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New method for installing strain gages in structural bolts is implemented as standard workbench procedure. Rather than potting gages in a hole along axis of bolt, gages are first installed on outside of plastic carrier tube. Tube is then epoxied in axial hole. Procedure can be used to prepare gages to monitor bolt tension, shear, or torsion.
The approach for the method development assumes that, for a thermally loaded structure, the overall strain history is defined by linear elastic analysis. The local stress history at a fatigue critical location is then determined from a one dimensional material behavior model and the local strain and temperature conditions. Three material models are currently being evaluated to assess their ability to predict relevant high temperature cyclic material response characteristics. They are: a time independent classical plasticity and creep representation, a time dependent viscoplastic model capable of predicting combined creep and plasticity effects, and an approximate elastic analysis approach that uses a series of stress-strain curves and a cyclic hardening model to determine reverse plasticity.
One of the primary drivers that prompted the initiation of the hot section technology (HOST) program was the recognized need for improved cyclic durability of costly hot section components. All too frequently, fatigue in one form or another was directly responsible for the less than desired durability, and prospects for the future weren't going to improve unless a significant effort was mounted to increase our knowledge and understanding of the elements governing cyclic crack initiation and propagation lifetime. Certainly one of the important factors is the ability to perform accurate structural stress-strain analyses on a routine basis to determine the magnitudes of the localized stresses and strains since it is these localized conditions that govern the initiation and crack growth processes. Developing the ability to more accurately predict crack initiation lifetimes and cyclic crack growth rates for the complex loading conditions found in turbine engine hot sections is of course the ultimate goal of the life prediction research efforts. It has been found convenient to divide the research efforts into those dealing with nominally isotropic and anisotropic alloys; the latter for application to directionally solidified and single crystal turbine blades.
Transmission electron microscopy and optical microscopy were used to examine polycrystalline specimens of the B2-structured alloy FeAl strained under tension to fracture at elevated temperature. Strain-induced grain boundary migration was observed above 900 K and dynamic recrystallization was found at 1000 K and 1100 K. Little evidence of dynamic recovery was evident but some networks were formed at 1100 K.
Advanced, subscale, tubular combustion chambers were built and test fired with hydrogen-oxygen propellants to assess the increase in fatigue life that can be obtained with this type of construction. Two chambers were tested: one ran for 637 cycles without failing, compared to a predicted life of 200 cycles for a comparable smooth-wall milled-channel liner configuration. The other chamber failed at 256 cycles, compared to a predicted life of 118 cycles for a comparable smooth-wall milled-channel liner configuration. Posttest metallographic analysis determined that the strain-relieving design (structural compliance) of the tubular configuration was the cause of this increase in life.
A major goal in the control of complex mechanical system such as spacecraft rocket engine's advanced aircraft, and power plants is to achieve high performance with increased reliability, component durability, and maintainability. The current practice of decision and control systems synthesis focuses on improving performance and diagnostic capabilities under constraints that often do not adequately represent the materials degradation. In view of the high performance requirements of the system and availability of improved materials, the lack of appropriate knowledge about the properties of these materials will lead to either less than achievable performance due to overly conservative design, or over-straining of the structure leading to unexpected failures and drastic reduction of the service life. The key idea in this report is that a significant improvement in service life could be achieved by a small reduction in the system dynamic performance. The major task is to characterize the damage generation process, and then utilize this information in a mathematical form to synthesize a control law that would meet the system requirements and simultaneously satisfy the constraints that are imposed by the material and structural properties of the critical components. The concept of damage mitigation is introduced for control of mechanical systems to achieve high performance with a prolonged life span. A model of fatigue damage dynamics is formulated in the continuous-time setting, instead of a cycle-based representation, for direct application to control systems synthesis. An optimal control policy is then formulated via nonlinear programming under specified constraints of the damage rate and accumulated damage. The results of simulation experiments for the transient upthrust of a bipropellant rocket engine are presented to demonstrate efficacy of the damage-mitigating control concept.
This paper presents the first results in an assessment of the strength, stiffness, and damage tolerance of stiffened wing and fuselage subcomponents. Under this NASA funded program, 10 large wing and fuselage panels, variously fabricated by automated tow placement and dry-stitched preform/resin transfer molding, are to be tested. The first test of an automated tow placement six-longeron fuselage panel under shear load was completed successfully. Using NASTRAN finite-element analysis the stiffness of the panel in the linear range prior to buckling was predicted within 3.5 percent. A nonlinear analysis predicted the buckling load within 10 percent and final failure load within 6 percent. The first test of a resin transfer molding six-stringer wing panel under compression was also completed. The panel failed unexpectedly in buckling because of inadequate supporting structure. The average strain was 0.43 percent with a line load of 20.3 kips per inch of width. This strain still exceeds the design allowable strains. Also, the stringers did not debond before failure, which is in contrast to the general behavior of unstitched panels.
This computational study focuses on understanding and quantifying the effects of external acoustical perturbations on droplet combustion. A one-dimensional, axisymmetric representation of the essential diffusion and reaction processes occurring in the vicinity of the droplet stagnation point is used here in order to isolate the effects of the imposed acoustic disturbance. The simulation is performed using a third order accurate, essentially non-oscillatory (ENO) numerical scheme with a full methanol-air reaction mechanism. Consistent with recent microgravity and normal gravity combustion experiments, focus is placed on conditions where the droplet is situated at a velocity antinode in order for the droplet to experience the greatest effects of fluid mechanical straining of flame structures. The effects of imposed sound pressure level and frequency are explored here, and conditions leading to maximum burning rates are identified.
For this effort, will concentrate on three applications: Vibration Gyroscope utilizes piezoelectric properties of the tape and Coriolis effect Accelerometer utilizes the piezoresistive property Strain Gauge utilizes piezoresistive property Accelerometer and Strain Gauge can also utilize piezoelectric effect Test piezoelectric properties using facilities at the Microfabrication Laboratory (AMRDEC) . Enhance piezoelectric effect using polyvinylidine fluoride and P(VDF ]TrFE) which is readily polarizable .Spray matrix solution while winding fiber; Sandwich of CNT tape and PVDF film (DOE .Two Level) . Construct and test prototype vibration gyroscope . Construct and test prototype accelerometer using cantilever design . Test strain sensitivity of CNT tape against industrial strain gauge . Embed CNT tape in composite samples as well as on surface and test to failure (4 ]point bend) A piezoelectric device exhibits an electrical response from a mechanical applied stress. . A piezoelectric device has both capacitance and resistance properties in which by applying an electric field from a waveform will exert a mechanical stress that can be monitored for a response. . The typical waveform applied is a sinusoidal waveform of a defined voltage for a defined period. The defined voltage is driven from 0 volts to the positive defined volts then back to 0 and driven to negative defined volts then back to 0. . Example. Vmax set to 10V and period set to 10 ms. . Voltage will start at zero, go to 10 volts, return to zero, go to ]10 volts and return to zero during 10 ms. . Applying this electrical field to a DUT, the capacitance response and resistance response can be observed. CNT tape is easier to manufacture and cheaper than micromachining silicon or other ceramic piezoelectric used in gyroscopes and accelerometers CNT tape properties can be modified during manufacture for specific application CNT tape has enhanced mechanical and thermal properties in addition to unique electrical properties CNT tape as a strain gauge in Structural Health Monitoring will provide an excellent material to embed within composite structures
This innovation replaces the linear alternator presently used in Stirling engines with a continuous-gradient, impedance-matched, oscillating magnetostrictive transducer that eliminates all moving parts via compression, maintains high efficiency, costs less to manufacture, reduces mass, and eliminates the need for a bearing system. The key components of this new technology are the use of stacked magnetostrictive materials, such as Terfenol-D, under a biased magnetic and stress-induced compression, continuous-gradient impedance-matching material, coils, force-focusing metallic structure, and supports. The acoustic energy from the engine travels through an impedancematching layer that is physically connected to the magnetostrictive mass. Compression bolts keep the structure under compressive strain, allowing for the micron-scale compression of the magnetostrictive material and eliminating the need for bearings. The relatively large millimeter displacement of the pressure side of the impedance-matching material is reduced to micron motion, and undergoes stress amplification at the magnetostrictive interface. The alternating compression and expansion of the magnetostrictive material creates an alternating magnetic field that then induces an electric current in a coil that is wound around the stack. This produces electrical power from the acoustic pressure wave and, if the resonant frequency is tuned to match the engine, can replace the linear alternator that is commonly used.
BEMTs formed from Al(x)Ga(1-x)N/GaN heterostructures are being investigated for high RF power and efficiency around the world by many groups, both academic and industrial. In these devices, the 2DEG formation is dominated by both spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization fields, with each component having nearly the same order of magnitude. The piezoelectric portion is induced by the mechanical strain in the structure, and to analyze these devices, one must incorporate the stress/strain relationships, along with the standard semiconductor transport equations. These equations for Wurtzite GaN are not easily found in the open literature, hence this paper summarizes them, along with the constitutive equations for piezoelectric materials. The equations are cast into the format for the Wurtzite crystal class, which is the most common way GaN is grown epitaxially.
A method for projecting flight configuration eigenvectors onto the vector space of the test configuration eigenvectors is proposed. The underlying concept of the proposed method is that any flight configuration eigenvectors that can be replicated by a linear combination of test configuration eigenvectors, is correlated, if the constituent test eigenvectors are themselves correlated. Therefore, the modal test target mode shapes should be those test modes that combine to form the important modes of the flight configurations. This approach also recognizes that it is the deformed shapes that dictate what sections of the structure are “highly strained” (in a relative sense, within each mode shape), and that it is these highly strained sections that require an accurate stiffness representation to achieve an accurate model correlation.
A method for projecting flight configuration eigenvectors onto the vector space of the test configuration eigenvectors is proposed. The underlying concept of the proposed method is that any flight configuration eigenvectors that can be replicated by a linear combination of test configuration eigenvectors, is correlated, if the constituent test eigenvectors are themselves correlated. Therefore, the modal test target mode shapes should be those test modes that combine to form the important modes of the flight configurations. This approach also recognizes that it is the deformed shapes that dictate what sections of the structure are “highly strained” (in a relative sense, within each mode shape), and that these “highly strained” sections require an accurate stiffness representation to achieve an accurate model correlation.
A method for projecting flight configuration eigenvectors onto the vector space of the test configuration eigenvectors is proposed. The underlying concept of the proposed method is that any flight configuration eigenvectors (that can be replicated by a linear combination of test configuration eigenvectors) is correlated if the constituent test eigenvectors are themselves correlated. Therefore, the modal test target mode shapes should be those test modes that combine to form the important modes of the flight configurations. This approach also recognizes that it is the deformed shapes that dictate what sections of the structure are “highly strained” (in a relative sense, within each mode shape), and that these “highly strained” sections require an accurate stiffness representation to achieve an accurate model correlation.
Passive radiative cooling is currently thefrontier technology in renewable-energy research. Interms of extraterrestrial applications, radiative cooling is a critical component to the thermalmanagement system of a spacecraft, where the extreme environment of space can cause largetemperature variations that can break and damage equipment. For terrestrial applications,nocturnal or daytime radiative cooling is expected to lead to cost-effective passive heatmanagement without the need of inefficient and costly artificial refrigeration technologies.However, most currently available radiative cooling systems cannot be changed dynamically andradiate a constant static amount of thermal power. Dynamically tunable adaptive radiativecooling systems will be a critical development to prolong the lifetime of spacecraft or improvethe efficiency of terrestrial cooling systems. Here we propose stretchable radiative coolingdesigns that can be substantially tuned by using the simple physical mechanism of mechanical strain. When their structure is stretched, the radiated power is significantly reduced. We developa modeling method that can simulate mechanical stretching combined with electromagnetic response to compute the tunable thermal emission of these new adaptive radiative coolingsystems. The presented photonically engineered structures can be used as coatings to achieveefficient adaptive thermal control of various objects in a cost-effective and environmentallyfriendly way. The proposed designs are much simpler to be realized than others found in theliterature and the best design achieves a high thermal emission power with a tunable range on theorder of 132 W/m2.
A detailed description of the construction, application, and measurement of 196 FO rosette strain gauges that measured multi-axis strain across the outside upper surface of the forward bulkhead component of a multibay composite fuselage test article is presented. A background of the FO strain gauge and the FO measurement system as utilized in this application is given and results for the higher load cases of the testing sequence are shown.
Modern complex structural arrangements have complicated the task of measuring flight loads with calibrated strain gages. This paper examines the use of a relatively simple structural model to characterize the load responses of strain gages located on various spars of a delta wing. Strains measured during a laboratory load calibration of a wing structure are compared with calculations obtained from a simplified NASA structural analysis (NASTRAN) model. Calculated and measured influence coefficient plots that show the shear, bending, and torsion characteristics of typical strain-gage bridges are presented. Typical influence coefficient plots are given for several load equations to illustrate the derivation of the equations from the component strain-gage bridges. A relatively simple structural model was found to be effective in predicting the general nature of strain distributions and influence coefficient plots. The analytical processes are shown to be useful in obtaining a good load calibration. The analytical processes cannot, however, be used in lieu of an actual load calibration of an aircraft wing.
A computer code, high temperature composite analyzer (HITCAN), was developed to analyze/design hot metal matrix composite structures. HITCAN is a general purpose code for predicting the global structural and local stress-strain response of multilayered (arbitrarily oriented) metal matrix structures both at the constituent (fiber, matrix, and interphase) and the structural level, including the fabrication process effects. The thermomechanical properties of the constituents are considered to be nonlinearly dependent on several parameters, including temperature, stress, and stress rate. The computational procedure employs an incremental iterative nonlinear approach utilizing a multifactor-interaction material behavior model, i.e., the material properties are expressed in terms of a product of several factors that affect the properties. HITCAN structural analysis capabilities (static, load stepping - a multistep static analysis with material properties updated at each step, modal, and buckling) for cooled hot structures are demonstrated through a specific example problem.