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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
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2005

National Research Council Dialogue to Assess Progress on NASA's Systems Engineering Cost/Risk Analysis Capability Roadmap Development: General Background and Introduction

Contents include the following: General Background and Introduction of Capability. Roadmaps for Systems Engineering Cost/Risk Analysis. Agency Objectives. Strategic Planning Transformation. Review Capability Roadmaps and Schedule. Review Purpose of NRC Review. Capability Roadmap Development (Progress to Date).

Regenie, Victoria↗
NASA NTRS1932

Torsional vibration of aircraft engines

Exhaustive torsional-vibration investigations are required to determine the reliability of aircraft engines. A general outline of the methods used for such investigations and of the theoretical and mechanical means now available for this purpose is given, illustrated by example. True vibration diagrams are usually obtained from vibration measurements on the completed engine. Two devices for this purpose and supplementing each other, the D.V.L. torsiograph and the D.V.L. torsion recorder, are described in this report.

Lurenbaum, Karl↗
NASA NTRS1984

Report on final recommendations for IMPS engineering-science payload

Six general categories of key scientific and engineering concerns for the interactions measurements payload for shuttle (IMPS) mission are addressed: (1) dielectric charging; (2) material property changes; (3) electromagnetic interference, plasma interactions, and plasma wake effects associated with high-voltage solar arrays and large space structures; (4) radio frequency distortion and nonlinearities due to the enhanced plasma in the shuttle ram/wake; (5) shuttle glow and contamination; and (6) plasma interactions with the space-based radar. Lesser concerns are the interactions associated with EVA; the radiation and SEU effects peculiar to the auroral/polar cap environments; and space debris. The measurements needed to address the concerns associated with the general categories are described and a list of generic investigations capable of making the required measurements, emphasizing the spectrum of measurements necessary to quantize the interactions in the auroral/polar environments are included. A suggested ground-test plan for the IMPS project, a description of proposed follow-on IMPS missions, and a detailed bibliography for each of the interactions discussed are included.

Garrett, H. B.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Noise Certification Predictions for FJX-2-Powered Aircraft Using Analytic Methods

Williams International Co. is currently developing the 700-pound thrust class FJX-2 turbofan engine for the general Aviation Propulsion Program's Turbine Engine Element. As part of the 1996 NASA-Williams cooperative working agreement, NASA agreed to analytically calculate the noise certification levels of the FJX-2-powered V-Jet II test bed aircraft. Although the V-Jet II is a demonstration aircraft that is unlikely to be produced and certified, the noise results presented here may be considered to be representative of the noise levels of small, general aviation jet aircraft that the FJX-2 would power. A single engine variant of the V-Jet II, the V-Jet I concept airplane, is also considered. Reported in this paper are the analytically predicted FJX-2/V-Jet noise levels appropriate for Federal Aviation Regulation certification. Also reported are FJX-2/V-Jet noise levels using noise metrics appropriate for the propeller-driven aircraft that will be its major market competition, as well as a sensitivity analysis of the certification noise levels to major system uncertainties.

Berton, Jeffrey J.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Object-oriented approach for gas turbine engine simulation

An object-oriented gas turbine engine simulation program was developed. This program is a prototype for a more complete, commercial grade engine performance program now being proposed as part of the Numerical Propulsion System Simulator (NPSS). This report discusses architectural issues of this complex software system and the lessons learned from developing the prototype code. The prototype code is a fully functional, general purpose engine simulation program, however, only the component models necessary to model a transient compressor test rig have been written. The production system will be capable of steady state and transient modeling of almost any turbine engine configuration. Chief among the architectural considerations for this code was the framework in which the various software modules will interact. These modules include the equation solver, simulation code, data model, event handler, and user interface. Also documented in this report is the component based design of the simulation module and the inter-component communication paradigm. Object class hierarchies for some of the code modules are given.

Curlett, Brian P.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Interactive knowledge acquisition tools

The problems of designing practical tools to aid the knowledge engineer and general applications used in performing knowledge acquisition tasks are discussed. A particular approach was developed for the class of knowledge acquisition problem characterized by situations where acquisition and transformation of domain expertise are often bottlenecks in systems development. An explanation is given on how the tool and underlying software engineering principles can be extended to provide a flexible set of tools that allow the application specialist to build highly customized knowledge-based applications.

Dudziak, Martin J.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Forward for the new edition of: “What Every Engineer Should Know About Risk Engineering and Management"

In aerospace and engineering in general, the major metrics are capability, cost, and safety/risk. With the increasingly rapid emergence and utilization of new technologies and systems of increasing complexity, ensuring safety becomes more difficult. The technology and practice/applications of safety/risk technologies require updating in concert with capability and systems technology changes. Hence the new, updated edition of this risk engineering book. Major changes in technology and applications, now and going forward, increasingly involve artificial intelligence (AI)/autonomy and complex systems, which are rapidly developing and moving targets when it comes to risk/safety analysis. These introduce both new risks and safety issues, and they alter more usual ones. The current reality is that often the best AI is when it is “Black Boxed”, developed “independently”, without detailed human understanding of how and by what processes decisions and results are produced. There are ongoing efforts to make the AI processes more understandable by humans, with results to be determined. Also, trusted and true autonomy is free of human intervention, which would require machines to ideate to solve in real time issues that arise due to unknown unknowns and even known unknowns. Machines using generative adversarial network (GANs) and other approaches are beginning to ideate. Overall, the capabilities and practice of AI/autonomy utilization is a work in progress with the rate of progress substantial and the impacts upon system risk/safety major.

Dennis M. Bushnell↗
NASA NTRS1986

Rotorcraft propulsion for year 2000 plus

The objective of this study was to identify high-payoff technologies for year 2000 small gas turbine engines for rotorcraft application. A current state-of-the-art technology Allison gas turbine engine was used as a baseline and three advanced concepts were studied: the simple cycle engine, a waste heat recovery cycle, and a wave rotor engine cycle. For the simple cycle engine, two general arrangements were considered: the traditional concentric spool arrangement and a nonconcentric spool arrangement. Both a regenerative and a recuperative cycle were studied for the waste heat recovery cycle. An extensive cycle optimization procedure was performed for each configuration under study using relative direct operating cost (DOC) as the figure of merit. A high pressure ratio nonconcentric engine provided the greatest reduction in DOC with a 16.5 percent improvement.

Larkin, T. R.↗
NASA NTRS2019

An Innovative Feedback Controls Design Approach for Aero Engines

The paper describes a feedback controls design approach for a generic regional jet turbofan engine, which can be adapted to aero engines in general. To demonstrate this approach, linear models for control design are generated at different operating conditions from a full envelope nonlinear simulation created with the NASA Glenn Research Center-developed Toolbox for the Modeling and Analysis of Thermodynamic Systems. The primary objective is to design a single feedback controller that achieves good performance, without the need of developing scheduled control designs to cover the engine operating envelope. An additional objective is to progressively design more robust controllers that can perform under large variations in plant dynamics to also cover control for engine limits and potentially for some off nominal or even damaged conditions.

Kopasakis, George↗
NASA NTRS1972

Engine selection for transport and combat aircraft

The procedures that are used to select engines for transport and combat aircraft are discussed. In general, the problem is to select the engine parameters including engine size in such a way that all constraints are satisfied and airplane performance is maximized. This is done for four different classes of aircraft: (1) a long haul conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) transport, (2) a short haul vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) transport, (3) a long range supersonic transport (SST), and (4) a fighter aircraft. For the commercial airplanes the critical constraints have to do with noise while for the fighter, maneuverability requirements define the engine. Generally, the resultant airplane performance (range or payload) is far less than that achievable without these constraints and would suffer more if nonoptimum engines were selected.

Dugan, J. F., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Roles, uses, and benefits of general aviation aircraft in aerospace engineering education

Many colleges and universities throughout the United States offer outstanding programs in aerospace engineering. In addition to the fundamentals of aerodynamics, propulsion, flight dynamics, and air vehicle design, many of the best programs have in the past provided students the opportunity to design and fly airborne experiments on board various types of aircraft. Sadly, however, the number of institutions offering such 'airborne laboratories' has dwindled in recent years. As a result, opportunities for students to apply their classroom knowledge, analytical skills, and engineering judgement to the development and management of flight experiments on an actual aircraft are indeed rare. One major reason for the elimination of flight programs by some institutions, particularly the smaller colleges, is the prohibitive cost of operating and maintaining an aircraft as a flying laboratory. The purpose of this paper is to discuss simple, low-cost, relevant flight experiments that can be performed using readily available general aviation aircraft. This paper examines flight experiments that have been successfully conducted on board the NASA Lewis Research Center's T-34B aircraft, as part of the NASA/AIAA/University Flight Experiment Program for Students (NAUFEPS) and discusses how similar experiments could be inexpensively performed on other general aviation aircraft.

Odonoghue, Dennis P.↗
NASA NTRS2005

CFD - Mature Technology?

Over the past 30 years, numerical methods and simulation tools for fluid dynamic problems have advanced as a new discipline, namely, computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Although a wide spectrum of flow regimes are encountered in many areas of science and engineering, simulation of compressible flow has been the major driver for developing computational algorithms and tools. This is probably due to a large demand for predicting the aerodynamic performance characteristics of flight vehicles, such as commercial, military, and space vehicles. As flow analysis is required to be more accurate and computationally efficient for both commercial and mission-oriented applications (such as those encountered in meteorology, aerospace vehicle development, general fluid engineering and biofluid analysis) CFD tools for engineering become increasingly important for predicting safety, performance and cost. This paper presents the author's perspective on the maturity of CFD, especially from an aerospace engineering point of view.

Kwak, Dochan↗
NASA NTRS1945

Preignition-limited performance of several fuels

Preignition-limited performance data were obtained on a supercharged CFR engine at two sets of operating conditions over a wide range of fuel-air ratios to determine the preignition characteristics for the following five fuels: s-3 reference fuel, s-3 plus 4 ml. tel per gallon, afd-33(140-p), benzene, and diisobutylene. Maximum thermal-plug temperatures at constant intake-air pressures were also determined to correlate the preignition characteristics of each fuel with its ability to increase general engine-temperature levels. Additional runs were made to compare the preignition-limited performance of triptane, triptane plus 4 ml. tel per gallon, and an-f-28r fuel.

Male, Donald W↗
NASA NTRS1985

Evaluation of capillary reinforced composites

Anti-icing of the inlet of jet engines is generally performed with high pressure heated air that is directed forward from the compressor through a series of pipes to various manifolds located near the structures to be anti-iced. From these manifolds, the air is directed to all flowpath surfaces that may be susceptible to ice formation. There the anti-icing function may be performed by either heat conduction or film heating. Unfortunately, the prospect of utilizing lighweight, high strength composites for inlet structures of jet engines has been frustrated by the low transverse thermal conductivity of such materials. It was the objective of this program to develop an advanced materials and design concept for anti-icing composite structures. The concept that was evaluated used capillary glass tubes embedded on the surface of a composite structure with heated air ducted through the tubes. An analytical computer program was developed to predict the anti-icing performance of such tubes and a test program was conducted to demonstrate actual performance of this system. Test data and analytical code results were in excellent agreement. Both indicate feasibility of using capillary tubes for surface heating as a means for composite engine structures to combat ice accumulation.

Cahill, J. E.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Strutjet Matures to Support Propulsion Needs in the 2000+ World

The Strutjet, Aerojet's Rocket Based Combined Cycle (RBCC) concept, was discussed in a previous ISABE paper as an enabling propulsion concept for single stage to orbit applications. This paper describes the technical progress of the Strutjet since 1996 together with a rationale why RBCC engines in general and the Strutjet in particular, lend themselves uniquely to systems having the ability to expand current space and also open new global "rapid delivery" markets. In particular, the paper substantiates the claims why for certain missions RBCC powered vehicles can be operated at higher margins than all rocket systems, and why within the family of conceivable RBCC systems the Strutjet excels due to its unique architecture and design features. A special emphasis is given to the selection of the engine's ram/scram mode design point because only that mode can add significantly to the mission effective Isp. The thrust produced by an airbreathing engine is directly related to the mass of air processed. This air is captured by the inlet and compressed to raise the pressure for combustion and subsequent expansion. The net accelerating force is the difference between the gross thrust and total vehicle drag (including the spill drag). This total drag is highest at low speeds when the gross thrust is lowest. When the net accelerating force is low, most of the fuel burned is wasted overcoming the vehicle drag. Higher thrust is necessary to perform the mission. One method is to leave the rockets on longer but this results in much higher propellant consumption.

Siebenhaar, A.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Turbomachinery noise studies of the AiResearch QCGAT engine with inflow control

The AiResearch Quiet Clean General Aviation Turbofan engine was tested on an outdoor test stand to compare the acoustic performance of two inflow control devices (ICD's) of similar design, and three inlet lips of different external shape. Only small performance differences were found. Far-field directivity patterns calculated by applicable existing analyses were compared with the measured tone and broadband patterns. For some of these comparisons, tests were made with an ICD to reduce rotor/inflow disturbance interaction noise, or with the acoustic suppression panels in the inlet or bypass duct covered with aluminum tape to determine hard wall acoustic performance. The comparisons showed that the analytical expressions used predict many directivity pattern features and trends, but can deviate in shape from the measured patterns under certain engine operating conditions. Some patterns showed lobes from modes attributable to rotor/engine strut interaction sources.

Mcardle, J. G.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Turbomachinery noise studies of the AiResearch QCGAT engine with inflow control

The AiResearch Quiet Clean General Aviation Turbofan engine was tested on a vertical lift fan facility to measure the acoustic performance of two inflow control devices (ICD) of similar design, and three inlet lips of different external shape. Far-field directivity patterns calculated by existing analyses were compared with the measured fan fundamental blade passing frequency (BPF/F/) and broadband data. Installing an ICD on an engine with hardwall ducts reduced the BPF(F) tone everywhere in the far-field. When the ICD was installed on an engine with active acoustic panels, tone reduction in the forward quadrant was comparable to that in the hardwall tests; in the aft quadrant, however, tone noise was attenuated by the large acoustic panels in the bypass duct to such a degree that the ICD had little effect. Tests to compare performance of ICDs with hardwall inlet ducts showed only minor differences in the BPF(F) directivity patterns, while broadband noise was the same for both. Forward-quadrant BPF(F) and broadband directivity patterns were found to be similar for the inlet lips tested with a hardwall inlet duct. At high fan speeds, however, the shape of the analytical multimodal tone pattern from the exhaust nozzle was flatter than the measured patterns. The sources of lobes from several propagating single modes found in the forward-quadrant BPF(F) data were attributed to rotor/strut interaction and the rotor-alone pressure field.

Mcardle, J. G.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Linear quadratic servo control of a reusable rocket engine

The paper deals with the development of a design method for a servo component in the frequency domain using singular values and its application to a reusable rocket engine. A general methodology used to design a class of linear multivariable controllers for intelligent control systems is presented. Focus is placed on performance and robustness characteristics, and an estimator design performed in the framework of the Kalman-filter formalism with emphasis on using a sensor set different from the commanded values is discussed. It is noted that loop transfer recovery modifies the nominal plant noise intensities in order to obtain the desired degree of robustness to uncertainty reflected at the plant input. Simulation results demonstrating the performance of the linear design on a nonlinear engine model over all power levels during mainstage operation are discussed.

Musgrave, Jeffrey L.↗