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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 217 records · Page 12

Development and Certification of a New Stall Warning and Avoidance System

Several methods may be employed to improve natural stall characteristics. The method employed on all learjets to obtain improved stall characteristics is a stall warning and avoidance system that employs angle of attack vanes, an electronic computer, a control column shaker motor, and a torquer which drives the control column in a pusher mode to avoid unwanted further buildup of angle of attack. The new system was developed with changes that improve system response with no performance penalty or increase in turbulence sensitivity. The following changes were made included modified system time constants and (alpha) time rate of change of vane angle dead zone and the addition of an alpha signal limiter and an alpha cut out below a specified angle of attack.

Gertsen, W. M.↗

Sensitivity and Calibration of Non-Destructive Evaluation Method That Uses Neural-Net Processing of Characteristic Fringe Patterns

This paper answers some performance and calibration questions about a non-destructive-evaluation (NDE) procedure that uses artificial neural networks to detect structural damage or other changes from sub-sampled characteristic patterns. The method shows increasing sensitivity as the number of sub-samples increases from 108 to 6912. The sensitivity of this robust NDE method is not affected by noisy excitations of the first vibration mode. A calibration procedure is proposed and demonstrated where the output of a trained net can be correlated with the outputs of the point sensors used for vibration testing. The calibration procedure is based on controlled changes of fastener torques. A heterodyne interferometer is used as a displacement sensor for a demonstration of the challenges to be handled in using standard point sensors for calibration.

Decker, Arthur J.↗

Theoretical Determination of Axial Fan Performance

The report presents a method for the computation of axial fan characteristics. The method is based on the assumption that the law of constancy of the circulation along the blade holds, approximately, for all fan conditions for which the blade elements operate at normal angles of attack (up to the stalling angles). Pressure head coefficient K(sub a) and power coefficient K(sub u) for the force components in the axial and tangential directions, respectively, and analogous to the lift and drag coefficients C(sub y) and C(sub x) are conveniently introduced.

Struve, E.↗

Network Flow Simulation of Fluid Transients in Rocket Propulsion Systems

Fluid transients, also known as water hammer, can have a significant impact on the design and operation of both spacecraft and launch vehicle propulsion systems. These transients often occur at system activation and shutdown. The pressure rise due to sudden opening and closing of valves of propulsion feed lines can cause serious damage during activation and shutdown of propulsion systems. During activation (valve opening) and shutdown (valve closing), pressure surges must be predicted accurately to ensure structural integrity of the propulsion system fluid network. In the current work, a network flow simulation software (Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program) based on Finite Volume Method has been used to predict the pressure surges in the feed line due to both valve closing and valve opening using two separate geometrical configurations. The valve opening pressure surge results are compared with experimental data available in the literature and the numerical results compared very well within reasonable accuracy (< 5%) for a wide range of inlet-to-initial pressure ratios. A Fast Fourier Transform is preformed on the pressure oscillations to predict the various modal frequencies of the pressure wave. The shutdown problem, i.e. valve closing problem, the simulation results are compared with the results of Method of Characteristics. Most rocket engines experience a longitudinal acceleration, known as "pogo" during the later stage of engine burn. In the shutdown example problem, an accumulator has been used in the feed system to demonstrate the "pogo" mitigation effects in the feed system of propellant. The simulation results using GFSSP compared very well with the results of Method of Characteristics.

Bandyopadhyay, Alak↗

Effects of vibrational nonequilibrium on the inviscid design of an axisymmetric nozzle for hypersonic flow

An axisymmetric, hypersonic nozzle for arc-heated air is described. The method of characteristics is used to compute an inviscid nozzle contour in which vibrational nonequilibrium is approximated by the sudden-freeze technique. Chemical reactions are shown to freeze early in the nozzle expansion, and the result of vibrational and chemical freezing on the nozzle contour is demonstrated. The approximate nozzle design is analyzed by an exact calculation based on the method of characteristics for flow with vibrational nonequilibrium. Exit profiles are computed, and the usefulness of the approximate design is discussed. An analysis of the nozzle performance at off-design conditions is presented.

Anders, J. B., Jr.↗

Simulation of a hydrocarbon fueled scramjet exhaust

Exhaust nozzle flow fields for a fully integrated, hydrocarbon burning scramjet were calculated for flight conditions of M (undisturbed free stream) = 4 at 6.1 km altitude and M (undisturbed free stream) = 6 at 30.5 km altitude. Equilibrium flow, frozen flow, and finite rate chemistry effects are considered. All flow fields were calculated by method of characteristics. Finite rate chemistry results were evaluated by a one dimensional code (Bittker) using streamtube area distributions extracted from the equilibrium flow field, and compared to very slow artificial rate cases for the same streamtube area distribution. Several candidate substitute gas mixtures, designed to simulate the gas dynamics of the real engine exhaust flow, were examined. Two mixtures are found to give excellent simulations of the specified exhaust flow fields when evaluated by the same method of characteristics computer code.

Leng, J.↗

Method to predict external store carriage characteristics at transonic speeds

Development of a computational method for prediction of external store carriage characteristics at transonic speeds is described. The geometric flexibility required for treatment of pylon-mounted stores is achieved by computing finite difference solutions on a five-level embedded grid arrangement. A completely automated grid generation procedure facilitates applications. Store modeling capability consists of bodies of revolution with multiple fore and aft fins. A body-conforming grid improves the accuracy of the computed store body flow field. A nonlinear relaxation scheme developed specifically for modified transonic small disturbance flow equations enhances the method's numerical stability and accuracy. As a result, treatment of lower aspect ratio, more highly swept and tapered wings is possible. A limited supersonic freestream capability is also provided. Pressure, load distribution, and force/moment correlations show good agreement with experimental data for several test cases. A detailed computer program description for the Transonic Store Carriage Loads Prediction (TSCLP) Code is included.

Rosen, Bruce S.↗

Effects of different pretreatment methods on the drying characteristics and quality of potatoes

Abstract The effects of different pretreatments on the vitamin C content of peeled fresh potato, the drying characteristics, and several quality attributes of dehydrated potatoes were investigated. Citric acid pretreatment (0.1%–0.3%, 10–30 min), steam blanching (100ºC, 1–2 min), and water blanching (95°C, 1–2 min) were found to have no obvious effect on the drying rate of potatoes, whereas temperature was the main influencing factor. In terms of quality of dehydrated diced potato, 20 min of citric acid pretreatment resulted in the highest vitamin C retention and better color. Furthermore, dehydrated potato pretreated with citric acid all showed similar dynamic moisture adsorption curves, namely type II sorption isotherm. The moisture adsorption curves can be well fitted using the Guggenheim–Anderson–deBoer model with R 2 higher than .97.

Sun, Xiangfeng↗

Overview of the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II water vapor observations - Method, validation, and data characteristics

Results are presented of water vapor observations in the troposphere and stratosphere performed by the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II solar occultation instrument, and the analysis procedure, the instrument errors, and data characteristics are discussed. The results are compared with correlative in situ measurements and other satellite data. The features of the data set collected between 1985 and 1989 include an increase in middle- and upper-tropospheric water vapor during northern hemisphere summer and autumn; minimum water vapor values of 2.5-3 ppmv in the tropical lower stratosphere; slowly increasing water vapor values with altitude in the stratosphere, reaching 5-6 ppmv or greater near the stratopause; extratropical values with minimum profile amounts occurring above the conventionally defined tropopause; and higher extratropical than tropical water vapor values throughout the stratosphere except in locations of possible polar stratospheric clouds.

Rind, D.↗

A simplified theoretical method of determining the characteristics of a lifting rotor in forward flight

Theoretical derived expressions for the flapping, the thrust, the torque, and the profile drag-lift ratio of nonfeathering rotor with hinged, rectangular, linearly twisted blades are given as simple functions of the inflow velocity and the blade pitch. Representative values of the coefficients of each of the terms in these expressions are tabulated for a series of specified values of the tip-speed ratio. Analysis indicates that the tabulated values can be used to calculate, with reasonable accuracy, the characteristics of any rotor of conventional design.

Bailey, F J , Jr↗