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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

Elbow and knee joint for hard space suits

An elbow or knee joint for a hard space suit or similar usage is formed of three serially connected rigid sections which have truncated spherical configurations. The ends of each section form solid geometric angles, and the sections are interconnected by hermetically sealed ball bearings. The outer two sections are fixed together for rotation in a direction opposite to rotation of the center section. A preferred means to make the outer sections track each other in rotation comprises a rotatable continuous bead chain which engages sockets circumferentially spaced on the facing sides of the outer races of the bearings. The joint has a single pivot point and the bearing axes are always contained in a single plane for any articulation of the joint. Thus flexure of the joint simulates the coplanar flexure of the knee or elbow and is not susceptible to lockup.

Vykukal, H. C.↗

Flutter of a fan blade in supersonic axial flow

An application of a simple aeroelastic model to an advanced supersonic axial flow fan is presented. Lane's cascade theory is used to determine the unsteady aerodynamic loads. Parametric studies are performed to determine the effects of mode coupling, Mach number, damping, pitching axis location, solidity, stagger angle, and mistuning. The results show that supersonic axial flow fan and compressor blades are susceptible to a strong torsional mode flutter having critical reduced velocities which can be less than one.

Kielb, Robert E.↗

An electromagnetically levitated two-axis gimbaless pointing mechanism

A brief description for a proposed new pointing mechanism which requires no mechanical gimbals, is virtually friction free, and is vibration isolated from a ground support system or vehicle is presented. The device uses electromagnetic forces for support levitation and pointing, both being accomplished from a ground reference thereby leaving the payload virtually free from a remotely located command center. Solid pointing angles of almost 2(pi) steradians are achievable, limited only by structural interference. A third degree-of-freedom tilt axis can be added at will, but will not be elaborated. Although the system is primarily intended for space vehicles in a micro-gravity environment, earth-ground support is possible with superconducting electromagnets.

Volpe, Gerald T.↗

The telegraph equation in charged particle transport

We present a new derivation of the telegraph equation which modifies its coefficients. First, an infinite order partial differential equation is obtained for the velocity space solid angle-averaged phase-space distribution of particles which underwent at least a few collisions. It is shown that, in the lowest order asymptotic expansion, this equation simplifies to the well-known diffusion equation. The second-order asymptotic expansion for isotropic small-angle scattering results in a modified telegraph equation with a signal propagation speed of v(5/11) exp 1/2 instead of the usual v/3 exp 1/2. Our derivation of a modified telegraph equation follows from an expansion of the Boltzmann equation in the relevant smallness parameters and not from a truncation of an eigenfunction expansion. This equation is consistent with causality. It is shown that, under steady state conditions in a convecting plasma, the telegraph equation may be regarded as a diffusion equation with a modified transport coefficient, which describes a combination of diffusion and cosmic-ray inertia.

Gombosi, T. I.↗

Interference method for obtaining the potential flow past an arbitrary cascade of airfoils

A procedure is presented for obtaining the pressure distribution on an arbitrary airfoil section in cascade in a two-dimensional, incompressible, and nonviscous flow. The method considers directly the influence on a given airfoil of the rest of the cascade and evaluates this interference by an iterative process, which appeared to converge rapidly in the cases tried (about unit solidity, stagger angles of 0 degree and 45 degrees). Two variations of the basic interference calculations are described. One, which is accurate enough for most purposes, involves the substitution of sources, sinks, and vortices for the interfering airfoils; the other, which may be desirable for the final approximation, involves a contour integration. The computations are simplified by the use of a chart presented by Betz in a related paper. Illustrated examples are included.

Katzoff, S↗

Dynamics of Liquids in Edges and Corners (DYLCO): IML-2 Experiment for the BDPU

Knowledge of the behavior of fluids possessing free surfaces is important to many fluid systems, particularly in space, where the normally subtle effects of surface wettability play a more dramatic and often surprising role. DYLCO for the IML-2 mission was proposed as a simple experiment to probe the particular behavior of capillary surfaces in containers of irregular cross section. Temperature control was utilized to vary the fluid-solid contact angle, a questionable thermodynamic parameter of the system, small changes in which can dramatically influence the configuration, stability, and flow of a capillary surface. Container shapes, test fluid, and temperature ranges were selected for observing both local changes in interface curvature as well as a global change in fluid orientation due to a critical wetting phenomenon. The experiment hardware performed beyond what was expected and fluid interfaces could be readily digitized post flight to show the dependence of the interface curvature on temperature. For each of the containers tested surfaces were observed which did not satisfy the classic equations for the prediction of interface shape with constant contact angle boundary condition. This is explained by the presence of contact angle hysteresis arising from expansion and contraction of the liquid during the heating and cooling steps of the test procedure. More importantly, surfaces exceeding the critical surface curvature required for critical wetting were measured, yet no wetting was observed. These findings are indeed curious and pose key questions concerning the role of hysteresis for this critical wetting phenomena. The stability of such surfaces was determined numerically and it is shown that stability is enhance (reduced) when a surface is in its 'advancing' ('receding') state, The analysis shows complete instability as the critical wetting condition is reached. The case of ideal dynamic wetting is addressed analytically in detail with results of significant flow characteristics presented in closed form. The solutions indicate a square root of T dependence of the capillary 'rise' rate which is corroborated by drop tower tests. The analysis clearly shows that infinite time is necessary for surfaces to reorient at the critical wetting transition.

Langbein, D.↗

Effect of Directional Array Size on the Measurement of Airframe Noise Components

A study was conducted to examine the effects of overall size of directional (or phased) arrays on the measurement of aeroacoustic components. An airframe model was mounted in the potential core of an open-jet windtunnel, with the directional arrays located outside the flow in an anechoic environment. Two array systems were used; one with a solid measurement angle that encompasses 31.6 deg.of source directivity and a smaller one that encompasses 7.2 deg. The arrays, and sub-arrays of various sizes, measured noise from a calibrator source and flap edge model setups. In these cases, noise was emitted from relatively small, but finite size source regions, with intense levels compared to other sources. Although the larger arrays revealed much more source region detail, the measured source levels were substantially reduced due to finer resolution compared to that of the smaller arrays. To better understand the measurements quantitatively, an analytical model was used to define the basic relationships between array to source region sizes and measured output level. Also, the effect of noise scattering by shear layer turbulence was examined using the present data and those of previous studies. Taken together, the two effects were sufficient to explain spectral level differences between arrays of different sizes. An important result of this study is that total (integrated) noise source levels are retrievable and the levels are independent of the array size as long as certain experimental and processing criteria are met. The criteria for both open and closed tunnels are discussed. The success of special purpose diagonal-removal processing in obtaining integrated results is apparently dependent in part on source distribution. Also discussed is the fact that extended sources are subject to substantial measurement error, especially for large arrays.

Brooks, Thomas F.↗

High-Resolution Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy (HREELS) Using a Monochromated TEM/STEM

A 200 keV FEI TF20 XT monochromated (scanning) transmission electron microscope funded by NASA's SRLIDAP program is undergoing installation at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Instrument specifications in STEM mode are Cs =1.0 mm, Cc =1.2 mm, image resolution =0.18 nm, and in TEM mode Cs =1.3 mm, Cc =1.3 mm, information limit =0.14 nm. Key features of the instrument are a voltage-stabilized high tension (HT) supply, a monochromator, a high-resolution electron energy-loss spectrometer/energy filter, a high-resolution annular darkfield detector, and a solid-state x-ray energy-dispersive spectrometer. The high-tension tank contains additional sections for 60Hz and high frequency filtering, resulting in an operating voltage of 200 kV plus or minus 0.005V, a greater than 10-fold improvement over earlier systems. The monochromator is a single Wien filter design. The energy filter is a Gatan model 866 Tridiem-ERS high resolution GIF spec d for less than or equal to 0.15 eV energy resolution with 29 pA of current in a 2 nm diameter probe. 0.13 eV has already been achieved during early installation. The x-ray detector (EDAX/Genesis 4000) has a take-off angle of 20 degrees, an active area of 30 square millimeters, and a solid angle of 0.3 steradians. The higher solid angle is possible because the objective pole-piece allows the detector to be positioned as close as 9.47 mm from the specimen. The voltage-stabilized HT supply, monochromator and GIF enable high-resolution electron energy-loss spectroscopy (HREELS) with energy resolution comparable to synchrotron XANES, but with approximately 100X better spatial resolution. The region between 0 and 100 eV is called the low-loss or valence electron energy-loss spectroscopy (VEELS) region where features due to collective plasma oscillations and single electron transitions of valence electrons are observed. Most of the low-loss VEELS features we are detecting are being observed for the first time in IDPs. A major focus of our research is to understand the origin and significance of these features and how they might be exploited to gain insight about IDPs and other meteoritic materials.

Sai, Z. R.↗

Determination of the Contact Angle Based on the Casimir Effect

On a macroscopic scale, a nonreactive liquid partially covering a homogeneous solid surface will intersect the solid at an angle called the contact angle. For molten metals and semiconductors, the contact angle is materially dependent upon both the solid and liquid and typical values fall in the range 80-170 deg, depending on the crucible material. On a microscopic scale, there does not exist a precise and sharp contact angle but rather the liquid and solid surfaces merge smoothly and continuously. Consider the example of the so called detached Bridgman crystal growth process. In this technique, a small gap is formed between the growing crystal and the crucible. At the crystal/melt interface, a meniscus ring is formed. Its width can be in the range of a few micrometers, approaching a microscopic scale. It then becomes questionable to describe the shape of this meniscus by the contact angle. A more advanced treatment of the interface is needed and here we propose such a refined model. The interaction of the liquid surface with the solid can be calculated by considering two forces: a short-range repulsive force and a longer range (up to a few micrometers) Casimir or van der Waals force.

Mazuruk, Konstantin↗

Blading models for TURBAN and CSPAN turbomachine design codes

Blading models added to TURBAN, an axial turbine meanline design code, and CSPAN, an axial compressor spanline design code, are presented. Calculations of blade chord length, blade axial length, and number of blades for each blade row are now provided by each code. In order to accomplish this, computational models for axial solidity and stagger angle were added to TURBAN. For a compressor, where solidity and chord were already available from input, the modeling additions to CSPAN were for stagger angle and for the blade angles to include incidence and deviation. All added computations utilized models already available in the literature.

Glassman, Arthur J.↗

Unsteady stator response to upstream rotor wakes

The results are presented of an investigation of the unsteady pressures generated on a stator due to its interaction with the wakes shed by an upstream rotor. The influence of stator solidity, incidence flow angle and rotor/stator spacing are discussed. The results show that the major influence is due to stator solidity, particularly at large values of incidence angle. Comparisons of the measured data with an existing unsteady cascade analysis show similar trends in the chordwise variation of the predicted and measured unsteady pressure difference across the blades. Comparisons with an isolated airfoil analysis indicate the influence of solidity and unsteady blade-to-blade interaction. All comparisons were conducted for an incompressible flow with a reduced frequency of approximately 5.0.

Franke, G. F.↗

Heat-transfer distributions on a 0.013-scale shuttle solid rocket booster at Mach 3.70 and angles of attack from 0 deg to 180 deg

An experimental investigation was conducted in the Langley Unitary Plan wind tunnel to estimate the peak aerodynamic heating on the space shuttle solid rocket booster during the descent phase of its flight. Heat transfer measurements were obtained using 0.013 scale models instrumented with thermocouples at a Mach number of 3.70, Reynolds number per meter of 11.48 million, and angles of attack from 0 to 180 deg. At angles of attack of 0 and 180 deg, heat transfer measurements on the cylindrical section of the model between the conical nose and ring interaction region were in good agreement with flat plate strip theory for laminar and turbulent flow. At angles of attack up to 30 deg, measurements on this section of the model were in good agreement with laminar swept-cylinder theory, whereas at angles of attack from 120 to 180 deg, the measurements were in good agreement with turbulent swept-cylinder theory. The good agreement with turbulent theory indicated that large flow disturbances created by the nozzle and afterbody flare at these large angles of attack influenced the downstream heating primarily by promoting boundary layer transition. Measurements obtained at 90 deg angle of attack were indicative of laminar flow.

Lamb, M.↗

Toughening of BIS maleimide resins: Synthesis and characterization of maleimide terminated poly(arylene ether) oligomers and polymers

Amine functional poly(arylene ether) sulfones were previously reported. Herein, the chemistry was extended to amorphous poly(arylene ether) ketones because of their higher fracture toughness values, relative to the polysulfones. It was demonstrated that the amino functional oligomers undergo a self-crosslinking reaction at temperatures above about 220 C. This produces an insoluble, but ductile network that has excellent resistance. A ketamine structure hypothesis was proposed and verified using solid state magic angle NMR. In most cases, the water generated upon ketamine formation is too low to produce porosity and solid networks are obtained. The stability of the ketamine networks towards hydrolysis is excellent. The chemistry was further demonstrated to be able to crosslink preformed nonfunctional poly(arylene ether) ketones if a difunctional amine was utilized. This concept has the possibility of greatly improving the creep resistance of thermoplastics. Also, a new technique was developed for converting the amine functional oligomers cleanly into maleimide structures. This method involves reacting maleic anhydride with monomeric aminophenols in the presence of solvent mixtures.

Mcgrath, J. E.↗

Tidal parameters derived from the perturbations in the orbital inclinations of the BE-C, GEOS-1 and GEOS-2 satellites

Effective tidal Love numbers and phase angles for the O sub one, K sub one, M sub two, K sub two, P sub one, and S sub two, tides are recovered. The effective tidal phase angles tend to be on the order of a few degrees. The effective tidal Love numbers are generally less than the solid earth Love number K sub two, of about 0.30. This supports the contention that the ocean tides give an apparent depression of the solid earth Love number. Ocean tide amplitudes and phases are calculated for the above tides assuming K sub two = 0.30 and the solid earth lag angle O sub two = 0. The results show good agreement on GEOS-1 but not on GEOS-II.

Rubincam, D. P.↗

Reentry aerodynamic characteristics of a space shuttle solid rocket booster (MSFC model 454) at high angles of attack and high Mach number in the NASA/Langley four-foot unitary plan wind tunnel (SA25F)

A force test of a 2.112 percent scale Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster (SRB), MSFC Model 454, was conducted in test section no. 2 of the Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel. Sixteen (16) runs (pitch polars) were performed over an angle of attack range from 144 through 179 degrees. Test Mach numbers were 2.30, 2.70, 2.96, 3.48, 4.00 and 4.63. The first three Mach numbers had a test Reynolds number of 1.5 million per foot. The remaining three were at 2.0 million per foot. The model was tested in the following configurations: (1) SRB without external protuberances, and (2) SRB with an electrical tunnel and a SRB/ET thrust attachment structure. Schlieren photographs were taken during the testing of the first configuration. The second configuration was tested at roll angles of 45, 90, and 135 degrees.

Johnson, J. D.↗

Space shuttle SRM plume expansion sensitivity analysis

The exhaust plumes of the space shuttle solid rocket motors can have a significant effect on the base pressure and base drag of the shuttle vehicle. A parametric analysis was conducted to assess the sensitivity of the initial plume expansion angle of analytical solid rocket motor flow fields to various analytical input parameters and operating conditions. The results of the analysis are presented and conclusions reached regarding the sensitivity of the initial plume expansion angle to each parameter investigated. Operating conditions parametrically varied were chamber pressure, nozzle inlet angle, nozzle throat radius of curvature ratio and propellant particle loading. Empirical particle parameters investigated were mean size, local drag coefficient and local heat transfer coefficient. Sensitivity of the initial plume expansion angle to gas thermochemistry model and local drag coefficient model assumptions were determined.

Smith, S. D.↗