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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 163 records · Page 9
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NASA NTRS2024

An Approach to Evaluating the Impact of Small-Core Turbofan Technologies on Engine and Aircraft Performance

NASA’s Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core (HyTEC) project aims to accelerate the development of small-core turbofan engine technologies to enable a fuel burn reduction of 5 to 10 percent for next-generation aircraft, compared to 2020s best-in-class technology. This paper presents a demonstration of methods for evaluating the potential performance impact of small-core engine technologies developed under Phase 1 of the HyTEC project. The approach involves model-based systems analysis, where small-core innovations are integrated into baseline turbofan and aircraft systems models, creating a notional vision system. Performance of the vision system is examined at both the engine and vehicle level. The examined performance metrics include: engine bypass ratio, overall pressure ratio, high pressure compressor exit corrected mass flow, and aircraft fuel burn. The CFM LEAP-1B28 and Boeing 737 MAX 8 are chosen as the baseline state-of-the-art systems. Preliminary results map a design space for the small-core vision system and quantify the distinct effects of technologies on the key metrics.

Michael A Bennett↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

An Approach to Evaluating the Impact of Small-core Turbofan Technologies on Engine and Aircraft Performance

NASA’s Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core (HyTEC) project aims to accelerate the development of small-core turbofan engine technologies to enable a fuel burn reduction of 5 to 10 percent for next-generation aircraft, compared to 2020s best-in-class technology. This paper presents a demonstration of methods for evaluating the potential performance impact of small-core engine technologies developed under Phase 1 of the HyTEC project. The approach involves model-based systems analysis, where small-core innovations are integrated into baseline turbofan and aircraft systems models, creating a notional vision system. Performance of the vision system is examined at both the engine and vehicle level. The examined performance metrics include: engine bypass ratio, overall pressure ratio, high pressure compressor exit corrected mass flow, and aircraft fuel burn. The CFM LEAP-1B28 and Boeing 737 MAX 8 are chosen as the baseline state-of-the-art systems. Preliminary results map a design space for the small-core vision system and quantify the distinct effects of technologies on the key metrics.

Michael Bennett↗
NASA NTRS2021

The Dark Energy Survey Supernova Programme: Modelling Selection Efficiency and Observed Core-collapse Supernova Contamination

The analysis of current and future cosmological surveys of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) at high redshift depends on the accuratephotometric classification of the SN events detected. Generating realistic simulations of photometric SN surveys constitutes anessential step for training and testing photometric classification algorithms, and for correcting biases introduced by selectioneffects and contamination arising from core-collapse SNe in the photometric SN Ia samples. We use published SN time-seriesspectrophotometric templates, rates, luminosity functions, and empirical relationships between SNe and their host galaxies toconstruct a framework for simulating photometric SN surveys. We present this framework in the context of the Dark EnergySurvey (DES) 5-yr photometric SN sample, comparing our simulations of DES with the observed DES transient populations.We demonstrate excellent agreement in many distributions, including Hubble residuals, between our simulations and data.We estimate the core collapse fraction expected in the DES SN sample after selection requirements are applied and beforephotometric classification. After testing different modelling choices and astrophysical assumptions underlying our simulation,we find that the predicted contamination varies from 7.2 to 11.7 per cent, with an average of 8.8 per cent and an r.m.s. of 1.1 percent. Our simulations are the first to reproduce the observed photometric SN and host galaxy properties in high-redshift surveyswithout fine-tuning the input parameters. The simulation methods presented here will be a critical component of the cosmologyanalysis of the DES photometric SN Ia sample: correcting for biases arising from contamination, and evaluating the associatedsystematic uncertainty.

M Vincenzi↗
NASA NTRS2016

Soil Moisture Active Passive Mission L4_SM Data Product Assessment (Version 2 Validated Release)

During the post-launch SMAP calibration and validation (Cal/Val) phase there are two objectives for each science data product team: 1) calibrate, verify, and improve the performance of the science algorithm, and 2) validate the accuracy of the science data product as specified in the science requirements and according to the Cal/Val schedule. This report provides an assessment of the SMAP Level 4 Surface and Root Zone Soil Moisture Passive (L4_SM) product specifically for the product's public Version 2 validated release scheduled for 29 April 2016. The assessment of the Version 2 L4_SM data product includes comparisons of SMAP L4_SM soil moisture estimates with in situ soil moisture observations from core validation sites and sparse networks. The assessment further includes a global evaluation of the internal diagnostics from the ensemble-based data assimilation system that is used to generate the L4_SM product. This evaluation focuses on the statistics of the observation-minus-forecast (O-F) residuals and the analysis increments. Together, the core validation site comparisons and the statistics of the assimilation diagnostics are considered primary validation methodologies for the L4_SM product. Comparisons against in situ measurements from regional-scale sparse networks are considered a secondary validation methodology because such in situ measurements are subject to up-scaling errors from the point-scale to the grid cell scale of the data product. Based on the limited set of core validation sites, the wide geographic range of the sparse network sites, and the global assessment of the assimilation diagnostics, the assessment presented here meets the criteria established by the Committee on Earth Observing Satellites for Stage 2 validation and supports the validated release of the data. An analysis of the time average surface and root zone soil moisture shows that the global pattern of arid and humid regions are captured by the L4_SM estimates. Results from the core validation site comparisons indicate that "Version 2" of the L4_SM data product meets the self-imposed L4_SM accuracy requirement, which is formulated in terms of the ubRMSE: the RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) after removal of the long-term mean difference. The overall ubRMSE of the 3-hourly L4_SM surface soil moisture at the 9 km scale is 0.035 cubic meters per cubic meter requirement. The corresponding ubRMSE for L4_SM root zone soil moisture is 0.024 cubic meters per cubic meter requirement. Both of these metrics are comfortably below the 0.04 cubic meters per cubic meter requirement. The L4_SM estimates are an improvement over estimates from a model-only SMAP Nature Run version 4 (NRv4), which demonstrates the beneficial impact of the SMAP brightness temperature data. L4_SM surface soil moisture estimates are consistently more skillful than NRv4 estimates, although not by a statistically significant margin. The lack of statistical significance is not surprising given the limited data record available to date. Root zone soil moisture estimates from L4_SM and NRv4 have similar skill. Results from comparisons of the L4_SM product to in situ measurements from nearly 400 sparse network sites corroborate the core validation site results. The instantaneous soil moisture and soil temperature analysis increments are within a reasonable range and result in spatially smooth soil moisture analyses. The O-F residuals exhibit only small biases on the order of 1-3 degrees Kelvin between the (re-scaled) SMAP brightness temperature observations and the L4_SM model forecast, which indicates that the assimilation system is largely unbiased. The spatially averaged time series standard deviation of the O-F residuals is 5.9 degrees Kelvin, which reduces to 4.0 degrees Kelvin for the observation-minus-analysis (O-A) residuals, reflecting the impact of the SMAP observations on the L4_SM system. Averaged globally, the time series standard deviation of the normalized O-F residuals is close to unity, which would suggest that the magnitude of the modeled errors approximately reflects that of the actual errors. The assessment report also notes several limitations of the "Version 2" L4_SM data product and science algorithm calibration that will be addressed in future releases. Regionally, the time series standard deviation of the normalized O-F residuals deviates considerably from unity, which indicates that the L4_SM assimilation algorithm either over- or under-estimates the actual errors that are present in the system. Planned improvements include revised land model parameters, revised error parameters for the land model and the assimilated SMAP observations, and revised surface meteorological forcing data for the operational period and underlying climatological data. Moreover, a refined analysis of the impact of SMAP observations will be facilitated by the construction of additional variants of the model-only reference data. Nevertheless, the “Version 2” validated release of the L4_SM product is sufficiently mature and of adequate quality for distribution to and use by the larger science and application communities.

SMAP L4_SM↗
NASA NTRS2003

The Thiamin Pyrophosphate-Motif

Using databases the authors have identified a common thiamin pyrophosphate (TPP)-motif in the family of functionally diverse TPP-dependent enzymes. This common motif consists of multimeric organization of subunits, two catalytic centers, common amino acid sequence, and specific contacts to provide a flip-flop, or alternate site, mechanism of action. Each catalytic center [PP:PYR] is formed at the interface of the PP-domain binding the magnesium ion, pyrophosphate and aminopyrimidine ring of TPP, and the PYR-domain binding the aminopyrimidine ring of that cofactor. A pair of these catalytic centers constitutes the catalytic core [PP:PYR]* within these enzymes. Analysis of the structural elements of this catalytic core reveals novel definition of the common amino acid sequences, which are GX@&(G)@XXGQ, and GDGX25-30 within the PP- domain, and the E&(G)@XXG@ within the PYR-domain, where Q, corresponds to a hydrophobic amino acid. This TPP-motif provides a novel tool for annotation of TPP-dependent enzymes useful in advancing functional proteomics.

Dominiak, Paulina M.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Application of a Virtual Reactivity Feedback Control Loop in Non-Nuclear Testing of a Fast Spectrum Reactor

For a compact, fast-spectrum reactor, reactivity feedback is dominated by core deformation at elevated temperature. Given the use of accurate deformation measurement techniques, it is possible to simulate nuclear feedback in non-nuclear electrically heated reactor tests. Implementation of simulated reactivity feedback in response to measured deflection is being tested at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Early Flight Fission Test Facility (EFF-TF). During tests of the SAFE-100 reactor prototype, core deflection was monitored using a high resolution camera. "virtual" reactivity feedback was accomplished by applying the results of Monte Carlo calculations (MCNPX) to core deflection measurements; the computational analysis was used to establish the reactivity worth of van'ous core deformations. The power delivered to the SAFE-100 prototype was then dusted accordingly via kinetics calculations, The work presented in this paper will demonstrate virtual reactivity feedback as core power was increased from 1 kilowatt(sub t), to 10 kilowatts(sub t), held approximately constant at 10 kilowatts (sub t), and then allowed to decrease based on the negative thermal reactivity coefficient.

Bragg-Sitton, Shannon M.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Dense cores in dark clouds. VIII - Velocity gradients

An analysis of motions consistent with uniform rotation in dense cores is presented. Twenty-nine of the 43 cores studied have a statistically significant gradient. Some gradients are spatially continuous and are consistent with uniform rotation, but other apparent gradients are caused by clump-clump motion, or sharp localized gradients, within a map. The motions in L1495, B217, L1251, L43, B361, and L1551 are discussed in detail. In L1551, the residuals of the fit to the NH3 velocity field indicate an outflow from IRS5 in the same direction as the CO outflow. Gradient orientation appears to be preserved over a range of density, as evidenced by comparing results of NH3 to fits of (C-18)O and CS maps. The specific angular momentum is found to scale roughly as F exp 3/2, where R represents the diameter of the FWHM intensity contour in a map.

Goodman, A. A.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Avco Lycoming quiet clean general aviation turbofan engine

A fan module was developed using an existing turboshaft engine. The fan was designed using the latest in large engine noise control technology. A mixer was added to reduce the already low exhaust gas velocity. A nacelle incorporating sound treatment was provided for the test engine. A noise prediction model was used through the design process to evaluate the various design alternatives. Acoustic tests were then made to verify the prediction and identify the noise characteristics of the fan, core, jet, and sound treatment. Analysis of the recorded data yielded close agreement with the expected results. Core noise, as was expected, was the predominant source of noise for the quiet clean general aviation turbofan (QCGAT) engine. Flyover noise predictions were made which indicated that the Avco Lycoming QCGAT engine would meet the goals set for the QCGAT program.

Wilson, C. A.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Analysis of Stainless Steel Sandwich Panels with a Metal Foam Core for Lightweight Fan Blade Design

The quest for cheap, low density and high performance materials in the design of aircraft and rotorcraft engine fan and propeller blades poses immense challenges to the materials and structural design engineers. The present study investigates the use of a sandwich foam fan blade mae up of solid face sheets and a metal foam core. The face sheets and the metal foam core material were an aerospace grade precipitation hardened 17-4 PH stainless steel with high strength and high toughness. The resulting structures possesses a high stiffness while being lighter than a similar solid construction. The material properties of 17-4 PH metal foam are reviewed briefly to describe the characteristics of sandwich structure for a fan blade application. A vibration analysis for natural frequencies and a detailed stress analysis on the 17-4 PH sandwich foam blade design for different combinations of kin thickness and core volume are presented with a comparison to a solid titanium blade.

Min, James B.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Analysis of Moderately Siderophile Elements in Angrites: Implications for Core Formation of the Angrite Parent Body

Angrites are an enigmatic group of achondrites, that constitute the largest group of basalts not affiliated with the Moon, Mars or Vesta (HEDs). Chemically, angrites are exceptionally refractory element- enriched (e.g., Al, Ca) and volatile element-depleted (e.g., Na and K) achondrites. Highly volatile siderophile and chalcophile elements (Zn, Ge and Se) may be less depleted than alkalis and Ga taken to imply a fractionation of plagiophile elements. Core formation on the angrite parent body (APB) is not well understood due to the dearth of moderately siderophile element (Ga, Ge, Mo, Sb, W) data for angrites, with the exception of Ni and Co [2]. In particular, there are no data for Mo abundances of angrites, while Sb and W abundances are reported for only 3 angrites, and have not always been determined on the same sample. The recent increase in angrite numbers (13) has greatly increased our knowledge of the compositional diversity of the angrite parent body (APB). In this study, we report new Co, Ni, Ga, Mo, Sb and W abundances for angrites by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) in order to place constraints on core formation of the APB.

Righter, K.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Cassini Observations of Plasmoid Structure and Dynamics: Implications for the Role of Magnetic Reconnection in Magnetospheric Circulation at Saturn

We survey the Cassini magnetometer data during the deep tail orbits in 2006, and find 34 direct encounters with plasmoids. They occur as single, isolated events but also in groups of two or more plasmoids as is frequently observed at Earth . We show a case study example of three such plasmoids over three hours, where we estimate an upper limit of 5.68 GWb of flux closure, and derive a reconnection rate over this interval of 526 kV. We show the results of a superposed epoch analysis of al1 34 plasmoids indicating that, on average, plasmoids at Saturn are approix.8 min in duration and they tend toward a loop-like, as opposed to flux rope-like topology, with little or no axial core magnetic field. Our analysis shows that plasmoids at Saturn are followed by an extended interval of the post-plasmoid plasma sheet (PPPS) lasting approx.58 min. The average open magnetic flux disconnected by the continued reconnet:tion following plasmoid formation that creates the PPPS is approx.3 GWb. We calculate expected recurrence rates for plasmoids, and compare these with a derived observational recurrence rate of one plasmoid every approx.2.4 days, explaining the reasons why the spacecraft has not observed as many plasmoids as we predict will be released. We conclude that the Cassini magnetometer measurements require a combination of Vasyliunas-type closed-flux plasma sheet and Dungey-type open-flux lobe reconnection to account for the observed properties of the plasmoids and PPPS in Saturn's magnetotail.

Jackman, C. M.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Sensitivity of a Cloud-Resolving Model to the Bulk and Explicit Bin Microphysical Schemes

A cloud-resolving model is used to study sensitivities of two different microphysical schemes, one is the bulk type, and the other is an explicit bin scheme, in simulating a mid-latitude squall line case. Simulations using different microphysical schemes are compared with each other and also with the observations. Both the bulk and bin models reproduce the general features during the developing and mature stage of the system. The leading convective zone, the trailing stratiform region, the horizontal wind flow patterns, pressure perturbation associated with the storm dynamics, and the cool pool in front of the system all agree well with the observations. Both the observations and the bulk scheme simulation serve as validations for the newly incorporated bin scheme. However, it is also shown that the bulk and bin simulations have distinct differences, most notably in the stratiform region. Weak convective cells exist in the stratiform region in the bulk simulation, but not in the bin simulation. These weak convective cells in the stratiform region are remnants of the previous stronger convections at the leading edge of the system. The bin simulation, on the other hand, has a horizontally homogeneous stratiform rain structure, which agrees better with the observations. Further analysis of the downdraft core strength, the potential temperature perturbation, and the evaporative cooling rate shows that the differences between the bulk and bin models are due mainly to the stronger low-level evaporative cooling simulated in the bulk model. Further quantitative analysis and sensitivity tests for this case using both the bulk and bin models will be presented in the talk.

Tao, Wei-Kuo↗
NASA NTRS2004

Observations of PSR B1509-58 Using INTEGRAL Core Program Data

We present spectral and imaging results from the analysis of the first year of INTEGRAL Core Program Data for the pulsar PSR B1509-58 and its associated supernova remnant MSH 15-52. PSR B1509-58 is a gamma-ray emitting, rotation-powered pulsar with a period of approx. = 150 ms and a characteristic age of roughly 1600 years. This pulsar is unusual among the gamma-ray pulsars in that its gamma-ray spectrum is cut-off at the lowest energy (approx. 10 - 30 MeV) and it has the highest surface magnetic field strength (1.54 x 10(exp 13) G). We find that IBIS/ISGRI and SPI detect PSR B1509-58/MSH 15-52 up to approx. 200 keV. The spectral shape and flux level are in agreement with previous results. Key words: pu1sars:individual:PSR B1509-58 - Gamma rays:observations.

Sturner, S. J.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Chemical stratigraphy of the Apollo 17 deep drill cores 70009-70007

A description is presented of an analysis of a total of 26 samples from three core segments (70009, 70008, 70007) of the Apollo 17 deep drill string. The deep drill string was taken about 700 m east of the Camelot Crater in the Taurus-Littrow region of the moon. Three core segments have been chemically characterized from the mainly coarse-grained upper portion of the deep drill string. The chemical data suggest that the entire 70007-70009 portion of the deep drill string examined was not deposited as a single unit, but was formed by several events sampling slightly different source materials which may have occurred over a relatively short period of time. According to the data from drill stem 70007, there were at least two phases of deposition. Core segment 70009 is probably derived from somewhat different source material than 70008. It seems to be a very well mixed material.

Ehmann, W. D.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Computational architecture for integrated controls and structures design

To facilitate the development of control structure interaction (CSI) design methodology, a computational architecture for interdisciplinary design of active structures is presented. The emphasis of the computational procedure is to exploit existing sparse matrix structural analysis techniques, in-core data transfer with control synthesis programs, and versatility in the optimization methodology to avoid unnecessary structural or control calculations. The architecture is designed such that all required structure, control and optimization analyses are performed within one program. Hence, the optimization strategy is not unduly constrained by cold starts of existing structural analysis and control synthesis packages.

Belvin, W. Keith↗
NASA NTRS2004

The Effect of Salts on Electrospray Ionization of Amino Acids in the Negative Mode

The continued search for organics on Mars will require the development of simplified procedures for handling and processing of soil or rock core samples prior to analysis by onboard instrumentation. Extraction of certain organic molecules such as amino acids from rock and soil samples using a liquid solvent (H2O) has been shown to be more efficient (by approximately an order of magnitude) than heat extraction methods. As such, liquid extraction (using H2O) of amino acid molecules from rock cores or regolith material is a prime candidate for the required processing. In this scenario, electrospray ionization (ESI) of the liquid extract would be a natural choice for ionization of the analyte prior to interrogation by one of a variety of potential analytical separation techniques (mass spectroscopy, ion mobility spectroscopy, etc.). Aside from the obvious compatibility of ESI and liquid samples, ESI offers simplicity and a soft ionization capability. In order to demonstrate that liquid extraction and ESI can work as part of an in situ instrument on Mars, we must better understand and quantify the effect salts have on the ESI process. In the current work, we have endeavored to investigate the feasibility and limitations of negative mode ESI of Martian surface samples in the context of sample salt content using ion mobility spectroscopy (IMS).

H I Kim↗