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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 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2003

Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma in weightlessness: a feasibility study

BACKGROUND: The Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (FAST) examines for fluid in gravitationally dependent regions. There is no prior experience with this technique in weightlessness, such as on the International Space Station, where sonography is currently the only diagnostic imaging tool. STUDY DESIGN: A ground-based (1 g) porcine model for sonography was developed. We examined both the feasibility and the comparative performance of the FAST examination in parabolic flight. Sonographic detection and fluid behavior were evaluated in four animals during alternating weightlessness (0 g) and hypergravity (1.8 g) periods. During flight, boluses of fluid were incrementally introduced into the peritoneal cavity. Standardized sonographic windows were recorded. Postflight, the video recordings were divided into 169 20-second segments for subsequent interpretation by 12 blinded ultrasonography experts. Reviewers first decided whether a video segment was of sufficient diagnostic quality to analyze (determinate). Determinate segments were then analyzed as containing or not containing fluid. A probit regression model compared the probability of a positive fluid diagnosis to actual fluid levels (0 to 500 mL) under both 0-g and 1.8-g conditions. RESULTS: The in-flight sonographers found real-time scanning and interpretation technically similar to that of terrestrial conditions, as long as restraint was maintained. On blinded review, 80% of the recorded ultrasound segments were considered determinate. The best sensitivity for diagnosis in 0 g was found to be from the subhepatic space, with probability of a positive fluid diagnosis ranging from 9% (no fluid) to 51% (500 mL fluid). CONCLUSIONS: The FAST examination is technically feasible in weightlessness, and merits operational consideration for clinical contingencies in space.

NASA Discipline Life Sciences Technologies↗
NASA NTRS2002

Project to Interface Climate Modeling on Global and Regional Scales with Earth Observing (EOS) Observations

This ten-year NASA IDS project began in 1990. Its initial work plan adopted the NASA provided timeline that data would become available for new Earth Observing System (EOS) platforms beginning in 1995. Over its first phase, it was based at NCAR, which had submitted the original proposal and involved activities of a substantial number of co-investigators at NCAR who engaged in research over several areas related to the observations expected to be received from the EOS platforms. Their focus was the theme of use of EOS data for improving climate models for projecting global change. From the climate system viewpoint, the IDS addressed land, clouds-hydrological cycle, radiative fluxes and especially aerosol impacts, ocean and sea-ice, and stratosphere. Other research addressed issues of data assimilation, diagnostic analyses, and data set development from current satellite systems, especially use of SAR data for climate models.

Dickinson, Robert E.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Knowledge-based Autonomous Test Engineer (KATE)

Mathematical models of system components have long been used to allow simulators to predict system behavior to various stimuli. Recent efforts to monitor, diagnose, and control real-time systems using component models have experienced similar success. NASA Kennedy is continuing the development of a tool for implementing real-time knowledge-based diagnostic and control systems called KATE (Knowledge based Autonomous Test Engineer). KATE is a model-based reasoning shell designed to provide autonomous control, monitoring, fault detection, and diagnostics for complex engineering systems by applying its reasoning techniques to an exchangeable quantitative model describing the structure and function of the various system components and their systemic behavior.

Parrish, Carrie L.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Diagnosing coupled jet-streak circulations for a northern plains snow band from the operational nested-grid model

On 17 March 1989, moderate to heavy snow developed in a 100- to 200-km-wide band extending from South Dakota to northern Michigan. The 4- to 8-inch snowfall within this band was not associated with major cyclogenesis, and developed 500 to 600 km north of a stationary surface front. A diagnostic analysis based on an application of the General Meteorological Package (GEMPAK 5.0) to a numerical simulation from the operational nested-grid model (NGM) is utilized to show that the development of this snow band is related to the interaction of two upper-tropospheric jet streaks and their associated transverse circulation patterns. The eastward propagation of a jet streak from the West Coast toward the middle United States and to the south of a slower-moving jet along the U.S.-Canadian border led to a merger of the ascent maxima associated with the direct and indirect circulations of the northern and southern jets, respectively. The snow band developed as the ascending branches of the jet-streak circulation patterns merged, with the eastward propagation of the heaviest snow linked to the motion of the coupled circulation pattern. The study also demonstrates the usefulness of the operational NGM for providing the higher-resolution datasets required to relate the evolution of jet-streak circulation patterns to the development of mesoscale precipitation bands.

Hakim, Gregory J.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Inductive Approaches to Improving Diagnosis and Design for Diagnosability

The first research area under this grant addresses the problem of classifying time series according to their morphological features in the time domain. A supervised learning system called CALCHAS, which induces a classification procedure for signatures from preclassified examples, was developed. For each of several signature classes, the system infers a model that captures the class's morphological features using Bayesian model induction and the minimum message length approach to assign priors. After induction, a time series (signature) is classified in one of the classes when there is enough evidence to support that decision. Time series with sufficiently novel features, belonging to classes not present in the training set, are recognized as such. A second area of research assumes two sources of information about a system: a model or domain theory that encodes aspects of the system under study and data from actual system operations over time. A model, when it exists, represents strong prior expectations about how a system will perform. Our work with a diagnostic model of the RCS (Reaction Control System) of the Space Shuttle motivated the development of SIG, a system which combines information from a model (or domain theory) and data. As it tracks RCS behavior, the model computes quantitative and qualitative values. Induction is then performed over the data represented by both the 'raw' features and the model-computed high-level features. Finally, work on clustering for operating mode discovery motivated some important extensions to the clustering strategy we had used. One modification appends an iterative optimization technique onto the clustering system; this optimization strategy appears to be novel in the clustering literature. A second modification improves the noise tolerance of the clustering system. In particular, we adapt resampling-based pruning strategies used by supervised learning systems to the task of simplifying hierarchical clusterings, thus making post-clustering analysis easier.

Fisher, Douglas H.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Livingstone Model-Based Diagnosis of Earth Observing One Infusion Experiment

The Earth Observing One satellite, launched in November 2000, is an active earth science observation platform. This paper reports on the progress of an infusion experiment in which the Livingstone 2 Model-Based Diagnostic engine is deployed on Earth Observing One, demonstrating the capability to monitor the nominal operation of the spacecraft under command of an on-board planner, and demonstrating on-board diagnosis of spacecraft failures. Design and development of the experiment, specification and validation of diagnostic scenarios, characterization of performance results and benefits of the model- based approach are presented.

Hayden, Sandra C.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Diagnosing the Nature of Land-Atmosphere Coupling: A Case Study of Dry/Wet Extremes

Land-atmosphere (L-A) interactions play a critical role in determining the diurnal evolution of land surface and planetary boundary layer (PBL) temperature and moisture states and fluxes. In turn, these interactions regulate the strength of the connection between surface moisture and precipitation in a coupled system. To address deficiencies in numerical weather prediction and climate models due to improper treatment of L-A interactions, recent studies have focused on development of diagnostics to quantify the strength and accuracy of the land-PBL coupling at the process-level. In this study, a diagnosis of the nature and impacts oflocalland-atmosphere coupling (LoCo) during dry and wet extreme conditions is presented using a combination of models and observations during the summers of2006-7 in the U.S. Southern Great Plains. Specifically, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model has been coupled to NASA's Land Information System (LIS), which provides a flexible and high-resolution representation and initialization of land surface physics and states. A range of diagnostics exploring the links and feedbacks between soil moisture and precipitation are examined for the dry/wet regimes of this region, along with the behavior and accuracy of different land-PBL scheme couplings under these conditions. In addition, we examine the impact of improved specification ofland surface states, anomalies, and fluxes that are obtained through the use of a hew optimization and uncertainty module in LIS, on the L-A coupling in WRF forecasts. Results demonstrate how LoCo diagnostics can be applied to coupled model components in the context of their integrated impacts on the process-chain connecting the land surface to the PBL and support of hydrological anomalies.

Santanello, Joseph A., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1981

A diagnostic model for studying daytime urban air quality trends

A single cell Eulerian photochemical air quality simulation model was developed and validated for selected days of the 1976 St. Louis Regional Air Pollution Study (RAPS) data sets; parameterizations of variables in the model and validation studies using the model are discussed. Good agreement was obtained between measured and modeled concentrations of NO, CO, and NO2 for all days simulated. The maximum concentration of O3 was also predicted well. Predicted species concentrations were relatively insensitive to small variations in CO and NOx emissions and to the concentrations of species which are entrained as the mixed layer rises.

Brewer, D. A.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Regional-scale estimates of surface moisture availability and thermal inertia using remote thermal measurements

A review is presented of numerical models which were developed to interpret thermal IR data and to identify the governing parameters and surface energy fluxes recorded in the images. Analytic, predictive, diagnostic and empirical models are described. The limitations of each type of modeling approach are explored in terms of the error sources and inherent constraints due to theoretical or measurement limitations. Sample results of regional-scale soil moisture or evaporation patterns derived from the Heat Capacity Mapping Mission and GOES satellite data through application of the predictive model devised by Carlson (1981) are discussed. The analysis indicates that pattern recognition will probably be highest when data are collected over flat, arid, sparsely vegetated terrain. The soil moisture data then obtained may be accurate to within 10-20 percent.

Carlson, T. N.↗
NASA NTRS1993

A laboratory model of a hydrogen/oxygen engine for combustion and nozzle studies

A small laboratory diagnostic thruster was developed in order to evaluate approaches for the use of temperature and pressure sensors for the investigation of low thrust rocket flowfields. Tests were performed at chamber pressures of about 255 kPa, 370 kPa, and 500 kPa with oxidizer/fuel mixture ratios between 4.0 and 8.0. Two gaseous hydrogen/gaseous oxygen injector designs were tested with 60 and 75 fuel film cooling. The results of hot-wire tests showed the thruster and instrumentation designs to be effective. Azimuthal temperature distributions were found to be a function of operating conditions and hardware configuration. Results indicated that small differences in injector design can result in dramatically different thruster performance and wall temperature behavior. However, the importance of these injector effects may be decreased by operating at a high fuel film cooling rate.

Morren, Sybil H.↗
NASA NTRS1993

A Laboratory Model of a Hydrogen/Oxygen Engine for Combustion and Nozzle Studies

A small laboratory diagnostic thruster was developed to augment present low thrust chemical rocket optical and heat flux diagnostics at the NASA Lewis Research Center. The objective of this work was to evaluate approaches for the use of temperature and pressure sensors for the investigation of low thrust rocket flow fields. The nominal engine thrust was 110 N. Tests were performed at chamber pressures of about 255 kPa, 370 kPa, and 500 kPa with oxidizer to fuel mixture ratios between 4.0 and 8.0. Two gaseous hydrogen/gaseous oxygen injector designs were tested with 60 percent and 75 percent fuel film cooling. The thruster and instrumentation designs were proven to be effective via hot fire testing. The thruster diagnostics provided inner wall temperature and static pressure measurements which were compared to the thruster global performance data. For several operating conditions, the performance data exhibited unexpected trends which were correlated with changes in the axial wall temperature distribution. Azimuthal temperature distributions were found to be a function of operating conditions and hardware configuration. The static pressure profiles showed that no severe pressure gradients were present in the rocket. The results indicated that small differences in injector design can result in dramatically different thruster performance and wall temperature behavior, but that these injector effects may be overshadowed by operating at a high fuel film cooling rate.

Morren, Sybil Huang↗
NASA NTRS2008

Intelligent Engine Systems: Thermal Management and Advanced Cooling

The objective of the Advanced Turbine Cooling and Thermal Management program is to develop intelligent control and distribution methods for turbine cooling, while achieving a reduction in total cooling flow and assuring acceptable turbine component safety and reliability. The program also will develop embedded sensor technologies and cooling system models for real-time engine diagnostics and health management. Both active and passive control strategies will be investigated that include the capability of intelligent modulation of flow quantities, pressures, and temperatures both within the supply system and at the turbine component level. Thermal management system concepts were studied, with a goal of reducing HPT blade cooling air supply temperature. An assessment will be made of the use of this air by the active clearance control system as well. Turbine component cooling designs incorporating advanced, high-effectiveness cooling features, will be evaluated. Turbine cooling flow control concepts will be studied at the cooling system level and the component level. Specific cooling features or sub-elements of an advanced HPT blade cooling design will be downselected for core fabrication and casting demonstrations.

Bergholz, Robert↗
NASA NTRS2008

Enhanced Self Tuning On-Board Real-Time Model (eSTORM) for Aircraft Engine Performance Health Tracking

A key technological concept for producing reliable engine diagnostics and prognostics exploits the benefits of fusing sensor data, information, and/or processing algorithms. This report describes the development of a hybrid engine model for a propulsion gas turbine engine, which is the result of fusing two diverse modeling methodologies: a physics-based model approach and an empirical model approach. The report describes the process and methods involved in deriving and implementing a hybrid model configuration for a commercial turbofan engine. Among the intended uses for such a model is to enable real-time, on-board tracking of engine module performance changes and engine parameter synthesis for fault detection and accommodation.

Volponi, Al↗
NASA NTRS2011

Diagnosing the Nature of Land-Atmosphere Coupling During the 2006-7 Dry/Wet Extremes in the U. S. Southern Great Plains

Land-atmosphere (L-A) interactions play a critical role in determining the diurnal evolution of land surface and planetary boundary layer (PBL) temperature and moisture states and fluxes. In turn, these interactions regulate the strength of the connection between surface moisture and precipitation in a coupled system. To address deficiencies in numerical weather prediction and climate models due to improper treatment of L-A interactions, recent studies have focused on development of diagnostics to quantify the strength and accuracy of the land-PBL coupling at the process-level. In this study, a diagnosis of the nature and impacts of local land-atmosphere coupling (LoCo) during dry and wet extreme conditions is presented using a combination of models and observations during the summers of2006-7 in the U.S. Southern Great Plains. Specifically, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model has been coupled to NASA's Land Information System (LIS), which provides a flexible and high resolution representation and initialization of land surface physics and states. A range of diagnostics exploring the links and feedbacks between soil moisture and precipitation are examined for the dry/wet regimes of this region, along with the behavior and accuracy of different land-PBL scheme couplings under these conditions. Results demonstrate how LoCo diagnostics can be applied to coupled model components in the context of their integrated impacts on the process-chain connecting the land surface to the PBL and support of hydrological anomalies.

Santanello, Joseph A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Development of fiber-based laser anemometer for SSME application

A recent study by Rocketdyne for NASA identified laser anemometry, using a compact optical head, as a feasible diagnostic instrument for the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) Model Verification experiments. Physical Research, Inc. (PRI) is presently under contract from NASA Lewis to develop and deliver such a laser anemometer system. For this application, it is desired to place the laser at a remote distance from the engine, and use single mode polarization preserving fiber optics for the transmission of the laser light to and from the measurement head. Other requirements are given. Analytical and experimental tools are being used to develop the technologies required for the laser anemometer. These include finite element analysis of the optical head and vibration tests for various optical and mechanical components. Design of the optical head and the fiber optic connectors are driven by the temperature and vibration requirements for the measurement environment. Results of the finite element analysis and the vibration tests of the components are included. Conceptual design of the fiber optic launcher and the optical probe has also been complete. Detailed design of the probe as well as the fabrication and assembly of the components is in progress.

Modarress, Dariush↗
NASA NTRS1976

Prediction of passenger ride quality in a multifactor environment

A model being developed, permits the understanding and prediction of passenger discomfort in a multifactor environment with particular emphasis upon combined noise and vibration. The model has general applicability to diverse transportation systems and provides a means of developing ride quality design criteria as well as a diagnostic tool for identifying the vibration and/or noise stimuli causing discomfort. Presented are: (1) a review of the basic theoretical and mathematical computations associated with the model, (2) a discussion of methodological and criteria investigations for both the vertical and roll axes of vibration, (3) a description of within-axis masking of discomfort responses for the vertical axis, thereby allowing prediction of the total discomfort due to any random vertical vibration, (4) a discussion of initial data on between-axis masking, and (5) discussion of a study directed towards extension of the vibration model to the more general case of predicting ride quality in the combined noise and vibration environments.

Dempsey, T. K.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Advanced Diagnostic System on Earth Observing One

In this infusion experiment, the Livingstone 2 (L2) model-based diagnosis engine, developed by the Computational Sciences division at NASA Ames Research Center, has been uploaded to the Earth Observing One (EO-1) satellite. L2 is integrated with the Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment (ASE) which provides an on-board planning capability and a software bridge to the spacecraft's 1773 data bus. Using a model of the spacecraft subsystems, L2 predicts nominal state transitions initiated by control commands, monitors the spacecraft sensors, and, in the case of failure, isolates the fault based on the discrepant observations. Fault detection and isolation is done by determining a set of component modes, including most likely failures, which satisfy the current observations. All mode transitions and diagnoses are telemetered to the ground for analysis. The initial L2 model is scoped to EO-1's imaging instruments and solid state recorder. Diagnostic scenarios for EO-1's nominal imaging timeline are demonstrated by injecting simulated faults on-board the spacecraft. The solid state recorder stores the science images and also hosts: the experiment software. The main objective of the experiment is to mature the L2 technology to Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7. Experiment results are presented, as well as a discussion of the challenging technical issues encountered. Future extensions may explore coordination with the planner, and model-based ground operations.

Hayden, Sandra C.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Physics of the inner heliosphere: Mechanisms, models and observational signatures

Selected problems concerned with the important physical processes that occur in the corona and solar wind acceleration region, particularly time dependent phenomena were studied. Both the physics of the phenomena and the resultant effects on observational signatures, particularly spectroscopic signatures were also studied. Phenomena under study include: wave motions, particularly Alfven and fast mode waves; the formation of standing shocks in the inner heliosphere as a result of momentum and/or heat addition to the wind; and coronal transient phenomena where momentum and/or heat are deposited in the corona to produce transient plasma heating and/or mass ejection. The development of theoretical models for the inner heliosphere, the theoretical investigation of spectroscopic plasma diagnostics for this region, and the analysis of existing skylab and other relevant data are also included.

Withbroe, George L.↗