission Algorithm and Analysis Platform (MAAP)which has served as a pathfinder data system for this conceptual approach.

Kaylin Bugbee↗