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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

Analysis of various descent trajectories for a hypersonic-cruise, cold-wall research airplane

The probable descent operating conditions for a hypersonic air-breathing research airplane were examined. Descents selected were cruise angle of attack, high dynamic pressure, high lift coefficient, turns, and descents with drag brakes. The descents were parametrically exercised and compared from the standpoint of cold-wall (367 K) aircraft heat load. The descent parameters compared were total heat load, peak heating rate, time to landing, time to end of heat pulse, and range. Trends in total heat load as a function of cruise Mach number, cruise dynamic pressure, angle-of-attack limitation, pull-up g-load, heading angle, and drag-brake size are presented.

Lawing, P. L.↗

Modeling and Validation of a Navy A6-Intruder Actively Controlled Landing Gear System

Concepts for long-range air travel are characterized by airframe designs with long, slender, relatively flexible fuselages. One aspect often overlooked is ground-induced vibration of these aircraft. This paper presents an analytical and experimental study of reducing ground-induced aircraft vibration loads by using actively controlled landing gear. A facility has been developed to test various active landing gear control concepts and their performance, The facility uses a Navy A6 Intruder landing gear fitted with an auxiliary hydraulic supply electronically controlled by servo valves. An analytical model of the gear is presented, including modifications to actuate the gear externally, and test data are used to validate the model. The control design is described and closed-loop test and analysis comparisons are presented.

Horta, Lucas G.↗

Tank Investigation of a Powered Dynamic Model of a Large Long-Range Flying Boat

Principles for designing the optimum hull for a large long-range flying boat to meet the requirements of seaworthiness, minimum drag, and ability to take off and land at all operational gross loads were incorporated in a 1/12-size powered dynamic model of a four-engine transport flying boat having a design gross load of 165,000 pounds. These design principles included the selection of a moderate beam loading, ample forebody length, sufficient depth of step, and close adherence to the form of a streamline body. The aerodynamic and hydrodynamic characteristics of the model were investigated in Langley tank no. 1. Tests were made to determine the minimum allowable depth of step for adequate landing stability, the suitability of the fore-and-aft location of the step, the take-off performance, the spray characteristics, and the effects of simple spray-control devices. The application of the design criterions used and test results should be useful in the preliminary design of similar large flying boats.

Parkinson, John B↗

Fuel-Efficient Descent and Landing Guidance Logic for a Safe Lunar Touchdown

The landing of a crewed lunar lander on the surface of the Moon will be the climax of any Moon mission. At touchdown, the landing mechanism must absorb the load imparted on the lander due to the vertical component of the lander's touchdown velocity. Also, a large horizontal velocity must be avoided because it could cause the lander to tip over, risking the life of the crew. To be conservative, the worst-case lander's touchdown velocity is always assumed in designing the landing mechanism, making it very heavy. Fuel-optimal guidance algorithms for soft planetary landing have been studied extensively. In most of these studies, the lander is constrained to touchdown with zero velocity. With bounds imposed on the magnitude of the engine thrust, the optimal control solutions typically have a "bang-bang" thrust profile: the thrust magnitude "bangs" instantaneously between its maximum and minimum magnitudes. But the descent engine might not be able to throttle between its extremes instantaneously. There is also a concern about the acceptability of "bang-bang" control to the crew. In our study, the optimal control of a lander is formulated with a cost function that penalizes both the touchdown velocity and the fuel cost of the descent engine. In this formulation, there is not a requirement to achieve a zero touchdown velocity. Only a touchdown velocity that is consistent with the capability of the landing gear design is required. Also, since the nominal throttle level for the terminal descent sub-phase is well below the peak engine thrust, no bound on the engine thrust is used in our formulated problem. Instead of bangbang type solution, the optimal thrust generated is a continuous function of time. With this formulation, we can easily derive analytical expressions for the optimal thrust vector, touchdown velocity components, and other system variables. These expressions provide insights into the "physics" of the optimal landing and terminal descent maneuver. These insights could help engineers to achieve a better "balance" between the conflicting needs of achieving a safe touchdown velocity, a low-weight landing mechanism, low engine fuel cost, and other design goals. In comparing the computed optimal control results with the preflight landing trajectory design of the Apollo-11 mission, we noted interesting similarities between the two missions.

guidance logic↗

Tank Tests of a 1/7-Size Powered Dynamic Model of the Grumman XJR2F-1 Amphibian: Spray Characteristics, Take-Off and Landing Stability in Smooth Water - Langley Tank Model 212, TED No. NACA 2378

Tests of a model of the XJR2F-Y amphibian were made in Langley tank no. to determine the spray characteristics and the take-off and landing stability. At a gross load of 22,000 pounds full size, spray entered the propeller disk only at a very narrow range of speeds. The spray striking the flaps was not excessive and no appreciable wetting of the tail surfaces was noted. The trim limits of stability appeared to be satisfactory and the upper-limit porpoising was not violent. The stable range of center-of-gravity locations with flaps set 20deg was well aft of the desired operating range. However, with flaps up, the forward limit was about 18 percent mean aerodynamic chord and the aft limit about 28.5 percent mean aerodynamic chord at a load of 26,000 pounds and with elevators deflected -10deg. Under these conditions the location of the step is considered satisfactory. Tests showed that the effect of water in the nose-wheel well would be to move the forward limit aft about 2-percent mean aerodynamic chord. Without ventilation of the main step, the model skipped during landing at most trims, but this skipping was not violent. With the ventilation, the model skipped lightly only at trims where the afterbody keel was approximately parallel to the water (around 7.5 deg).

Land, Norman S.↗

Modal Testing of Seven Shuttle Cargo Elements for Space Station

From December 1996 to May 2001, the Modal and Control Dynamics Team at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) conducted modal tests on seven large elements of the International Space Station. Each of these elements has been or will be launched as a Space Shuttle payload for transport to the International Space Station (ISS). Like other Shuttle payloads, modal testing of these elements was required for verification of the finite element models used in coupled loads analyses for launch and landing. The seven modal tests included three modules - Node, Laboratory, and Airlock, and four truss segments - P6, P3/P4, S1/P1, and P5. Each element was installed and tested in the Shuttle Payload Modal Test Bed at MSFC. This unique facility can accommodate any Shuttle cargo element for modal test qualification. Flexure assemblies were utilized at each Shuttle-to-payload interface to simulate a constrained boundary in the load carrying degrees of freedom. For each element, multiple-input, multiple-output burst random modal testing was the primary approach with controlled input sine sweeps for linearity assessments. The accelerometer channel counts ranged from 252 channels to 1251 channels. An overview of these tests, as well as some lessons learned, will be provided in this paper.

Kappus, Kathy O.↗

Contribution to the theory of tail-wheel shimmy

A basic theoretical and experimental investigation is made of the shimmy behavior of a swiveling landing gear, the experimental tests being conducted with a small wheel mounted over a continuous belt. Effects of wheel loading, rolling velocity, rearward position of the wheel with respect to the swivel axis, tire elasticity, and torsional flexibility of the fuselage are investigated both experimentally and theoretically. A major theoretical conclusion is that the motion of a landing gear moving in a straight line without fuselage elasticity is stable for a sufficiently large rearward position of the wheel behind the swivel axis, and this conclusion is well verified quantitatively by the experimental data.

LOADS, LANDING - GROUND-RUN, LAND↗

Loftid Aeroshell Engineering Development Unit Structural Testing

NASA’s Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) technology was selected for a Technology Demonstration Mission under the Space Technology Mission Directorate in 2017. HIAD is an enabling technology that can facilitate atmospheric entry of heavy payloads to planets such as Earth and Mars using a deployable aeroshell. The deployable nature of the HIAD technology allows it to avoid the size constraints imposed on current rigid aeroshell entry systems. This enables use of larger aeroshells resulting in increased entry system performance (e.g. higher pay-load mass and/or volume, higher landing altitude at Mars). The Low Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) is currently scheduled for late-2021. LOFTID will be launched out of Vandenberg Air Force Base as a secondary payload on an Atlas V rocket. The flight test features a 6m diameter, 70-deg sphere-cone aeroshell and will provide invaluable high-energy orbital re-entry flight data. This data will be essential in supporting the HIAD team to mature the technology to diameters of 10m and greater. Aeroshells of this scale are applicable to potential near-term commercial applications and future NASA missions. Currently the LOFTID project has completed fabrication of the engineering design unit (EDU) inflatable structure (IS) and the flexible thermal protection system (F-TPS). These two components along with the rigid nose and center body comprise the HIAD aeroshell system. This EDU aeroshell is the precursor to the LOFTID aeroshell that will be used for flight. The EDU was built to verify the design given the subtle differences between the LOFTID aeroshell and past aeroshell designs that have been fabricated under the NASA HIAD project. To characterize the structural performance of the LOFTID aeroshell design, three structural tests will be performed. The first test to be conducted is static load testing, which will induce a uniform load across the forward surface of the aeroshell to simulate the expected pressure forces during atmospheric entry. The IS integrated with the rigid center body will first be tested alone to provide data for analytical model correlation, and then the F-TPS will be integrated for a second series of static load testing of the full aeroshell system. Instrumentation will be employed during the test series to measure component loads during testing, and a laser scanner will be used to generate a 3D map of the aeroshell surface to verify that the shape of the structure is acceptable at the simulated flight loads. After static load testing, pack and deployment testing will be conducted multiple times on the integrated system to demonstrate the aeroshell’s ability to fit within the required packed volume for the LOFTID mission without experiencing significant damage. Finally, the aeroshell will undergo modal testing to characterize its structural response. This presentation will discuss the setup and execution of each of the three tests that the EDU aeroshell will undergo. In addition, initial results of the testing will be presented outlining key findings as LOFTID moves for-ward with fabrication of the flight aeroshell.

Swanson, G. T.↗

Subsurface hydrological controls on the short-term effects of hurricanes on nitrate–nitrogen runoff loading: a case study of Hurricane Ida using the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) Land Model (v2.1)

When the nutrient level in the soil surpasses vegetation demand, nutrient losses due to surface runoff and subsurface leaching are the major reasons for the deterioration of water quality. The lower Mississippi River basin (LMRB) is one of the sub-basins that deliver the highest nitrogen loads to the Gulf of Mexico. Potential changes in episodic events induced by hurricanes may exacerbate water quality issue in the future. However, uncertainties in modeling the hydrologic response to hurricanes may limit the modeling of nutrient losses during such events. Using a machine learning approach, we calibrated the land component of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM), or ELM, version 2.1, based on the water table depth (WTD) of a calibrated 3D subsurface hydrology model. While the overall performance of the calibrated ELM is satisfactory, some discrepancies in WTD remain in slope areas with low precipitation due to the missing lateral flow process in ELM. Simulations including biogeochemistry performed using ELM with and without model calibration showed important influences of soil hydrology, precipitation intensity, and runoff parameterization on the magnitude of nitrogen runoff loss and the leaching pathway. Despite such sensitivities, both ELM simulations produced reduced WTD and increased runoff and accelerated nitrate–nitrogen runoff loading during Hurricane Ida in August 2021, consistent with the observations. With observations suggesting more pronounced effects of Hurricane Ida on nitrogen runoff than the simulations, we identified factors for model improvement to provide a useful tool for studying hurricane-induced nutrient losses in the LMRB region.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Effect of time-dependent flight loads on turbofan engine performance deterioration

An analytic evaluation of the dynamic effects of two flight load conditions of the JT9D-7/747 propulsion system is conducted. Predicted performance changes associated with a once-per-flight vertical gust and a typical revenue service landing are calculated. The predicted dynamic load effects on thrust specific fuel consumption are found to be negligible. The results indicate that the quasi-steady state approach to flight loads modeling is adequate to investigate the factors important to the deterioration process.

Lewis, B. L.↗

Temporal Patterns in Soil Redox Potential Vary Across a Freshwater Coastal Delta

Widespread and persistent flooding is submerging coastal ecosystems, particularly along the Louisiana Gulf coast, where flooding results from the compounding effects of ground subsidence and rising sea level. Restoration projects aim to mitigate land loss by diverting sediment loads from rivers into degraded areas to increase ground elevation. To predict how coastal ecosystems will change over time in response to projected changes in relative sea level and restoration, it is necessary to understand how subsurface biogeochemical processes respond to dynamic hydrologic forcings. Here, this study evaluates how environmental parameters that integrate biogeochemical processes vary with water table fluctuations in the freshwater Wax Lake Delta (WLD) in Louisiana, USA, where water diversions have formed one of the only active deltas along the coast. High‐frequency observations of water level, soil redox potential, specific conductance and pH were made for 1 year along elevation transects located on the older, proximal and younger, distal ends of a deltaic island. Redox responded rapidly to changing water tables, with fluctuations occurring primarily in shallow soils (< 20 cm) and at higher elevations. Deeper soils and those at lower elevation remained inundated and reduced. Semi‐diurnal tidal fluctuations were pronounced in younger, distal soils, presumably due to rapid groundwater exchange with the river channel. Tidal signals were muted in older soils that instead exhibited seasonal variability associated with river discharge and evapotranspiration. Although much of the delta sediments are persistently reducing and anoxic, redox fluctuations in the natural levees that border the deltaic islands likely drive high rates of biogeochemical activity. Evaluating how hydrology drives the frequency and duration of redox fluctuations provides a basis for understanding how biogeochemical processes might vary with complex hydrological interactions in coastal systems.

Herndon, Elizabeth [Oak Ridge National Laboratory ↗

Clean Energy Integration in Natural Gas Compressor Station Operations

Integrating renewable energy into oil and gas operations could reduce emissions and maximize higher-value use of produced hydrocarbons. In this study, analysts from the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis (JISEA) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) evaluated clean power technologies for a natural gas compressor station in Texas, using NREL’s REopt tool. Different configurations of distributed energy resources were evaluated based on the technologies available and the load they can satisfy, available land, and hypothetical carbon pricing. The analysis is part of a collaborative program with industry to understand site-specific energy consumption and prices in the oil and gas supply chain and determine under what conditions clean energy options are economically attractive. This work was sponsored by a consortium including Kinder Morgan, Interstate Natural Gas Association of America Foundation, Extraction Oil & Gas, Baker Hughes, and ConocoPhillips.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

Integration of Clean Energy into Oil Field Operations

Integrating clean energy into oil and gas operations could reduce emissions and maximize higher-value use of produced hydrocarbons. In this published study, analysts from the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis (JISEA) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) evaluated clean power technologies for an oil field in the Delaware Basin using NREL’s Renewable Energy Integration and Optimization, or REopt, tool. The analysts evaluated different configurations of distributed energy resources based on the technologies available and the load they could satisfy, available land, and hypothetical carbon pricing. The analysis is part of a collaborative program with industry to understand site-specific energy consumption and prices in the oil and gas supply chain and determine under what conditions clean energy options are economically attractive. This work was sponsored by a consortium including ConocoPhillips, Baker Hughes, Extraction Oil & Gas, Kinder Morgan, and the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America Foundation.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Investigation of space shuttle vehicle 140C configuration orbiter (model 16-0) wheel well pressure loads in the Rockwell International 7.75 x 11 foot wind tunnel (OA143)

Experimental aerodynamic investigations were conducted on a sting mounted .0405-scale representation of the 140C outer mold line space shuttle orbiter configuration in the Rockwell International 7.75 x 11.00 foot low speed wind tunnel. The primary test objectives were to define the orbiter wheel well pressure loading and its effects on landing gear thermal insulation and to investigate the pressure environment experienced by both the horizontal flight nose probe and air vent door probes. Steady state and dynamic pressure values were recorded in the orbiter nose gear well, left main landing gear well, horizontal flight nose probe, and both left and right air vent door probe. All steady state pressure levels were measured by Statham differential pressure transducers while dynamic pressure levels were recorded by Kulite high frequency response pressure sensors.

Mennell, R. C.↗

Windvan laser study

The goal of defining a CO2 laser transmitter approach suited to Shuttle Coherent Atmospheric Lidar Experiment (SCALE) requirements is discussed. The adaptation of the existing WINDVAN system to the shuttle environment is addressed. The size, weight, reliability, and efficiency of the existing WINDVAN system are largely compatible with SCALE requirements. Repacking is needed for compatibility with vacuum and thermal environments. Changes are required to ensure survival through launch and landing, mechanical, vibration, and acoustic loads. Existing WINDVAN thermal management approaches depending on convection need to be upgraded zero gravity operations.

Source record↗