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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

Computer-aided design analysis of 57-mm, angular-contact, cryogenic turbopump bearings

The Space Shuttle main engine high-pressure oxygen turbopumps have not experienced the sevice life required of them. This insufficiency has been due in part to the shortened life of the bearings. To improve the life of the existing turbopump bearings, an effort is under way to investigate bearing modifications that could be retrofitted into the present bearing cavity. Several bearing parameters were optimized using the computer program SHABERTH, which performs a thermomechanical simulation of a load support system. The computer analysis showed that improved bearing performance is feasible if low friction coefficients can be attained. Bearing geometries were optimized considering heat generation, equilibrium temperatures, and relative life. Thermal gradients through the bearings were found to be lower with liquid lubrication than with solid film lubrication, and a liquid oxygen coolant flowrate of approximately 4.0 kg/s was found to be optimal. This paper describes the analytical modeling used to determine these feasible modifications to improve bearing performance.

Armstrong, Elizabeth S.↗

A dc model for power switching transistors suitable for computer-aided design and analysis

A model for bipolar junction power switching transistors whose parameters can be readily obtained by the circuit design engineer, and which can be conveniently incorporated into standard computer-based circuit analysis programs is presented. This formulation results from measurements which may be made with standard laboratory equipment. Measurement procedures, as well as a comparison between actual and computed results, are presented.

Wilson, P. M.↗

Structural Engineering of Microwave Antennas, Chapters 1-4

This paper discusses computer-aided design procedures for antenna reflector structures and related components. Examples in the paper illustrate effective design improvement for structures with several thousand degrees of freedom and within reasonable computing times.

microwave antennas↗

Control optimization, stabilization and computer algorithms for aircraft applications

Computationally useful algorithms are considered that can aid the control engineer in designing systems control in linear time invariant dynamics for aircraft applications. Structural aspects of system identification, matrix parameterization, and the effect of feedback on identifiability of systems. Adaptive and stochastic control model constructions are projected, and a method for approximate identification of aircraft characteristics and subsequent generation of control signals is outlined.

Mitter, S. K.↗

HiRel - Reliability/availability integrated workstation tool

The HiRel software tool is described and demonstrated by application to the mission avionics subsystem of the Advanced System Integration Demonstrations (ASID) system that utilizes the PAVE PILLAR approach. HiRel marks another accomplishment toward the goal of producing a totally integrated computer-aided design (CAD) workstation design capability. Since a reliability engineer generally represents a reliability model graphically before it can be solved, the use of a graphical input description language increases productivity and decreases the incidence of error. The graphical postprocessor module HARPO makes it possible for reliability engineers to quickly analyze huge amounts of reliability/availability data to observe trends due to exploratory design changes. The addition of several powerful HARP modeling engines provides the user with a reliability/availability modeling capability for a wide range of system applications all integrated under a common interactive graphical input-output capability.

Bavuso, Salvatore J.↗

Man-machine Integration Design and Analysis System (MIDAS) Task Loading Model (TLM) experimental and software detailed design report

This is the experimental and software detailed design report for the prototype task loading model (TLM) developed as part of the man-machine integration design and analysis system (MIDAS), as implemented and tested in phase 6 of the Army-NASA Aircrew/Aircraft Integration (A3I) Program. The A3I program is an exploratory development effort to advance the capabilities and use of computational representations of human performance and behavior in the design, synthesis, and analysis of manned systems. The MIDAS TLM computationally models the demands designs impose on operators to aide engineers in the conceptual design of aircraft crewstations. This report describes TLM and the results of a series of experiments which were run this phase to test its capabilities as a predictive task demand modeling tool. Specifically, it includes discussions of: the inputs and outputs of TLM, the theories underlying it, the results of the test experiments, the use of the TLM as both stand alone tool and part of a complete human operator simulation, and a brief introduction to the TLM software design.

Staveland, Lowell↗

Demonstration, Testing and Qualification of a High Temperature, High Speed Magnetic Thrust Bearing

The gas turbine industry has a continued interest in improving engine performance and reducing net operating and maintenance costs. These goals are being realized because of advancements in aeroelasticity, materials, and computational tools such as CFD and engine simulations. These advancements aid in increasing engine thrust-to-weight ratios, specific fuel consumption, pressure ratios, and overall reliability through higher speed, higher temperature, and more efficient engine operation. Currently, rolling element bearing and squeeze film dampers are used to support rotors in gas turbine engines. Present ball bearing configurations are limited in speed (<2 million DN) and temperature (<5OO F) and require both cooling air and an elaborate lubrication system. Also, ball bearings require extensive preventative maintenance in order to assure their safe operation. Since these bearings are at their operational limits, new technologies must be found in order to take advantage of other advances. Magnetic bearings are well suited to operate at extreme temperatures and higher rotational speeds and are a promising solution to the problems that conventional rolling element bearings present. Magnetic bearing technology is being developed worldwide and is considered an enabling technology for new engine designs. Using magnetic bearings, turbine and compressor spools can be radically redesigned to be significantly larger and stiffer with better damping and higher rotational speeds. These advances, a direct result of magnetic bearing technology, will allow significant increases in engine power and efficiency. Also, magnetic bearings allow for real-time, in-situ health monitoring of the system, lower maintenance costs and down time.

DeWitt, Kenneth↗

Relatively Inexpensive Rapid Prototyping of Small Parts

Parts with complex three-dimensional shapes and with dimensions up to 8 by 8 by 10 in. (20.3 by 20.3 by 25.4 cm) can be made as unitary pieces of a room-temperature-curing polymer, with relatively little investment in time and money, by a process now in use at Johnson Space Center. The process is one of a growing number of processes and techniques that are known collectively as the art of rapid prototyping. The main advantages of this process over other rapid-prototyping processes are greater speed and lower cost: There is no need to make paper drawings and take them to a shop for fabrication, and thus no need for the attendant paperwork and organizational delays. Instead, molds for desired parts are made automatically on a machine that is guided by data from a computer-aided design (CAD) system and can reside in an engineering office.

Swan, Scott A.↗

Human Motion Tracking and Glove-Based User Interfaces for Virtual Environments in ANVIL

The Army/NASA Virtual Innovations Laboratory (ANVIL) at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) provides an environment where engineers and other personnel can investigate novel applications of computer simulation and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies. Among the many hardware and software resources in ANVIL are several high-performance Silicon Graphics computer systems and a number of commercial software packages, such as Division MockUp by Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC) and Jack by Unigraphics Solutions, Inc. These hardware and software platforms are used in conjunction with various VR peripheral I/O (input / output) devices, CAD (computer aided design) models, etc. to support the objectives of the MSFC Engineering Systems Department/Systems Engineering Support Group (ED42) by studying engineering designs, chiefly from the standpoint of human factors and ergonomics. One of the more time-consuming tasks facing ANVIL personnel involves the testing and evaluation of peripheral I/O devices and the integration of new devices with existing hardware and software platforms. Another important challenge is the development of innovative user interfaces to allow efficient, intuitive interaction between simulation users and the virtual environments they are investigating. As part of his Summer Faculty Fellowship, the author was tasked with verifying the operation of some recently acquired peripheral interface devices and developing new, easy-to-use interfaces that could be used with existing VR hardware and software to better support ANVIL projects.

Joseph D. Dumas, II↗

Shape optimization and CAD

Structural optimization has attracted the attention since the days of Galileo. Olhoff and Taylor have produced an excellent overview of the classical research within this field. However, the interest in structural optimization has increased greatly during the last decade due to the advent of reliable general numerical analysis methods and the computer power necessary to use them efficiently. This has created the possibility of developing general numerical systems for shape optimization. Several authors, eg., Esping; Braibant & Fleury; Bennet & Botkin; Botkin, Yang, and Bennet; and Stanton have published practical and successful applications of general optimization systems. Ding and Homlein have produced extensive overviews of available systems. Furthermore, a number of commercial optimization systems based on well-established finite element codes have been introduced. Systems like ANSYS, IDEAS, OASIS, and NISAOPT are widely known examples. In parallel to this development, the technology of computer aided design (CAD) has gained a large influence on the design process of mechanical engineering. The CAD technology has already lived through a rapid development driven by the drastically growing capabilities of digital computers. However, the systems of today are still considered as being only the first generation of a long row of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) systems. These systems to come will offer an integrated environment for design, analysis, and fabrication of products of almost any character. Thus, the CAD system could be regarded as simply a database for geometrical information equipped with a number of tools with the purpose of helping the user in the design process. Among these tools are facilities for structural analysis and optimization as well as present standard CAD features like drawing, modeling, and visualization tools. The state of the art of structural optimization is that a large amount of mathematical and mechanical techniques are available for the solution of single problems. By implementing collections of the available techniques into general software systems, operational environments for structural optimization have been created. The forthcoming years must bring solutions to the problem of integrating such systems into more general design environments. The result of this work should be CAD systems for rational design in which structural optimization is one important design tool among many others.

Rasmussen, John↗

Trends in computerized structural analysis and synthesis; Proceedings of the Symposium, Washington, D.C., October 30-November 1, 1978

The subjects considered are related to future directions of structural applications and potential of new computing systems, advances and trends in data management and engineering software development, advances in applied mathematics and symbolic computing, computer-aided instruction and interactive computer graphics, nonlinear analysis, dynamic analysis and transient response, structural synthesis, structural analysis and design systems, advanced structural applications, supercomputers, numerical analysis, and trends in software systems. Attention is given to the reliability and optimality of the finite element method, computerized symbolic manipulation in structural mechanics, a standard computer graphics subroutine package, and a drag method as a finite element mesh generation scheme.

Noor, A. K.↗

Toward automatic finite element analysis

Two problems must be solved if the finite element method is to become a reliable and affordable blackbox engineering tool. Finite element meshes must be generated automatically from computer aided design databases and mesh analysis must be made self-adaptive. The experimental system described solves both problems in 2-D through spatial and analytical substructuring techniques that are now being extended into 3-D.

Kela, Ajay↗

Overview of NASA MSFC IEC Multi-CAD Collaboration Capability

This viewgraph presentation provides an overview of a Design and Data Management System (DDMS) for Computer Aided Design (CAD) collaboration in order to support the Integrated Engineering Capability (IEC) at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).

Moushon, Brian↗

Preparation of Morpheus Vehicle for Vacuum Environment Testing

The main objective for this summer 2016 tour was to prepare the Morpheus vehicle for its upcoming test inside Plum Brook's vacuum chamber at NASA John H. Glenn Research Center. My contributions towards this project were mostly analytical in nature, providing numerical models to validate test data, generating computer aided analyses for the structure support of the vehicle's engine, and designing a vacuum can that is to protect the high speed camera used during testing. Furthermore, I was also tasked with designing a tank toroidal spray bar system.

Sandoval, Armando↗

Introduction to the Glenn Icing Computational Environment (GlennICE)

The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field is developing the Glenn Icing Computational Environment (GlennICE) tool to aid those evaluating, designing and certifying aircraft, engines, and aircraft components for flight in icing conditions. This short course will walk through some of the underlying physics involved with GlennICE and how we achieve efficient 3D ice accretion predictions. After an introduction of GlennICE, an analysis of the Common Research Model High-Lift will be demonstrated to showcase the typical workflow for an aircraft icing analysis. Within this walkthrough, capabilities will be highlighted with future planned capabilities being discussed. Finally, we will showcase the impact GlennICE is having on NASA’s icing portfolio and how it is advancing aircraft icing research and safety.

Icing↗