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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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Zinc-oxygen primary cell yields high energy density for battery used as an auxiliary power source in space vehicle systems. Maximum reliability and minimum battery weight is achieved by using a stacking configuration of 23 series-connected modules with 6 parallel-connected cells per module.
Absorber efficiency can be improved to 90% by removing glass plates and using infrared traps. Absorber configuration may be of interest to manufacturers of solar absorbers and to engineers and scientists developing new sources of energy.
The 25 MeV deuteron beam from the NASA variable energy cyclotron incident on a thick beryllium target will deliver a tissue neutron dose rate of 2.14 rad micron A-min at a source to skin distance of 125 cm. A neutron survey of the existing hallways with various shielding configurations made during operating of the horizontal neutron delivery system indicates that minimal amounts of additional neutron shielding material are required to provide a low level radiation environment within a self-contained neutron therapy control station. Measurements also indicate that the primary neutron distribution delivered by a planned vertical delivery system will be minimally perturbed by neutrons backscattered from the floor.
Techniques for measuring and characterizing the ultrahigh vacuum in the wake of an orbiting spacecraft are studied. A high sensitivity mass spectrometer that contains a double mass analyzer consisting of an open source miniature magnetic sector field neutral gas analyzer and an identical ion analyzer is proposed. These are configured to detect and identify gas and ion species of hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, oxygen, nitric oxide, and carbon dioxide and any other gas or ion species in the 1 to 46 amu mass range. This range covers the normal atmospheric constituents. The sensitivity of the instrument is sufficient to measure ambient gases and ion with a particle density of the order of one per cc. A chemical pump, or getter, is mounted near the entrance aperture of the neutral gas analyzer which integrates the absorption of ambient gases for a selectable period of time for subsequent release and analysis. The sensitivity is realizable for all but rare gases using this technique.
Recent developments in low loss single mode optical fiber waveguides, semiconductor waveguide lasers and waveguide optical and electro-optical components have made a new class of rotational inertial frame references possible. The subclasses of possible fiber waveguide gyro configurations are discussed and one approach which is under development is reviewed. Signal detection and processing, error sources, expected physical and performance characteristics, and present development status are discussed.
The VSAERO surface panel method is employed to investigate fuselage shapes which can enhance the natural laminar flow (NLF) characteristics. The study is performed at cruise Re which are relevant to commuter, transport, and business aircraft. The technique is based on piecewise constant doublet and source singularities and takes into account the effects of compressibility. Inviscid pressure distributions were generated for five configurations to aid in the search for an optimized NLF body shape as a function of the transition locations and the drag coefficients. Granville's transition criteria are incorporated into the calculations to yield shapes with longer runs of laminar flow and reduced drag. In comparison with other transition prediction methods, the method described is shown to have significantly higher valicity for making three-dimensional transition predictions.
The design of the X-ray Large Array (XLA) which is to be assembled and operated in space is discussed. The XLA is a 100 sq m array of 64 detector modules with a total of 512 detectors, each similar to the ones flown on the HEAO-1 spacecraft, packaged in groups of eight to form a module. The XLA will be able to deal with many extremely fast processes which occur in compact X-ray sources and will be used to study black hole candidates; its fine time resolution will make it possible to resolve the spatial structure of celestial X-ray sources using lunar occulatation, the angular structure of quasars, and active galactic nuclei. Details of the XLA configuration, and the assembly and packaging options are described together with systems requirements. Multiple configuration diagrams are included.
Images of the gravitational lens 2237+0305 acquired in good seeing have resolved the system into at least five components within the central few arsec of the object: the galaxy nucleus and four point sources in a ringlike formation approximately centered on the galaxy. It is found that the four point sources are distinctly bluer than the galaxy, but that they do not have identical colors. The observed configuration is well reproduced by a simple model that assumes that the four objects are images of the quasar and that the lens is a constant mass-to-light ratio, elliptical, de Vaucouleurs bulge.
Modern spacecraft tracking and navigation require highly accurate Earth-orientation parameters. For near-real-time applications, errors in these quantities and their extrapolated values are a significant error source. A globally distributed network of high-precision receivers observing the full Global Positioning System (GPS) configuration of 18 or more satellites may be an efficient and economical method for the rapid determination of short-term variations in Earth orientation. A covariance analysis using the JPL Orbit Analysis and Simulation Software (OASIS) was performed to evaluate the errors associated with GPS measurements of Earth orientation. These GPS measurements appear to be highly competitive with those from other techniques and can potentially yield frequent and reliable centimeter-level Earth-orientation information while simultaneously allowing the oversubscribed Deep Space Network (DSN) antennas to be used more for direct project support.
The recent model of Ashour-Abdalla et al. (1991) has proposed that the earth's plasma sheet can be formed by chaotic acceleration in a magnetotail-like field configuration. The ion velocity distributions created by chaotic acceleration have unstable features and represent robust free energy sources for kinetic plasma waves that can modify the original distributions. In the plasma sheet boundary layer, field-aligned ion beamlets are formed which drive a host of instabilities creating a broadbanded noise spectrum and cause thermal spreading of the beamlets. In addition, there is strong heating of any cold background plasma that may be present. In the central plasma sheet, ion antiloss cone distributions are created which are unstable to very low frequency waves that saturate by filling the antiloss cone.
Acoustic and propulsion performance testing of a model-scale Axisymmetric Coannular Ejector nozzle was conducted in the Boeing Low-speed Aeroacoustic Facility. This nozzle is a plug nozzle with an ejector design to provide aspiration of about 20% of the engine flow. A variety of mixing enhancers were designed to promote mixing of the engine and the aspirated flows. These included delta tabs, tone-injection rods, and wheeler ramps. This report addresses the acoustic aspects of the testing. The spectral characteristics of the various configurations of the nozzle are examined on a model-scale basis. This includes indentifying particular noise sources contributing to the spectra and the data are projected to full-scale flyover conditions to evaluate the effectiveness of the nozzle, and of the various mixing enhancers, on reducing the Effective Perceived Noise Levels.
A data management system and method that enables acquisition, integration, and management of real-time data generated at different rates, by multiple heterogeneous incompatible data sources. The system achieves this functionality by using an expert system to fuse data from a variety of airline, airport operations, ramp control, and air traffic control tower sources, to establish and update reference data values for every aircraft surface operation. The system may be configured as a real-time airport surface traffic management system (TMS) that electronically interconnects air traffic control, airline data, and airport operations data to facilitate information sharing and improve taxi queuing. In the TMS operational mode, empirical data shows substantial benefits in ramp operations for airlines, reducing departure taxi times by about one minute per aircraft in operational use, translating as $12 to $15 million per year savings to airlines at the Atlanta, Georgia airport. The data management system and method may also be used for scheduling the movement of multiple vehicles in other applications, such as marine vessels in harbors and ports, trucks or railroad cars in ports or shipping yards, and railroad cars in switching yards. Finally, the data management system and method may be used for managing containers at a shipping dock, stock on a factory floor or in a warehouse, or as a training tool for improving situational awareness of FAA tower controllers, ramp and airport operators, or commercial airline personnel in airfield surface operations.
The project has progressed successfully during this period of performance. The highlights of the Gamma Ray Astronomy teams efforts are: (1) Support daily BATSE data operations, including receipt, archival and dissemination of data, quick-look science analysis, rapid gamma-ray burst and transient monitoring and response efforts, instrument state-of-health monitoring, and instrument commanding and configuration; (2) On-going scientific analysis, including production and maintenance of gamma-ray burst, pulsed source and occultation source catalogs, gamma-ray burst spectroscopy, studies of the properties of pulsars and black holes, and long-term monitoring of hard x-ray sources; (3) Maintenance and continuous improvement of BATSE instrument response and calibration data bases; (4) Investigation of the use of solid state detectors for eventual application and instrument to perform all sky monitoring of X-Ray and Gamma sources with high sensitivity; and (5) Support of BATSE outreach activities, including seminars, colloquia and World Wide Web pages. The highlights of this efforts can be summarized in the publications and presentation list.
The statistical characterization of a simulation reverberation chamber is performed by considering a two-dimensional finite element model. This model includes a source to study the particular modal fields that couple into either a transverse electric or transverse magnetic configuration. The analysis includes a characterization of the basic field statistics, max-to-average ratio, normalized standard deviation, stirring ratio, and field uniformity. The shielding effectiveness of an aperture will be studied that will provide some insight into the nature of the fields coupled from a complex to a noncomplex environment.
The design and development of an actively controlled fluidic actuator for flow control applications is explored. The basic device, with one input and two output channels, takes advantage of the Coanda effect to force a fluid jet to adhere to one of two axi-symmetric surfaces. The resultant flow is bi-stable, producing a constant flow from one output channel, until a disturbance force applied at the control point causes the flow to switch to the alternate output channel. By properly applying active control the output flows can be manipulated to provide a high degree of modulation over a wide and variable range of frequency and duty cycle. In this study the momentary operative force is applied by small, high speed isolation valves of which several different types are examined. The active fluidic diverter actuator is shown to work in several configurations including that in which the operator valves are referenced to atmosphere as well as to a source common with the power stream.
A new instrument was developed for chemical characterization of surfaces that combines the analytical power of Raman spectroscopy with the three-dimensional topographic information provided by conoscopic holography. The figure schematically depicts the proposed hybrid instrument. The output of the conoscopic holographic portion of the instrument is a topographical map of the surface; the output of the Raman portion of the instrument is hyperspectral Raman data, from which the chemical and/or biological composition of the surface would be deduced. By virtue of the basic principles of design and operation of the instrument, the hyperspectral image data would be inherently spatially registered with the topographical data. In conoscopic holography, the object and reference beams of classical holography are replaced by the ordinary and extraordinary components generated by a single beam traveling through a birefringent, uniaxial crystal. In the basic conoscopic configuration, a laser light is projected onto a specimen and the resulting illuminated spot becomes a point source of diffuse light that propagates in every direction. The laser beam is rasterscanned in two dimensions (x and y) perpendicular to the beam axis (z), and at each x,y location, the pattern of interference between the ordinary and extraordinary rays is recorded. The recorded interferogram constitutes the conoscopic hologram. Of particular significance for the proposed instrument is that the conoscopic hologram contains information on the z coordinate (height) of the illuminated surface spot. Hence, a topographical map of the specimen is constructed point-by-point by rastering the laser beam in the x and y directions and correlating the x and y coordinates with the z information obtained from the interferograms. Conoscopic imaging is an established method, and conoscopic laboratory instruments for surface metrology are commercially available. In Raman spectroscopy of a surface, one measures the spectrum of laser light scattered inelastically from a laser-illuminated spot on the surface. The wavelengths of the inelastically scattered light differ from that of the incident laser beam by amounts that correspond to the energies of molecular vibrations. The resulting vibrational spectrum can be used to identify the molecules. Raman spectroscopy is a standard laboratory technique for identifying mineralogical, biological, and other specific chemical compositions.
REACTER (www.reacter.org) is a heuristic protocol that enables the simulation of complex reactions using atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) with a fixed-valence force field. Incorporating reactions into classical MD with this approach allows modeling of reactive systems over greatly-increased time scales, enabling systems to be modeled with MD that would not otherwise be feasible. One or more competing multi-step reactions or series of reactions can be invoked simultaneously. Special treatment can be applied to neighboring atoms to relax high energy configurations while the simulation progresses. The original version of REACTER, which was implemented in the open-source LAMMPS simulation package as fix bond/react, was only available for serial simulations. This work describes the expansion of fix bond/react for use in parallel simulations, as well as the addition of various new options, including deletion of reaction by-products, reversible reactions, and custom reaction constraints. These new capabilities are demonstrated through large-scale simulations (200,000+ atoms) of the polymerization of polystyrene and nylon 6,6. The morphologies of both polymers are analyzed after reaching >99% extent of polymerization. Finally, the newly-added reversible reactions feature is demonstrated by rupturing these highly-entangled systems under uniaxial strain by defining a chain scission reaction.
Rotorcraft noise source identification is at the forefront of civil rotorcraft applications with the emergence of the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) market. Blade Vortex Interaction (BVI) has been identified as one key source of noise produced by a rotor. To predict BVI occurrences for various Urban Air Mobility (UAM) configurations, the RApid Blade and Blade-Vortex InTeraction (RABBIT) tool was developed and utilized. The tool is built from a Beddoes Wake Model, and computes variables such as miss distance and BVI angle to calculate an impulse factor, which is able to visualize BVI for a given vehicle and flight condition. A complete checkout of this tool and comparison with CAMRADII and ANOPP2/AARON, is performed. A wake comparison between RABBIT and CAMRADII is presented, and BVI is compared with ANOPP2/AARON’s acoustic pressure time history to verify the tools effectiveness and accuracy. Three NASA Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology (RVLT) concept vehicles were analyzed with increasing geometric and aerodynamic complexity, including the Quiet Single Main Rotor (QSMR), Side-by-Side, and Quadrotor. An analysis of the results concludes that RABBIT presents a low-fidelity tool that accurately predicts BVI location and intensity for multiple vehicle configurations and various flight conditions.