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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 271 records · Page 15

Optical correlator method and apparatus for particle image velocimetry processing

Young's fringes are produced from a double exposure image of particles in a flowing fluid by passing laser light through the film and projecting the light onto a screen. A video camera receives the image from the screen and controls a spatial light modulator. The spatial modulator has a two dimensional array of cells the transmissiveness of which are controlled in relation to the brightness of the corresponding pixel of the video camera image of the screen. A collimated beam of laser light is passed through the spatial light modulator to produce a diffraction pattern which is focused onto another video camera, with the output of the camera being digitized and provided to a microcomputer. The diffraction pattern formed when the laser light is passed through the spatial light modulator and is focused to a point corresponds to the two dimensional Fourier transform of the Young's fringe pattern projected onto the screen. The data obtained fro This invention was made with U.S. Government support awarded by the Department of the Army (DOD) and NASA grand number(s): DOD #DAAL03-86-K0174 and NASA #NAG3-718. The U.S. Government has certain rights in this invention.

Farrell, Patrick V.↗

CFD-Based Design of a Filming Injector for N+3 Combustors

An effort was undertaken to perform CFD analysis of fluid flow in Lean-Direct Injection (LDI) combustors with axial swirl-venturi elements coupled with a new fuel-filming injector design for next-generation N+3 combustors. The National Combustion Code (NCC) was used to perform non-reacting and two-phase reacting flow computations on a N+3 injector configuration, in a single-element and a five-element injector array. All computations were performed with a consistent approach towards mesh-generation, spray-, ignition- and kinetics-modeling with the NCC. Computational predictions of the aerodynamics of the injector were used to arrive at an optimal injector design that met effective area, aerodynamics, and fuel-air mixing criteria. LDI-3 emissions (EINOx, EICO and UHC) were compared with the previous generation LDI-2 combustor experimental data at representative engine cycle conditions.

combustion chambers↗

Contamination and Surface Preparation Effects on Composite Bonding

Results presented here demonstrate the effect of several prebond surface contaminants (hydrocarbon, machining fluid, latex, silicone, peel ply residue, release film) on bond quality, as measured by fracture toughness and failure modes of carbon fiber reinforced epoxy substrates bonded in secondary and co-bond configurations with paste and film adhesives. Additionally, the capability of various prebond surface property measurement tools to detect contaminants and potentially predict subsequent bond performance of three different adhesives is also shown. Surface measurement methods included water contact angle, Dyne solution wettability, optically stimulated electron emission spectroscopy, surface free energy, inverse gas chromatography, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with chemometrics analysis. Information will also be provided on the effectiveness of mechanical and energetic surface treatments to recover a bondable surface after contamination. The benefits and drawbacks of the various surface analysis tools to detect contaminants and evaluate prebond surfaces after surface treatment were assessed as well as their ability to correlate to bond performance. Surface analysis tools were also evaluated for their potential use as in-line quality control of adhesive bonding parameters in the manufacturing environment.

Kutscha, Eileen O.↗

Multilayer Composite Pressure Vessels

A method has been devised to enable the fabrication of lightweight pressure vessels from multilayer composite materials. This method is related to, but not the same as, the method described in gMaking a Metal- Lined Composite-Overwrapped Pressure Vessel h (MFS-31814), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 29, No. 3 (March 2005), page 59. The method is flexible in that it poses no major impediment to changes in tank design and is applicable to a wide range of tank sizes. The figure depicts a finished tank fabricated by this method, showing layers added at various stages of the fabrication process. In the first step of the process, a mandrel that defines the size and shape of the interior of the tank is machined from a polyurethane foam or other suitable lightweight tooling material. The mandrel is outfitted with metallic end fittings on a shaft. Each end fitting includes an outer flange that has a small step to accommodate a thin layer of graphite/epoxy or other suitable composite material. The outer surface of the mandrel (but not the fittings) is covered with a suitable release material. The composite material is filament- wound so as to cover the entire surface of the mandrel from the step on one end fitting to the step on the other end fitting. The composite material is then cured in place. The entire workpiece is cut in half in a plane perpendicular to the axis of symmetry at its mid-length point, yielding two composite-material half shells, each containing half of the foam mandrel. The halves of the mandrel are removed from within the composite shells, then the shells are reassembled and bonded together with a belly band of cured composite material. The resulting composite shell becomes a mandrel for the subsequent steps of the fabrication process and remains inside the final tank. The outer surface of the composite shell is covered with a layer of material designed to be impermeable by the pressurized fluid to be contained in the tank. A second step on the outer flange of each end fitting accommodates this layer. Depending on the application, this layer could be, for example, a layer of rubber, a polymer film, or an electrodeposited layer of metal. If the fluid to be contained in the tank is a gas, then the best permeation barrier is electrodeposited metal (typically copper or nickel), which can be effective at a thickness of as little as 0.005 in (.0.13 mm). The electrodeposited metal becomes molecularly bonded to the second step on each metallic end fitting. The permeation-barrier layer is covered with many layers of filament-wound composite material, which could be the same as, or different from, the composite material of the inner shell. Finally, the filament-wound composite material is cured in an ov

DeLay, Tom↗

Digital analysis of wind tunnel imagery to measure fluid thickness

Documented here are the procedure and results obtained from the application of digital image processing techniques to the problem of measuring the thickness of a deicing fluid on a model airfoil during simulated takeoffs. The fluid contained a fluorescent dye and the images were recorded under flash illumination on photographic film. The films were digitized and analyzed on a personal computer to obtain maps of the fluid thickness.

Easton, Roger L., Jr.↗

Development of the Glenn-HT Computer Code to Enable Time-Filtered Navier-Stokes (TFNS) Simulations and Application to Film Cooling on a Flat Plate Through Long Cooling Tubes

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis using Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) formulation for turbomachinery-related flows has enabled improved engine component designs. RANS methodology has limitations which are related to its inability to accurately describe the spectrum of flow phenomena encountered in engines. Examples of flows that are difficult to compute accurately with RANS include phenomena such as laminarturbulent transition, turbulent mixing due to mixing of streams, and separated flows. Large eddy simulation (LES) can improve accuracy but at a considerably higher cost. In recent years, hybrid schemes which take advantage of both unsteady RANS and LES have been proposed. This study investigated an alternative scheme, the time-filtered Navier-Stokes (TFNS) method applied to compressible flows. The method developed by Shih and Liu was implemented in the Glenn-HT code and applied to film cooling flows. In this report the method and its implementation is briefly described. The film effectiveness results obtained for film cooling from a row of 30 holes with a pitch of 3.0 diameters emitting air at a nominal density ratio of unity and four blowing ratios of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 are shown. Flow features under those conditions are also described.

infrared↗

Development of the Glenn Heat-Transfer (Glenn-HT) Computer Code to Enable Time-Filtered Navier-Stokes (TFNS) Simulations and Application to Film Cooling on a Flat Plate Through Long Cooling Tubes

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis using Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) formulation for turbomachinery-related flows has enabled improved engine component designs. RANS methodology has limitations that are related to its inability to accurately describe the spectrum of flow phenomena encountered in engines. Examples of flows that are difficult to compute accurately with RANS include phenomena such as laminar/turbulent transition, turbulent mixing due to mixing of streams, and separated flows. Large eddy simulation (LES) can improve accuracy but at a considerably higher cost. In recent years, hybrid schemes that take advantage of both unsteady RANS and LES have been proposed. This study investigated an alternative scheme, the time-filtered Navier-Stokes (TFNS) method applied to compressible flows. The method developed by Shih and Liu was implemented in the Glenn-Heat-Transfer (Glenn-HT) code and applied to film-cooling flows. In this report the method and its implementation is briefly described. The film effectiveness results obtained for film cooling from a row of 30deg holes with a pitch of 3.0 diameters emitting air at a nominal density ratio of unity and two blowing ratios of 0.5 and 1.0 are shown. Flow features under those conditions are also described.

Ameri, Ali↗

Development of the Glenn-Heat-Transfer (Glenn-HT) Computer Code to Enable Time-Filtered Navier Stokes (TFNS) Simulations and Application to Film Cooling on a Flat Plate Through Long Cooling Tubes

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis using Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) formulation for turbomachinery-related flows has enabled improved engine component designs. RANS methodology has limitations that are related to its inability to accurately describe the spectrum of flow phenomena encountered in engines. Examples of flows that are difficult to compute accurately with RANS include phenomena such as laminar/turbulent transition, turbulent mixing due to mixing of streams, and separated flows. Large eddy simulation (LES) can improve accuracy but at a considerably higher cost. In recent years, hybrid schemes that take advantage of both unsteady RANS and LES have been proposed. This study investigated an alternative scheme, the time-filtered Navier-Stokes (TFNS) method applied to compressible flows. The method developed by Shih and Liu was implemented in the Glenn-Heat-Transfer (Glenn-HT) code and applied to film-cooling flows. In this report the method and its implementation is briefly described. The film effectiveness results obtained for film cooling from a row of 30deg holes with a pitch of 3.0 diameters emitting air at a nominal density ratio of unity and two blowing ratios of 0.5 and 1.0 are shown. Flow features under those conditions are also described.

heat transfer↗

Dynamics of liquid films and thin jets

The theory of liquid films and thin jets as one- and two-dimensional continuums is examined. The equations of motion have led to solutions for the characteristic speeds of wave propagation for the parameters characterizing the shape. The formal analogy with a compressible fluid indicates the possibility of shock wave generation in films and jets and the formal analogy to the theory of threads and membranes leads to the discovery of some new dynamic effects. The theory is illustrated by examples.

Zak, M.↗

Tracker: Image-Processing and Object-Tracking System Developed

Tracker is an object-tracking and image-processing program designed and developed at the NASA Lewis Research Center to help with the analysis of images generated by microgravity combustion and fluid physics experiments. Experiments are often recorded on film or videotape for analysis later. Tracker automates the process of examining each frame of the recorded experiment, performing image-processing operations to bring out the desired detail, and recording the positions of the objects of interest. It can load sequences of images from disk files or acquire images (via a frame grabber) from film transports, videotape, laser disks, or a live camera. Tracker controls the image source to automatically advance to the next frame. It can employ a large array of image-processing operations to enhance the detail of the acquired images and can analyze an arbitrarily large number of objects simultaneously. Several different tracking algorithms are available, including conventional threshold and correlation-based techniques, and more esoteric procedures such as "snake" tracking and automated recognition of character data in the image. The Tracker software was written to be operated by researchers, thus every attempt was made to make the software as user friendly and self-explanatory as possible. Tracker is used by most of the microgravity combustion and fluid physics experiments performed by Lewis, and by visiting researchers. This includes experiments performed on the space shuttles, Mir, sounding rockets, zero-g research airplanes, drop towers, and ground-based laboratories. This software automates the analysis of the flame or liquid s physical parameters such as position, velocity, acceleration, size, shape, intensity characteristics, color, and centroid, as well as a number of other measurements. It can perform these operations on multiple objects simultaneously. Another key feature of Tracker is that it performs optical character recognition (OCR). This feature is useful in extracting numerical instrumentation data that are embedded in images. All the results are saved in files for further data reduction and graphing. There are currently three Tracking Systems (workstations) operating near the laboratories and offices of Lewis Microgravity Science Division researchers. These systems are used independently by students, scientists, and university-based principal investigators. The researchers bring their tapes or films to the workstation and perform the tracking analysis. The resultant data files generated by the tracking process can then be analyzed on the spot, although most of the time researchers prefer to transfer them via the network to their offices for further analysis or plotting. In addition, many researchers have installed Tracker on computers in their office for desktop analysis of digital image sequences, which can be digitized by the Tracking System or some other means. Tracker has not only provided a capability to efficiently and automatically analyze large volumes of data, saving many hours of tedious work, but has also provided new capabilities to extract valuable information and phenomena that was heretofore undetected and unexploited.

Klimek, Robert B.↗

Wide angle pinhole camera

Hemispherical refracting element gives pinhole camera 180 degree field-of-view without compromising its simplicity and depth-of-field. Refracting element, located just behind pinhole, bends light coming in from sides so that it falls within image area of film. In contrast to earlier pinhole cameras that used water or other transparent fluids to widen field, this model is not subject to leakage and is easily loaded and unloaded with film. Moreover, by selecting glass with different indices of refraction, field at film plane can be widened or reduced.

Franke, J. M.↗

On the nonlinear interfacial instability of rotating core-annular flow

The interfacial stability of rotating core-annular flows is investigated. The linear and nonlinear effects are considered for the case when the annular region is very thin. Both asymptotic and numerical methods are used to solve the flow in the core and film regions which are coupled by a difference in viscosity and density. The long-term behavior of the fluid-fluid interface is determined by deriving its nonlinear evolution in the form of a modified Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation. We obtain a generalization of this equation to three dimensions. The flows considered are applicable to a wide array of physical problems where liquid films are used to lubricate higher or lower viscosity core fluids, for which a concentric arrangement is desired. Linearized solutions show that the effects of density and viscosity stratification are crucial to the stability of the interface. Rotation generally destabilizes non-axisymmetric disturbances to the interface, whereas the centripetal forces tend to stabilize flows in which the film contains the heavier fluid. Nonlinear affects allow finite amplitude helically travelling waves to exist when the fluids have different viscosities.

Coward, Aidrian V.↗

Vortex generating flow passage design for increased film cooling effectiveness

It is an object of the invention to provide a film cooling apparatus of increased effectiveness and efficiency. In accordance with the invention, a cooling fluid is injected into a hot flowing gas through a passageway in a wall which contains and is subject to the hot gas. The passageway is slanted in a downstream direction at an acute angle to the wall. A cusp shape is provided in the passageway to generate vortices in the injected cooling fluid thereby reducing the energy extracted from the hot gas for that purpose. The cusp shape increases both film cooling effectiveness and wall area coverage. The cusp may be at either the downstream or upstream side of the passageway, the former substantially eliminating flow separation of the cooling fluid from the wall immediately downstream of the passageway.

Papell, S. S.↗

A CFD Framework for Film Boiling and Quenching in Cryogenic Chilldown

Tests of cryogenic chilldown in a vertical stainless steel tube are simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Subcooled liquid nitrogen enters the room-temperature tube at one end, resulting in film boiling and eventual quenching of the tube walls. A CFD-based modeling framework employing the mixture multiphase model has been developed to simulate this chilldown process and applied to validate it against experimental data. Extensive sensitivity studies have been performed to create a consistent modeling framework, and a two test conditions are simulated to test the modeling capability. The importance of the rewetting temperature and its relation to the foam limit temperature is discussed and is considered in the CFD model. The presented results demonstrate a qualitatively consistent representation of the film boiling and quenching regime. However, the quantitative accuracy of the simulations varies with the test conditions. Simulated vapor volume fraction distributions are also presented, although the current lack of experimental volume fraction data does not permit a comparison.

Computational Fluid Dynamics↗

A CFD Framework for Film Boiling and Quenching in Cryogenic Chilldown

Tests of cryogenic chilldown in a vertical stainless-steel tube are simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Subcooled liquid nitrogen enters a room-temperature tube at one end, resulting in film boiling and eventual quenching of the tube walls. A CFDbased modeling framework employing the mixture multiphase model was developed to simulate this chilldown process and was applied to validate it against experimental data. Extensive sensitivity studies have been performed to create a consistent modeling framework, and a range of test conditions are simulated to assess the modeling capability. The importance of the rewetting temperature and its relation to the foam limit temperature is discussed and considered in the CFD framework. The presented results demonstrate a qualitatively consistent representation of the film boiling and quenching regime. However, the quantitative accuracy of the simulations varies with the test conditions. In addition, simulated distributions of the vapor volume fraction are presented, but the current lack of experimental volume fraction data prevents comparisons.

Computational Fluid Dynamics↗

A CFD Framework for Film Boiling and Quenching in Cryogenic Chilldown

Tests of cryogenic chilldown in a vertical stainless-steel tube are simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Subcooled liquid nitrogen enters a room-temperature tube at one end, resulting in film boiling and eventual quenching of the tube walls. A CFDbased modeling framework employing the mixture multiphase model was developed to simulate this chilldown process and was applied to validate it against experimental data. Extensive sensitivity studies have been performed to create a consistent modeling framework, and a range of test conditions are simulated to assess the modeling capability. The importance of the rewetting temperature and its relation to the foam limit temperature is discussed and considered in the CFD framework. The presented results demonstrate a qualitatively consistent representation of the film boiling and quenching regime. However, the quantitative accuracy of the simulations varies with the test conditions. In addition, simulated distributions of the vapor volume fraction are presented, but the current lack of experimental volume fraction data prevents comparisons.

Computational Fluid Dynamics↗

The behavior of superfluid helium in zero gravity

Studies of the behavior of superfluid helium in zero gravity including fluid distribution within the cryostat, thickness of superfluid films, and heat transfer in such films, were conducted in one gravity in the laboratory and in zero-g flights on aircraft and sounding rocket. The studies show that the bulk motions are sufficiently well damped to allow control of their effects on experiments and spacecraft attitude control systems, and that the superfluid films will be able to maintain the high degree of temperature uniformity found in laboratory superfluid helium cryostats. The presentation includes film clips of the motions on the superfluid in zero-g.

Mason, P.↗

Surface catalytic degradation study of two linear perfluoropolyalkylethers at 345 C

Thin-liquid-film degradation studies of two commercially available perfluoropolyalkylether fluids (PFAE) were performed at 345 C, in nitrogen and air atmospheres, on iron and 440 C stainless steel surfaces. It was found that one fluid degraded on both iron and 440 C stainless steel surfaces in an air atmosphere, whereas the other fluid did not degrade. Chemical analysis revealed that the test fluid degraded to lower molecular weight products and that the degradation was accompanied by the formation of a brownish deposit on both the iron and 440 C stainless steel surfaces. Surface analysis of the deposit revealed a susbstantial amount of iron oxide (Fe2O3). It was hypothesized that the fluid which degraded did so because of its acetal structure. The other fluid, lacking the acetal structure, did not degrade.

Morales, Wilfredo↗