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At least 1,297 records · Page 72

Validation of NASA Thermal Ice Protection Computer Codes: Program Overview - Part 1

The Icing Technology Branch at NASA Lewis has been involved in an effort to validate two thermal ice protection codes developed at the NASA Lewis Research Center. LEWICE/Thermal (electrothermal deicing & anti-icing), and ANTICE (hot-gas & electrothermal anti-icing). The Thermal Code Validation effort was designated as a priority during a 1994 'peer review' of the NASA Lewis Icing program, and was implemented as a cooperative effort with industry. During April 1996, the first of a series of experimental validation tests was conducted in the NASA Lewis Icing Research Tunnel(IRT). The purpose of the April 96 test was to validate the electrothermal predictive capabilities of both LEWICE/Thermal, and ANTICE. A heavily instrumented test article was designed and fabricated for this test, with the capability of simulating electrothermal de-icing and anti-icing modes of operation. Thermal measurements were then obtained over a range of test conditions, for comparison with analytical predictions. This paper will present an overview of the test, including a detailed description of: (1) the validation process; (2) test article design; (3) test matrix development; and (4) test procedures. Selected experimental results will be presented for de-icing and anti-icing modes of operation. Finally, the status of the validation effort at this point will be summarized. Detailed comparisons between analytical predictions and experimental results are contained in the following two papers: 'Validation of NASA Thermal Ice Protection Computer Codes: Part 2- The Validation of LEWICE/Thermal' and 'Validation of NASA Thermal Ice Protection Computer Codes: Part 3-The Validation of ANTICE'

Miller, Dean↗

Field Demonstration of Photonic Antenna Remoting at X-Band in the NASA Deep Space Network

We report on the successful demonstration of antenna remoting at X-band using a low phase noise and high dynamic range fiber optic link in an operating antenna receiving system, while tracking Magellan spacecraft. The insertion of the fiber link into the existing system adds no observable degradation in noise temperature to the system. We compare the experimental results with our theoretical predictions of degradations in noise temperature and dynamic range of the system caused by the insertion of the fiber link.

antenna remoting at X-band high dynamic range fibe↗

Field validation of isotropic analytical models for simulating fabric shades

Fabric roller shades are common shading materials used in commercial and residential buildings. Accurately characterizing and modeling shades helps practitioners select the appropriate product and its control strategy based on climate and occupants' priorities, such as visual comfort and view to outdoors. Previous studies established a generalized method for modeling complex fenestration systems using data-driven tabulated bidirectional scattering distribution functions. However, deploying such a method at scale to all fabric shading products on the market is too costly and time-consuming. Analytical models that are based on a limited set of measurements (e.g., normal-normal and normal-hemispherical visible transmittance and reflectance, and directional cut-off angles) can be used to model the wide variety of shading products on the market. This study evaluates the performance of two isotropic analytical models, Roos-Wienold and Modified-Kotey, for modeling fabric roller shades, with a focus on the model's ability to predict occupant visual comfort. The performance evaluation was conducted through laboratory and field measurements and simulations. The results showed that both models are sufficient for predicting vertical illuminance at seated eye-level. Roos-Wienold model was able to predict binary visual comfort classification (glare/no-glare) under a wide range of luminance conditions, while Modified-Kotey model did not perform as well under high-contrast low-adaptation conditions. Both models are insufficient in predicting visual comfort at a four-point scale (e.g., imperceptible, perceptible, disturbing, intolerable). The two isotropic models become less accurate when the fabric exhibits high anisotropy.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Some practical universal noiseless coding techniques, part 3, module PSl14,K+

The algorithmic definitions, performance characterizations, and application notes for a high-performance adaptive noiseless coding module are provided. Subsets of these algorithms are currently under development in custom very large scale integration (VLSI) at three NASA centers. The generality of coding algorithms recently reported is extended. The module incorporates a powerful adaptive noiseless coder for Standard Data Sources (i.e., sources whose symbols can be represented by uncorrelated non-negative integers, where smaller integers are more likely than the larger ones). Coders can be specified to provide performance close to the data entropy over any desired dynamic range (of entropy) above 0.75 bit/sample. This is accomplished by adaptively choosing the best of many efficient variable-length coding options to use on each short block of data (e.g., 16 samples) All code options used for entropies above 1.5 bits/sample are 'Huffman Equivalent', but they require no table lookups to implement. The coding can be performed directly on data that have been preprocessed to exhibit the characteristics of a standard source. Alternatively, a built-in predictive preprocessor can be used where applicable. This built-in preprocessor includes the familiar 1-D predictor followed by a function that maps the prediction error sequences into the desired standard form. Additionally, an external prediction can be substituted if desired. A broad range of issues dealing with the interface between the coding module and the data systems it might serve are further addressed. These issues include: multidimensional prediction, archival access, sensor noise, rate control, code rate improvements outside the module, and the optimality of certain internal code options.

Rice, Robert F.↗

Investigation of Damping Physics and CFD Tool Validation for Simulation of Baffled Tanks at Variable Slosh Amplitude

To meet the flight control damping requirement, baffles of various configurations have been devised to increase the natural viscous damping and decrease the magnitude of the slosh forces and torques. In the design of slosh baffles, the most widely used damping equation is the one derived by Miles, which is based on the experiments of Keulegan and Carpenter. This equation has been used in predicting damping of the baffled tanks in different diameters ranging from 12 to 112 inches. The analytical expression of Miles equation is easy to use, especially in the design of complex baffle system. Previous investigations revealed that some experiments had shown good agreements with the prediction method of Miles, whereas other experiments have shown significant deviations. For example, damping from Miles equation differs from experimental measurements by as much as 100 percent over a range of tank diameters from 12 to 112 inches, oscillation amplitudes from 0.1 to 1.5 baffle widths, and baffle depths of 0.3 to 0.5 tank radius. Previously, much of this difference has been attributed to experimental scatter. A systematical study is needed to understand the damping physics of baffled tanks, to identify the difference between Miles equation and experimental measurement, and to develop new semi-empirical relations to better represent the real damping physics. The approach of this study is to use CFD technology to shed light on the damping mechanisms of a baffled tank. First, a 1-D Navier-Stokes equation representing different length scales and time scales in the baffle damping physics is developed and analyzed. A well validated CFD solver, developed at NASA MSFC, Loci-STREAM-VOF, is applied to study vorticity field around the baffle and around the fluid interface to highlight the dissipation mechanisms at different slosh amplitudes. Previous measurement data are then used to validate the CFD damping results. The study found several critical parameters controlling fluid damping from a baffle: local slosh amplitude to baffle thickness (A/t), surface liquid depth to tank radius (h/R), local slosh amplitude to baffle width (A/W); and non-dimensional slosh frequency. The simulation highlights three significant damping regimes where different mechanisms dominate. The study proves that the previously found discrepancies between Miles equation and experimental measurement are not due to the measurement scatter, but rather due to different damping mechanisms at various slosh amplitudes. The limitations on the use of Miles equation are discussed based on the flow regime.

Yang, H. Q.↗

Determination of fiber-matrix interface failure parameters from off-axis tests

Critical fiber-matrix (FM) interface strength parameters were determined using a micromechanics-based approach together with failure data from off-axis tension (OAT) tests. The ply stresses at failure for a range of off-axis angles were used as input to a micromechanics analysis that was performed using the personal computer-based MICSTRAN code. FM interface stresses at the failure loads were calculated for both the square and the diamond array models. A simple procedure was developed to determine which array had the more severe FM interface stresses and the location of these critical stresses on the interface. For the cases analyzed, critical FM interface stresses were found to occur with the square array model and were located at a point where adjacent fibers were closest together. The critical FM interface stresses were used together with the Tsai-Wu failure theory to determine a failure criterion for the FM interface. This criterion was then used to predict the onset of ply cracking in angle-ply laminates for a range of laminate angles. Predictions for the onset of ply cracking in angle-ply laminates agreed with the test data trends.

Naik, Rajiv A.↗

Elastohydrodynamic film thickness model for heavily loaded contacts

An empirical elastohydrodynamic (EHD) film thickness formula for predicting the minimum film thickness occurring within heavily loaded contacts (maximum Hertz stresses above 150,000 psi) was developed. The formula was based upon X-ray film thickness measurements made with synthetic paraffinic, fluorocarbon, Type II ester and polyphenyl ether fluids covering a wide range of test conditions. Comparisons were made between predictions from an isothermal EHD theory and the test data. The deduced relationship was found to adequately reflect the high-load dependence exhibited by the measured data. The effects of contact geometry, material and lubricant properties on the form of the empirical model are also discussed.

Loewenthal, S. H.↗

EVALUATION OF OPERATION TEMPERATURES UNDER NATURAL CONVECTION HELIUM FLOW IN A CONFINED CAVITY

The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is a high-power accelerator-based pulsed neutron source led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to achieve high fluxes of neutrons for scientific experiments. Active and passive cooling of the systems and parts forming the SNS have been considered to warrant the safe operation of the facility. The diverse cooling systems make use of conjugated heat transfer mechanisms to provide a stable operation temperature for all components in the machine. Thermal power deposited into stainless-steel piping lines due to particle radiation may reach values of up to 1.2 W/cc in the regions located closer to the center of the lower IRP. These energy deposition levels, in not actively cooled components, such as the transfer-line-outer-vacuum-layer may increase the temperature of the component beyond design requirement limitations. The evaluation of the operation temperatures for the former components relies in the assumption that a low-pressure helium atmosphere provides enough heat removal capacity based on natural convection phenomena. In this work, the evaluation of steady state temperatures in components such as the CMS transfer lines has been evaluated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), analytical correlations and experimental measurements. The companion experiments were conducted in a closed helium system at pressures varying from 1.1 to 1.5 bar. A copper rod was affixed horizontally between viewing windows and heated at constant power, and measurements were made of both the rod temperature and ambient temperature via a system fiberoptic distributed temperature sensors and RTDs. It was found that the measured heat transfer coefficients agree well with the predictions of Churchill and Chu correlations across the range of cases considered. Additionally, the ambient helium volume above the rod was imaged via background oriented schlieren (BOS), and these data was used to determine the line-averaged density gradients in this region. These gradients were compared to simulation data to validate the predictions of natural convection simulations.

Dominguez-Ontiveros, Elvis [ORNL] (ORCID:000000018↗

New results from the Viking relativity experiment

The predicted general relativistic effect of solar gravity on the round-trip times of electromagnetic signals traveling between earth and Mars has been verified by means of radio ranging to the Viking spacecraft. The ranging measurements were found to be consistent with the predicted increases of up to 200 microsec in the travel times of the signals to within the estimated uncertainty of 0.2%.

Reasenberg, R. D.↗

Fabrication end Deployment Testing of Meter Solar Sail Quadrants for a Scaleable Square Solar Sail Ground Test System

In order for solar sail propulsion technologies to be considered as a viable option for a wide range of near term practical missions a predictable, stable, reliable, manufactureable, scaleable, and cost effective system must be developed and tested first on earth and then on orbit. The design and development of a Scaleable Square Solar Sail System (S^4) is well underway a t AEC-Able Engineering Co. Inc., and the design and production of the Solar Sails for this system is being carried out by SRS Technologies. In April and May of 2004 a single quadrant 10-meter system was tested at NASA LARC's vacuum chamber and a four quadrant 20-meter system has been designed and built for deployment and testing in the Spring of 2005 at NASA/Glenn Research Center's Plumb Brook Facility. SRS has developed an effective and efficient design for triangular sail quadrants that are supported are three points and provide a flat reflective surface with a high fill factor. This sail design is robust enough for deployments in a one atmosphere, one gravity environment and incorporates several advanced features including adhesiveless seaming of membrane strips, compliant edge borders to allow for film membrane cord strain mismatch without causing wrinkling and low mass (3% of total sail mass) ripstop. This paper will outline the sail design and fabrication process, the lessons learned and the resulting mature production, packaging and deployment processes that have been developed. It will also highlight the scalability of the equipment and processes that were developed to fabricate and package the sails. Based on recent experience, SRS is confidant that flight worthy solar sails in the 40-120-meter size range with areal density in the 4-5g/sq m (sail minus structure) range can be produced with existing technology. Additional film production research will lead to further reductions in film thickness to less than 1 micron enabling production of sails with areal densities as low as 20 g/sq m using the current design resulting in a system areal density of as low as 5.3g/sq m. These areal densities are low enough to allow nearly all of the Solar Sail missions that have been proposed by the scientific community and the fundamental technology required to produce these sails has been demonstrated on the ground test sails that have recently been built. These demonstrations have shown that the technology is mature enough to build sails needed to support critical science missions. Solar Sails will be an enabling technology for NASA's Vision for Space Exploration by allowing communication satellite orbits that can maintain continuous communication with the polar regions of the Moon and Mars and to support solar weather monitoring to provide early warning of solar flares and storms that could threaten the safety of astronauts and other spacecraft.

Laue, Greg↗

Measurement of the proton spin structure at long distances

Measuring the spin structure of protons and neutrons tests our understanding of how they arise from quarks and gluons, the fundamental building blocks of nuclear matter. At long distances, the coupling constant of the strong interaction becomes large, requiring non-perturbative methods to calculate quantum chromodynamics processes, such as lattice gauge theory or effective field theories. In this work, we report proton spin structure measurements from scattering a polarized electron beam off polarized protons. The spin-dependent cross-sections were measured at large distances, corresponding to the region of low momentum transfer squared between 0.012 and 1.0GeV 2 . This kinematic range provides unique tests of chiral effective field theory predictions. Our results show that a complete description of the nucleon spin remains elusive, and call for further theoretical works, for example, in lattice quantum chromodynamics. Finally, our data extrapolated to the photon point agree with the Gerasimov–Drell–Hearn sum rule, a fundamental prediction of quantum field theory that relates the anomalous magnetic moment of the proton to its integrated spin-dependent cross-sections.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Prediction of Skylab attitude motion for space shuttle revisit

Computer simulations were employed to generate results, based on a fairly complicated analytical model. Environmental effects considered include atmospheric drag and gravity gradients. Mathematical models were based on Euler's moment equations and transformations from the body frame to inertial frame. A range of altitudes was considered, from 278 kilometers to 417 kilometers. Skylab is predicted to be in this orbital range during the 1979-1980 period. Results indicated that there will be a cyclic attitude motion due to the combined effect of gravity gradient and atmosphere drag. This motion can be characterized as being a slow tumble.

Alexander, S. G.↗

Application of high-precision two-way ranging to Galileo Earth-1 encounter navigation

The application of precision two-way ranging to orbit determination with relatively short data arcs is investigated for the Galileo spacecraft's approach to its first Earth encounter (December 8, 1990). Analysis of previous S-band (2.3-GHz) ranging data acquired from Galileo indicated that under good signal conditions submeter precision and 10-m ranging accuracy were achieved. It is shown that ranging data of sufficient accuracy, when acquired from multiple stations, can sense the geocentric angular position of a distant spacecraft. A range data filtering technique, in which explicit modeling of range measurement bias parameters for each station pass is utilized, is shown to largely remove the systematic ground system calibration errors and transmission media effects from the Galileo range measurements, which would otherwise corrupt the angle-finding capabilities of the data. The accuracy of the Galileo orbit solutions obtained with S-band Doppler and precision ranging were found to be consistent with simple theoretical calculations, which predicted that angular accuracies of 0.26-0.34 microrad were achievable. In addition, the navigation accuracy achieved with precision ranging was marginally better than that obtained using delta-differenced one-way range (delta DOR), the principal data type that was previously used to obtain spacecraft angular position measurements operationally.

Pollmeier, V. M.↗

Measurement of Trailing Edge Noise Using Directional Array and Coherent Output Power Methods

The use of a directional (or phased) array of microphones for the measurement of trailing edge (TE) noise is described and tested. The capabilities of this method arc evaluated via measurements of TE noise from a NACA 63-215 airfoil model and from a cylindrical rod. This TE noise measurement approach is compared to one that is based on thc cross spectral analysis of output signals from a pair of microphones placed on opposite sides of an airframe model (COP method). Advantages and limitations of both methods arc examined. It is shown that the microphone array can accurately measures TE noise and captures its two-dimensional characteristic over a large frequency range for any TE configuration as long as noise contamination from extraneous sources is within bounds. The COP method is shown to also accurately measure TE noise but over a more limited frequency range that narrows for increased TE thickness. Finally, the applicability and generality of an airfoil self-noise prediction method was evaluated via comparison to the experimental data obtained using the COP and array measurement methods. The predicted and experimental results are shown to agree over large frequency ranges.

Hutcheson, Florence V.↗

Measurement Of Trailing Edge Noise using Directional Array and Coherent Output Power Methods

The use of a directional array of microphones for the measurement of trailing edge (TE) noise is described. The capabilities of this method are evaluated via measurements of TE noise from a NACA 63-215 airfoil model and from a cylindrical rod. This TE noise measurement approach is compared to one that is based on the cross spectral analysis of output signals from a pair of microphones (COP method). Advantages and limitations of both methods are examined. It is shown that the microphone array can accurately measures TE noise and captures its two-dimensional characteristic over a large frequency range for any TE configuration as long as noise contamination from extraneous sources is within bounds. The COP method is shown to also accurately measure TE noise but over a more limited frequency range that narrows for increased TE thickness. Finally, the applicability and generality of an airfoil self-noise prediction method was evaluated via comparison to the experimental data obtained using the COP and array measurement methods. The predicted and experimental results are shown to agree over large frequency ranges.

Hutcheson, Florence V.↗

Advanced oxide dispersion strengthened sheet alloys for improved combustor durability

Burner design modifications that will take advantage of the improved creep and cyclic oxidation resistance of oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloys while accommodating the reduced fatigue properties of these materials were evaluated based on preliminary analysis and life predictions, on construction and repair feasibility, and on maintenance and direct operating costs. Two designs - the film cooled, segmented louver and the transpiration cooled, segmented twin Wall - were selected for low cycle fatigue (LCF) component testing. Detailed thermal and structural analysis of these designs established the strain range and temprature at critical locations resulting in predicted lives of 10,000 cycles for MA 956 alloy. The ODs alloys, MA 956 and HDA 8077, demonstrated a 167 C (300 F) temperature advantage over Hastelloy X alloy in creep strength and oxidation resistance. The MA 956 alloy was selected for mechanical property and component test evaluations. The MA 956 alloy was superior to Hastelloy X in LCF component testing of the film cooled, segmented louver design.

Henricks, R. J.↗

Development and validation of the V/STOL aerodynamics and stability and control manual

A V/STOL Aerodynamics and Stability and Control Manual was developed to provide prediction methods which are applicable to a wide range of V/STOL configurations in hover and transition flight, in and out of ground effect. Propulsion-induced effects have been combined with unpowered aerodynamics in a buildup of total forces and moments for the jet-lift concept, so that total aerodynamics can be used to predict aircraft stability, control, and flying qualities characteristics. Results of longitudinal aerodynamic predictions have been compared with test data, and indicate that the methods are fast, inexpensive, and within the desired accuracy for the objective preliminary design stage.

Henderson, C.↗