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At least 1,513 records · Page 84
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1988

Computational studies of an impulsively started viscous flow

Progress in validating incompressible Navier-Stokes codes is described using a predictor/corrector scheme. The flow field under study is the impulsive start of a circular cylinder and the unsteady evolution of the separation bubble. In the current code, a uniform asymptotic expansion is used as an initial condition in order to correctly capture the initial growth of the vortex sheet. Volocity fields at selected instants of time are decomposed into vectorial representations of Navier-Stokes equations which are then used to analyze dominant contributions in the boundary-layer region.

Davis, Sanford S.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Magnetospheric Substorm Electrodynamics

It was proposed that the expansion phase of substorms results from a reduction in the large-scale electric field imparted to the magnetosphere from the solar wind, following a greater than or equal to 30 min growth phase due to an enhancement in this electric field. The reduction in the electric field is assumed to propagate anti-sunward within the magnetosphere. Triggering by a reduction in the electric field is suggested by the observation that substorms are often triggered by northward turning of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). However, under the theory presented here, substorms may be triggered by anything that causes an electric field reduction such as a reduction in the magnitude of the y-component of the IMF. A reduction in the large-scale electric field disrupts both the inward motion and energization of plasma sheet particles that occurs during the growth phase. It is suggested here that this can lead to formation of the expansion-phase current wedge and active aurora. The current wedge results from the magnetic drift of ions, which has a speed proportional to particle energy, and a large azimuthal gradient in mean particle energy that is expected to develop in the vicinity of magnetic midnight during the growth phase. Current wedge formation will most likely be initiated near the radial distance (approx. 6- 10 R(sub E)) of the peak in the growth-phase plasma pressure distribution, and then propagate tailward from that region. Order-of-magnitude calculations show that the above proposal can account for the rapid development of the expansion phase relative to the growth phase, the magnitude of the reduction in the cross-tail current within the current wedge, the speeds of tailward and westward expansion of the current reduction region, the speeds of poleward and westward motion of active aurora in the ionosphere, and the magnitude of wedge field-aligned currents that connect the ionospheric region of active auroral to the divergent cross-tail current within the magnetosphere. Fundamental observational signatures of substorms and other auroral-zone disturbances were examined.

Lyons, L. R.↗
DOE OSTI2024

History and State of the Art in Advanced Thermal Protection Systems

This report documents the current state of the art of thermal protection systems (TPS) relevant to missile application materials and MTCR control language. The information is intended to provide data on current TPS for determining the current state of development and identifying potential research directions. Various vehicle configurations and types of TPS are described, including the evolution of materials and systems. Vehicle configurations such as high drag rocket and capsule systems and low-drag air-breathers are discussed. TPS are complex, transitioning from often very low temperatures to temperatures exceeding 3000°C and heat fluxes of up to 30,000 W/cm 2 . They can take the form of blankets, sheets, tiles and fabricated rigid structures, and can be made from high temperature capable alloys, refractory metals, ceramics, ceramic matrix composites, ultra-high temperature ceramics, carbon-carbon composites or ablative carbonaceous materials. Current state of the art in TPS is based on materials any systems developed for the initial space program. TPS was upgraded to the point of the Space Shuttle development and has stagnated since them.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1999

Measuring Greenland Ice Mass Variation With Gravity Recovery and the Climate Experiment Gravity and GPS

The response of the Greenland ice sheet to climate change could significantly alter sea level. The ice sheet was much thicker at the last glacial maximum. To gain insight into the global change process and the future trend, it is important to evaluate the ice mass variation as a function of time and space. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission to fly in 2001 for 5 years will measure gravity changes associated with the current ice variation and the solid earth's response to past variations. Our objective is to assess the separability of different change sources, accuracy and resolution in the mass variation determination by the new gravity data and possible Global Positioning System (GPS) bedrock uplift measurements. We use a reference parameter state that follows a dynamic ice model for current mass variation and a variant of the Tushingham and Peltier ICE-3G deglaciation model for historical deglaciation. The current linear trend is also assumed to have started 5 kyr ago. The Earth model is fixed as preliminary reference Earth model (PREM) with four viscoelastic layers. A discrete Bayesian inverse algorithm is developed employing an isotropic Gaussian a priori covariance function over the ice sheet and time. We use data noise predicted by the University of Texas and JPL for major GRACE error sources. A 2 mm/yr uplift uncertainty is assumed for GPS occupation time of 5 years. We then carry out covariance analysis and inverse simulation using GRACE geoid coefficients up to degree 180 in conjunction with a number of GPS uplift rates. Present-day ice mass variation and historical deglaciation are solved simultaneously over 146 grids of roughly 110 km x 110 km and with 6 time increments of 3 kyr each, along with a common starting epoch of the current trend. For present-day ice thickness change, the covariance analysis using GRACE geoid data alone results in a root mean square (RMS) posterior root variance of 2.6 cm/yr, with fairly large a priori uncertainties in the parameters and a Gaussian correlation length of 350 km. Simulated inverse can successfully recover most features in the reference present-day change. The RMS difference between them over the grids is 2.8 cm/yr. The RMS difference becomes 1.1 cm/yr when both are averaged with a half Gaussian wavelength of 150 km. With a fixed Earth model, GRACE alone can separate the geoid signals due to past and current load fairly well. Shown are the reference geoid signatures of direct and elastic effects of the current trend, the viscoelastic effect of the same trend starting from 5 kyr ago, the Post Glacial Rebound (PGR), and the predicted GRACE geoid error. The difference between the reference and inverse modeled total viscoelastic signatures is also shown. Although past and current ice mass variations are allowed the same spatial scale, their geoid signals have different spatial patterns. GPS data can contribute to the ice mass determination as well. Additional information is contained in the original.

Wu, Xiao-Ping↗
DOE OSTI2024

Colloquium : Sliding and pinning in structurally lubric 2D material interfaces

A plethora of two-dimensional (2D) materials have been introduced in physics and engineering in the past two decades. Their robust, membranelike sheets permit (mostly require) deposition, giving rise to solid-solid dry interfaces whose mobility, pinning, and general tribological properties under shear stress are currently being understood and controlled, both experimentally and theoretically. Here, in this Colloquium simulated case studies of twisted graphene systems are used as a prototype workhorse tool to demonstrate and discuss the general picture of 2D material interface sliding. First highlighted is the crucial mechanical difference, often overlooked, between small and large incommensurabilities, which corresponds to, for example, small and large twist angles in graphene interfaces. In both cases, focusing on flat, structurally lubric or “superlubric” geometries, the generally separate scalings with the area of static friction in pinned states and of kinetic friction during sliding are elucidated and reviewed, tangled as they are with the effects of velocity, temperature, load, and defects. The roles of island boundaries and elasticity are also discussed, and compared when possible to results in the literature for systems other than graphene. It is proposed that the resulting picture of pinning and sliding should be applicable to interfaces in generic 2D materials that are of importance for the physics and technology of existing and future bilayer and multilayer systems.

2-dimensional systems↗
NASA NTRS1972

Development and pilot line production of lithium doped silicon solar cells

Scaling up the BCl3 without O2 diffusion beyond 30 to 40 cells was investigated by using a 100 cell capacity diffusion boat which held the cells vertically. Sheet resistances and I-V curves were uniform with 10 to 20 cells spaced along the entire boat, so the quantity was increased to 40 and then 60 cells per diffusion. There was no change in cell output and uniformity going from 20 to 40 cells per diffusion; however only half the lithium cells fabricated from slices diffused in the 60 cell diffusion had efficiencies of 11% or better. Although uniform sheet resistances and I-V characteristic curves were obtained with up to 60 cells in the BCl3 with O2 diffusion, the short circuit currents were approximately 15% lower than the anticipated 135 to 140 mA. Consequently, work on this diffusion process has been aimed solely at increasing the short circuit current. The diffusion temperature was lowered from 1055 to 1000 and 950 C, and at each of these temperatures variations in diffusion time were investigated. At 1000 C short circuit currents were approximately 10 mA higher, 130 rather than 120 mA average.

Payne, P. A.↗
NASA NTRS1983

The origin of SNC meteorites - An alternative to Mars

The possibility that certain very young meteorites originated as impact melts on a large asteroid or asteroids is investigated. Calculations of the thermal evolution of impact melt show that the solidification time should be long enough to produce igneous or quasi-cumulate textures within rocks if the crater is large enough and if the initial clast concentration is low, at least in some portion of the melt sheet. The number of collisions within the asteroid belt which would produce craters of the requisite size is calculated. Using an estimate of the current size distribution of asteroids, it is found that over 3000 such collisions should have occurred during the lifetime of the solar system. Excavation and ejection of the solidified melt by a subsequent impact would be dynamically easy because of the low escape velocities of even the largest asteroids but improbable because of the depth that must be sampled. A second, sufficiently large impact is rare, so only the products of one such double event have been obtained up to now.

Vickery, A. M.↗
NASA NTRS1988

An improved boundary force method for analyzing cracked anisotropic materials

The Boundary Force Method (BFM), a form of indirect boundary element method, is used to analyze composite laminates with cracks. The BFM uses the orthotropic elasticity solution for a concentrated horizontal and vertical force and a moment applied at a point in a cracked, infinite sheet as the fundamental solution. The necessary stress functions for this fundamental solution were formulated using the complex variable theory of orthotropic elasticity. The current method is an improvement over a previous method using only forces and no moment. The improved method was verified by comparing it to accepted solutions for a finite-width, center-crack specimen subjected to uniaxial tension. Four graphite/epoxy laminates were used: (0 + or - 45/90)sub s, (0), (+ or - 45)sub s, and (+ or - 30)sub s. The BFM results agreed well with accepted solutions. Convergence studies showed that with the addition of the moment in the fundamental solution, the number of boundary elements required for a converged solution was significantly reduced. Parametric studies were done for two configurations for which no orthotropic solutions are currently available; a single edge crack and an inclined single edge crack.

Tan, Paul W.↗
NASA NTRS1989

An improved boundary force method for analysing cracked anisotropic materials

The Boundary Force Method (BFM), a form of indirect boundary element method, is used to analyze composite laminates with cracks. The BFM uses the orthotropic elasticity solution for a concentrated horizontal and vertical force and a moment applied at a point in a cracked, infinite sheet as the fundamental solution. The necessary stress functions for this fundamental solution were formulated using the complex variables theory of orthotropic elasticity. The current method is an improvement over a previous method using only forces and no moment. The improved method was verified by comparing it to accepted solutions for a finite-width, center-crack specimen subjected to uniaxial tension. Four graphite/epoxy laminates were used: (0 + or - 45/90)sub s, (0), (+ or - 45)sub s, and (+ or - 30)sub s. The BFM results agreed well with accepted solutions. Convergence studies showed that with the addition of the moment in the fundamental solution, the number of boundary elements required for a converged solution was significantly reduced. Parametric studies were done for two configurations for which no orthotropic solutions are currently available; a single edge crack and an inclined single edge crack.

Tan, P. W.↗
NASA NTRS1993

The First Annual West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Science Workshop

A compilation of abstracts presented at the workshop are presented. The goal was to answer the question, what is the future behavior and potential for rapid collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS)? The workshop was organized into four sessions corresponding to the four objectives identified as necessary to reach the WAIS workshop goal: history, current behavior, internal dynamics, and environmental interactions. Presentations were organized by their relevance to each objective, rather than by discipline.

Bindschadler, Robert A.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Photovoltaic power without batteries for continuous cathodic protection

The COASTSYSTA designed, installed, and started up on 20 Jan. 1990, a state-of-the-art stand alone photovoltaic powered impressed current cathodic protection system (PVCPSYS) not requiring any auxiliary/battery backup power for steel and iron submerged structures. The PVCPSYS installed on 775' of steel sheet piling of a Navy bulkhead is continuing to provide complete, continuous corrosion protection. This has been well documented by COASTSYSTA and verified on-site by the U.S. Army Civil Engineering Research Laboratory, Champaign, Illinois and the Navy Energy Program Office-Photovoltaic Programs, China Lake, California. The Department of Defense (DoD) Photovoltaic Review Committee and Sandia National Laboratories consider this successful and cost effective system a major advance in the application of photovoltaic power. The PVCPSYS uses only renewable energy and is environmentally clean. A patent is pending on the new technology. Other possible PVCPSYS applications are mothballed ships, docks, dams, locks, bridges, marinas, offshore structures, and pipelines. The initial cost savings by installing a PVCPSYS vs. a conventional CP system was in excess of $46,000.00.

Muehl, W. W., Sr.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Magnetospheric Convection Electric Field Dynamics and Stormtime Particle Energization: Case Study of the Magnetic Storm of May 4,1998

It is shown that narrow channels of high electric field are an effective mechanism for injecting plasma into the inner magnetosphere. Analytical expressions for the electric field cannot produce these channels of intense plasma flow, and thus result in less entry and energization of the plasma sheet into near-Earth space. For the ions, omission of these channels leads to an underprediction of the strength of the stormtime ring current and therefore an underestimation of the geoeffectiveness of the storm event. For the electrons, omission of these channels leads to the inability to create a seed population of 10-100 keV electrons deep in the inner magnetosphere. These electrons can eventually be accelerated into MeV radiation belt particles.

Khazanov, George V.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Vibration Characteristics Determined for Stainless Steel Sandwich Panels With a Metal Foam Core for Lightweight Fan Blade Design

The goal of this project at the NASA Glenn Research Center is to provide fan materials that are safer, weigh less, and cost less than the currently used titanium alloy or polymer matrix composite fans. The proposed material system is a sandwich fan construction made up of thin solid face sheets and a lightweight metal foam core. The stiffness of the sandwich structure is increased by separating the two face sheets by the foam layer. The resulting structure has a high stiffness and lighter weight in comparison to the solid facesheet material alone. The face sheets carry the applied in-plane and bending loads (ref. 1). The metal foam core must resist the transverse shear and transverse normal loads, as well as keep the facings supported and working as a single unit. Metal foams have ranges of mechanical properties, such as light weight, impact resistance, and vibration suppression (ref. 2), which makes them more suitable for use in lightweight fan structures. Metal foams have been available for decades (refs. 3 and 4), but the difficulties in the original processes and high costs have prevented their widespread use. However, advances in production techniques and cost reduction have created a new interest in this class of materials (ref. 5). The material chosen for the face sheet and the metal foam for this study was the aerospace-grade stainless steel 17-4PH. This steel was chosen because of its attractive mechanical properties and the ease with which it can be made through the powder metallurgy process (ref. 6). The advantages of a metal foam core, in comparison to a typical honeycomb core, are material isotropy and the ease of forming complex geometries, such as fan blades. A section of a 17-4PH sandwich structure is shown in the following photograph. Part of process of designing any blade is to determine the natural frequencies of the particular blade shape. A designer needs to predict the resonance frequencies of a new blade design to properly identify a useful operating range. Operating a blade at or near the resonance frequencies leads to high-cycle fatigue, which ultimately limits the blade's durability and life. So the aim of this study is to determine the variation of the resonance frequencies for an idealized sandwich blade as a function of its face-sheet thickness, core thickness, and foam density. The finite element method is used to determine the natural frequencies for an idealized rectangular sandwich blade. The proven Lanczos method (ref. 7) is used in the study to extract the natural frequency.

Ghosn, Louis J.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Recent THEMIS and Coordinated GBO Measurements of Substorm Expansion Onset: Do We Finally Have an Answer?

For nearly 30 years an often-times heated debate has engaged the substorm community: Do substorms begin with the formation of a new reconnection site in the midtail plasma sheet (the Near-Earth Neutral Line model) or do they begin near the transition region between stretched tail and dipolar field lines (the Current Disruption model). The THEMIS mission, with a coordinated suite of five in-situ spacecraft and ground observatories, has greatly extended our understanding of how substorms initiate and evolve. But have the new data resolved the fundamental question? In this talk I review the last few year's of sub storm research, with an emphasis of how the THEMIS data have revolutionized our understanding.

Kepko, L.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Sea Ice Concentration and Extent

Among the most seasonal and most dynamic parameters on the surface of the Earth is sea ice which at any one time covers about 3-6% of the planet. In the Northern Hemisphere, sea ice grows in extent from about 6 x 10(exp 6) sq km to 16 x 10(exp 6) sq km, while in the Southern Hemisphere, it grows from about 3 x 10(exp 6) sq km to about 19 x 10(exp 6) sq km (Comiso, 2010; Gloersen et al., 1992). Sea ice is up to about 2-3 m thick in the Northern Hemisphere and about 1 m thick in the Southern Hemisphere (Wadhams, 2002), and compared to the average ocean depth of about 3 km, it is a relatively thin, fragile sheet that can break due to waves and winds or melt due to upwelling of warm water. Being constantly advected by winds, waves, and currents, sea ice is very dynamic and usually follows the directions of the many gyres in the polar regions. Despite its vast expanse, the sea ice cover was previously left largely unstudied and it was only in recent years that we have understood its true impact and significance as related to the Earths climate, the oceans, and marine life.

sea ice extent↗
DOE OSTI2020

Approach to Quality Assurance for Complex Environmental Modeling - 20407

A strong Quality Assurance (QA) program for complex environmental modeling is essential for regulatory and public acceptance and trust, but it does not have to be onerous. Neptune and Company, Inc. (Neptune) has developed a strong QA program that improves transparency, traceability, reproducibility, and therefore, defensibility and trust. Neptune's QA program has evolved over the past 27 years, transitioning from an ad hoc QA program, to a program that is currently Nuclear Quality Assurance-1 (NQA-1) compliant, and will soon be NQA-1/DOE approved for DOE EM modeling work. In addition, Neptune is a qualified laboratory assessor and qualified auditor for reference materials, a proficiency testing provider, and fully complies with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) QA program. Neptune's President and CEO, Kelly Black, was recently named the Chairperson of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee 69, Application of Statistical Methods. A strong QA program has been developed for Neptune's radiological performance assessment (PA) program. Although pieces of their QA program are currently in development, their current program includes document control using Subversion, issue tracking and work flow tracking using JIRA, and transparency and traceability via a system of 'calc sheets' for documentation of all data analysis and modeling combined with 'check print' documentation of QA checking, and rigorous model testing and configuration control. All work is reviewed by an independent subject matter expert who is not associated with the collection and assembly of information, for an internal peer review. The program is enforced with a handful of Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs), Work Instructions, QA Project Plans (QAPPs), and Quality Management Plans (QMPs) that are updated frequently, with required annual training and acknowledgment. In addition, effective communication of modeling approaches and results to clients and stakeholders are integral to their QA program. Many of their models are built using the GoldSim modeling platform, for which their models are well-known for their level of transparency, documentation, and QA traceability. This level of QA is also applied to their process-level models. Neptune has taken some lessons learned from the extremely rigorous QA program required for the Yucca Mountain Project (YMP), and imposed the YMP requirements of complete traceability, transparency, and reproducibility, but avoided the inflexibility of a QA program that likely contributed to the suspect e-mails in 2005 that resulted in loss of trust in the YMP, and in nuclear waste disposal (and nuclear power) in general. There are far too many examples of loss of public trust due to poor QA that could have been easily avoided with a simple and straight-forward QA program combined with stakeholder engagement. The purpose of this paper is to share features of Neptune's Radiological Performance Assessment program QA program, and some of their QA related lessons learned over the past 27 years of QA for complex environmental modeling. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
NASA NTRS2023

Global Climate Impacts of Greenland and Antarctic Meltwater: A Comparative Study

Both the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have been melting at an accelerating rate over recent decades. Meltwater from Greenland might be expected to initiate a climate response which is distinct, and perhaps different from, that associated with Antarctic meltwater. Which one might elicit a greater climate response, and what mechanisms are involved? To explore these questions, we apply “Climate Response Functions (CRFs)” to guide a series of meltwater perturbation experiments using a fully-coupled climate model. In both hemispheres, meltwater drives atmospheric cooling, sea-ice expansion, and strengthened Hadley and Ferrel cells. Greenland meltwater induces a slowdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and a cooling of the subsurface ocean in the northern high-latitudes. Antarctic meltwater, instead, induces a slowdown of the Antarctic Bottom Water formation and a warming of the subsurface ocean around Antarctica. For melt-rates up to 2000 Gt yr −1 , the climate response is rather linear. However, as melt-rates increase to 5000 Gt yr −1 , the climate response becomes non-linear. Due to a collapsed AMOC, the climate response is super-linear at high Greenland melt-rates. Instead, the climate response is sub-linear at high Antarctic melt-rates, due to the halting of the northward expansion of Antarctic sea ice by warm surface waters. Finally, in the linear limit, we use CRFs and linear convolution theory to make projections of important climate parameters in response to meltwater scenarios, which suggest that Antarctic meltwater will become a major driver of climate change, dominating that of Greenland meltwater, as the current century proceeds.

Greenland ice sheet↗
NASA NTRS2004

Metal Foam Analysis: Improving Sandwich Structure Technology for Engine Fan and Propeller Blades

The Life Prediction Branch of the NASA Glenn Research Center is searching for ways to construct aircraft and rotorcraft engine fan and propeller blades that are lighter and less costly. One possible design is to create a sandwich structure composed of two metal faces sheets and a metal foam core. The face sheets would carry the bending loads and the foam core would have to resist the transverse shear loads. Metal foam is ideal because of its low density and energy absorption capabilities, making the structure lighter, yet still stiff. The material chosen for the face sheets and core was 17-4PH stainless steel, which is easy to make and has appealing mechanical properties. This material can be made inexpensively compared to titanium and polymer matrix composites, the two current fan blade alternatives. Initial tests were performed on design models, including vibration and stress analysis. These tests revealed that the design is competitive with existing designs; however, some problems were apparent that must be addressed before it can be implemented in new technology. The foam did not hold up as well as expected under stress. This could be due to a number of issues, but was most likely a result of a large number of pores within the steel that weakened the structure. The brazing between the face sheets and the foam was also identified as a concern. The braze did not hold up well under shear stress causing the foam to break away from the face sheets. My role in this project was to analyze different options for improving the design. I primarily spent my time examining various foam samples, created with different sintering conditions, to see which exhibited the most favorable characteristics for our purpose. Methods of analysis that I employed included examining strut integrity under a microscope, counting the number of cells per inch, measuring the density, testing the microhardness, and testing the strength under compression. Shear testing will also be done to examine the strengths of different types of brazes.

Fedor, Jessica L.↗