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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 1,747 records · Page 97
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2024

Integrated (Physical and Digital) Collaborative Experimentation: Advancing Dialog and Leveraging by Aerospace Researchers and Developers

This paper 1) documents findings and observations from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Ground Test Technical Committee (GTTC) Future of Ground Test Working Group and the Applied Aeronautics Technical Committee (APATC) Collaborative Experiments & Computation Discussion Group, and 2) develops a more focused approach for sharing and advancing integrated development and use of physical experimental and computational capabilities for aerospace research and development. The GTTC and APATC are engaging with the larger AIAA technical community by creating a Focus Group on this topical area that will support working together on common interests in the public domain. This paper summarizes the knowledge capture from the last ten+ years and proposes a structure and scope going forward for the new, combined Focus Group.

ground testing↗
DOE OSTI2020

Robotic Mapping and Monitoring of Nuclear Infrastructure

Routine inspection of nuclear infrastructure is currently expensive and slow. To remedy this the Applied Research Center (ARC) at Florida International University (FIU) is developing a field robot capable of gathering valuable data quickly, safely, and cheaply. Motivation: Nuclear infrastructure should be inspected routinely to ensure early detection of problems. This process is expensive, hazardous, and slow. Objective: Develop a platform capable of surveying nuclear infrastructure autonomously. Discussion: The quality of the captured data depends on the success of every component of the robot. Good sensors, hardware, localization, data collection, and autonomy are required. Conclusion: This is a promising approach for surveying nuclear infrastructure. The captured data is rich with information and can be evaluated by both people and algorithms.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Chapter 10 - Economic Considerations for Hydrogen Production with a Focus on Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrolysis

This Chapter provides an overview of key economic considerations for hydrogen produced from water electrolysis, with the analyses presented here ranging from high-level summaries to detailed considerations of key market and technological drivers. As the electric power sector evolves to account for increasing shares of renewable energy, opportunities are emerging for technologies capable of storing renewable energy in various forms, including as hydrogen. Opportunities for reducing the cost of hydrogen produced from electrolysis include ensuring access to low-cost wholesale electricity, reducing the capital cost of electrolyzers, and development of systems capable of being dispatchable loads without experiencing significant efficiency penalties throughout lifetime. Our analysis indicates that numerous pathways exist for making hydrogen from electrolysis cost-competitive with hydrogen produced from conventional technologies, and significant opportunities exist for research and development to address performance targets for the future electrolysis systems envisioned here.

cost reduction↗
NASA NTRS2015

Preparation for Testing a Multi-Bay Box Subjected to Combined Loads

The COmbined Loads Test System (COLTS) facility at NASA Langley Research Center provides a test capability to help develop validated structures technologies. The test machine was design to accommodate a range of fuselage structures and wing sections and subject them to both quasistatic and cyclic loading conditions. The COLTS facility is capable of testing fuselage barrels up to 4.6 m in diameter and 13.7 m long with combined mechanical, internal pressure, and thermal loads. The COLTS facility is currently being prepared to conduct a combined mechanical and pressure loading for a multi-bay pressure box to experimentally verify the structural performance of a composite structure which is 9.1 meters long and representative of a section of a hybrid wing body fuselage section in support of the Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project at NASA. This paper describes development of the multi-bay pressure box test using the COLTS facility. The multi-bay test article will be subjected to mechanical loads and internal pressure loads up to design ultimate load. Mechanical and pressure loads will be applied independently in some tests and simultaneously in others.

Rouse, Marshall↗
NASA NTRS2009

A Combination of Traditional and Novel Methods Used to Evaluate the Impact of an EVA Glove on Hand Performance

The gloved hand is an astronaut s primary means of interacting with the environment, so performance on an EVA is strongly impacted by any restrictions imposed by the glove. As a result, these restrictions have been the subject of study for decades. However, previous studies have generally been unsuccessful in quantifying glove mobility and tactility. Instead, studies have tended to focus on the dexterity, strength and functional performance of the gloved hand. Therefore, it has been difficult to judge the impact of each type of restriction on the glove s overall capability. The lack of basic information on glove mobility in particular, is related to the difficulty in instrumenting a gloved hand to allow an accurate evaluation. However, the current study aims at developing novel technological capabilities to provide metrics for mobility and tactility that can be used to assess the performance of a glove in a way that could enable designers and engineers to improve upon their current designs. A series of evaluations were performed in ungloved, unpressurized and pressurized (4.3 psi) conditions, to allow a comparison across pressures and to the baseline barehanded condition. In addition, a subset of the testing was also performed with the Thermal Micrometeoroid Garment (TMG) removed. This test case in particular provided some interesting insight into how much of an impact the TMG has on gloved mobility -- in some cases, as much as pressurization of the glove. Previous rule-of-thumb estimates had assumed that the TMG would have a much lower impact on mobility, while these results suggest that an improvement in the TMG could actually have a significant impact on glove performance. Similarly, tactility testing illustrated the impact of glove pressurization on tactility and provided insight on the design of interfaces to the glove. The metrics described in this paper have been used to benchmark the Phase VI EVA glove and to develop requirements for the next generation glove for the Constellation program.

Rajulu, Sudhakar↗
DOE OSTI2020

Transported PDF Modeling of Compressible Turbulent Reactive Flows by using the Eulerian Monte Carlo Fields Method

Although the transported probability density function (PDF) method has been developed for decades, its application has been mainly focused on the low-Mach number flow problems. This work extends the transported PDF method to compressible flow problems. The Eulerian Monte Carlo fields (EMCF) solution method is employed to solve the transported PDF equation for compressible flow problems. A pseudo stagnation enthalpy is introduced and its stochastic partial differential equation is derived to ensure total energy conservation numerically. A new mixing model called interaction by partial exchange with mean (IPEM) is introduced to expand the available choices of mixing models for the EMCF method. The consistency of the EMCF method is examined for solving the transported PDF equation. Numerical implementation details are discussed, such as the density coupling between the compressible flow solver and the EMCF solver, discretization schemes for the mixing terms and the stochastic terms. The implemented compressible flow solver coupled with the EMCF solver is verified and validated in a series of test cases with increasing level of complexity, ranging from a statistically one-dimensional turbulent mixing layer to a self-excited resonance model rocket combustor. It is observed that in general with the increase of compressibility, there is an increase in the sensitivity of the modeling results to the different models and algorithms. This makes it necessary to develop a thorough understanding of the model sensitivity in order to develop a robust and accurate simulation solver for highly compressible turbulent reactive flows. The thermo-acoustic instability inside the model rocket combustor case is captured reasonably, which demonstrates the overall capability of the developed compressible turbulent combustion solver based on the transported PDF method.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS2007

Ultra-Sensitive Photoreceiver Boosts Data Transmission

NASA depends on advanced, ultra-sensitive photoreceivers and photodetectors to provide high-data communications and pinpoint image-detection and -recognition capabilities from great distances. In 2003, Epitaxial Technologies LLC was awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from Goddard Space Flight Center to address needs for advanced sensor components. Epitaxial developed a photoreciever capable of single proton sensitivity that is also smaller, lighter, and requires less power than its predecessor. This receiver operates in several wavelength ranges; will allow data rate transmissions in the terabit range; and will enhance Earth-based missions for remote sensing of crops and other natural resources, including applications for fluorescence and phosphorescence detection. Widespread military and civilian applications are anticipated, especially through enhancing fiber optic communications, laser imaging, and laser communications.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2011

High Resolution Global Climate Modeling with GEOS-5: Intense Precipitation, Convection and Tropical Cyclones on Seasonal Time-Scales.

In 2008 the World Modeling Summit for Climate Prediction concluded that "climate modeling will need-and is ready-to move to fundamentally new high-resolution approaches to capitalize on the seamlessness of the weather-climate continuum." Following from this, experimentation with very high-resolution global climate modeling has gained enhanced priority within many modeling groups and agencies. The NASA Goddard Earth Observing System model (GEOS-5) has been enhanced to provide a capability for the execution at the finest horizontal resolutions POS,SIOle with a global climate model today. Using this high-resolution, non-hydrostatic version of GEOS-5, we have developed a unique capability to explore the intersection of weather and climate within a seamless prediction system. Week-long weather experiments, to mUltiyear climate simulations at global resolutions ranging from 3.5- to 14-km have demonstrated the predictability of extreme events including severe storms along frontal systems, extra-tropical storms, and tropical cyclones. The primary benefits of high resolution global models will likely be in the tropics, with better predictions of the genesis stages of tropical cyclones and of the internal structure of their mature stages. Using satellite data we assess the accuracy of GEOS-5 in representing extreme weather phenomena, and their interaction within the global climate on seasonal time-scales. The impacts of convective parameterization and the frequency of coupling between the moist physics and dynamics are explored in terms of precipitation intensity and the representation of deep convection. We will also describe the seasonal variability of global tropical cyclone activity within a global climate model capable of representing the most intense category 5 hurricanes.

Putnam, WilliamM.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Materials Overview

The Materials and Structures for High Performance project has made excellent progress in the development of advanced high-temperature materials and computational materials science tools to enable high-performance, hgh-efficiency, and environmentally compatible propulsion systems. Ceramic matrix composite (CMC) systems with 2700 O F temperature capability are initially being developed for low NO, combustor liners and turbine vanes. The feasibility of pushing CMC technologies to 3000 O F through revolutionary concepts is also being pursued. Achieving fuel savings of 8 to 15 percent requires higher turbine inlet temperatures as well as reductions in engine weight. An advanced disk alloy has been evaluated for application in future engines. Advanced thermal barrier coatings (TBC s) will enable 3200 O F turbine rotor inlet temperature capability. Advanced alloy development and the development of computational tools for the design of these future alloys will further enable attainment of these goals. Innovative lightweight materials, and structural and nozzle aerodynamic concepts are also being developed to reduce the weight of engine static structures to contribute toward overall fuel savings. Rig tests will demonstrate long-term durability of CMC linersand vanes and advanced turbine airfoil alloy systems, as well as fabricability of components with the highest payoff potential using the lightweight materials and structures concepts being developed.

Draper, Robert↗
DOE OSTI2024

SPH Modeling of Biomass Granular Flow: Engineering Application in Hoppers and Augers

Numerical modeling of granular biomass material flow in handling operations is indispensable to decipher flow upsets, commonly manifested as clogging and jamming in hoppers and augers. With a computational tool developed based on smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), we simulated the hopper flow and auger feeding of six granular biomass materials. The good agreement between the experimental and numerical flow rates demonstrated the capability of the developed SPH solver in modeling the complicated flow of granular biomass materials. Further, the impact of physical and numerical parameters is investigated, and the major results show that the hopper flow pattern is controlled by shear band evolution; hopper clogging is collectively influenced by the opening size, wall friction, and material packing, and the impact of material compressibility on the auger feed rate is minimal. These parametric studies validate the solver’s robustness in simulating biomass flow in handling equipment and demonstrate that the SPH computational tool can provide insights about granular flow mechanics to facilitate handling equipment design and optimize handling operations.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Generic Programming in Fortran 202Y

Back in 2018, the Fortran committee began planning new features for what is now expected to be Fortran 2023, "generic programming" was at the top of the list of requests from the user community. Here, generic programming refers to the ability to specify algorithms that are parameterized in terms of deferred _types_ (as opposed to values). Concrete algorithms are subsequently generated when the generic algorithms are "instantiated" with specific types. After significant consideration the language committee decided that the necessary changes to Fortran to support generic programming would be too large and complex to complete within a single release cycle of the standard. Instead, a new "generics" subgroup was formed with myself as the lead, and we were charged with developing generic programming features for the subsequent release _after_ the F2023, internally referred to as Fortran 202Y. I.e, the new subgroup was provided the luxury of developing the new capabilities across two full release cycles of the standard. This talk will describe the current approach to generics being pursued by the subgroup as well as the current status halfway through the development cycle. I will conclude with some motivating examples implemented with notional syntax.

Fortran↗
DOE OSTI2025

High Spatial Resolution Mapping of Retained Fission Gas

Fission gas isotopic analysis provides quantitative high precision determination of irradiated nuclear fuel burnup, offers diagnostic value, and informs fuel performance models. A measurement capability has been developed at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) for the release of retained fission gas using a focused laser and static noble gas mass spectrometry (MS) analysis. This high resolution (10s microns spot size) capability was demonstrated using Xe implanted metal foils.

07 - ISOTOPES AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
NASA NTRS2018

Monitoring Intense Thunderstorms in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan Region

SERVIR Goal: Use NASA EOS (Earth Observing System) assets to build early warning capabilities and facilitate timely disaster response for high impact weather events in the HKH (Hindu-Kush Himalayan) region. Objectives: 1. High Impact Weather Assessment Toolkit(HIWAT) for the HKH region; 2. Jointly develop HIWAT capabilities/training with ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development); 3. Demonstrate capability in end-user environment; 4. Transition HIWAT to ICIMOD.

thunderstorms↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Survey of Open-Source Tools for Transmission and Distribution Systems Research

This work presents a review of open-source electric power transmission and distribution systems analysis tools suitable for use by industry professionals and academic researchers. Due to the high complexity of the electric grid, there exist numerous tools and extensive research pertaining to nearly every aspect of the design, operation, and control of transmission and distribution networks. In addition to the commercial tools, a wide range of free, open-source tools, models, and data usable by the scientific community for related research have been developed by different organizations, including both international and US universities and national laboratories. However, due to the absence of a catalog of available tools, models and data, researchers often lack a knowledge of existing capabilities and may develop duplicative software and tools. Increasing awareness of these available resources seeks to accelerate their broader use, leading to more efficient and standardized grid analysis. This review paper (which is part of a larger survey effort that studied over 400 tools in the transmission, distribution, buildings, and electric vehicles space) outlines selected open-source resources that have been developed in power transmission and distribution systems research. It is anticipated that this work can serve as a guide for industry and academic researchers alike, ensuring that research efforts are well-channeled.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS1985

3D inelastic analysis methods for hot section components

The objective is to develop analytical tools capable of economically evaluating the cyclic time dependent plasticity which occurs in hot section engine components in areas of strain concentration resulting from the combination of both mechanical and thermal stresses. Three models were developed. A simple model performs time dependent inelastic analysis using the power law creep equation. The second model is the classical model of Professors Walter Haisler and David Allen of Texas A and M University. The third model is the unified model of Bodner, Partom, et al. All models were customized for linear variation of loads and temperatures with all material properties and constitutive models being temperature dependent.

Dame, L. T.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Technology Challenges in Small UAV Development

Development of highly capable small UAVs present unique challenges for technology protagonists. Size constraints, the desire for ultra low cost and/or disposable platforms, lack of capable design and analysis tools, and unique mission requirements all add to the level of difficulty in creating state-of-the-art small UAVs. This paper presents the results of several small UAV developments, the difficulties encountered, and proposes a list of technology shortfalls that need to be addressed.

Logan, Michael J.↗