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NASA NTRS1993

Recent refinements and increased capabilities in balloon vertical performance analysis

The NASA Thermal Trajectory analysis model for predicting the vertical performance of balloons is described in terms of two critical refinements and recent results. The model employs heat-balance equations and a vertical equation of motion, and revised methods are employed to predict maximum balloon volume, balloon shape, and the continuous computation of gas loss. Also incorporated are modeling techniques for assessing the solar radiation input that can affect the load tapes, and autoballast control algorithms are employed. The model permits the evaluation of the presence of cap layers as well as the effects of small leaks and programmed venting. The revised model is shown to give good predictions of balloon performance during flight in terms of altitude changes, descent rates, gas-mass flow, and leak potential. The model is found to be more versatile due to autoballasting and leak analysis, and good prediction are possible for the float phase and descent of current balloon shapes.

Conrad, G. R.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Aeroservoelastic stabilization technique refinement for hypersonic flight vehicles

Conventional gain-stabilization techniques introduce low frequency effective time delays which can be troublesome from the viewpoint of SSTOV vehicles' flying qualities. These time delays can be alleviated through a blending of gain-stabilization and phase-stabilization techniques; the resulting hybrid phase stabilization (HPS) for the low-frequency structural modes has been noted to have greater residual response than a conventional gain-stabilizer design. HPS design procedures are presently refined, and residual response metrics are developed.

Cheng, Peter Y.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Grid-refinement study of hypersonic laminar flow over a 2-D ramp

Computations were made for those test cases of Problem 3 which were designated as laminar flows, viz., test cases 3.1, 3.2, 3.4, and 3.5. These test cases corresponded to flows over a flat plate and a compression ramp at high Mach number and at high Reynolds number. The computations over the compression ramps indicate a substantial streamwise extent of separation. Based on previous experience with separated laminar flows at high Mach numbers which indicated a substantial effect with spatial grid refinement, a series of computations with different grid sizes were performed. Also, for the flat plate, comparisons of the results for two different algorithms were made.

Thomas, James L.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Refining image segmentation by integration of edge and region data

An iterative parallel region growing (IPRG) algorithm previously developed by Tilton (1989) produces hierarchical segmentations of images from finer to coarser resolution. An ideal segmentation does not always correspond to one single iteration but to several different ones, each one producing the 'best' result for a separate part of the image. With the goal of finding this ideal segmentation, the results of the IPRG algorithm are refined by utilizing some additional information, such as edge features, and by interpreting the tree of hierarchical regions.

Le Moigne, Jacqueline↗

NASA NTRS1952

Aerodynamic Characteristics of a Refined Deep-step Planing-tail Flying-boat Hull with Various Forebody and Afterbody Shapes

An investigation was made in the Langley 300-mph 7- by 10-foot tunnel to determine the aerodynamic characteristics of a refined deep-step planing-tail hull with various forebody and afterbody shapes and, for comparison, a streamline body simulating the fuselage of a modern transport airplane. The results of the tests indicated that the configurations incorporating a forebody with a length-beam ratio of 7 had lower minimum drag coefficients than the configurations incorporating a forebody with length-beam ratio of 5. The lowest minimum drag coefficients, which were considerably less than that of a conventional hull and slightly less than that of a streamline body, were obtained on the length-beam-ratio-7 forebody, alone and with round center boom. Drag coefficients and longitudinal- and lateral-stability parameters presented include the interference of a 21-percent-thick support wing.

SEAPLANES - GENERAL STUDIES↗

NASA NTRS1953

Aerodynamic Characteristics of a Refined Deep-Step Planing-Tail Flying-Boat Hull with Various Forebody and Afterbody Shapes

An investigation was made in the Langley 300 mph 7-by 10-foot tunnel to determine the aerodynamic characteristics of a refined deep-step planing-tail hull with various forebody and afterbody shapes. For comparison, tests were made on a streamline body simulating the fuselage of a modern transport airplane. The results of the tests, which include the interference effects of a 21-percent-thick support wing, indicated that for corresponding configurations the hull models incorporating a forebody with a length-beam ratio of 7 had lower minimum drag coefficients than the hull models incorporating a forebody with a length-beam ratio of 5. Longitudinal and lateral stability was generally about the same for all hull models tested and about the same as that of a conventional hull.

Riebe, John M↗

NASA NTRS1993

A parallel adaptive mesh refinement algorithm

Over recent years, Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) algorithms which dynamically match the local resolution of the computational grid to the numerical solution being sought have emerged as powerful tools for solving problems that contain disparate length and time scales. In particular, several workers have demonstrated the effectiveness of employing an adaptive, block-structured hierarchical grid system for simulations of complex shock wave phenomena. Unfortunately, from the parallel algorithm developer's viewpoint, this class of scheme is quite involved; these schemes cannot be distilled down to a small kernel upon which various parallelizing strategies may be tested. However, because of their block-structured nature such schemes are inherently parallel, so all is not lost. In this paper we describe the method by which Quirk's AMR algorithm has been parallelized. This method is built upon just a few simple message passing routines and so it may be implemented across a broad class of MIMD machines. Moreover, the method of parallelization is such that the original serial code is left virtually intact, and so we are left with just a single product to support. The importance of this fact should not be underestimated given the size and complexity of the original algorithm.

Quirk, James J.↗

NASA NTRS1993

MGGHAT: Elliptic PDE software with adaptive refinement, multigrid and high order finite elements

MGGHAT (MultiGrid Galerkin Hierarchical Adaptive Triangles) is a program for the solution of linear second order elliptic partial differential equations in two dimensional polygonal domains. This program is now available for public use. It is a finite element method with linear, quadratic or cubic elements over triangles. The adaptive refinement via newest vertex bisection and the multigrid iteration are both based on a hierarchical basis formulation. Visualization is available at run time through an X Window display, and a posteriori through output files that can be used as GNUPLOT input. In this paper, we describe the methods used by MGGHAT, define the problem domain for which it is appropriate, illustrate use of the program, show numerical and graphical examples, and explain how to obtain the software.

Mitchell, William F.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Refinement for fault-tolerance: An aircraft hand-off protocol

Part of the Advanced Automation System (AAS) for air-traffic control is a protocol to permit flight hand-off from one air-traffic controller to another. The protocol must be fault-tolerant and, therefore, is subtle -- an ideal candidate for the application of formal methods. This paper describes a formal method for deriving fault-tolerant protocols that is based on refinement and proof outlines. The AAS hand-off protocol was actually derived using this method; that derivation is given.

Marzullo, Keith↗

NASA NTRS1994

Automated knowledge-base refinement

Over the last several years, we have developed several systems for automatically refining incomplete and incorrect knowledge bases. These systems are given an imperfect rule base and a set of training examples and minimally modify the knowledge base to make it consistent with the examples. One of our most recent systems, FORTE, revises first-order Horn-clause knowledge bases. This system can be viewed as automatically debugging Prolog programs based on examples of correct and incorrect I/O pairs. In fact, we have already used the system to debug simple Prolog programs written by students in a programming language course. FORTE has also been used to automatically induce and revise qualitative models of several continuous dynamic devices from qualitative behavior traces. For example, it has been used to induce and revise a qualitative model of a portion of the Reaction Control System (RCS) of the NASA Space Shuttle. By fitting a correct model of this portion of the RCS to simulated qualitative data from a faulty system, FORTE was also able to correctly diagnose simple faults in this system.

Mooney, Raymond J.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Three-dimensional unstructured grid refinement and optimization using edge-swapping

This paper presents a three-dimensional (3-D) 'edge-swapping method based on local transformations. This method extends Lawson's edge-swapping algorithm into 3-D. The 3-D edge-swapping algorithm is employed for the purpose of refining and optimizing unstructured meshes according to arbitrary mesh-quality measures. Several criteria including Delaunay triangulations are examined. Extensions from two to three dimensions of several known properties of Delaunay triangulations are also discussed.

Gandhi, Amar↗

NASA NTRS1989

Generic POCC architecture: Revised recommended refinements and object-oriented interfaces

This document is a sequel to the report entitled Generic POCC Architectures, dated April 5, 1989, prepared by CTA under Contract NAS5-31500, Task 28-11600. That document presented a generic architecture based upon current technology, and a series of three refinements based on object-oriented analysis principles and expectations for POCC evolution. The current document revisits the object-oriented analysis of POCC's. We have reassessed the functional groupings that best adhere to object-oriented principles and have revised the recommended architecture accordingly. We present an updated view of the recommended generic POCC architecture using the same graphical models as the previous document: entity-relationship diagrams, dataflow diagrams, and composition graphs. In addition, we present another view in the form of entity-interface diagrams (EID's). EID's may be viewed as a precursor to object diagrams which are the basic construct of the general object-oriented design (GOOD) methodology. The entity-interface diagrams, together with their textual annotations, constitute our specification of object-oriented interfaces in the generic architecture.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1994

A Cartesian grid approach with hierarchical refinement for compressible flows

Many numerical studies of flows that involve complex geometries are limited by the difficulties in generating suitable grids. We present a Cartesian boundary scheme for two-dimensional, compressible flows that is unfettered by the need to generate a computational grid and so it may be used, routinely, even for the most awkward of geometries. In essence, an arbitrary-shaped body is allowed to blank out some region of a background Cartesian mesh and the resultant cut-cells are singled out for special treatment. This is done within a finite-volume framework and so, in principle, any explicit flux-based integration scheme can take advantage of this method for enforcing solid boundary conditions. For best effect, the present Cartesian boundary scheme has been combined with a sophisticated, local mesh refinement scheme, and a number of examples are shown in order to demonstrate the efficacy of the combined algorithm for simulations of shock interaction phenomena.

Quirk, James J.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Adaptive Mesh Refinement in Curvilinear Body-Fitted Grid Systems

To be truly compatible with structured grids, an AMR algorithm should employ a block structure for the refined grids to allow flow solvers to take advantage of the strengths of unstructured grid systems, such as efficient solution algorithms for implicit discretizations and multigrid schemes. One such algorithm, the AMR algorithm of Berger and Colella, has been applied to and adapted for use with body-fitted structured grid systems. Results are presented for a transonic flow over a NACA0012 airfoil (AGARD-03 test case) and a reflection of a shock over a double wedge.

Steinthorsson, Erlendur↗

NASA NTRS1996

A User's Guide to AMR1D: An Instructional Adaptive Mesh Refinement Code for Unstructured Grids

This report documents the code AMR1D, which is currently posted on the World Wide Web (http://sdcd.gsfc.nasa.gov/ESS/exchange/contrib/de-fainchtein/adaptive _mesh_refinement.html). AMR1D is a one-dimensional finite element fluid-dynamics solver, capable of adaptive mesh refinement (AMR). It was written as an instructional tool for AMR on unstructured mesh codes. It is meant to illustrate the minimum requirements for AMR on more than one dimension. For that purpose, it uses the same type of data structure that would be necessary on a two-dimensional AMR code (loosely following the algorithm described by Lohner).

deFainchtein, Rosalinda↗

NASA NTRS1991

Choices, Frameworks and Refinement

In this paper we present a method for designing operating systems using object-oriented frameworks. A framework can be refined into subframeworks. Constraints specify the interactions between the subframeworks. We describe how we used object-oriented frameworks to design Choices, an object-oriented operating system.

Campbell, Roy H.↗

NASA NTRS1997

Parallel adaptive mesh refinement techniques for plasticity problems

The accurate modeling of the nonlinear properties of materials can be computationally expensive. Parallel computing offers an attractive way for solving such problems; however, the efficient use of these systems requires the vertical integration of a number of very different software components, we explore the solution of two- and three-dimensional, small-strain plasticity problems. We consider a finite-element formulation of the problem with adaptive refinement of an unstructured mesh to accurately model plastic transition zones. We present a framework for the parallel implementation of such complex algorithms. This framework, using libraries from the SUMAA3d project, allows a user to build a parallel finite-element application without writing any parallel code. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach on widely varying parallel architectures, we present experimental results from an IBM SP parallel computer and an ATM-connected network of Sun UltraSparc workstations. The results detail the parallel performance of the computational phases of the application during the process while the material is incrementally loaded.

Barry, W. J.↗

NASA NTRS1998

On-Orbit Model Refinement for Controller Redesign

High performance control design for a flexible space structure is challenging since high fidelity plant models are difficult to obtain a priori. Uncertainty in the control design models typically require a very robust, low performance control design which must be tuned on-orbit to achieve the required performance. A new procedure for refining a multivariable open loop plant model based on closed-loop response data is presented. Using a minimal representation of the state space dynamics, a least squares prediction error method is employed to estimate the plant parameters. This control-relevant system identification procedure stresses the joint nature of the system identification and control design problem by seeking to obtain a model that minimizes the difference between the predicted and actual closed-loop performance. This paper presents an algorithm for iterative closed-loop system identification and controller redesign along with illustrative examples.

Whorton, Mark S.↗