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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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The objective of this work is the development of efficient techniques for preliminary optimization of the cost associated with transfer trajectories to libration point orbits in the Sun-Earth-Moon four body problem; such transfers may also include lunar gravity assists.
Optimal allocation of n test points within redundant digital system for prelaunch and in-flight spacecraft reliability estimate
Three-dimensional bootlace lens antennas with two and four focal points can be optimized to produce high-quality scanned beams over a wide field of view. For two-dimensional scanning, the planar feed locus is replaced by a curved feed locus designed to minimize path length errors. Comparisons with previous bootlace lens designs demonstrate the advantages of this focal distribution. The bifocal lens shows good scanning performance in both principal and orthogonal planes. The quadrufocal lens performs better in its principal plane than in its orthogonal plane. It is also shown that the quadrufocal lens can be realized with a planar outer surface and a circular focal arc, and improved scanning performance is still achievable. Further optimization of the focal arc and/or relaxation of the planar outer surface condition results in quadrufocal lenses with negligible phase errors in the principal plane.
The behavior of hyperbolic and parabolic partial differential equations is contrasted by studying the point-to-point time-optimal control problem for the equation of heat conduction and the equation of motion of a vibrating string. A maximal principle is obtained for the time-optimal control of the one-dimensional heat equation, and it is proven that time optimal controls are weakly bang-bang. The bang-bang principle is proven to be invalid for hyperbolic equations because of the finite speed of wave propagation. In the case of boundary value control of the vibrating spring, the latter is demonstrated by deriving an explicit formula for the time optimal control.
A numerical simulation was performed, by means of a large-scale finite element code capable of handling large deformations and/or nonlinear behavior, to investigate the suitability of the nonlinear pulse-control algorithm to suppress the vibrations induced in the Spacecraft Control Laboratory Experiment (SCOLE) components under realistic maneuvers. Among the topics investigated were the effects of various control parameters on the efficiency and robustness of the vibration control algorithm. Advanced nonlinear control techniques were applied to an idealized model of some of the SCOLE components to develop an efficient algorithm to determine the optimal locations of point actuators, considering the hardware on the SCOLE project as distributed in nature. The control was obtained from a quadratic optimization criterion, given in terms of the state variables of the distributed system. An experimental investigation was performed on a model flexible structure resembling the essential features of the SCOLE components, and electrodynamic and electrohydraulic actuators were used to investigate the applicability of the control algorithm with such devices in addition to mass-ejection pulse generators using compressed air.
An existing volume grid generation procedure, AFLR3, was successfully modified to generate anisotropic tetrahedral elements using a directional metric transformation defined at source nodes. The procedure can be coupled with a solver and an error estimator as part of an overall anisotropic solution adaptation methodology. It is suitable for use with an error estimator based on an adjoint, optimization, sensitivity derivative, or related approach. This offers many advantages, including more efficient point placement along with robust and efficient error estimation. It also serves as a framework for true grid optimization wherein error estimation and computational resources can be used as cost functions to determine the optimal point distribution. Within AFLR3 the metric transformation is implemented using a set of transformation vectors and associated aspect ratios. The modified overall procedure is presented along with details of the anisotropic transformation implementation. Multiple two-and three-dimensional examples are also presented that demonstrate the capability of the modified AFLR procedure to generate anisotropic elements using a set of source nodes with anisotropic transformation metrics. The example cases presented use moderate levels of anisotropy and result in usable element quality. Future testing with various flow solvers and methods for obtaining transformation metric information is needed to determine practical limits and evaluate the efficacy of the overall approach.
The development is documented of a heuristic method for the solution of pure integer linear programming problems. The procedure draws its methodology from the ideas of Hooke and Jeeves type 1 and 2 exploratory searches, greedy procedures, and neighborhood searches. It uses an efficient rounding method to obtain its first feasible integer point from the optimal continuous solution obtained via the simplex method. Since this method is based entirely on simple addition or subtraction of one to each variable of a point in n-space and the subsequent comparison of candidate solutions to a given set of constraints, it facilitates significant complexity improvements over existing techniques. It also obtains the same optimal solution found by the branch-and-bound technique in 44 of 45 small to moderate size test problems. Two example problems are worked in detail to show the inner workings of the method. Furthermore, using an established weighted scheme for comparing computational effort involved in an algorithm, a comparison of this algorithm is made to the more established and rigorous branch-and-bound method. A computer implementation of the procedure, in PC compatible Pascal, is also presented and discussed.
One-point and two-point exponential functions have been developed and proved to be very effective approximations of structural response. The exponential has been compared to the linear, reciprocal and quadratic fit methods. Four test problems in structural analysis have been selected. The use of such approximations is attractive in structural optimization to reduce the numbers of exact analyses which involve computationally expensive finite element analysis.
Point Cloud data from non-optical sensors present challenges in scientific computing in both volume of data and files, even for cloud services environments. As part of the Multi-Mission Algorithm and Analysis Platform (MAAP), a joint open science platform for global biomass modelling, we’ve developed a cloud optimized workflow for using ATL08 (ICESat-2) data as a point cloud. For MAAP, the ATL08 data product is published as Entwine Point Tiles (EPT), allowing users to visualize and query the full extent of this collection interactively without pre-downloading, or preprocessing. The EPT format is a cloud-optimized point cloud data format which re-organizes points into a cloud friendly spatially indexed data structure. MAAP uses AWS S3 to store these point clouds and serves them over OGC specified APIs, 3DTiles for visualization, and WFS for querying. This workflow allows for interactive 3D visualizations in a web browser, including notebook environments and facilitates on the fly subsetting for interactive data exploration, all of which can be applied to other similar sensors.
The authors consider the problem of approximate observability of a one-dimensional diffusion equation on a finite spatial domain with spatial point measurements. The problem of the optimal selection of the measurement points is considered under three conditions: (1) no preassigned measurement nodes; (2) one preassigned node and; (3) two preassigned nodes. The main observation is that the optimal choice is related to three classical procedures in numerical analysis: (1) Gaussian quadrature; (2) Radau quadrature and; (3) Lobatto quadrature. It is shown that the existence of the Radau and Lobatto quadrature is closely related to classical root locus theory.
Lagrange multipliers in two-point boundary condition problems for trajectory optimization estimated by direct method
Modified sweep second-order variational method for solving two-point boundary value trajectory optimization problem
Program computes 64 X 64-point fast Fourier transform in less than 17 microseconds. Optimized 64 X 64 Point Two-Dimensional Fast Fourier Transform combines performance of real- and complex-valued one-dimensional fast Fourier transforms (FFT's) to execute two-dimensional FFT and coefficients of power spectrum. Coefficients used in many applications, including analyzing spectra, convolution, digital filtering, processing images, and compressing data. Source code written in C, 8086 Assembly, and Texas Instruments TMS320C30 Assembly languages.
A new search metric is discussed that may be used to better assess the predictive capability of different math term combinations during the optimization of a regression model of experimental data. The new search metric can be determined for each tested math term combination if the given experimental data set is split into two subsets. The first subset consists of data points that are only used to determine the coefficients of the regression model. The second subset consists of confirmation points that are exclusively used to test the regression model. The new search metric value is assigned after comparing two values that describe the quality of the fit of each subset. The first value is the standard deviation of the PRESS residuals of the data points. The second value is the standard deviation of the response residuals of the confirmation points. The greater of the two values is used as the new search metric value. This choice guarantees that both standard deviations are always less or equal to the value that is used during the optimization. Experimental data from the calibration of a wind tunnel strain-gage balance is used to illustrate the application of the new search metric. The new search metric ultimately generates an optimized regression model that was already tested at regression model independent confirmation points before it is ever used to predict an unknown response from a set of regressors.
A method is described for decomposing an optimization problem into a set of subproblems and a coordination problem which preserves coupling between the subproblems. The method is introduced as a special case of multilevel, multidisciplinary system optimization and its algorithm is fully described for two level optimization for structures assembled of finite elements of arbitrary type. Numerical results are given for an example of a framework to show that the decomposition method converges and yields results comparable to those obtained without decomposition. It is pointed out that optimization by decomposition should reduce the design time by allowing groups of engineers, using different computers to work concurrently on the same large problem.
A cyclical Mars exploration scenario is described which combines the use of libration points in the earth-moon and sun-Mars systems with a pair of reusable nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) transfer vehicles. In this approach, the NEP transfer vehicles are stationed at the cislunar and cismartian libration points, and involves short cislunar point escape and capture spirals. It eliminates any spiral requirements at Mars by utilizing the cismartian point as a transportation node. Chemical/aerobrake vehicles are used to transport humans between earth and the cislunar point as well as between Mars and the cismartian point.
A rapid analytical method for the optimization of rocket propulsion systems is presented for a vertical take-off, horizontal landing, single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle. This method utilizes trade-offs between propulsion characteristics affecting flight performance and engine system mass. The performance results from a point-mass trajectory optimization program are combined with a linearized sizing program to establish vehicle sizing trends caused by propulsion system variations. The linearized sizing technique was developed for the class of vehicle systems studied herein. The specific examples treated are the optimization of nozzle expansion ratio and lift-off thrust-to-weight ratio to achieve either minimum gross mass or minimum dry mass. Assumed propulsion system characteristics are high chamber pressure, liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellants, conventional bell nozzles, and the same fixed nozzle expansion ratio for all engines on a vehicle.
At the NASA Glenn Research Center, the NASA engine performance program (NEPP, ref. 1) and the design optimization testbed COMETBOARDS (ref. 2) with regression and neural network analysis-approximators have been coupled to obtain a preliminary engine design methodology. The solution to a high-bypass-ratio subsonic waverotor-topped turbofan engine, which is shown in the preceding figure, was obtained by the simulation depicted in the following figure. This engine is made of 16 components mounted on two shafts with 21 flow stations. The engine is designed for a flight envelope with 47 operating points. The design optimization utilized both neural network and regression approximations, along with the cascade strategy (ref. 3). The cascade used three algorithms in sequence: the method of feasible directions, the sequence of unconstrained minimizations technique, and sequential quadratic programming. The normalized optimum thrusts obtained by the three methods are shown in the following figure: the cascade algorithm with regression approximation is represented by a triangle, a circle is shown for the neural network solution, and a solid line indicates original NEPP results. The solutions obtained from both approximate methods lie within one standard deviation of the benchmark solution for each operating point. The simulation improved the maximum thrust by 5 percent. The performance of the linear regression and neural network methods as alternate engine analyzers was found to be satisfactory for the analysis and operation optimization of air-breathing propulsion engines (ref. 4).