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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 19 records

Analysis of hypercube cache performance using address traces generated by TRAPEDS

The authors utilize a recently developed software method of capturing and analyzing address traces, known as TRAPEDS (TRAce Producing Execution Driven Simulation), to provide address traces for cache performance evaluation on a hypercube multicomputer. Utilizing TRAPEDS user code traces obtained from the implementations of several parallel algorithms on the Intel iPSC/2 hypercube, the authors simulate the cache performance effects of changing cache size, line size, and set associativity. Particular attention is devoted to the effect on cache performance of changing the dimension of the hypercube for a particular program and to the variation in cache statistics among the nodes of the hypercube.

Stunkel, Craig B.↗

Scalable Performance Environments for Parallel Systems

As parallel systems expand in size and complexity, the absence of performance tools for these parallel systems exacerbates the already difficult problems of application program and system software performance tuning. Moreover, given the pace of technological change, we can no longer afford to develop ad hoc, one-of-a-kind performance instrumentation software; we need scalable, portable performance analysis tools. We describe an environment prototype based on the lessons learned from two previous generations of performance data analysis software. Our environment prototype contains a set of performance data transformation modules that can be interconnected in user-specified ways. It is the responsibility of the environment infrastructure to hide details of module interconnection and data sharing. The environment is written in C++ with the graphical displays based on X windows and the Motif toolkit. It allows users to interconnect and configure modules graphically to form an acyclic, directed data analysis graph. Performance trace data are represented in a self-documenting stream format that includes internal definitions of data types, sizes, and names. The environment prototype supports the use of head-mounted displays and sonic data presentation in addition to the traditional use of visual techniques.

Reed, Daniel A.↗

Enhanced Performance of Streamline-Traced External-Compression Supersonic Inlets

A computational design study was conducted to enhance the aerodynamic performance of streamline-traced, external-compression inlets for Mach 1.6. Compared to traditional external-compression, two-dimensional and axisymmetric inlets, streamline-traced inlets promise reduced cowl wave drag and sonic boom, but at the expense of reduced total pressure recovery and increased total pressure distortion. The current study explored a new parent flowfield for the streamline tracing and several variations of inlet design factors, including the axial displacement and angle of the subsonic cowl lip, the vertical placement of the engine axis, and the use of porous bleed in the subsonic diffuser. The performance was enhanced over that of an earlier streamline-traced inlet such as to increase the total pressure recovery and reduce total pressure distortion.

performance↗

Enhanced Performance of Streamline-Traced External-Compression Supersonic Inlets

A computational design study was conducted to enhance the aerodynamic performance of streamline-traced, external-compression inlets for Mach 1.6. The current study explored a new parent flowfield for the streamline tracing and several variations of inlet design factors, including the axial displacement and angle of the subsonic cowl lip, the vertical placement of the engine axis, and the use of porous bleed in the subsonic diffuser. The performance was enhanced over that of an earlier streamline-traced inlet such as to increase the total pressure recovery and reduce total pressure distortion

performance↗

Performance Testing of a Trace Contaminant Control Subassembly for the International Space Station

As part of the International Space Station (ISS) Trace Contaminant Control Subassembly (TCCS) development, a performance test has been conducted to provide reference data for flight verification analyses. This test, which used the U.S. Habitation Module (U.S. Hab) TCCS as the test article, was designed to add to the existing database on TCCS performance. Included in this database are results obtained during ISS development testing; testing of functionally similar TCCS prototype units; and bench scale testing of activated charcoal, oxidation catalyst, and granular lithium hydroxide (LiOH). The present database has served as the basis for the development and validation of a computerized TCCS process simulation model. This model serves as the primary means for verifying the ISS TCCS performance. In order to mitigate risk associated with this verification approach, the U.S. Hab TCCS performance test provides an additional set of data which serve to anchor both the process model and previously-obtained development test data to flight hardware performance. The following discussion provides relevant background followed by a summary of the test hardware, objectives, requirements, and facilities. Facility and test article performance during the test is summarized, test results are presented, and the TCCS's performance relative to past test experience is discussed. Performance predictions made with the TCCS process model are compared with the U.S. Hab TCCS test results to demonstrate its validation.

Perry, J. L.↗

Off-Design Performance of a Streamline-Traced, External-Compression Supersonic Inlet

A computational study was performed to explore the aerodynamic performance of a streamline-traced, external-compression inlet designed for Mach 1.664 at off-design conditions of freestream Mach number, angle-of-attack, and angle-of-sideslip. Serious degradation of the inlet performance occurred for negative angles-of-attack and angles-of-sideslip greater than 3 degrees. At low subsonic speeds, the swept leading edges of the inlet created a pair of vortices that propagated to the engine face. Increasing the bluntness of the cowl lip showed no real improvement in the inlet performance at the low speeds, but did improve the inlet performance at the design conditions. Reducing the inlet flow rate improved the inlet performance, but at the likely expense of reduced thrust of the propulsion system. Deforming the cowl lip for low-speed operation of the inlet increased the inlet capture area and improved the inlet performance.

distortion↗

Predicting the thermal/structural performance of the atmospheric trace molecules spectroscopy /ATMOS/ Fourier transform spectrometer

ATMOS is a Fourier transform spectrometer to measure atmospheric trace molecules over a spectral range of 2-16 microns. Assessment of the system performance of ATMOS includes evaluations of optical system errors induced by thermal and structural effects. In order to assess the optical system errors induced from thermal and structural effects, error budgets are assembled during system engineering tasks and line of sight and wavefront deformations predictions (using operational thermal and vibration environments and computer models) are subsequently compared to the error budgets. This paper discusses the thermal/structural error budgets, modelling and analysis methods used to predict thermal/structural induced errors and the comparisons that show that predictions are within the error budgets.

Miller, J. M.↗

A Comparison of Photocatalytic Oxidation Reactor Performance for Spacecraft Cabin Trace Contaminant Control Applications

Photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) is a maturing process technology that shows potential for spacecraft life support system application. Incorporating PCO into a spacecraft cabin atmosphere revitalization system requires an understanding of basic performance, particularly with regard to partial oxidation product production. Four PCO reactor design concepts have been evaluated for their effectiveness for mineralizing key trace volatile organic com-pounds (VOC) typically observed in crewed spacecraft cabin atmospheres. Mineralization efficiency and selectivity for partial oxidation products are compared for the reactor design concepts. The role of PCO in a spacecraft s life support system architecture is discussed.

Perry, Jay L.↗

Space Station Freedom Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) phase 3 simplified integrated test trace contaminant control subsystem performance

Space Station Freedom environmental control and life support system testing has been conducted at Marshall Space Flight Center since 1986. The phase 3 simplified integrated test (SIT) conducted from July 30, 1989, through August 11, 1989, tested an integrated air revitalization system. During this test, the trace contaminant control subsystem (TCCS) was directly integrated with the bleed stream from the carbon dioxide reduction subsystem. The TCCS performed as expected with minor anomalies. The test set the basis for further characterizing the TCCS performance as part of advance air revitalization system configurations.

Perry, J. L.↗

Computer programs simplify optical system analysis

The optical ray-trace computer program performs geometrical ray tracing. The energy-trace program calculates the relative monochromatic flux density on a specific target area. This program uses the ray-trace program as a subroutine to generate a representation of the optical system.

Source record↗

Understanding the Impact of Meteorological Spatiotemporal Variability on Distant Focusing Overpressure Risk

Since the 1950s, the amplification of blast energy from explosions has been understood to be a significant hazard to public safety at launch ranges. Historically, the risk assessment of the Distant Focusing Overpressure (DFO) hazard started with a single temperature and wind profile (e.g., a radiosonde launch) as input to acoustic 1-D ray tracing models. By analyzing rays propagation and performing ray tracing, population centers under high DFO risk can be identified. Although this method is useful, less is known about how the blast waves can be focused when the spatiotemporal variability of the input profiles are considered. In summary, this work aims to consider how realistic atmospheric boundary layer variability (e.g., turbulence, land-surface contrasts) may affect blast waves propagation and focusing and, as a result, DFO risk assessment results.

Blumberg, W. Greg↗

Plasma wave signatures in the magnetotail reconnection region - MHD simulation and ray tracing

An MHD simulation was performed to obtain a self-consistent model of magnetic field and plasma density near the X point reconnection region. The MHD model was used to perform extensive ray tracing calculations in order to clarify the propagation characteristics of the plasma waves near the X point reconnection region. The dynamic wave spectra possibly observed by the Geotail spacecraft during a typical cross-tail trajectory are reconstructed. By comparing the extensive ray tracing calculations with the plasma wave data from Geotail, it is possible to perform a kind of 'remote sensing' to identify the location and structure of potential X point reconnection regions.

Omura, Yoshiharu↗

Hydrogen induced fracture characteristics of single crystal nickel-based superalloys

A stereoscopic method for use with x ray energy dispersive spectroscopy of rough surfaces was adapted and applied to the fracture surfaces single crystals of PWA 1480E to permit rapid orientation determinations of small cleavage planes. The method uses a mathematical treatment of stereo pair photomicrographs to measure the angle between the electron beam and the surface normal. One reference crystal orientation corresponding to the electron beam direction (crystal growth direction) is required to perform this trace analysis. The microstructure of PWA 1480E was characterized before fracture analysis was performed. The fracture behavior of single crystals of the PWA 1480E nickel-based superalloy was studied. The hydrogen-induced fracture behavior of single crystals of the PWA 1480E nickel-based superalloy was also studied. In order to understand the temperature dependence of hydrogen-induced embrittlement, notched single crystals with three different crystal growth orientations near zone axes (100), (110), and (111) were tensile tested at 871 C (1600 F) in both helium and hydrogen atmospheres at 34 MPa. Results and conclusions are given.

Chen, Po-Shou↗

Evaluation of IMERG Satellite Precipitation Over the Land-Coast-Ocean Continuum – Part Ii: Quantification

To understand and manage water systems under a changing climate and meet an increasing demand for water, a quantitative understanding of precipitation is most important in coastal regions. The capabilities of the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement (IMERG) V06B product for precipitation quantification are examined over three coastal regions of the United States: the West Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and the East Coast, all of which are characterized by different topographies and precipitation climatologies. A novel uncertainty analysis of IMERG is proposed that considers environmental and physical parameters such as elevation and distance to the coastline. The IMERG performance is traced back to its components, i.e., passive microwave (PMW), infrared (IR), and morphing-based estimates. The analysis is performed using high-resolution, high-quality Ground Validation Multi-Radar/Multi-Sensor (GV-MRMS) rainfall estimates as ground reference at the native resolution of IMERG of 30 min and 0.1°. IMERG Final (IM-F) quantification performance heavily depends on the respective contribution of PMW, IR, and morph components. IM-F and its components overestimate the contribution of light rainfall (<1 mm h−1) and underestimate the contribution of high rainfall rates (>10 mm h−1) to the total rainfall volume. Strong regional dependencies are highlighted, especially over the West Coast, where the proximity of complex terrain to the coastline challenges precipitation estimates. Other major drivers are the distance from the coastline, elevation, and precipitation types, especially over the land and coast surface types, that highlight the impact of precipitation regimes.

Atmosphere↗

Evaluating the effect of online data compression on the disk cache of a mass storage system

A trace driven simulation of the disk cache of a mass storage system was used to evaluate the effect of an online compression algorithm on various performance measures. Traces from the system at NASA's Center for Computational Sciences were used to run the simulation and disk cache hit ratios, number of files and bytes migrating to tertiary storage were measured. The measurements were performed for both an LRU and a size based migration algorithm. In addition to seeing the effect of online data compression on the disk cache performance measure, the simulation provided insight into the characteristics of the interactive references, suggesting that hint based prefetching algorithms are the only alternative for any future improvements to the disk cache hit ratio.

Pentakalos, Odysseas I.↗