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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 181 records · Page 10

Numerical Investigation of a Fuselage Boundary Layer Ingestion Propulsion Concept

In the present study, a numerical assessment of the performance of fuselage boundary layer ingestion (BLI) propulsion techniques was conducted. This study is an initial investigation into coupling the aerodynamics of the fuselage with a BLI propulsion system to determine if there is sufficient potential to warrant further investigation of this concept. Numerical simulations of flow around baseline, Boundary Layer Controlled (BLC), and propelled boundary layer controlled airships were performed. Computed results showed good agreement with wind tunnel data and previous numerical studies. Numerical simulations and sensitivity analysis were then conducted on four BLI configurations. The two design variables selected for the parametric study of the new configurations were the inlet area and the inlet to exit area ratio. Current results show that BLI propulsors may offer power savings of up to 85% over the baseline configuration. These interim results include the simplifying assumption that inlet ram drag is negligible and therefore likely overstate the reduction in power. It has been found that inlet ram drag is not negligible and should be included in future analysis.

Elmiligui, Alaa A.↗

A Model to Assess the Risk of Ice Accretion Due to Ice Crystal Ingestion in a Turbofan Engine and its Effects on Performance

The occurrence of ice accretion within commercial high bypass aircraft turbine engines has been reported under certain atmospheric conditions. Engine anomalies have taken place at high altitudes that were attributed to ice crystal ingestion, partially melting, and ice accretion on the compression system components. The result was one or more of the following anomalies: degraded engine performance, engine roll back, compressor surge and stall, and flameout of the combustor. The main focus of this research is the development of a computational tool that can estimate whether there is a risk of ice accretion by tracking key parameters through the compression system blade rows at all engine operating points within the flight trajectory. The tool has an engine system thermodynamic cycle code, coupled with a compressor flow analysis code, and an ice particle melt code that has the capability of determining the rate of sublimation, melting, and evaporation through the compressor blade rows. Assumptions are made to predict the complex physics involved in engine icing. Specifically, the code does not directly estimate ice accretion and does not have models for particle breakup or erosion. Two key parameters have been suggested as conditions that must be met at the same location for ice accretion to occur: the local wet-bulb temperature to be near freezing or below and the local melt ratio must be above 10%. These parameters were deduced from analyzing laboratory icing test data and are the criteria used to predict the possibility of ice accretion within an engine including the specific blade row where it could occur. Once the possibility of accretion is determined from these parameters, the degree of blockage due to ice accretion on the local stator vane can be estimated from an empirical model of ice growth rate and time spent at that operating point in the flight trajectory. The computational tool can be used to assess specific turbine engines to their susceptibility to ice accretion in an ice crystal environment.

Jorgenson, Philip C. E.↗

An Overview of the Challenges With and Proposed Solutions for the Ingest and Distribution Processes for Airborne Data Management

The current data management practices for NASA airborne field projects have successfully served science team data needs over the past 30 years to achieve project science objectives, however, users have discovered a number of issues in terms of data reporting and format. The ICARTT format, a NASA standard since 2010, is currently the most popular among the airborne measurement community. Although easy for humans to use, the format standard is not sufficiently rigorous to be machine-readable. This makes data use and management tedious and resource intensive, and also create problems in Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) data ingest procedures and distribution. Further, most DAACs use metadata models that concentrate on satellite data observations, making them less prepared to deal with airborne data.

Beach, Aubrey↗

Modeling of Highly Instrumented Honeywell Turbofan Engine Tested with Ice Crystal Ingestion in the NASA Propulsion System Laboratory

The Propulsion Systems Laboratory (PSL), an altitude test facility at NASA Glenn Research Center, has been used to test a highly instrumented turbine engine at simulated altitude operating conditions. This is a continuation of the PSL testing that successfully duplicated the icing events that were experienced in a previous engine (serial LF01) during flight through ice crystal clouds, which was the first turbofan engine tested in PSL. This second model of the ALF502R-5A serial number LF11 is a highly instrumented version of the previous engine. The PSL facility provides a continuous cloud of ice crystals with controlled characteristics of size and concentration, which are ingested by the engine during operation at simulated altitudes. Several of the previous operating points tested in the LF01 engine were duplicated to confirm repeatability in LF11. The instrumentation included video cameras to visually illustrate the accretion of ice in the low pressure compressor (LPC) exit guide vane region in order to confirm the ice accretion, which was suspected during the testing of the LF01. Traditional instrumentation included static pressure taps in the low pressure compressor inner and outer flow path walls, as well as total pressure and temperature rakes in the low pressure compressor region. The test data was utilized to determine the losses and blockages due to accretion in the exit guide vane region of the LPC. Multiple data points were analyzed with the Honeywell Customer Deck. A full engine roll back point was modeled with the Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS) code. The mean line compressor flow analysis code with ice crystal modeling was utilized to estimate the parameters that indicate the risk of accretion, as well as to estimate the degree of blockage and losses caused by accretion during a full engine roll back point. The analysis provided additional validation of the icing risk parameters within the LPC, as well as the creation of models for estimating the rates of blockage growth and losses.

Simulation↗

Modeling of a Turbofan Engine with Ice Crystal Ingestion in the NASA Propulsion System Laboratory

The main focus of this study is to apply a computational tool for the flow analysis of the turbine engine that has been tested with ice crystal ingestion in the Propulsion Systems Laboratory (PSL) at NASA Glenn Research Center. The PSL has been used to test a highly instrumented Honeywell ALF502R-5A (LF11) turbofan engine at simulated altitude operating conditions. Test data analysis with an engine cycle code and a compressor flow code was conducted to determine the values of key icing parameters, that can indicate the risk of ice accretion, which can lead to engine rollback (un-commanded loss of engine thrust). The full engine aerothermodynamic performance was modeled with the Honeywell Customer Deck specifically created for the ALF502R-5A engine. The mean-line compressor flow analysis code, which includes a code that models the state of the ice crystal, was used to model the air flow through the fan-core and low pressure compressor. The results of the compressor flow analyses included calculations of the ice-water flow rate to air flow rate ratio (IWAR), the local static wet bulb temperature, and the particle melt ratio throughout the flow field. It was found that the assumed particle size had a large effect on the particle melt ratio, and on the local wet bulb temperature. In this study the particle size was varied parametrically to produce a non-zero calculated melt ratio in the exit guide vane (EGV) region of the low pressure compressor (LPC) for the data points that experienced a growth of blockage there, and a subsequent engine called rollback (CRB). At data points where the engine experienced a CRB having the lowest wet bulb temperature of 492 degrees Rankine at the EGV trailing edge, the smallest particle size that produced a non-zero melt ratio (between 3 percent - 4 percent) was on the order of 1 micron. This value of melt ratio was utilized as the target for all other subsequent data points analyzed, while the particle size was varied from 1 micron - 9.5 microns to achieve the target melt ratio. For data points that did not experience a CRB which had static wet bulb temperatures in the EGV region below 492 degrees Rankine, a non-zero melt ratio could not be achieved even with a 1 micron ice particle size. The highest value of static wet bulb temperature for data points that experienced engine CRB was 498 degrees Rankine with a particle size of 9.5 microns. Based on this study of the LF11 engine test data, the range of static wet bulb temperature at the EGV exit for engine CRB was in the narrow range of 492 degrees Rankine - 498 degrees Rankine , while the minimum value of IWAR was 0.002. The rate of blockage growth due to ice accretion and boundary layer growth was estimated by scaling from a known blockage growth rate that was determined in a previous study. These results obtained from the LF11 engine analysis formed the basis of a unique “icing wedge.”

Turbo engine↗

Development of a Flow Field for Testing a Boundary-Layer-Ingesting Propulsor

The test section of the 8- by 6-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel at NASA Glenn Research Center was modified to produce the test conditions for a boundary-layer-ingesting propulsor. A test was conducted to measure the flow properties in the modified test section before the propulsor was installed. Measured boundary layer and freestream conditions were compared to results from computational fluid dynamics simulations of the external surface for the reference vehicle. Testing showed that the desired freestream conditions and boundary layer thickness could be achieved; however, some non-uniformity of the freestream conditions, particularly the total temperature, were observed.

embedded propulsion↗

NASA's EOSDIS Cumulus: Ingesting, Archiving, Managing, and Distributing Earth Science Data from the Commercial Cloud

NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) has been working towards a vision of a cloud-based, highly-flexible, ingest, archive, management, and distribution system for its ever-growing and evolving data holdings. This system, Cumulus, is emerging from its prototyping stages and is poised to make a huge impact on how NASA manages and disseminates its Earth science data. This talk will outline the motivation for this work, present the achievements and hurdles of the past 18 months and will chart a course for the future expansion of the Cumulus expansion. We will explore on not just the technical, but also the socio-technical challenges that we face in evolving a system of this magnitude into the cloud and how we are rising to meet those challenges through open collaboration and intentional stakeholder engagement.

Earth Scienc↗

Data, Meet Compute: NASA's Cumulus Ingest Architecture

NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) houses nearly 30PBs of critical Earth Science data and with upcoming missions is expected to balloon to between 200PBs-300PBs over the next seven years. In addition to the massive increase in data collected, researchers and application developers want more and faster access - enabling complex visualizations, long time-series analysis, and cross dataset research without needing to copy and manage massive amounts of data locally. NASA has looked to the cloud to address these needs, building its Cumulus system to manage the ingest of diverse data in a wide variety of formats into the cloud. In this talk, we look at what Cumulus is from a high level and then take a deep dive into how it manages complexity and versioning associated with multiple AWS Lambda and ECS microservices communicating through AWS Step Functions across several disparate installations

EOSDIS↗

Aeropropulsive Design Optimization of a Turboelectric Boundary Layer Ingestion Propulsion System

Boundary Layer Ingestion (BLI) for aircraft applications was first proposed by Apollo Smith and Howard Roberts in a 1947 paper that studied the use of jet intakes embedded in the boundary layer as a means to maintain laminar flow and reduce aircraft drag. While the use of BLI in aviation didn't catch on it was heavily studied and utilized for marine applications. In 1993 interest in BLI applications to aircraft design was renewed when Leyroy Smith published novel work using a boundary layer analysis combined with basic propulsion modeling to show the potential for significant fuel burn reduction. Smith identified the tightly coupled aero-propulsive nature of BLI as a key challenge in the analysis and design of the concept.

Gray, Justin S.↗

Aerodynamic Design and Optimization of Fan Stage for Boundary Layer Ingestion Propulsion System

The present paper addresses the process of preliminary design of a low-pressure fan and outlet guide vane (OGV) of a boundary layer ingestion (BLI) propulsion system. The tail-cone thruster systems of NASA's STARC_ABL (Single-aisle Turboelectric Aircraft with an Aft Boundary-Layer propulsor) adopts an axi-symmetric BLI type inlet as opposed to other embedded engine systems. Thus, the focus of the present work is placed on maximizing the efficiency of the fan and OGV stages under a significant radial distortion. A parameterization with B-spline function for camber line angles, metal chord, thickness distribution and stacking axis of blades is presented. The flowpath lines are also parameterized by B-spline function and aggregated in the design system of blades. The design optimization with evolutionary algorithm is performed with constraints of fan pressure ratio, OGV exit swirl angle and nozzle exit properties. The inlet conditions for the turbo-machinery CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) domain and the design goal of the fan stage are driven by a propulsion airframe integration (PAI) model that uses a 3-D unstructured RANS (Reynolds Average Navier Stokes) solver and actuator disk model. The expected power saving of the BLI propulsor is quantified via PAI analysis and the resulting preliminary design of the fan stages is compared with a clean-inlet flow propulsor.

Turbo-machinery↗

Vehicle-Level System Impact of Boundary Layer Ingestion for the NASA D8 Concept Aircraft

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the vehicle-level impact of a boundary layer ingestion (BLI) propulsion system on a commercial transport aircraft concept. The NASA D8 (ND8) aircraft was chosen as the BLI concept aircraft to be studied. A power balance methodology developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was adapted for use with the existing NASA sizing and performance tools to model the fuel consumption impact of BLI on the ND8. A key assumption for the BLI impact assessment was a 3.5% efficiency penalty associated with designing a fan for and operating in the distorted flow caused by BLI. The ND8 was compared to several other ND8-like aircraft that did not utilize BLI in order to determine the fuel consumption benefit attributable to BLI. Analytically “turning off” BLI on the ND8 without accounting for the physical requirements of redirecting the boundary layer or resizing the aircraft to meet the performance constraints resulted in a 2.8% increase in block fuel consumption to fly the design mission. When this non-physical aircraft was resized to meet the performance constraints, the block fuel consumption was 4.0% greater than the baseline ND8. The ND8 was also compared to an ND8-like aircraft with conventionally podded engines under the wing. This configuration had a 5.6% increase in block fuel consumption compared to the baseline ND8. This result is more reflective of the real world impact if BLI is not an available technology for the ND8 design. The BLI benefit results presented for this study should not be applied to other aircraft that have a propulsion-airframe integration design or BLI implementation different from the ND8.

Marien, Ty V.↗

Swirl Distortion Using Stream Vanes for Boundary Layer Ingestion Research

The swirl distortion of a StreamVane (Trademark) was investigated in the NASA Glenn Research Center W8 test facility. The StreamVane (Trademark) was designed and generated by Virginia Tech based on CFD simulations and included a center body at the aerodynamic interface plane. The swirl pattern generated by the distortion was evaluated using a dense grid of 5-hole Pitot probe measurements captured using a rotating array of probes. Good agreement was found between the design intent and the results at 38.5 kg/s mass flow. The StreamVane (Trademark) swirl results were compared to clean facility flow at 5 inlet mass flows and found to be consistent. Additionally, the axial location of the StreamVane (Trademark) relative to the measurement plane was investigated to determine the impact on downstream total pressure loss generated by the vanes. The intent of this work was to assess the viability of using a StreamVane (Trademark) to generate a Type I or Type II distortion into a Boundary Layer Ingesting propulsor to assess its aerodynamic performance and aeromechanic response.

swirl distortion↗

Predicted Ice Shape Formations on a Boundary Layer Ingesting Engine Inlet

Computational ice shapes were generated on the boundary layer ingesting engine nacelle of the D8 Double Bubble aircraft. The computations were generated using LEWICE3D, a well-known CFD icing post processor. A 50-bin global drop diameter discretization was used to capture the collection efficiency due to the direct impingement of water onto the engine nacelle. These discrete results were superposed in a weighted fashion to generate six drop size distributions that span the Appendix C and O regimes. Due to the presence of upstream geometries, i.e. the fuselage nose, the trajectories of the water drops are highly complex. Since the ice shapes are significantly correlated with the collection efficiency, the upstream fuselage nose has a significant impact on the ice accretion on the engine nacelle. These complex trajectories are caused by the ballistic nature of the particles and are thus exacerbated as particle size increases. Shadowzones are generated on the engine nacelle, and due to the curvature of the nose of the aircraft the shadowzone boundary moves from lower inboard to upper outboard as particle size increases. The largest particle impinging one the engine nacelle from the 50-bin discretization was the 47 um drop diameter. As a result, the MVD greater than 40 um Appendix O conditions were characterized by extremely low collection efficiency on the engine nacelle for these direct impingement simulations.

Porter, Christopher↗

Large-Scale Boundary Layer Ingesting Propulsor Research

_NASA's Advanced Air Transport Technology (AATT) project is investigating boundary layer ingesting (BLI) propulsors for advanced subsonic commercial vehicle concepts to enable the reduction of fuel burn. A multidisciplinary team of researchers from NASA, United Technologies Research Center (UTRC), Virginia Polytechnic University, and the Air Force Arnold Engineering Development Complex developed and tested an embedded BLI inlet and distortion-tolerant fan (BLI2DTF) system in the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) 8-foot by 6-foot (8x6) transonic wind tunnel. The test demonstrated the component performance goals necessary for an overall fuel burn reduction of 3 to 5 percent on a large hybrid wing body (HWB) aircraft. Special test equipment, including a raised floor with flow effectors and a bleed system, was developed for use in the 8x6 to produce the appropriate incoming boundary layer representative of an HWB application. Detailed measurements were made to determine the inlet total pressure loss and distortion, fan stage efficiency, and aeromechanic performance including blade vibration stress and displacement response. Results from this test were used as input to a vehicle-level system study performed by the AATT project to assess the impact of BLI on an alternative advanced concept aircraft referred to as the NASA D8 (ND8), which is somewhat similar to the HWB in its integration of the propulsor. This paper will provide an overview of the project timeline, special test equipment needed in the wind tunnel to develop the appropriate incoming boundary layer, and the difficulties in designing a propulsor for the test. The paper will conclude with some representative aerodynamic and aeromechanic data from the test itself and conclude with how this data was used in the ND8 system study.

Celestina, Mark L.↗

Data Analysis Techniques for Fan Performance in Highly-Distorted Flows from Boundary Layer Ingesting Inlets

The design of a unique distortion-tolerant fan for a high-bypass ratio boundary-layer ingesting propulsion system has been completed and a rig constructed and tested in the NASA Glenn 8’x6’ wind tunnel. Processing the data from the experiment presented some interesting challenges because of the complexity of the experimental setup and the flow through the test rig. The experiment was run in three phases, each of which employed a unique complement of inlet throat and fan face instrumentation to avoid the blockage that would have resulted from simultaneously installing all of the rakes. The measurement from the individual test points were subsequently combined to compute the overall stage performance. A CFD model of the experiment was used to gain understanding of the flow field and to test some of the techniques proposed for interpolating and extrapolating the measurements into regions where measurements were not made. This capability became extremely useful when it was discovered that there was an unexpected total temperature distortion in the tunnel. The CFD model was modified by inserting a total temperature profile at the upstream boundary that mimicked the measured distortion where measurements were available and that CFD solution was used to investigate methods to infer the complete total temperature field at the fan face.

Hardin, Larry W.↗

NASA’s Atmospheric Science Data Center’s Approach to a Cloud-Based Model of Ingest, Archival, and Distribution of TEMPO Data: Methods, Challenges, and Best Practices

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA provides atmospheric science data products and services to the science community, including enhanced search and subsetting capabilities for numerous datasets. The ASDC is the official Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) of record for the upcoming Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) instrument. TEMPO will be situated on a geostationary satellite positioned at a longitude near the center of the conterminous United States and focused on North America, making hourly swaths of its field of regard from east to west. ASDC’s data products are currently hosted locally and services (e.g., spatial and temporal subsetting) are managed on premises. The ASDC is planning to provide TEMPO data and services in the cloud through the Earthdata Search platform. This presentation will discuss the ASDC’s approach to a cloud-based model of ingest, archival, and distribution of TEMPO data. Methods, challenges, best practices, lessons learned, and future plans will be discussed.

Iman Nasif↗