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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 289 records · Page 16
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1985

An expert planner for the dynamic flight environment

This paper presents a robust robot planner that functions in the complex and dynamic flight domain. The robot pilot flies an aircraft between two airports and can adjust in flight to changes in the environment such as closed destination airport, thunderstorm in the flight path, and failed engine. The planner adjusts to the world changes by locally patching around the break point instead of complete replanning. The planning architecture is based on the vertical decomposition of domain knowledge, resulting in shallow planning and recovery planning. This robot flight planner can be utilized as the front end of an intelligent flight monitor. The flight planner dynamically generates the references that are used to determine whether the flight crew should be notified of potential problems. The implementation of this robot planner is also discussed.

Chen, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Nonlinear adhesive behavior effects in a cracked orthotropic sheet stiffened by a semi-infinite orthotropic sheet

The stress-intensity factors are determined for a cracked orthotropic sheet adhesively bonded to an orthotropic stringer where the adhesive layer is modeled with a nonlinear stress-strain curve. By the use of Green's functions and the complex variable theory of orthotropic elasticity, a set of integral equations is obtained. The integral equations are replaced by an equivalent set of algebraic equations, which are solved to obtain the shear stress distribution in the adhesive layer, with which the crack-tip stress-intensity factors are found. When the adhesive was modeled with a nonlinear stress-strain curve, the peak shear stresses in the adhesive were considerably reduced in comparison to the solution for the linear elastic adhesive. This resulted in increases in the stress-intensity factors for the nonlinear adhesive solution compared to the linear adhesive solution. The nonlinear adhesive has no significant effect on the stress-intensity factor unless the near crack tip is beneath the stringer. It is assumed that the adhesive bond remains intact and it is predicted that onset of adhesive failure occurs at decreasing levels of applied stress as the crack propagates beneath the stringer.

Bigelow, C. A.↗
NASA NTRS1988

An estimate of equatorial wave energy flux at 9- to 90-day periods in the Central Pacific

Deep fluctuations in current along the equator in the Central Pacific are dominated by coherent structures which correspond closely to narrow-band propagating equatorial waves. Currents were measured roughly at 1500 and 3000 m depths at five moorings between 144 and 148 deg W from January 1981 to March 1983, as part of the Pacific Equatorial Ocean Dynamics program. In each frequency band resolved, a single complex empirical orthogonal function accounts for half to three quarters of the observed variance in either zonal or meridional current. Dispersion for equatorial first meridional Rossby and Rossby gravity waves is consistent with the observed vertical-zonal coherence structure. The observations indicate that energy flux is westward and downward in long first meridional mode Rossby waves at periods 45 days and longer, and eastward and downward in short first meridional mode Rossby waves and Rossby-gravity waves at periods 30 days and shorter. A local minimum in energy flux occurs at periods corresponding to a maximum in upper-ocean meridional current energy contributed by tropical instability waves. Total vertical flux across the 9- to 90-day period range is 2.5 kW/m.

Eriksen, Charles C.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Geosat crossover analysis in the tropical Pacific. II - Verification analysis of altimetric sea level maps with expendable bathythermograph and island sea level data

Altimetric sea level time series for the tropical Pacific have been generated from the Geosat crossover differences during the classified era of the Geosat mission from April 1985 to September 1986. These are compared with the expendable bathythermograph (XBT)-derived dynamic height and island sea level observations, yielding good agreement. A complex empirical orthogonal function analysis is also applied to the altimetric and XBT results. The analysis demonstrates the dominance of the annual signal in this relatively short time series and the westward propagation of major features away from the equator.

Tai, Chang-Kou↗
NASA NTRS1990

Capturing design knowledge

A scheme is proposed to capture the design knowledge of a complex object including functional, structural, performance, and other constraints. Further, the proposed scheme is also capable of capturing the rationale behind the design of an object as a part of the overall design of the object. With this information, the design of an object can be treated as a case and stored with other designs in a case base. A person can then perform case-based reasoning by examining these designs. Methods of modifying object designs are also discussed. Finally, an overview of an approach to fault diagnosis using case-based reasoning is given.

Babin, Brian A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Modeling of carbon monoxide oxidation kinetics over NASA carbon dioxide laser catalysts

The recombination of CO and O2 formed by the dissociation of CO2 in a sealed CO2 laser discharge zone is examined. Conventional base-metal-oxide catalysts and conventional noble-metal catalysts are not effective in recombining the low O2/CO ratio at the low temperatures used by the lasers. The use of Pt/SnO2 as the noble-metal reducible-oxide (NMRO), or other related materials from Group VIIIA and IB and SnO2 interact synergistically to produce a catalytic activity that is substantially higher than either componet separately. The Pt/SnO2 and Pd/SnO2 were reported to have significant reaction rates at temperatures as low as -27 C, conditions under which conventional catalysts are inactive. The gas temperature range of lasers is 0 + or - 40 C. There are three general ways in which the NMRO composite materials can interact synergistically: one component altering the properties of another component; the two components each providing independent catalytic functions in a complex reaction mechanism; and the formation of catalytic sites through the combination of two components at the atomic level. All three of these interactions may be important in low temperature CO oxidation over NMRO catalysts. The effect of the noble metal on the oxide is discussed first, followed by the effect of the oxide on the noble metal, the interaction of the noble metal and oxide to form catalytic sites, and the possible ways in which the CO oxidation reaction is catalyzed by the NMRO materials.

Herz, Richard K.↗
NASA NTRS1990

AEOSS design guide for system analysis on Advanced Earth-Orbital Spacecraft Systems

Advanced Earth Orbital Spacecraft System (AEOSS) enables users to project the requried power, weight, and cost for a generic earth-orbital spacecraft system. These variables are calculated on the component and subsystem levels, and then the system level. The included six subsystems are electric power, thermal control, structure, auxillary propulsion, attitude control, and communication, command, and data handling. The costs are computed using statistically determined models that were derived from the flown spacecraft in the past and were categorized into classes according to their functions and structural complexity. Selected design and performance analyses for essential components and subsystems are also provided. AEOSS has the feature permitting a user to enter known values of these parameters, totally and partially, at all levels. All information is of vital importance to project managers of subsystems or a spacecraft system. AEOSS is a specially tailored software coded from the relational database program of the Acius; 4th Dimension with a Macintosh version. Because of the licensing agreement, two versions of the AEOSS documents were prepared. This version AEOSS Design Guide, is for users to exploit the full capacity of the 4th Dimension. It is for a user who wants to alter or expand the program structures, the program statements, and the program procedures. The user has to possess a 4th Dimension first.

Lee, Hwa-Ping↗
NASA NTRS1990

AEOSS runtime manual for system analysis on Advanced Earth-Orbital Spacecraft Systems

Advanced earth orbital spacecraft system (AEOSS) enables users to project the required power, weight, and cost for a generic earth-orbital spacecraft system. These variables are calculated on the component and subsystem levels, and then the system level. The included six subsystems are electric power, thermal control, structure, auxiliary propulsion, attitude control, and communication, command, and data handling. The costs are computed using statistically determined models that were derived from the flown spacecraft in the past and were categorized into classes according to their functions and structural complexity. Selected design and performance analyses for essential components and subsystems are also provided. AEOSS has the feature permitting a user to enter known values of these parameters, totally and partially, at all levels. All information is of vital importance to project managers of subsystems or a spacecraft system. AEOSS is a specially tailored software coded from the relational database program of the Acius' 4th Dimension with a Macintosh version. Because of the licensing agreements, two versions of the AEOSS documents were prepared. This version, AEOSS Runtime Manual, is permitted to be distributed with a finite number of the restrictive 4D Runtime version. It can perform all contained applications without any programming alterations.

Lee, Hwa-Ping↗
NASA NTRS1991

Potential vorticity index

Based on the European Center For Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) First Global Atmospheric Research Program Global Experiment (FGGE) IIIb data set in the 1978 to 1979 winter, a potential vorticity (PV) index was defined as a measure of the zonally averaged, mid-latitude PV gradient on the 300 K isentropic surface in the Northern Hemisphere. The evolution of that index and its relation to teleconnection patterns of 500 mb geopotential height anomaly are studied. The results of the temporal and spatial variation of blocking and cyclogenesis in the 1978 to 1979 winter and its relation to global and local PV gradients were obtained. Complex empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analyses were performed, using the same FGGE data set for the 1978 to 1979 winter, for a representative high latitude band and mid latitude band geopotential height anomalies at 500 mb, phi sub h, phi sub m, and PV gradient at 300 K, delta(Q), at each longitude for the three month period. The focus of current research is the following: (1) to perform Fourier analyses for the first three EOF's of phi sub h, phi sub m, and delta(Q) at given latitude bands, and to find the dominant wavenumbers and frequencies which are responsible for these EOF's; (2) to compare the results from EOF and Fourier analyses which will be used to explore the relations of blocking and cyclogensis with local and global PV gradients; and (3) to study the time dependence of the local PV gradients and relate it to the PV index vacillation cycles observed in the PV index cycle.

Barcilon, Albert↗
NASA NTRS1991

The RadioSat (sm) network

The RadioSat network under development by radio Satellite Corporation will use mobile satellite (MSAT) technology to provide diverse personal communications, broadcast, and navigation services. The network will support these services simultaneously for integrated mobile radios throughout Canada and the United States. The RadioSat network takes advantage of several technological breakthroughs, all coming to fruition by the time the first MSAT satellite is launched in 1994. The most important of these breakthroughs is the enormous radiated power of each MSAT spacecraft - orders of magnitude greater than the radiated power of previous L-band spacecraft. Another important breakthrough is the development of advanced digital audio compression algorithms, enabling the transmission of broadcast quality music at moderate data rates. Finally, continuing dramatic increases in VLSI capabilities permit the production of complex, multi-function mobile satellite radios in very large quantities at prices little more than those of conventional car radios. In addition to performance breakthroughs and their economic implications to RadioSat, the design of the RadioSat network is reviewed.

Noreen, Gary K.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Observation of mesoscale ocean features in the northeast Pacific using Geosat radar altimetry data

Mesoscale circulation in the Gulf of Alaska is studied by means of processed Geosat radar altimetry results with comparisons to observations of mesoscale eddies and surface circulation. The first set of Geosat data is treated by sea-surface height (SSH) binning in 1-deg latitude x 2-deg longitude boxes and analyzed by complex empirical orthogonal functions and 2D spectral analysis. The second set is taken from ascending Geosat tracks and analyzed as a time series. The Geosat data are compared to observational data including mesoscale eddies and fluctuations in mean surface circulation as well as sea-surface signals generated by numerical models. The data demonstrate the feasibility of a westward propagation of sea-level anomalies, and the Geosat SSH data are found to agree well with model solutions of seasonal variations in sea level in the northeast Pacific.

Matthews, Paul E.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Annual sea level variations in the southern tropical Indian Ocean from Geosat and shallow-water simulations

Sea level variations in the Indian Ocean north of 20 deg S are analyzed from Geosat satellite altimeter data in 1987-1988. These observed variations are compared with numerical simulations from a reduced-gravity model forced by observed winds over the same period. The first complex empirical orthogonal function of observed and simulated variations is an annual signal. For this signal, observations and simulations are highly correlated in both time and space. Off-equatorial sea level variations propagate westward and poleward as Rossby waves. The strongest annual variations occur in the southeastern tropical Indian Ocean. The maximum amplitude (about 12 cm) is located at about 90 deg E, 12 deg S, although the wind stress curl is weak there and east of it. The signal propagates from the eastern boundary to the southwest across almost all the basin.

Perigaud, Claire↗
NASA NTRS1993

Actuator and aerodynamic modeling for high-angle-of-attack aeroservoelasticity

Accurate prediction of airframe/actuation coupling is required by the imposing demands of modern flight control systems. In particular, for agility enhancement at high angle of attack and low dynamic pressure, structural integration characteristics such as hinge moments, effective actuator stiffness, and airframe/control surface damping can have a significant effect on stability predictions. Actuator responses are customarily represented with low-order transfer functions matched to actuator test data, and control surface stiffness is often modeled as a linear spring. The inclusion of the physical properties of actuation and its installation on the airframe is therefore addressed in this paper using detailed actuator models which consider the physical, electrical, and mechanical elements of actuation. The aeroservoelastic analysis procedure is described in which the actuators are modeled as detailed high-order transfer functions and as approximate low-order transfer functions. The impacts of unsteady aerodynamic modeling on aeroservoelastic stability are also investigated in this paper by varying the order of approximation, or number of aerodynamic lag states, in the analysis. Test data from a thrust-vectoring configuration of an F/A-18 aircraft are compared to predictions to determine the effects on accuracy as a function of modeling complexity.

Brenner, Martin J.↗
NASA NTRS1945

On two-dimensional flows of compressible fluids

This report is devoted to the study of two-dimensional steady motion of a compressible fluid. It is shown that the complete flow pattern around a closed obstacle cannot be obtained by the method of Chaplygin. In order to overcome this difficulty, a formula for the stream-function of a two-dimensional subsonic flow is derived. The formula involves an arbitrary function of a complex variable and yields all possible subsonic flow patterns of certain types. Conditions are given so that the flow pattern in the physical plane will represent a flow around a closed curve. The formula obtained can be employed for the approximate determination of a subsonic flow around an obstacle. The method can be extended to partially supersonic flows.

HODOGRAPHY METHOD↗
NASA NTRS1993

Actuator and aerodynamic modeling for high-angle-of-attack aeroservoelasticity

Accurate prediction of airframe/actuation coupling is required by the imposing demands of modern flight control systems. In particular, for agility enhancement at high angle of attack and low dynamic pressure, structural integration characteristics such as hinge moments, effective actuator stiffness, and airframe/control surface damping can have a significant effect on stability predictions. Actuator responses are customarily represented with low-order transfer functions matched to actuator test data, and control surface stiffness is often modeled as a linear spring. The inclusion of the physical properties of actuation and its installation on the airframe is therefore addressed using detailed actuator models which consider the physical, electrical, and mechanical elements of actuation. The aeroservoelastic analysis procedure is described in which the actuators are modeled as detailed high-order transfer functions and as approximate low-order transfer functions. The impacts of unsteady aerodynamic modeling on aeroservoelastic stability are also investigated by varying the order of approximation, or number of aerodynamic lag states, in the analysis. Test data from a thrust-vectoring configuration of an F/A-l8 aircraft are compared to predictions to determine the effects on accuracy as a function of modeling complexity.

Brenner, Martin J.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Illness/injury pattern complex 40 (Titan)

On July 31, 1991, EG&G Medical began providing medical support at the Titan Area Clinic (TAC). The hours of operation are 0700-2300, Monday through Friday, with Emergency Medical Services (EMS) provided 24-hours a day, seven days a week. The TAC consists of a 10 x 10 ft section of a trailer that also houses Bechtel Safety. Supplies consisted of an examining table, an eye wash chair, first aid equipment, over-the-counter medications, spine boards, a portable rescuscitator, etc. All of the nurses are Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certified. Although the Titan Area Clinic is strictly a first-aid station with no ACLS facilities on-site, it is staffed with an Occupational Health Nurse with ACLS certification. If ACLS or additional help is needed, the nurse activates EMS by dialing 911. The nurse responds to any medical problems or emergencies on the complex, but activates EMS prior to leaving the TAC. A Bechtel Safety Representative accompanies the nurse to the site and assists as needed. Other aspects of the complex and its functions are presented.

Blasdell, Sharon↗
NASA NTRS1993

Observations on the long-period variability of the Gulf Stream downstream of Cape Hatteras

To examine the long-period variability of the Gulf Stream, sea level residuals relative to a 2-year mean sea level in the Gulf Stream downstream of Cape Hatteras (between 75 deg W and 60 deg W longitude) are used. Residuals, as derived from Geosat altimetry between November 1986 and December 1988, were gridded in space and time at a temporal resolution of 10 days and spatial resolution of 1/4 deg. Complex empirical orthogonal function (CEOF) analysis was applied to the data set to extract the spatially correlated signal with the original data subsampled to 1/2 deg. In addition to determining the space-time scales and propagation characterisitics of the different modes, wavenumber-frequency spectral techniques were used to separate the variability into propagating and stationary components. The CEOF technique applied to the data set indicated that the first four CEOF modes accounted for 60% of the variability and were found to be above the noise leve 99% of the time. CEOF 1 was associated with westward propagation at 5 km/d at a wavelength of 2000 km and eastward propagation at 1-2 km/d centered at a 500-km wavelength. This first CEOF is in good agreement with thin-jet equivalent barotropic models which predict westward propagation for wavelengths greater than 1130 km. A deflection of the wavelike pattern at 65 deg W also indicates a possible topographic effect. A simple scaling of the effect of topography indicates that for length scales longer than the internal Rossby radius of deformation, the topographic term is at least of the same order of magnitude as the beta effect. The second CEOF was more broadbanded in wavenumber space, with eastward propagation occurring in a wavenumber-frequency band between 300 and 1400 km and 0.5 and 2.0 cycles/yr. The third CEOF is similar in structure to the first, but with less energy. CEOF 4 was clearly identifiable with higher frequencies than the first three with westward propagation at 4 km/d. The spatial location of this mode along with the westward propagation indicates possible influences from eddy-stream interactions. Thus topography, Rossby wave dynamics and eddy-stream interactions all appear to have a significant role in determining the space-time scales and propagation properties of the long-period response of sea level in the Gulf Stream.

Vazquez, Jorge↗
NASA NTRS1995

Complex-Amplitude Spatial Light Modulators

Spatial light modulators (SLMs) of proposed type provide independent control over both phase and amplitude of electromagnetic field of modulated light. Useful in optical processing of information in which it is essential to control complex amplitude as function of time and of position in correlation plane.

Juday, Richard D.↗