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At least 199 records · Page 11

NASA research activities in aeropropulsion

NASA is responsible for advancing technologies related to air transportation. A sampling of the work at NASA's Lewis Research Center aimed at improved aircraft propulsion systems is described. Particularly stressed are efforts related to reduced noise and fuel consumption of subsonic transports. Generic work in specific disciplines are reviewed including computational analysis, materials, structures, controls, diagnostics, alternative fuels, and high-speed propellers. Prospects for variable cycle engines are also discussed.

Mccarthy, J. F., Jr.↗

Veggie: Space Vegetables for the International Space Station and Beyond

The Veggie vegetable production system was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2014. Veggie was designed by ORBITEC to be a compact, low mass, low power vegetable production system for astronaut crews. Veggie consists of a light cap containing red, blue, and green LEDs, an extensible transparent bellows, and a baseplate with a root mat reservoir. Seeds are planted in plant pillows, small growing bags that interface with the reservoir. The Veggie technology validation test, VEG-01, was initiated with the first test crop of 'Outredgeous' red romaine lettuce. Prior to flight, lettuce seeds were sanitized and planted in a substrate of arcillite (baked ceramic) mixed with controlled release fertilizer. Upon initiation, astronauts open the packaged plant pillows, install them in the Veggie hardware, and prime the system with water. Operations include plant thinning, watering, and photography. Plants were grown on the ISS for 33 days, harvested, and returned frozen to Earth for analysis. Ground controls were conducted at Kennedy Space Center in controlled environment chambers reproducing ISS conditions of temperature, relative humidity, and CO2. Returned plant samples were analyzed for microbial food safety and chemistry including elements, antioxidants, anthocyanins and phenolics. In addition the entire plant microbiome was sequenced, and returned plant pillows were analyzed via x-ray tomography. Food safety analyses allowed us to gain approvals for future consumption of lettuce by the flight surgeons and the payload safety office. A second crop of lettuce was grown in 2015, and the crew consumed half the produce, with the remainder frozen for later analysis. This growth test was followed by testing of a new crop in Veggie, zinnias. Zinnias were grown to test a longer duration flowering crop in preparation for tests of tomatoes and other fruiting crops in the future. Zinnias were harvested in February. Samples from the second harvest of lettuce and the zinnia harvest are frozen on the ISS and will return with the next cargo return flight. Some challenges occurred in all tests, especially in the area of watering, with plants receiving insufficient or excess water leading to stressed growth. Zinnia plants were also challenged with fungal growth. Initial tests with Veggie have given us great insight into future crop production scenarios as we work to develop regular supplemental salad crop production on ISS and larger food production systems for our journey to Mars. Funding for this research comes from NASA's Space Biology Program.

Food Safety↗

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Tai Chi Training in Cardiorespiratory Fitness of Elderly People

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of Tai Chi on cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in elderly people using meta-analysis. Methods. This study used seven electronic databases and data retrieved from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the role of Tai Chi on CRF in the elderly. All these 24 RCTs were screened and selected from 7 literature databases. The Stata 11.2 software (StataCorp, USA) was used for the meta-analysis, subgroup analysis, and bias test, while the Cochrane Collaboration’s tool was used for the assessment of the risk of bias (RoB). 4 researchers independently participated in sample selection, data extraction, and RoB assessment. Results. Following the inclusion criteria, 24 eligible studies were included in our analysis. The meta-analysis indicated that Tai Chi practice significantly increased the maximum rate of oxygen consumption (VO2 max) (weighted mean difference (WMD) = 3.76, 95% CI: 1.25 to 6.26, P < 0.1 ), leading to an overall reduction in the heart rate (HR) (WMD = −1.84, 95% CI: −2.04 to −1.63, P ≤ 0.001 ) and an increase in the O2 pulse (WMD = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.60 to 1.28, P ≤ 0.001 ) in individuals who practiced Tai Chi regularly compared with those who did not. The subgroup analysis suggested that overall in those who practiced Tai Chi, males (WMD = 1.48, 95% CI: 0.85 to 2.12, P ≤ 0.001 ) had higher O2 pulse than females (WMD = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.33 to 1.12, P ≤ 0.001 ). The subgroup analysis also showed an increase in the vital capacity (VC) (WMD = 316.05, 95% CI: 239.74 to 392.35, P ≤ 0.001 ) in individuals practicing Tai Chi. When the samples were further stratified by Tai Chi practicing time, the subgroup analysis suggested that individuals practicing Tai Chi over a period of 24 weeks showed no significant difference in VC (WMD = 82.95, 95% CI: -98.34 to 264.23, P = 0.370 ), while those practicing Tai Chi over a period of 48 weeks showed a significant increase (WMD = 416.62, 95% CI: 280.68 to 552.56, P ≤ 0.001 ). Furthermore, the subgroup analysis demonstrated that the increase in VC is significantly correlated with the Tai Chi practicing time (WMD = 344.97, 95% CI: 227.88 to 442.06, P ≤ 0.001 ). Conclusion. Regular Tai Chi practice could improve the CRF in the elderly, as indicated by significant improvement in indicators including VO2max, O2pulse, VC, and HR. However, gender and practice time might influence the overall beneficial outcomes.

Tan, Tianyang↗

Black Swan Event Small-Sample Transfer Learning (BEST-L) and its Case Study on Electrical Power Prediction in COVID-19

The black swan event will usually cause a great impact on the normal operation of society. The scarcity of such events leads to a lack of relevant data and challenges in dealing with related problems. Different situations also make the traditional methods invalid. In this paper, a transfer learning framework and a convolutional neuron network are proposed to deal with the black swan small-sample events (BEST-L). Taking the COVID-19 as a typical black swan event, the BEST-L is utilized to achieve accurate mid-term load forecasting using the relationship between economy and electricity consumption. The experiment results show that the transfer learning model can effectively learn the basic knowledge about the relationship between the adopted input and output data and use a relatively small amount of data during the black swan event to improve the target areas' generalization. The approach and results can provide an effective approach to respond and react to sudden changes quickly and effectively in similar open problems.

black swan event↗

Effect of PVD-coated chromium on the subcooled flow boiling performance of nuclear reactor cladding materials

Here we elucidate the separate effect of a thin Cr coating deposited by physical vapor deposition (PVD) on the subcooled flow boiling performance of zircaloy-4. First, we run flow boiling experiments on prototypical zircaloy-4 surfaces mimicking the scratch pattern and surface roughness of nuclear reactor claddings. Then, we PVD-coat a 0.3 µm thick chromium layer on the same exact surface and repeat the same flow boiling investigations. All experiments are run using deionized water at atmospheric pressure, flowing on a 1 × 3 cm 2 rectangular cross section channel at a rate of 1000 kg/m 2 /s and a subcooling of 10 K. We measure the average temperature of the boiling surface at increasing surface heat fluxes, covering a wide range of heat transfer regimes, from single-phase forced convection to the boiling crisis. We also record high-speed videos of the boiling process, which we postprocess to measure bubble nucleation site density, growth time, departure diameter and frequency. The surface analysis reveals that, while the chromium coating does not seem change the surface roughness and morphology, it improves surface wettability. However, it decreases the critical heat flux. The chromium coating causes an increase of nucleation temperature, bubble departure diameter and growth time, and a reduction of the nucleation site density. The concurrence of these observations indicates that a size reduction of the nucleation sites, conformally covered by the chromium coating, may be the cause of the boiling performance deterioration. We confirm this hypothesis repeating the same analysis on a FeCrAl sample prepared and tested using the same protocol as the zircaloy-4 sample, but with a different initial surface texture.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Assessing springtime vertebrate prey of sympatric mesopredators in the southeastern United States using metabarcoding analysis

Coyotes (Canis latrans) colonized the eastern United States over the last century and formed a 3-species predator guild with bobcats (Lynx rufus) and gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) across much of the southeastern United States. Diets among the three species vary along with respective impacts on game species such as white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo). To determine predation impacts on vertebrate prey and dietary overlap in consumption of prey items, we assessed diets of coyote, bobcat, and gray fox during spring, coinciding with white-tailed deer fawning and wild turkey nesting and brood rearing. We sampled across three sites along the Savannah River in South Carolina from mid-May through mid-June of 2020–2021. We collected 180 scat samples along 295.9 kilometers (71.1–122.4 km/site) of unpaved secondary roads and used DNA metabarcoding to determine vertebrate diet items. We identified predator species of scat using DNA metabarcoding and species-specific mtDNA fragment analysis (153 were coyote, 20 bobcat, and seven gray fox). Overall, we found evidence that two species, coyote and bobcat, consumed deer while all three consumed turkeys. Frequency of deer in the diet varied across sites for coyotes from 62–86% and wild turkey was present with a frequency of occurrence of 9% for coyotes, 5% for bobcats, and 14% for gray fox. Vertebrate diet specialization was evident across predator species with high frequency of deer in coyote diets, rabbits and small mammals in bobcat diets, and herpetofauna in gray fox diets. During deer fawning and wild turkey nesting and brood rearing, dietary overlap appears to be mediated by disparate selection of prey items, which reduced competition among coyotes, bobcats, and gray foxes. Use of DNA metabarcoding may augment our understanding of dietary preferences within this predator guild by providing increased resolution of diet composition among important game species.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

1990 St. Louis Region Travel Survey

The 1990 St. Louis Region Travel Survey was performed in the fall of 1990 for the St. Louis region. The study was done for the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council by Barton-Aschman Associates, Inc., with assistance from NSI Research Group. The area surveyed included the city of St. Louis, St. Louis County, and parts of Jefferson County, Madison County, St. Clair County, Monroe County, and St. Charles County. The survey was used primarily for the calibration of trip production models. Other uses will include the calibration of trip attraction models and trip distribu¬tion models. The total number of completed, useable household samples for the survey area totaled 1,446.

1Hz data↗

Effects of Interactions Between Produced Formation Fluid and Rock Matrix on Pore Structure of Caney Shale, Southern Oklahoma

ABSTRACT: Rock-fluid interactions change properties of shales during exploitation. To investigate effects of rock-fluid interactions on pore structure of shales matrix after hydraulic fracturing, powder samples from two late Mississippian Caney Shale cores in the Ardmore Basin, southern Oklahoma, were used to react with formation produced fluid from the field in the batch reactor analysis. X-ray diffraction for mineralogy and Low-pressure nitrogen adsorption isotherms for pore structure were measured for original, after-7days, and after-30days samples. Results show that the samples consist mainly of quartz, followed by clay minerals, carbonates, and feldspar. The pore sizes of micropore (<2 nm) and mesopore (2-50 nm) increase 14%-233% due to dissolution of pyrite, feldspar, and carbonates after 7 days. Due to the transformation from smectite to illite and the increase of pore size, the specific surface area (SSA) decreases after 7-days interactions. After 30-days interactions, the micropore volume slightly increases and the mesopore and macropore volume decreases. Due to the decrease of pore size, the SSA of 30-days reacted samples increases correspondingly and is lower (for the clay-rich sample) or higher (for the calcareous sample) than that of the unreacted samples. Findings improve our understanding of dynamic alteration of shale properties during production. 1. INTRODUCTION Energy demand will continuously grow owing to the increasing global population as well as energy consumption (EIA, 2023). On the other hand, shale gas and oil reshaped the energy market in the United States, enabling the United States to become a net-export of natural gas country in 2017 (EIA, 2023). However, shale reservoirs are challenging tight formations that are still poorly understood in the extraction and production of hydrocarbons (Ross and Bustin, 2009; Curtis et al., 2012; Xiong et al., 2015, 2021a; Li Y. et al., 2016; Gong et al., 2019a; Benge et al., 2021; Awejori et al., 2022; Huang et al., 2022). One of the most challenging topics is the rock-fluid interactions post hydraulic fracturing and its subsequent impacts on the pore structures of fractured formation matrix.

Xiong, Fengyang↗

Electronically scanned pressure sensor module with in SITU calibration capability

This high data rate pressure sensor module helps reduce energy consumption in wind tunnel facilities without loss of measurement accuracy. The sensor module allows for nearly a two order of magnitude increase in data rates over conventional electromechanically scanned pressure sampling techniques. The module consists of 16 solid state pressure sensor chips and signal multiplexing electronics integrally mounted to a four position pressure selector switch. One of the four positions of the pressure selector switch allows the in situ calibration of the 16 pressure sensors; the three other positions allow 48 channels (three sets of 16) pressure inputs to be measured by the sensors. The small size of the sensor module will allow mounting within many wind tunnel models, thus eliminating long tube lengths and their corresponding slow pressure response.

Gross, C.↗

Hardware Implementation of Lossless Adaptive Compression of Data From a Hyperspectral Imager

Efficient onboard data compression can reduce the data volume from hyperspectral imagers on NASA and DoD spacecraft in order to return as much imagery as possible through constrained downlink channels. Lossless compression is important for signature extraction, object recognition, and feature classification capabilities. To provide onboard data compression, a hardware implementation of a lossless hyperspectral compression algorithm was developed using a field programmable gate array (FPGA). The underlying algorithm is the Fast Lossless (FL) compression algorithm reported in Fast Lossless Compression of Multispectral- Image Data (NPO-42517), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 30, No. 8 (August 2006), p. 26 with the modification reported in Lossless, Multi-Spectral Data Comressor for Improved Compression for Pushbroom-Type Instruments (NPO-45473), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 32, No. 7 (July 2008) p. 63, which provides improved compression performance for data from pushbroom-type imagers. An FPGA implementation of the unmodified FL algorithm was previously developed and reported in Fast and Adaptive Lossless Onboard Hyperspectral Data Compression System (NPO-46867), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 36, No. 5 (May 2012) p. 42. The essence of the FL algorithm is adaptive linear predictive compression using the sign algorithm for filter adaption. The FL compressor achieves a combination of low complexity and compression effectiveness that exceeds that of stateof- the-art techniques currently in use. The modification changes the predictor structure to tolerate differences in sensitivity of different detector elements, as occurs in pushbroom-type imagers, which are suitable for spacecraft use. The FPGA implementation offers a low-cost, flexible solution compared to traditional ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) and can be integrated as an intellectual property (IP) for part of, e.g., a design that manages the instrument interface. The FPGA implementation was benchmarked on the Xilinx Virtex IV LX25 device, and ported to a Xilinx prototype board. The current implementation has a critical path of 29.5 ns, which dictated a clock speed of 33 MHz. The critical path delay is end-to-end measurement between the uncompressed input data and the output compression data stream. The implementation compresses one sample every clock cycle, which results in a speed of 33 Msample/s. The implementation has a rather low device use of the Xilinx Virtex IV LX25, making the total power consumption of the implementation about 1.27 W.

Keymeulen, Didlier↗

Sampling Technique for Robust Odorant Detection Based on MIT RealNose Data

This technique enhances the detection capability of the autonomous Real-Nose system from MIT to detect odorants and their concentrations in noisy and transient environments. The lowcost, portable system with low power consumption will operate at high speed and is suited for unmanned and remotely operated long-life applications. A deterministic mathematical model was developed to detect odorants and calculate their concentration in noisy environments. Real data from MIT's NanoNose was examined, from which a signal conditioning technique was proposed to enable robust odorant detection for the RealNose system. Its sensitivity can reach to sub-part-per-billion (sub-ppb). A Space Invariant Independent Component Analysis (SPICA) algorithm was developed to deal with non-linear mixing that is an over-complete case, and it is used as a preprocessing step to recover the original odorant sources for detection. This approach, combined with the Cascade Error Projection (CEP) Neural Network algorithm, was used to perform odorant identification. Signal conditioning is used to identify potential processing windows to enable robust detection for autonomous systems. So far, the software has been developed and evaluated with current data sets provided by the MIT team. However, continuous data streams are made available where even the occurrence of a new odorant is unannounced and needs to be noticed by the system autonomously before its unambiguous detection. The challenge for the software is to be able to separate the potential valid signal from the odorant and from the noisy transition region when the odorant is just introduced.

Duong, Tuan A.↗

A miniature 48-channel pressure sensor module capable of in situ calibration

A new high data rate pressure sensor module with in situ calibration capability has been developed by the Langley Research Center to help reduce energy consumption in wind-tunnel facilities without loss of measurement accuracy. The sensor module allows for nearly a two order of magnitude increase in data rates over conventional electromechanically scanned pressure sampling techniques. This module consists of 16 solid state pressure sensor chips and signal multiplexing electronics integrally mounted to a four position pressure selector switch. One of the four positions of the pressure selector switch allows the in situ calibration of the 16 pressure sensors; the three other positions allow 48 channels (three sets of 16) pressure inputs to be measured by sensors. The small size of the sensor module will allow mounting within many wind-tunnel models, thus eliminating long tube lengths and their corresponding slow pressure response.

Gross, C.↗

Field validation of data-driven BSDF and peak extraction models for light-scattering fabric shades

Shading and daylighting systems affect cooling, heating, and lighting energy use by modulating solar radiation through the building façade. Characterizing shading systems holistically and accurately helps designers and engineers evaluate shading systems to achieve energy and non-energy performance goals. These complex fenestration systems can be modeled using Bidirectional Scattering Distribution Functions (BSDF), which map incident radiation to hemispherical distributions of outgoing radiation. Data-driven, tabulated BSDFs are derived from interpolated goniophotometer measured data, then sampled during the raytracing calculation. A peak extraction (PE) algorithm was developed to circumvent limits in BSDF angular resolution, where the specular peak is extracted during simulation by evaluating the BSDF in the through direction and surrounding region. The objective of this study was to validate this measurement and modeling workflow using field monitored data from a full scale testbed with eleven installed fabrics of different weaves, openness factors, and colors and assess the accuracy of the workflow under different adaptation and contrast conditions. Test conditions were limited to clear sky conditions with the sun in the field of view. Results showed that, for tensor tree datasets, vertical illuminance, solar luminance (2.5° apex), and daylight glare probability (DGP) were predicted to within a mean bias error (MBE) error of -456 lx (-12.3%), -3.46e5 (-38.4%), and -0.042 (-7.8%) when full PE occurred. With a binary classification of glare/ no glare, DGP was predicted accurately with a true positive rate of 0.98 and true negative rate of 1.0 using tensor tree data and less accurately with Klems BSDF data, particularly for cases of no glare. The workflow may be of insufficient accuracy to distinguish borderline performance between fabrics using the four-point glare scale, particularly under low adaptation, high contrast daylit conditions. Errors were due to reductions in peak shape and intensity across the BSDF interpolation and data reduction workflow. Future work is needed to better preserve measurement fidelity during interpolation and sampling, which in turn will improve PE performance.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

2009 National Household Travel Survey - California Add-On

The California add-on survey supplements the 2009 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) with additional household samples and detailed travel behavior for an assigned travel day. The NHTS was conducted by the Federal Highway Administration, which collected data on the demographic and socioeconomic composition of households, as well as detailed information on travel behavior nationwide. State transportation departments and metropolitan planning agencies had the opportunity to purchase extra household samples as part of the NHTS add-on program. These additional samples, along with national samples collected in the add-on areas, are compiled for use in transportation planning, forecasting, and research. The California Department of Transportation participated in the NHTS add-on program and received a total of 21,225 household samples in California, from March 2008 through May 2009.

1Hz data↗

2017 National Household Travel Survey - California Add-On

The California add-on survey supplements the 2017 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) with additional household samples and detailed travel behavior for an assigned travel day. The NHTS was conducted by the Federal Highway Administration, which collected data on the demographic and socioeconomic composition of households, as well as detailed information on travel behavior nationwide. State transportation departments and metropolitan planning agencies had the opportunity to purchase extra household samples as part of the NHTS add-on program. These additional samples, along with national samples collected in the add-on areas, are compiled for use in transportation planning, forecasting, and research. The California Department of Transportation participated in the NHTS add-on program and received a total of 26,095 household samples in California, from April 2016 through April 2017.

1Hz data↗

Ultra-fast microwave regeneration of CO 2 solid sorbents for energy-efficient direct air capture

Large-scale deployment of direct air capture (DAC) technologies has become critical for mitigating climate change. Towards this end, energy-efficient regeneration of the sorbents used in the process of carbon capture from air is very important to significantly reduce the high operational cost of DAC. Guanidine compounds can be used with environmentally friendly aqueous amino acids (e.g., potassium sarcosinate) for fast and effective CO 2 capture from air, and have a strong potential for low-energy CO 2 release and sorbent regeneration. In this process, the amino acid absorbs the CO 2 from the air, and the guanidine compounds react with the CO 2 -rich amino acid solution and crystallize as an insoluble carbonate salt. Separation and thermal regeneration of the precipitated guanidine carbonate salt leads to an overall low-temperature and low-energy direct air capture process. Effective CO 2 release from the solid guanidine compound can be achieved by mild heating at 120 °C. Here, in this study, to overcome the relatively inefficient traditional conductive heating of the crystalline solid (i.e., Methylglyoxal-bis(iminoguanidine) carbonate, MGBIG carbonate), we evaluated the feasibility of microwave heating of MGBIG carbonate in terms of power requirement, radiation time, and solids mass for efficient CO 2 desorption. The energy consumption needed by a microwave oven and a conventional oven to regenerate the same mass of the sorbent was directly measured to compare the total energy required per unit mass of regenerated sample and provide an understanding of the potential benefits of microwave regeneration. We found that microwave heating effectively regenerates MGBIG carbonate, which may be facilitated by the water molecules that are co-crystallized with carbonate in the guanidine crystals. Microwave heating at 2.54 GHz with 1250 W is up to 17 times faster than conventional conductive heating at 160 °C, resulting in 40 % electrical energy reduction. These results indicate that microwave regeneration may be an energy-efficient method for fast regeneration of solid sorbents used for direct air capture.

42 ENGINEERING↗

NDE for Characterizing Oxidation Damage in Reinforced Carbon-Carbon

In this study, coated reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) samples of similar structure and composition as that from the NASA space shuttle orbiter s thermal protection system were fabricated with slots in their coating simulating craze cracks. These specimens were used to study oxidation damage detection and characterization using NDE methods. These specimens were heat treated in air at 1143 and 1200 C to create cavities in the carbon substrate underneath the coating as oxygen reacted with the carbon and resulted in its consumption. The cavities varied in diameter from approximately 1 to 3 mm. Single-sided NDE methods were used since they might be practical for on-wing inspection, while x-ray micro-computed tomography (CT) was used to measure cavity sizes in order to validate oxidation models under development for carbon-carbon materials. An RCC sample having a naturally-cracked coating and subsequent oxidation damage was also studied with x-ray micro-CT. This effort is a follow-on study to one that characterized NDE methods for assessing oxidation damage in an RCC sample with drilled holes in the coating. The results of that study are briefly reviewed in this article as well. Additionally, a short discussion on the future role of simulation to aid in these studies is provided.

Roth, Don J.↗