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At least 1,279 records · Page 71

TPSAS-NF1676L-25778-DND

Testing required to design and certify aircraft structures has increased dramatically with the growth in use of composite materials, and the development time and cost have become an issue as industry looks towards the next generation of aircraft. To help address this challenge, NASA has formed an industry-spanning consortium with the goal of cutting by 30% today's 10-year timeline for developing and certifying composite aircraft structures. This goal is to be achieved by infusing leading edge, physics-based tools to improve the prediction of the response and failure of composite aerospace structures. The plan for the public-private partnership of NASA, the FAA, airframe manufacturers, aircraft engine manufacturers, and several universities is to conduct joint research under the five-year Advanced Composites Program (ACP). The emphasis of the ACP project is the development of damage prediction and non-destructive inspection methods capabilities that are sufficiently reliable to enable a reduction in the element and subcomponent testing necessary for design and certification. ACP also is expected to create rapid design tools to speed preliminary design and improve safety and performance. A critical element of this research concerns the residual strength of postbuckled stiffened panels with impact damage. This presentation will discuss different aspects of ongoing research on the prediction of structural collapse due to skin/stiffener separation. In particular, the presentation will examine issues that must be addressed in the analysis, such as R-curve toughening, delamination migration, bridging, as well as some unexpected effects of ply orientation.

Carlos G Davila↗

Level 2 Milestone: Develop and Incorporate Novel Code Verification of Fundamental Equations in Gemma and Set Up Appropriate Tests

For computational physics simulations, code verification plays a major role in establishing the credibility of the results by assessing the correctness of the implementation of the underlying numerical methods. In computational electromagnetics, surface integral equations, such as the method-of-moments implementations of the electric-, magnetic-, and combinedfield integral equations, are frequently used to solve Maxwell’s equations on the surfaces of electromagnetic scatterers. These electromagnetic surface integral equations yield many code-verification challenges due to the various sources of numerical error and their possible interactions. In this report, we provide approaches to separately measure the numerical errors arising from these different error sources. We demonstrate the effectiveness of these approaches in Gemma.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Analysis and effects of the advanced solid rocket motor on the Space Shuttle elements

This interim final report summarizes the activities and major accomplishments under NASA/MSFC Contract NAS8-39235 for the initial two year contractual effort beginning October 1, 1991, and ending September 30, 1993. It is not intended as an exhaustive treatment or review of any particular technical issue which was addressed during this two-year period, but does provide an overview of the many induced environment studies and test support activities undertaken by REMTECH and its subcontractors during this two-year period. The initial scope of work has been pursued vigorously through this two-year period by separating the effort into five functional areas. The five functional areas are ascent plume radiation, ascent plume convection, ascent aerodynamic heating, launch stand environments, and reentry heating. A work breakdown structure (WBS) for each functional area was devised to permit nearly autonomous activities within each functional responsibility while maintaining commonality in reporting procedures and cost accounting. The contract was modified 11 times to provide incremental funding and to expand the scope of work. Additional work breakdown structure was incorporated to meet the expanded scope. A contract chronology is provided in Section 2. The initial scope of work, expanded scope, and corresponding WBS designation are described in Section 3. A summary review of major accomplishments is also provided in Section 4 to show the breadth of activities and extent of reporting. Reports, meetings, test activities, and other accomplishments within each functional area are also summarized by WBS heading in the appendices.

Source record↗

Defect Detection Model Development for Large Scale Thermoplastic Printing

Large-format additive manufacturing (LFAM) offers several advantages, including high throughput, cost-effective pellet-fed extrusion, and the capability to produce large-scale structures. The main pain points of LFAM include start and stops during the printing process, warpage, long layer times that lead to bead freezing, and bead separation due to shrinkage. These issues can lead to overfill, underfill and buildup of material in different sections of a print. This can lead to hidden defects embedded within the printed layers, or even ultimate failure of the printed structure. This ensures these defects can only be identified through nondestructive testing (NDT) inspection methods after printing, which can be timely and costly. Aligned Vision work specializes in 2D projectors with visual inspection systems and machine learning. Traditionally system is used for composite layup and layup inspections. In this work we used the LFAM system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to create defect rich samples. The Aligned Vision inspection system then performed in-situ monitoring of the print process after each part was printed. This in-situ vision inspection system was used to develop a layer-by-layer inspection model that looks for overfill, underfill, and the buildup of defects using only a camera-based vision system. This leads to the assurance of high-quality production components.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Ground simulation and tunnel blockage for a jet-flapped, basic STOL model tested to very high lift coefficients

Ground effects experiments and large/small-tunnel interference studies were carried out on a model with a 20-inch (50.8 cm) span wing. The wing, which includes a highly deflected knee-blown flap can be fitted with unflapped tips and slats. A low-mounted tailplane can be fitted to the aft fuselage. Three-component balance meaurements, made with a fixed ground equipped with a single boundary-layer blowing slot, were compared with datum, moving-ground results. Good comparisons were obtained up to model blowing momentum coefficients of approximately two, after which the particular floor blowing settings used proved insufficient to prevent floor separation in the vicinity of the model. Skin friction measurements, taken routinely along the floor centerline, proved invaluable during the analysis of results, and their use is recommended as input to determination of floor BLC setting. A careful investigation was made of pitching moments, including tail-on, close-to-ground cases, with favorable results. Drag proved the most sensitive to the change from a moving to the boundary-layer controlled ground.

Hackett, J. E.↗

Profile negotiation: An air/ground automation integration concept for managing arrival traffic

NASA Ames Research Center and NASA Langley Research Center conducted a joint simulation study to evaluate a profile negotiation process (PNP) between a time-based air traffic control ATC system and an airplane equipped with a four dimensional flight management system (4D FMS). Prototype procedures were developed to support the functional implementation of this process. The PNP was designed to provide an arrival trajectory solution that satisfies the separation requirements of ATC while remaining as close as possible to the airplane's preferred trajectory. The Transport Systems Research Vehicle cockpit simulator was linked in real-time to the Center/TRACON Automation System (CTAS) for the experiment. Approximately 30 hours of simulation testing were conducted over a three week period. Active airline pilot crews and active Center controller teams participated as test subjects. Results from the experiment indicate the potential for successful incorporation of airplane preferred arrival trajectories in the CTAS automation environment. Controllers were able to consistently and effectively negotiate nominally conflict-free trajectories with pilots flying a 4D-FMS-equipped airplane. The negotiated trajectories were substantially closer to the airplane's preference than would have otherwise been possible without the PNP. Airplane fuel savings relative to baseline CTAS were achieved in the test scenarios. The datalink procedures and clearances developed for this experiment, while providing the necessary functionality, were found to be operationally unacceptable to the pilots. Additional pilot control and understanding of the proposed airplane-preferred trajectory and a simplified clearance procedure were cited as necessary for operational implementation of the concept. From the controllers' perspective, the main concerns were the ability of the 4D airplane to accurately track the negotiated trajectory and the workload required to support the PNP as implemented in this study.

Williams, David H.↗

Computation of Separated and Unsteady Flows with One- and Two-Equation Turbulence Models

The ability of one- and two-equation turbulence models to predict unsteady separated flows over airfoils is evaluated. An implicit, factorized, upwind-biased numerical scheme is used for the integration of the compressible, Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations. The turbulent eddy viscosity is obtained from the computed mean flowfield by integration of the turbulent field equations. The two-equation turbulence models are discretized in space with an upwind-biased, second order accurate total variation diminishing scheme. One and two-equation turbulence models are first tested for a separated airfoil flow at fixed angle of incidence. The same models are then applied to compute the unsteady flowfields about airfoils undergoing oscillatory motion at low subsonic Mach numbers. Experimental cases where the flow has been tripped at the leading edge and where natural transition was allowed to occur naturally are considered. The more recently developed field-equation turbulence models capture the physics of unsteady separated flow significantly better than the standard kappa-epsilon and kappa-omega models. However, certain differences in the hysteresis effects are obtained. For an untripped high-Reynolds-number flow, it was found necessary to take into account the leading edge transitional flow region in order to capture the correct physical mechanism that leads to dynamic stall.

Ekaterinaris, John A.↗

Lift-Enhancing Tabs on Multielement Airfoils

The use of flat-plate tabs (similar to Gurney flaps) to enhance the lift of multielement airfoils is extended here by placing them on the pressure side and near the trailing edge of the main element rather than just on the furthest downstream wing element. The tabs studied range in height from 0.125 to 1.25% of the airfoil reference chord. In practice, such tabs would be retracted when the high-lift system is stowed. The effectiveness of the concept was demonstrated experimentally and computationally on a two-dimensional NACA 63(sub 2)-215 Mod B airfoil with a single-slotted, 30%-chord flap. Both the experiments and computations showed that the tabs significantly increase the lift at a given angle of attack and the maximum lift coefficient of the airfoil. The computational results showed that the increased lift was a result of additional turning of the flow by the tab that reduced or eliminated now separation on the flap. The best configuration tested, a 0.5%-chord tab placed 0.5% chord upstream of the trailing edge of the main element, increased the maximum lift coefficient of the airfoil by 12% and the maximum lift-to-drag ratio by 40%.

Ross, James C.↗

Comparison of the CHARM Predictions of the Multirotor Test Bed with Wind Tunnel Experimental Results

Urban air mobility as a fast transportation solution has captured the attention of private companies and government aviation departments in the 21st century. New designs of aerial vehicles are being developed to meet industry needs but often neglect the aerodynamic characteristics and the effects of interacting rotors. This work focuses on predicting rotor behavior and understanding the importance of the rotor wake interaction for future urban air mobility (UAM) designs. The Multirotor Test Bed (MTB) project was initiated at NASA Ames Research center to support the NASA Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology Project to study rotorcraft performance specifically for multirotor aircraft. The MTB is a modular multirotor test stand that makes testing feasible for up to six rotors at different angles and rotor arrangements, including Tall and Short configurations at different horizontal and vertical rotor separation distances. The MTB was tested in the U.S Army’s 7-by 10-Foot Wind Tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center in late 2019. This work focuses on exploring the impact of aerodynamic interactions between the MTB rotors using the Comprehensive Hierarchical Aeromechanics Rotorcraft Model (CHARM) software. The CHARM software is capable of modeling Vertical Take Off and Landing aircraft aerodynamics in maneuvering and steady flight conditions. CHARM allows the user to define flow and body characteristics, including the rotor geometry, aerodynamic conditions, wind tunnel speed, and airfoil tables as inputs. As the first step, a single MTB rotor was simulated in hover, and the results were compared with wind tunnel test data to confirm the CHARM parameters. Once the accurate performance was verified, the MTB rotors were simulated in forward flight, and each rotor was trimmed to the measured thrust. The simulation variables include one, two, four, and six rotors at the Short and Tall configurations, with MTB pitch angles of 0, -5, and -10 degrees. The MTB was simulated with and without wind tunnel walls. These results demonstrate the rotor wake interaction and its impact on rotor performance. This information also helps determine which configurations should be explored for future wind tunnel tests.

CHARM Predictions↗

Studies on the Encapsulation of Brine Generated from a Process Using Selective Electrodialysis Reversal

This topical report summarizes the laboratory testing, geochemical modeling, and mineralogical testing conducted to examine the efficacy of wastewater encapsulation for the brine generated from the Saltworks Flex electrodialysis reversal technology. Within the laboratory testing, the short- and long-term physical properties of seven separate mix designs were examined along with the leaching of each mix design. Additionally, geochemical thermodynamic modeling was used along with mineralogical analyses to help gain a fundamental understanding of the chemistry involved in the encapsulation process. Encapsulation is a process that results in the immobilization of constituents of interest by creating an engineered material that contains the waste within its matrix, both physically and chemically, in such a manner that the receiving environment is protected from adverse effects. Within the context of this study, encapsulation mix designs involved mixing the Saltworks brine with fly ash and various additives, principally lime (calcium oxide) and cement, to form a paste that eventually sets and hardens into a monolith upon placement in a landfill. Moisture conditioning fly ash with wastewater sources for on-site landfill disposal is a process that is in use at some sites and has been presented as a viable option to dispose of liquid wastes. However, because chemical reactions that can lead to sequestration of constituents of interest are not optimized, leaching can occur. Therefore, in this study, mixes were created to mimic moisture conditioning, as well as engineered pastes of varying mix designs. The study found that engineered encapsulation mixes provide significant resistance to leaching compared to moisture conditioning alone. The best performing encapsulation mix used lime as the additive, which proved superior to the use of cement. After 90 days of curing, this encapsulated mix was 5.5 times stronger than the moisture conditioned mix. Additionally, this mix exhibited an approximate 2.5 order of magnitude drop in hydraulic conductivity compared to the moisture conditioned mix. When comparing leaching, nearly all the chloride was found to evolve from the moisture conditioned mix, whereas only 6.7% of the chlorine contained in the best performing encapsulated mix leached out. Mineralogical analysis via X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed a significant concentration of the chloride sequestering mineral, Friedel’s salt, in the best performing encapsulation mix, whereas none was observed in the moisture conditioned mix, pointing to it being the primary chemical mechanism for chloride retention, along with the physical impermeability of the material. With respect to the modeling study, the model was successful in predicting the presence of most mineral phases observed in the XRD analysis.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Downstream Separation of Formic Acid with Anion-Exchange Resin from Electrocatalytic Carbon Dioxide (CO 2 ) Conversion: Adsorption, Kinetics, and Equilibrium Modeling

The electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO 2 RR) that produces liquid formic acid (FA) is one potential route to minimize the CO 2 concentration in the atmosphere by utilizing CO 2 as a feedstock. However, one of the main disadvantages of this route is the high energy demand required for purification through conventional distillation. This method of purification has been shown to result in a large carbon footprint in life-cycle analysis (LCA). Therefore, finding an alternative purification technique that can integrate with an electrochemical CO 2 RR process with the potential to lower the carbon footprint would be of great interest. Under the experimental conditions of the CO 2 RR, FA remains in its basic form as the formate anion in the catholyte. Anion exchange resins with their basic properties can separate the formate anion from the catholyte mixture as an alternative to energy intensive distillation. In this work, three anion exchange resins with increasing basicity order: Amberlite IRA-96 < Amberlite IRA-910 < Ambersep 900 are tested to separate FA in the presence of aqueous solution of potassium bicarbonate catholyte with varying levels of resin and FA. Kinetics and equilibrium studies data for the FA adsorption are interpreted using several kinetics and isotherm models. The kinetics data fit well with a pseudo-first-order model at high initial FA concentrations and a pseudo-second-order model at low initial FA concentrations. The experimental data can be best explained with the Freundlich isotherm model. The fitted results show that strongly basic Ambersep 900 is more effective at separating FA, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 336.7 mg/g compared to Amberlite IRA-96 (275.2 mg/g) and Amberlite IRA-910 (209.2 mg/g) in neutral water. However, weakly basic Amberlite IRA-96 (110.8 mg/g) can separate FA more efficiently from potassium bicarbonate catholyte than Amberlite IRA-910 (99.9 mg/g) and Ambersep 900 (40.0 mg/g). As a result, competitive adsorption occurs in the presence of potassium bicarbonate catholyte, but the formic acid adsorption capacity is still sufficient for adequate separation.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗

Thermal testing techniques for space shuttle thermal protection system panels

An experimental system was developed for evaluation of the effects of aerodynamic heating and cooling, vacuum, and pressure loading on candidate insulation packages proposed for use on the space shuttle. The system includes a number of design features which facilitate rapid recycle times. This is necessary to efficiently conduct extensive thermal cycling tests on these insulation packages to determine their reuse capabilities. The heart of the system is a 26-inch graphite element radiant heater. A susceptor plate functions as a uniform-temperature intermediate radiating surface. The susceptor also forms the lid of an inert atmosphere enclosure which separates the heater from the oxidizing test atmosphere. In some tests the plate properly simulates the heating from an actual flight heat-shield panel. Although other materials were used at lower required test temperatures, 2500 F was routinely achieved using a coated columbium susceptor plate.

Cox, B. G.↗

Separation processes during binary monotectic alloy production

Observation of microgravity solidification processes indicates that outside of sedimentation, at least two other important effects can separate the phases: critical-point wetting and spreading; and thermal migration of second-phase droplets due to interfacial tension gradients. It is difficult to study these surface tension effects while in a unit gravity field. In order to investigate the processes occurring over a temperature range, i.e., between a consolute point and the monotectic temperature, it is necessary to use a low-gravity environment. The MSFC drop tube (and tower), the ballistic trajectory KC-135 airplane, and the Space Shuttle are ideal facilities to aid formation and testing of hypotheses. Much of the early work in this area focuses on transparent materials so that process dynamics may be studied by optical techniques such as photography for viewing macro-processes; holography for studying diffusional growth; spinodal decomposition and coalescence; ellipsometry for surface wetting and spreading effects; and interferometry and spectroscopy for small-scale spatial resolution of concentration profiles.

Frazier, D. O.↗

Why is Light Text Harder to Read Than Dark Text?

Scharff and Ahumada (2002, 2003) measured text legibility for light text and dark text. For paragraph readability and letter identification, responses to light text were slower and less accurate for a given contrast. Was this polarity effect (1) an artifact of our apparatus, (2) a physiological difference in the separate pathways for positive and negative contrast or (3) the result of increased experience with dark text on light backgrounds? To rule out the apparatus-artifact hypothesis, all data were collected on one monitor. Its luminance was measured at all levels used, and the spatial effects of the monitor were reduced by pixel doubling and quadrupling (increasing the viewing distance to maintain constant angular size). Luminances of vertical and horizontal square-wave gratings were compared to assess display speed effects. They existed, even for 4-pixel-wide bars. Tests for polarity asymmetries in display speed were negative. Increased experience might develop full letter templates for dark text, while recognition of light letters is based on component features. Earlier, an observer ran all conditions at one polarity and then switched. If dark and light letters were intermixed, the observer might use component features on all trials and do worse on the dark letters, reducing the polarity effect. We varied polarity blocking (completely blocked, alternating smaller blocks, and intermixed blocks). Letter identification responses times showed polarity effects at all contrasts and display resolution levels. Observers were also more accurate with higher contrasts and more pixels per degree. Intermixed blocks increased the polarity effect by reducing performance on the light letters, but only if the randomized block occurred prior to the nonrandomized block. Perhaps observers tried to use poorly developed templates, or they did not work as hard on the more difficult items. The experience hypothesis and the physiological gain hypothesis remain viable explanations.

Scharff, Lauren V.↗

Gravity Probe B Timing System and Roll Phase Determination

An oven-controlled crystal oscillator at 16.368 MHz provides clock signals to all GP-B components and synchronizes the data collection, transmission and processing. The sampled science data signals are stamped with the vehicle time, a counter of the 10Hz data strobe divided down from the clock. The GPS receiver supplies an external reference for time transfer between the vehicle time and coordinated universal time. Ground and space flight tests show the time transfer error is within 1 microsecond. The time latency between the effective sample time of science signals and the stamped vehicle time is verified to 1 ms in the ground tests. The GP-B satellite is controlled to roll with a period of 77.5 sec about an axis along the direction to the guide star to average out the disturbance torques fixed to the body of the satellite and reduce the gyroscope readout noise. The roll phase is determined on the ground to high accuracy with the telemetry data from two star trackers and used in the data analysis to separate the drifts of gyroscope spin axes in the orbital plane and perpendicular to the orbital plane. The flight data shows that the roll phase is controlled to within 40 arcsec with a measurement uncertainty of 7 arcsec.

Jie, Li↗

Ablative Rocket Deflector Testing and Computational Modeling

A deflector risk mitigation program was recently conducted at the NASA Stennis Space Center. The primary objective was to develop a database that characterizes the behavior of industry-grade refractory materials subjected to rocket plume impingement conditions commonly experienced on static test stands. The program consisted of short and long duration engine tests where the supersonic exhaust flow from the engine impinged on an ablative panel. Quasi time-dependent erosion depths and patterns generated by the plume impingement were recorded for a variety of different ablative materials. The erosion behavior was found to be highly dependent on the material s composition and corresponding thermal properties. For example, in the case of the HP CAST 93Z ablative material, the erosion rate actually decreased under continued thermal heating conditions due to the formation of a low thermal conductivity "crystallization" layer. The "crystallization" layer produced near the surface of the material provided an effective insulation from the hot rocket exhaust plume. To gain further insight into the complex interaction of the plume with the ablative deflector, computational fluid dynamic modeling was performed in parallel to the ablative panel testing. The results from the current study demonstrated that locally high heating occurred due to shock reflections. These localized regions of shock-induced heat flux resulted in non-uniform erosion of the ablative panels. In turn, it was observed that the non-uniform erosion exacerbated the localized shock heating causing eventual plume separation and reversed flow for long duration tests under certain conditions. Overall, the flow simulations compared very well with the available experimental data obtained during this project.

Allgood, Daniel C.↗

Innovative Flow Control Concepts for Drag Reduction

This paper highlights the technology development of two flow control concepts for aircraft drag reduction. The NASA Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project worked with Boeing to demonstrate these two concepts on a specially outfitted Boeing 757 ecoDemonstrator during the spring of 2015. The first flow control concept used Active Flow Control (AFC) to delay flow separation on a highly deflected rudder and increase the side force that it generates. This may enable a smaller vertical tail to provide the control authority needed in the event of an engine failure during takeoff and landing, while still operating in a conventional manner over the rest of the flight envelope. Thirty-one sweeping jet AFC actuators were installed and successfully flight-tested on the vertical tail of the 757 ecoDemonstrator. Pilot feedback, flow cone visualization, and analysis of the flight test data confirmed that the AFC is effective, as a smoother flight and enhanced rudder control authority were reported. The second flow control concept is the Insect Accretion Mitigation (IAM) innovation where surfaces were engineered to mitigate insect residue adhesion on a wing's leading edge. This is necessary because something as small as an insect residue on the leading edge of a laminar flow wing design can cause turbulent wedges that interrupt laminar flow, resulting in an increase in drag and fuel use. Several non-stick coatings were developed by NASA and applied to panels that were mounted on the leading edge of the wing of the 757 ecoDemonstrator. The performance of the coated surfaces was measured and validated by the reduction in the number of bug adhesions relative to uncoated control panels flown simultaneously. Both flow control concepts (i.e., sweeping jet actuators and non-stick coatings) for drag reduction were the culmination of several years of development, from wind tunnel tests to flight tests, and produced valuable data for the advancement of modern aircraft designs. The ERA systems analysis studies performed by NASA indicated that AFC-enhanced vertical tail could produce approximately 0.9% drag reduction for a large twin aisle aircraft and IAM coatings could enable approximately 1.2% drag reduction recovery for a potential total drag reduction of approximately 3.3% for a single aisle aircraft with a natural laminar flow (NLF) wing design.

Lin, John C.↗

Performance Analysis of a Membrane-based Ionic Liquid Desiccant (ILD) Dehumidifier

Air dehumidification through cooling is an energy-intensive process, which consumes about 20-40% of the overall energy for air-conditioning. Liquid desiccant dehumidification can separate dehumidification from space cooling and has potential to improve the cooling efficiency and reduce the overall energy consumption for air-conditioning. However, the drawbacks such as liquid carryover and corrosion, membrane contamination and blocking, limit its application. To eliminate these problems, a new dehumidifier using nonporous membrane and ionic liquid desiccant (ILD) was developed. The dehumidification performance of the new dehumidifier was characterized through a series of lab tests. Test results indicate that the new dehumidifier can achieve a moisture removal rate up to 180.3 g/h and a dehumidification effectiveness up to 12.7%. A parametric study found that the dehumidification performance is sensitive to the flowrates of the air and the ILD solution. A higher mass flow ratio between the ILD solution and the air could result in better dehumidification performance.

Wang, Lingshi↗