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At least 271 records · Page 15

Experimental and computational study of the viscoplastic response of high temperature structures

The first nine months of experimental and computational studies of the thermal-structural behavior of thin panels subjected to localized heating are described. Initial experimental studies have focused on developing an experimental set-up with well-defined thermal-structure boundary conditions. Preliminary tests with a Heldenfels panel have demonstrated out of plane bending (thermal buckling) due to panel initial imperfections. Initial computational studies have focused on: (1) validation of a thermoviscoplastic code to predict thermal stresses in the unbuckled panel, and (2) investigating in-plane stresses for test panels under transient thermal loading. Plans for future research are described.

Thornton, Earl A.↗

Parameter identification applied to analytic hingeless rotor modeling

It is known that dynamic rotor inflow has a substantial effect on rotor dynamic loads. Despite the complexity of the unsteady flow problem, simple analytical models can be made useful by identifying their parameters from transient response tests without performing flow measurements. Two analytical inflow models are studied: the first is based on an equivalent blade Lock number, the second is based on a time delayed unsteady momentum inflow. In preparation for the experimental data analysis, identifications from simulated test data and an eigenvalue analysis are performed. The experimental results show that the first analytical inflow model is accurate for rotor advance ratios of 0.4 and above. For lower advance ratios, the second inflow model provides better accuracy. Prediction studies with experimental data not used for the identification are performed to determine the accuracy of the mathematical models.

Banerjee, D.↗

Large-Scale Influences on Atmospheric River–Induced Extreme Precipitation Events Along the Coast of Washington State

Transient, narrow plumes of strong water vapor transport, referred to as Atmospheric Rivers (ARs) are responsible for much of the precipitation along the west coast of the United States. Along the coast of Oregon and Washington, the most intense cool season precipitation events are almost always induced by an AR and can result in detrimental impacts on society due to mudslides and flooding. It is therefore important to understand the large scale influence on extreme AR events so that they can be accurately predicted on timescales ranging from numerical weather prediction to seasonal forecasts. Here, characteristics of ARs that result in observed extreme precipitation events are compared to typical ARs on the coast of Washington State using data from the Modern Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2. In addition to more intense water vapor transport, notable differences in the synoptic scale forcing are present during extreme precipitation events that are not present during typical AR events. In particular, an anomalously deep low pressure system is stationed to the west in the Gulf of Alaska, alongside a jet streak overhead. Attention will also be given to subseasonal and seasonal teleconnection patterns that are known to influence the weather in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. While little influence can be seen from the phase of the El Nino Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and Pacific North American Pattern, the Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) can play a role in determining the strength of precipitation associated with in AR on the Washington Coast. Lastly, interactions between the MJO and other teleconnection patterns will be explored to determine key features that should be investigated when making subseasonal predictions for AR activity and the associated precipitation in the Pacific Northwest.

Collow, Allison↗

Transient Thermal Analysis of the 12.5 KW HERMeS Hall Thruster

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft entered orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres on March 6, 2015 thereby becoming the first mission to orbit two celestial bodies outside of the Earth-moon system. This feat was made possible due to the use of electric propulsion (EP) to provide the 11 km/s of delta-V that was necessary. This type of propulsion is also enabling for many of NASA’s future missions, such as the proposed Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM). Specifically, the Hall Effect Rocket with Magnetic Shielding (HERMeS) is the propulsive design baseline due to its long operational lifetime and high specific impulse. Extensive modeling is required to verify the thruster's predicted thermal performance and survival during the bounding mission phases. Since the thruster would constrain plasma on the order of tens of thousands of hours, components in the thruster must be able to accommodate much higher sustained temperatures than typical spacecraft hardware. Furthermore, the high temperatures necessitate care in analyzing thermal gradients within the thruster. In this paper, we describe a thermal model of the HERMeS thruster and focus upon the thruster's transient performance under different initial firing conditions. The thruster's transient thermal response is critical to verify margin in the thermal stresses inherent in the thruster and to determine safe start-up procedures to protect the thruster's critical components. This model is used to perform transient thermal analysis of the thruster during startup and shutdown, provide temperature maps for structural analysis, and plan for thermal cycle testing conducted at JPL. The thermal cycle testing includes thruster starts at the cold temperature limits and operation at maximum expected external heat flux. This work will support laboratory environmental testing of the HERMeS thruster, which is being conducted at JPL in 2016.

Reilly, Sean↗

Analysis of Heating Rates on the Conical Surface of Apollo Command Module Flying AS-202 Flight

The aerodynamic and aerothermal heating at the leeward surfaces of the Apollo capsule flying high angle of attack were found difficult to simulate using conventional tools. Due to the large subsonic region in the proximity of the shoulder of the base shield, correlation-based tools were found to be inadequate. CFD tools are too time consuming for conceptual design purposes, and cannot account for the transient effects of material response such as wall temperature and blowing. An accurate and timely simulation is essential to effectively size the thermal protection system (TPS), to enhance its performance, and to ensure the safety of the crew. Northrop Grumman Corporation applied a modified version of the MASCC/ATAC program, an inviscid flowfield code with boundary layer solver to simulate this scenario. The MASCC/ATAC code is believed to be the only non-CFD code that can rigorously perform the simulations on the windward surface. The predictions on the windward side of the conical surface were found to be in good agreement with flight data over a wide range of environments. The results are presented in the paper.

Wong, Jim L.↗

Preliminary flight test results of the F100 EMD engine in an F-15 airplane

A flight evaluation of the F100 Engine Model Derivative (EMD) is conducted. The F100 EMD is an advanced version of the F100 engine that powers the F15 and F16 airplanes. The F100 EMD features a bigger fan, higher temperature turbine, a Digital Electronic Engine Control system (DEEC), and a newly designed 16 segment afterburner, all of which results in a 15 to 20 percent increase in sea level thrust. The flight evaluations consist of investigation of performance (thrust, fuel flow, and airflow) and operability (transient response and airstart) in the F-15 airplane. The performance of the F100 EMD is excellent. Aircraft acceleration time to Mach 2.0 is reduced by 23 percent with two F100 EMD engines. Several anomalies are discovered in the operability evaluations. A software change to the DEEC improved the throttle, and subsequent Cooper Harper ratings of 3 to 4 are obtained. In the extreme upper left hand corner of the flight enveloped, compressor stalls occurr when the throttle is retarded to idle power. These stalls are not predicted by altitude facility tests or stability for the compressor.

Myers, L. P.↗

Incorporation of Plasticity and Damage Into an Orthotropic Three-Dimensional Model with Tabulated Input Suitable for Use in Composite Impact Problems

The need for accurate material models to simulate the deformation, damage and failure of polymer matrix composites under impact conditions is becoming critical as these materials are gaining increased usage in the aerospace and automotive industries. While there are several composite material models currently available within commercial transient dynamic finite element codes, several features have been identified as being lacking in the currently available material models that could substantially enhance the predictive capability of the impact simulations. A specific desired feature pertains to the incorporation of both plasticity and damage within the material model. Another desired feature relates to using experimentally based tabulated stress-strain input to define the evolution of plasticity and damage as opposed to specifying discrete input properties (such as modulus and strength) and employing analytical functions to track the response of the material. To begin to address these needs, a combined plasticity and damage model suitable for use with both solid and shell elements is being developed for implementation within the commercial code LS-DYNA. The plasticity model is based on extending the Tsai-Wu composite failure model into a strain-hardening based orthotropic plasticity model with a non-associative flow rule. The evolution of the yield surface is determined based on tabulated stress-strain curves in the various normal and shear directions and is tracked using the effective plastic strain. The effective plastic strain is computed by using the non-associative flow rule in combination with appropriate numerical methods. To compute the evolution of damage, a strain equivalent semi-coupled formulation is used, in which a load in one direction results in a stiffness reduction in multiple coordinate directions. A specific laminated composite is examined to demonstrate the process of characterizing and analyzing the response of a composite using the developed model.

Impact↗

Incorporation of Plasticity and Damage Into an Orthotropic Three-Dimensional Model with Tabulated Input Suitable for Use in Composite Impact Problems

The need for accurate material models to simulate the deformation, damage and failure of polymer matrix composites under impact conditions is becoming critical as these materials are gaining increased usage in the aerospace and automotive industries. While there are several composite material models currently available within commercial transient dynamic finite element codes, several features have been identified as being lacking in the currently available material models that could substantially enhance the predictive capability of the impact simulations. A specific desired feature pertains to the incorporation of both plasticity and damage within the material model. Another desired feature relates to using experimentally based tabulated stress-strain input to define the evolution of plasticity and damage as opposed to specifying discrete input properties (such as modulus and strength) and employing analytical functions to track the response of the material. To begin to address these needs, a combined plasticity and damage model suitable for use with both solid and shell elements is being developed for implementation within the commercial code LS-DYNA. The plasticity model is based on extending the Tsai-Wu composite failure model into a strain-hardening based orthotropic plasticity model with a non-associative flow rule. The evolution of the yield surface is determined based on tabulated stress-strain curves in the various normal and shear directions and is tracked using the effective plastic strain. The effective plastic strain is computed by using the non-associative flow rule in combination with appropriate numerical methods. To compute the evolution of damage, a strain equivalent semi-coupled formulation is used, in which a load in one direction results in a stiffness reduction in multiple coordinate directions. A specific laminated composite is examined to demonstrate the process of characterizing and analyzing the response of a composite using the developed model.

Impact↗

Single Droplet Combustion of Decane in Microgravity: Experiments and Numerical Modeling

This paper presents experimental data on single droplet combustion of decane in microgravity and compares the results to a numerical model. The primary independent experiment variables are the ambient pressure and oxygen mole fraction, pressure, droplet size (over a relatively small range) and ignition energy. The droplet history (D(sup 2) history) is non-linear with the burning rate constant increasing throughout the test. The average burning rate constant, consistent with classical theory, increased with increasing ambient oxygen mole fraction and was nearly independent of pressure, initial droplet size and ignition energy. The flame typically increased in size initially, and then decreased in size, in response to the shrinking droplet. The flame standoff increased linearly for the majority of the droplet lifetime. The flame surrounding the droplet extinguished at a finite droplet size at lower ambient pressures and an oxygen mole fraction of 0.15. The extinction droplet size increased with decreasing pressure. The model is transient and assumes spherical symmetry, constant thermo-physical properties (specific heat, thermal conductivity and species Lewis number) and single step chemistry. The model includes gas-phase radiative loss and a spherically symmetric, transient liquid phase. The model accurately predicts the droplet and flame histories of the experiments. Good agreement requires that the ignition in the experiment be reasonably approximated in the model and that the model accurately predict the pre-ignition vaporization of the droplet. The model does not accurately predict the dependence of extinction droplet diameter on pressure, a result of the simplified chemistry in the model. The transient flame behavior suggests the potential importance of fuel vapor accumulation. The model results, however, show that the fractional mass consumption rate of fuel in the flame relative to fuel vaporized is close to 1.0 for all but the lowest ambient oxygen mole fractions.

Dietrich, D. L.↗

Dynamic analysis of flexible multibody structures

A system composed of several interconnected elastic components that may experience large angular motion relative to each other during operation is referred to as a flexible multibody structure. Several formulations were proposed for the determination of the dynamic response of controlled flexible multibody structures. In general, these formulations consist of superposing elastic deformations of the component body onto the large rigid body motion of the component. It was shown that this particular methodology for combining linear structural deformations with nonlinear kinematics can lead to erroneous response predictions when either the beam member is very flexible or the rotational speed is high. In addition, previous formulations introduce constraint equations to define the interrelations among system components. This approach increases the number of equations that must be solved, and may result in contraint violation when numerical error accumulates during the integration process. In order to overcome the difficulties, a new approach was suggested. The approach is essentially a finite element formulation which takes advantage of the fact that many multibody structures are joint dominated. The Large Angle Transient Dynamic Analysis (LATDYN) program for clarity of documentation, ease of use, user friendliness, modeling generality, and accuracy of results was evaluated. This required gaining a working familiarity with the code and performing several case studies.

Hernried, Alan G.↗

Model Predictive Control Study for an Electrified Turbofan Engine

A control sensitivity study is conducted for electrified aircraft propulsion concepts using a publicly available turbofan engine simulation. A Proportional-Integral (PI) controller serves as a baseline for comparison against an advanced Model Predictive Control (MPC) approach. MPC is used in the control scheme to allow for subsystem coordination of engine and electric power loads. The electrified turbofan engine includes electric machines to augment the amount of torque being applied to the spools of the engine during transient phases of operation. Power augmentation allows for energy to be stored or exhausted in a manner that increases the fuel efficiency of the engine, reducing aircraft emissions and noise. The study compares the fan speed, high pressure compressor stall margin, and low pressure compressor stall margin against the baseline PI control system, an MPC system without electric machines, and an MPC system with electric machines. The MPC system with electric machines is optimized using the sample time, control horizon and prediction horizon. The MPC design provided a stable damped response as desired and allowed operability margins to be maintained

Electrified Aircraft Propulsion↗

Response of laminated composite plates to low-speed impact by airgun-propelled and dropped-weight impactors

An analytical procedure has been developed to determine the transient response of simply supported, rectangular laminated composite plates subjected to impact loads from airgun-propelled or dropped-weight impactors. A first-order shear-deformation theory has been included in the analysis to represent properly any local short-wavelength transient bending response. The impact force has been modeled as a locally distributed load with a cosine-cosine distribution. A double Fourier series expansion and the Timoshenko small increment method have been used to determine the contact force, out-of-plane deflections, and inplane strains and stresses at any plate location due to an impact force at any plate location. The results of experimental and analytical studies are compared for quasi-isotropic laminates. The results indicate the importance of including transverse shear deformation effects in the analysis for predicting the response of laminated plates subjected to both airgun-propelled and dropped-weight impactors. The results also indicate that plate boundary conditions influence the axial strains more significantly than the contact force for a dropped-weight impactor. The results of parametric studies identify a scaling approach based on impactor momentum that suggests an explanation for the differences in the responses of plates impacted by airgun-propelled or dropped-weight impactors.

Prasad, Chunchu B.↗

Dynamic Response of Control Servo System Installed in NAES-Equipped SB2C-5 Airplane (BuAer No. 83135)

Dynamic--response measurements for various conditions of displacement and rate signal input, sensitivity setting, and simulated hinge moment were made of the three control-surface servo systems of an NAES-equipped remote-controlled airplane while on the ground. The basic components of the servo systems are those of the General Electric Company type G-1 autopilot using electrical signal. sources, solenoid-operated valves, and hydraulic pistons. The test procedures and difficulties are discussed, Both frequency and transient-response data, are presented and comparisons are made. The constants describing the servo system, the undamped natural frequency, and the damping ratio, are determined by several methods. The response of the system with the addition of airframe rate signal is calculated. The transfer function of the elevator surface, linkage, and cable system is obtained. The agreement between various methods of measurement and calculation is considered very good. The data are complete enough and in such form that they may be used directly with the frequency-response data of an airplane to predict the stability of the autopilot-airplane combination.

Smaus, Louis H.↗

Investigation of a Macromechanical Approach to Analyzing Triaxially-Braided Polymer Composites

A macro level finite element-based model has been developed to simulate the mechanical and impact response of triaxially-braided polymer matrix composites. In the analytical model, the triaxial braid architecture is simulated by using four parallel shell elements, each of which is modeled as a laminated composite. The commercial transient dynamic finite element code LS-DYNA is used to conduct the simulations, and a continuum damage mechanics model internal to LS-DYNA is used as the material constitutive model. The material stiffness and strength values required for the constitutive model are determined based on coupon level tests on the braided composite. Simulations of quasi-static coupon tests of a representative braided composite are conducted. Varying the strength values that are input to the material model is found to have a significant influence on the effective material response predicted by the finite element analysis, sometimes in ways that at first glance appear non-intuitive. A parametric study involving the input strength parameters provides guidance on how the analysis model can be improved.

Goldberg, Robert K.↗

Computer program for prediction of capture maneuver probability for an on-off reaction controlled upper stage

A FORTRAN coded computer program which computes the capture transient of a launch vehicle upper stage at the ignition and/or separation event is presented. It is for a single degree-of-freedom on-off reaction jet attitude control system. The Monte Carlo method is used to determine the statistical value of key parameters at the outcome of the event. Aerodynamic and booster induced disturbances, vehicle and control system characteristics, and initial conditions are treated as random variables. By appropriate selection of input data pitch, yaw and roll axes can be analyzed. Transient response of a single deterministic case can be computed. The program is currently set up on a CDC CYBER 175 computer system but is compatible with ANSI FORTRAN computer language. This routine has been used over the past fifteen (15) years for the SCOUT Launch Vehicle and has been run on RECOMP III, IBM 7090, IBM 360/370, CDC6600 and CDC CYBER 175 computers with little modification.

Knauber, R. N.↗

Response of laminated composite plates to low-speed impact by different impactors

An analytic procedure has been developed to determine the transient response of simply supported, retangular laminated composite plates subjected to impact loads from airgun-propelled or drop-weight impactors. A first-order shear deformation theory has been included in the analysis to represent properly any local short-wavelength transient bending response. The impact force has been modeled as a locally distributed load with cosine-cosine distribution. A double Fourier series expansion and the Timoshenko small increment method have been used to determine the contact force, out-of-plane deflections, and in-plane strains and stresses at any plate location due to an impact force at any plate location. The results of experimental and analytical studies are compared for quasi-isotropic laminates. The results indicate the importance of including transverse shear deformation effects in the analysis for predicting the response of laminated plates subjected to both airgun-propelled and dropped-weight impactors. The results also indicate that plate boundary conditions influence the axial strains more significantly than the contact force for a dropped-weight impactor. The results of parametric studies identify a scaling approach based on impactor momentum that may account for the differences in the responses of plates impacted by airgun-propelled or dropped-weight impactors.

Prasad, Chunchu↗

Reducing Conservatism of Analytic Transient Response Bounds via Shaping Filters

Recent results show that the peak transient response of a linear system to bounded energy inputs can be computed using the energy-to-peak gain of the system. However, analytically computed peak response bound can be conservative for a class of class bounded energy signals, specifically pulse trains generated from jet firings encountered in space vehicles. In this paper, shaping filters are proposed as a Methodology to reduce the conservatism of peak response analytic bounds. This Methodology was applied to a realistic Space Station assembly operation subject to jet firings. The results indicate that shaping filters indeed reduce the predicted peak response bounds.

Kwan, Aiyueh↗

Low Stretch Solid-Fuel Flame Transient Response to a Step Change in Gravity

The effect of a step change in gravity level on the stability of low stretch diffusion flames over a solid fuel is studied both numerically and experimentally. Drop tower experiments have been conducted in NASA Glenn Research Center's 5.2 Zero Gravity Facility. In the experiments burning PMMA cylinders, a dynamic transition is observed when the steadily burning 1g flame is dropped and becomes a 0g flame. To understand the physics behind this dynamic transition, a transient stagnation point model has been developed which includes gas-phase radiation and solid phase coupling to describe this dynamic process. In this paper, the experimental results are compared with the model predictions. Both model and experiment show that the interior of the solid phase does not have time to change significantly in the few seconds of drop time, so the experimental results are pseudo-steady in the gas-phase, but the solid is inherently unsteady over long time scales. The model is also used to examine the importance of fractional heat losses on extinction, which clearly demonstrates that as the feedback from the flame decreases, the importance of the ongoing heat losses becomes greater, and extinction is observed when these losses represent 80% or more of the flame feedback.

Armstrong, J. B.↗