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At least 163 records · Page 9

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NASA NTRS1985

Ohio River main stem study - The role of geographic information systems and remote sensing in flood damage assessments

The Pittsburgh District, Corps of Engineers, has conducted feasibility analyses of various procedures for performing flood damage assessments along the main stem of the Ohio River. Procedures using traditional, although highly automated, techniques and those based on geographic information systems have been evaluated at a test site, the City of New Martinsville, Wetzel County, WV. The flood damage assessments of the test site developed from an automated, conventional structure-by-structure appraisal served as the ground truth data set. A geographic information system was developed for the test site which includes data on hydraulic reach, ground and reference flood elevations, and land use/cover. Damage assessments were made using land use mapping developed from an exhaustive field inspection of each tax parcel. This ground truth condition was considered to provide the best comparison of flood damages to the conventional approach. Also, four land use/cover data sets were developed from Thematic Mapper Simulator (TMS) and Landsat-4 Thematic Mapper (TM) data. One of these was also used to develop a damage assessment of the test site. This paper presents the comparative absolute and relative accuracies of land use/cover mapping and flood damage assessments, and the recommended role of geographic information systems aided by remote sensing for conducting flood damage assessments and updates along the main stem of the Ohio River.

Edwardo, H. A.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Cumulative fatigue damage models

The problem of calculating expected component life under fatigue loading conditions is complicated by the fact that component loading histories contain, in many cases, cyclic loads of widely varying amplitudes. In such a case a cumulative damage model is required, in addition to a fatigue damage criterion, or life relationship, in order to compute the expected fatigue life. The traditional cumulative damage model used in design is the linear damage rule. This model, while being simple to use, can yield grossly unconservative results under certain loading conditions. Research at the NASA Lewis Research Center has led to the development of a nonlinear cumulative damage model, named the double damage curve approach (DDCA), that has greatly improved predictive capability. This model, which considers the life (or loading) level dependence of damage evolution, was applied successfully to two polycrystalline materials, 316 stainless steel and Haynes 188. The cumulative fatigue behavior of the PWA 1480 single-crystal material is currently being measured to determine the applicability of the DDCA for this material.

Mcgaw, Michael A.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Hypervelocity impact damage assessment for Space Station

To inhibit damage and limit the probability of penetration of the Space Station pressure wall by micrometeoroids and orbital debris, a shield placed away from the wall is used to form a double wall. To determine shield effectiveness and assess impact damage, existing test data were reviewed and additional testing was performed for Space Station double wall designs. Empirical spallation and penetration functions derived from the data show that shield thickness and impact angle affect the damage to the wall. Thick shields reduce wall damage for low angle impacts but increase damage for oblique impacts. Multilayer insulation between the shield and wall reduces impact damage to the wall. A relationship between impact velocity and spall damage to the wall is demonstrated. Preliminary test results on Li-Al shield material indicate possible improved effectiveness over Al shields.

Coronado, Alex R.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Experiments for locating damaged truss members in a truss structure

Locating damaged truss members in large space structures will involve a combination of sensing and diagnostic techniques. Methods developed for damage location require experimental verification prior to on-orbit applications. To this end, a series of experiments for locating damaged members using a generic, ten bay truss structure were conducted. A 'damaged' member is a member which has been removed entirely. Previously developed identification methods are used in conjunction with the experimental data to locate damage. Preliminary results to date are included, and indicate that mode selection and sensor location are important issues for location performance. A number of experimental data sets representing various damage configurations were compiled using the ten bay truss. The experimental data and the corresponding finite element analysis models are available to researchers for verification of various methods of structure identification and damage location.

Mcgowan, Paul E.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Investigations into the damage for various types of unprotected carbon fibre composites with a variety of lightning arc attachments

Very little quantitative information exists on the extent and nature of damage caused to unprotected carbon fiber composites (CFC's) due to lightning arc attachment. An initial investigation into the arc damage to three different types and various thickness of CFC's from A and C component type lightning discharges is described. The difference in damage which the two types of waveform produced and the way the area of damage varies with different levels of action integral and charge transfer is compared. In some cases, the temperature rise at the rear of the panels was recorded for various levels of action integral and charge transfer. A comparison was made of the area of damage from visual inspection and soft x ray photography, using a suitable penetrant in the damage area. It is concluded there is a need for a more detailed analysis of the damage.

Reid, G. W.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Acoustic emission monitoring of low velocity impact damage in graphite/epoxy laminates during tensile loading

An acoustic emission (AE) system was set up in a linear location data acquisition mode to monitor the tensile loading of eight-ply quasi-isotropic graphite/epoxy specimens containing low velocity impact damage. The impact damage was induced using an instrumented drop weight tower. During impact, specimens were supported by either an aluminum plate or a membrane configuration. Cross-sectional examinations revealed that the aluminum plate configuration resulted in primarily matrix cracking and back surface fiber failure. The membrane support resulted in only matrix cracking and delamination damage. Penetrant enhanced radiography and immersion ultrasonics were used in order to assess the amount of impact damage in each tensile specimen. During tensile loading, AE reliably detected and located the damage sites which included fiber failure. All specimens with areas of fiber breakage ultimately failed at the impact site. AE did not reliably locate damage which consisted of only delaminations and matrix cracking. Specimens with this type of damage did not ultimately fail at the impact site. In summary, AE demonstrated the ability to increase the reliability of structural proof tests; however, the successful use of this technique requires extensive baseline testing.

Parker, Bradford H.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Certification of damage tolerant composite structure

A reliability based certification testing methodology for impact damage tolerant composite structure was developed. Cocured, adhesively bonded, and impact damaged composite static strength and fatigue life data were statistically analyzed to determine the influence of test parameters on the data scatter. The impact damage resistance and damage tolerance of various structural configurations were characterized through the analysis of an industry wide database of impact test results. Realistic impact damage certification requirements were proposed based on actual fleet aircraft data. The capabilities of available impact damage analysis methods were determined through correlation with experimental data. Probabilistic methods were developed to estimate the reliability of impact damaged composite structures.

Rapoff, Andrew J.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Compressive strength of damaged and repaired composite plates

Tests were performed assessing the effectiveness of repair in restoring the mechanical properties of damaged, solid composite plates made either of Fiberite T300/976 graphite-epoxy, Fiberite IM7/977-2 graphite-toughened epoxy, or ICI APC-2 graphite-PEEK. The plate length, the layup and the amount of damage were also varied. Damage was introduced in the plates either by impacting them with a solid projectile or by applying a transverse static load. Some (75 percent) or all (100 percent) of the damaged zone was then cut out, and the plate was repaired by plugging and patching the hole. The effectiveness of the repair was evaluated by measuring the compressive strengths of undamaged plates, damaged plates with no cutout, damaged plates with a cutout, and repaired plates. The data at an intermediate stage of repair provide information on the effect of each repair step on the compressive strength. The results indicated that for the solid plates used in these tests, the repair methods used herein did not improve the compressive strength of already damaged plates.

Finn, Scott R.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Monitoring damage growth in titanium matrix composites using acoustic emission

The application of the acoustic emission (AE) technique to locate and monitor damage growth in titanium matrix composites (TMC) was investigated. Damage growth was studied using several optical techniques including a long focal length, high magnification microscope system with image acquisition capabilities. Fracture surface examinations were conducted using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The AE technique was used to locate damage based on the arrival times of AE events between two sensors. Using model specimens exhibiting a dominant failure mechanism, correlations were established between the observed damage growth mechanisms and the AE results in terms of the events amplitude. These correlations were used to monitor the damage growth process in laminates exhibiting multiple modes of damage. Results revealed that the AE technique is a viable and effective tool to monitor damage growth in TMC.

Bakuckas, J. G., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Assessment of damage in ceramics and ceramic matrix composites using ultrasonic techniques

This paper addresses the application of ultrasonic sensing to damage assessment in ceramics and ceramic matrix composites. It focuses on damage caused by thermal shock or oxidation at elevated temperatures, which often results in elastic anisotropy. This damaged-induced anisotropy is determined by measuring the velocities of ultrasonic waves in different propagation directions. Thermal shock damage is assessed in ceramic samples of reaction bonded silicon nitride (RBSN). Thermal shock treatment from different temperatures up to 1000 C is applied to produce the microcracks. Results indicate that most microcracks produced by thermal shock are located near sample surfaces. Ultrasonic measurements using the surface wave method are found to correlate well with measurements of degradation of mechanical properties obtained independently by other authors using destructive methods. Oxidation damage is assessed in silicon carbide fiber/reaction bonded silicon nitride matrix (SCS-6/RBSN) composites. The oxidation is done by exposing the samples in a flowing oxygen environment at elevated temperatures, up to 1400 C, for 100 hr. The Youngs' modulus in the fiber direction as obtained from ultrasonic measurements decreases significantly at 600 C but retains its original value at temperatures above 1200 C. This agrees well with the results of destructive tests by other authors. On the other hand, the transverse moduli obtained from ultrasonic measurements decrease continually until 1200 C. Measurements on the shear stiffnesses show behavior similar to the transverse moduli. The results of this work show that the damage-induced anisotropy in both ceramics and ceramic matrix composites can be determined successfully by ultrasonic methods. This suggests the possibility of assessing damage severity using ultrasonic techniques.

Chu, Y. C.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Evaluation of microcrack thermal shock damage in ceramics: Modeling and experiment

In this paper we present an experimental and theoretical study of the effect of microcrack damage on ceramic properties. For the experimental investigation, ceramic samples of aluminum oxide and reaction bonded silicon nitride (RBSN) are used. Thermal shock treatment from different temperatures up to 1000 C is applied to produce the microcracks. Both surface and bulk ultrasonic wave methods are used to correlate the change of elastic constants to microstructural degradation and to determine the change in elastic anisotropy induced by microcrack damage. For the theoretical investigation, damage mechanics, which relates microstructural damage to material service life and mechanical failure, is used. The change in elastic properties due to microcrack damage calculated from the theoretical model is compared with the experimental results for determination of the applicability of damage theory. It is shown that two independent experimental methods (bulk wave and surface wave) give the same results for shear moduli of damaged ceramics. The experimental results aagree reasonably well with the moduli predicted from the cracked solid model.

Chu, Y. C.↗

NASA NTRS1997

The Space Shuttle Program Pre-Flight Meteoroid and Orbital Debris Risk/Damage Predictions and Post-Flight Damage Assessments

The pre-flight predictions and postflight assessments carried out in relation to a series of Space Shuttle missions are reviewed, and data are presented for the meteoroid and orbital debris damage observed on the Hubble Space Telescope during the 1994 Hubble repair mission. Pre-flight collision risk analyses are carried out prior to each mission, and in the case of an unacceptable risk, the mission profile is altered until the risk is considered to be acceptable. The NASA's BUMPER code is used to compute the probability of damage from debris and meteoroid particle impacts based on the Poisson statistical model for random events. The penetration probability calculation requires information concerning the geometry of the critical systems, the penetration resistance and mission profile parameters. Following each flight, the orbiter is inspected for meteoroid and space debris damage. The emphasis is on areas such as the radiator panels, the windows and the reinforced carbon-carbon structures on the leading wing edges and on the nose cap. The contents of damage craters are analyzed using a scanning electron microscope to determine the nature and origin of the impactor. Hypervelocity impact tests are often performed to simulate the observed damage and to estimate the nature of the damaging particles. The number and type of damage observed provides information concerning the orbital debris environment.

Levin, George M.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Isothermal Fatigue, Damage Accumulation, and Life Prediction of a Woven PMC

This dissertation focuses on the characterization of the fully reversed fatigue behavior exhibited by a carbon fiber/polyimide resin, woven laminate at room and elevated temperatures. Nondestructive video edge view microscopy and destructive sectioning techniques were used to study the microscopic damage mechanisms that evolved. The residual elastic stiffness was monitored and recorded throughout the fatigue life of the coupon. In addition, residual compressive strength tests were conducted on fatigue coupons with various degrees of damage as quantified by stiffness reduction. Experimental results indicated that the monotonic tensile properties were only minimally influenced by temperature, while the monotonic compressive and fully reversed fatigue properties displayed noticeable reductions due to the elevated temperature. The stiffness degradation, as a function of cycles, consisted of three stages; a short-lived high degradation period, a constant degradation rate segment composing the majority of the life, and a final stage demonstrating an increasing rate of degradation up to failure. Concerning the residual compressive strength tests at room and elevated temperatures, the elevated temperature coupons appeared much more sensitive to damage. At elevated temperatures, coupons experienced a much larger loss in compressive strength when compared to room temperature coupons with equivalent damage. The fatigue damage accumulation law proposed for the model incorporates a scalar representation for damage, but admits a multiaxial, anisotropic evolutionary law. The model predicts the current damage (as quantified by residual stiffness) and remnant life of a composite that has undergone a known load at temperature. The damage/life model is dependent on the applied multiaxial stress state as well as temperature. Comparisons between the model and data showed good predictive capabilities concerning stiffness degradation and cycles to failure.

Gyekenyesi, Andrew L.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Damage Tolerance Issues as Related to Metallic Rotorcraft Dynamic Components

In this paper issues related to the use of damage tolerance in life managing rotorcraft dynamic components are reviewed. In the past, rotorcraft fatigue design has combined constant amplitude tests of full-scale parts with flight loads and usage data in a conservative manner to provide "safe life" component replacement times. In contrast to the safe life approach over the past twenty years the United States Air Force and several other NATO nations have used damage tolerance design philosophies for fixed wing aircraft to improve safety and reliability. The reliability of the safe life approach being used in rotorcraft started to be questioned shortly after presentations at an American Helicopter Society's specialist meeting in 1980 showed predicted fatigue lives for a hypothetical pitch-link problem to vary from a low of 9 hours to a high in excess of 2594 hours. This presented serious cost, weight, and reliability implications. Somewhat after the U.S. Army introduced its six nines reliability on fatigue life, attention shifted towards using a possible damage tolerance approach to the life management of rotorcraft dynamic components. The use of damage tolerance in life management of dynamic rotorcraft parts will be the subject of this paper. This review will start with past studies on using damage tolerance life management with existing helicopter parts that were safe life designed. Also covered will be a successful attempt at certifying a tail rotor pitch rod using damage tolerance, which was designed using the safe life approach. The FAA review of rotorcraft fatigue design and their recommendations along with some on-going U.S. industry research in damage tolerance on rotorcraft will be reviewed.

Everett, R. A., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Fatigue Damage Mechanisms in Advanced Hybrid Titanium Composite Laminates

Hybrid Titanium Composite Laminates (HTCL) are a type of hybrid composite laminate with promise for high-speed aerospace applications, specifically designed for improved damage tolerance and strength at high-temperature (350 F, 177 C). However, in previous testing, HTCL demonstrated a propensity to excessive delamination at the titanium/PMC interface following titanium cracking. An advanced HTCL has been constructed with an emphasis on strengthening this interface, combining a PETI-5/IM7 PMC with Ti-15-3 foils prepared with an alkaline-perborate surface treatment. This paper discusses how the fatigue capabilities of the "advanced" HTCL compare to the first generation HTCL which was not modified for interface optimization, in both tension-tension (R = 0.1) and tension-compression (R=-0.2). The advanced HTCL under did not demonstrate a significant improvement in fatigue life, in either tension-tension or tension-compression loading. However, the advanced HTCL proved much more damage tolerant. The R = 0.1 tests revealed the advanced HTCL to increase the fatigue life following initial titanium ply damage up to 10X that of the initial HTCL at certain stress levels. The damage progression following the initial ply damage demonstrated the effect of the strengthened PMC/titanium interface. Acetate film replication of the advanced HTCL edges showed a propensity for some fibers in the adjacent PMC layers to fail at the point of titanium crack formation, suppressing delamination at the Ti/PMC interface. The inspection of failure surfaces validated these findings, revealing PMC fibers bonded to the majority of the titanium surfaces. Tension compression fatigue (R = -0.2) demonstrated the same trends in cycles between initial damage and failure, damage progression, and failure surfaces. Moreover, in possessing a higher resistance to delamination, the advanced HTCL did not exhibit buckling following initial titanium ply cracking under compression unlike the initial HTCL.

Johnson, W. Steven↗

NASA NTRS2001

Durability and Damage Development in Woven Ceramic Matrix Composites

Damage development in woven SiC/SiNC ceramic matrix composites (CMC's) under tensile and cyclic loading both at room and elevated temperatures have been investigated for the exhaust nozzle of high-efficient turbine engines. The ultimate strength, failure strain, proportional limit and modulus data at a temperature range of 23 to 1250 C are generated. The tensile strength of SiC/SiNC woven composites have been observed to increase with increased temperatures up to 1000 C. The stress/strain plot shows a pseudo-yield point at 25 percent of the failure strain (epsilon(sub r)) which indicates damage initiation in the form of matrix cracking. The evolution of damage beyond 0.25 epsilon(sub f), both at room and elevated temperature comprises multiple matrix cracking, interfacial debonding, and fiber pullout. Although the nature of the stress/strain plot shows damage-tolerant behavior under static loading both at room and elevated temperature, the life expectancy of SiC/SiNC composites degrades significantly under cyclic loading at elevated temperature. This is mostly due to the interactions of fatigue damage caused by the mechanically induced plastic strain and the damage developed by the creep strain. The in situ damage evolutions are monitored by acoustic event parameters, ultrasonic C-scan and stiffness degradation. Rate equations for modulus degradation and fatigue life prediction of ceramic matrix composites both at room and elevated temperatures are developed. These rate equations are observed to show reasonable agreement with experimental results.

Haque, A.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Size Effects in Impact Damage of Composite Sandwich Panels

Panel size has a large effect on the impact response and resultant damage level of honeycomb sandwich panels. It has been observed during impact testing that panels of the same design but different panel sizes will show large differences in damage when impacted with the same impact energy. To study this effect, a test program was conducted with instrumented impact testing of three different sizes of sandwich panels to obtain data on panel response and residual damage. In concert with the test program. a closed form analysis method was developed that incorporates the effects of damage on the impact response. This analysis method will predict both the impact response and the residual damage of a simply-supported sandwich panel impacted at any position on the panel. The damage is incorporated by the use of an experimental load-indentation curve obtained for the face-sheet/honeycomb and indentor combination under study. This curve inherently includes the damage response and can be obtained quasi-statically from a rigidly-backed specimen or a specimen with any support conditions. Good correlation has been obtained between the test data and the analysis results for the maximum force and residual indentation. The predictions can be improved by using a dynamic indentation curve. Analyses have also been done using the MSC/DYTRAN finite element code.

Dobyns, Alan↗

NASA NTRS2004

Computational Aerodynamics of Shuttle Orbiter Damage Scenarios in Support of the Columbia Accident Investigation

In support of the Columbia Accident Investigation, inviscid computations of the aerodynamic characteristics for various Shuttle Orbiter damage scenarios were performed using the FELISA unstructured CFD solver. Computed delta aerodynamics were compared with the reconstructed delta aerodynamics in order to postulate a progression of damage through the flight trajectory. By performing computations at hypervelocity flight and CF4 tunnel conditions, a bridge was provided between wind tunnel testing in Langley's 20-Inch CF4 facility and the flight environment experienced by Columbia during re-entry. The rapid modeling capability of the unstructured methodology allowed the computational effort to keep pace with the wind tunnel and, at times, guide the wind tunnel efforts. These computations provided a detailed view of the flowfield characteristics and the contribution of orbiter components (such as the vertical tail and wing) to aerodynamic forces and moments that were unavailable from wind tunnel testing. The damage scenarios are grouped into three categories. Initially, single and multiple missing full RCC panels were analyzed to determine the effect of damage location and magnitude on the aerodynamics. Next is a series of cases with progressive damage, increasing in severity, in the region of RCC panel 9. The final group is a set of wing leading edge and windward surface deformations that model possible structural deformation of the wing skin due to internal heating of the wing structure. By matching the aerodynamics from selected damage scenarios to the reconstructed flight aerodynamics, a progression of damage that is consistent with the flight data, debris forensics, and wind tunnel data is postulated.

Bibb, Karen L.↗