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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

Investigation of the fracture mechanism in Ti-5Al-2.5Sn at cryogenic temperatures

The influence of microstructure on the fracture mechanism and plane-strain fracture toughness of Ti-5Al-2.5Sn was studied through the use of fractography and metallographic sectioning techniques. One-inch thick plates of extra low interstitial (ELI) and normal interstitial Ti-5Al-2.5Sn were mill annealed at 815 C followed by either air or furnace cooling. These variations in composition and cooling rate resulted in differences in the volume fraction and internal structure of the iron-stabilized phase, and in the crystallographic texture and ordering of the alpha matrix. The tensile properties of these plates were determined at 20 K, 77 K, and 295 K. The air-cooled ELI plate was the toughest material evaluated.

Vanstone, R. H.↗

Beam Heating of Samples: Modeling and Verification

Energy absorbed from the X-ray beam by the sample requires cooling by forced convection (i.e. cryostream) to minimize temperature increase and the damage caused to the sample by the X-ray heating. In this presentation we will first review the current theoretical models and recent studies in the literature, which predict the sample temperature rise for a given set of beam parameters. It should be noted that a common weakness of these previous studies is that none of them provide actual experimental confirmation. This situation is now remedied in our investigation where the problem of x-ray sample heating is taken up once more. We have theoretically investigated, and at the same time, in addition to the numerical computations, performed experiments to validate the predictions. We have modeled, analyzed and experimentally tested the temperature rise of a 1 mm diameter glass sphere (sample surrogate) exposed to an intense synchrotron X-ray beam, while it is being cooled in a uniform flow of nitrogen gas. The heat transfer, including external convection and internal heat conduction was theoretically modeled using CFD to predict the temperature variation in the sphere during cooling and while it was subjected to an undulator (ID sector 19) X-ray beam at the APS. The surface temperature of the sphere during the X-ray beam heating was measured using the infrared camera measurement technique described in a previous talk. The temperatures from the numerical predictions and experimental measurements are compared and discussed. Additional results are reported for the two different sphere sizes and for two different supporting pin orientations.

Kazmierczak, Michael↗

Low thermal conductance rigidizer for reducing torsional oscillations in cryogenic Dewars

A rigidizer, which provides greater rigidity against torsional oscillations, is highly resistant to radial motions, and has low thermal conductivity, has been developed to decrease vibrational levels affecting infrared detectors operated in cryostats (e.g., HD-3L Dewar) in aircraft such as NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory. The rigidizer is composed of two triangular elements and an intermediate support structure which joins them at the centers of their sides. The reentrant design provides a long heat path, while the triangular truss structure provides high rigidity in the horizontal plane. The structure is relatively compliant in the vertical direction, a desirable feature since the internal structure of the Dewar contracts as it cools. Rigidity in the vertical direction is provided by the neck tube. The support structure is quite compact. Several variants of the rigidizer have been fabricated, using flat sheets of G-10 fiberglass epoxy in thicknesses between 0.75-1.5 mm for the upper and lower truss assemblies, and either G-10 or stainless steel for the intermediate structure.

Harper, D. A.↗

Transient thermal stress problem for a circumferentially cracked hollow cylinder

The paper is concerned with the transient thermal stress problem for a long hollow circular cylinder containing an internal axisymmetric circumferential edge crack that is suddenly cooled from inside. It is assumed that the transient thermal stress problem is quasi-static, i.e., the inertial effects are negligible. Also, all thermoelastic coupling effects and the possible temperature dependence of the thermoelastic constants are neglected. The problem is considered in two parts. The first part is the evaluation of transient thermal stresses in an uncracked cylinder; the second part is the isothermal perturbation problem for the cracked cylinder in which the crack surface tractions, equal and opposite to the thermal stresses obtained from the first problem, are the only external loads. The superposition of the two solutions gives results for the cracked cylinder.

Nied, H. F.↗

Baroclinic instability in the interiors of the giant planets: A cooling history of Uranus?

We propose a quasigeostrophic, baroclinic model for heat transport within the interior of a stably stratified Jovian planet, based on motion in thin cylindrical annuli. Density decreases from the center outward and is zero at the surface of the planet. In the homogeneous case (no core), we find instability for the poles hotter than the equator, but not for the reverse. If the motion is bounded by an impenetrable core, instability occurs for both cases. Much of the behavior can be explained by analogy to conventional baroclinic instability theory. Motivated by our results, we explore a possible connection between the highly inclined rotation axis of Uranus and its anomalously low surface heat flux. We assume that the planets formed hot. Our conjecture is that heat was efficiently convected outwards by baroclinic instability in Uranus (with the poles hotter than the equator), but not in the other three Jovian planets. The surface temperature was higher for the stably stratified case (Uranus), leading to a higher rate of infrared emission and faster cooling. Therefore, we propose that Uranus lost its internal heat sooner than Neptune because baroclinic motions, permitted by its inclination to the sun, were able to extract its internal heat while the surface was still warm.

Holme, Richard↗

SiC/SiC Leading Edge Turbine Airfoil Tested Under Simulated Gas Turbine Conditions

Silicon-based ceramics have been proposed as component materials for use in gas turbine engine hot-sections. A high pressure burner rig was used to expose both a baseline metal airfoil and ceramic matrix composite leading edge airfoil to typical gas turbine conditions to comparatively evaluate the material response at high temperatures. To eliminate many of the concerns related to an entirely ceramic, rotating airfoil, this study has focused on equipping a stationary metal airfoil with a ceramic leading edge insert to demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of such a configuration. Here, the idea was to allow the SiC/SiC composite to be integrated as the airfoil's leading edge, operating in a "free-floating" or unrestrained manner. and provide temperature relief to the metal blade underneath. The test included cycling the airfoils between simulated idle, lift, and cruise flight conditions. In addition, the airfoils were air-cooled, uniquely instrumented, and exposed to the same internal and external conditions, which included gas temperatures in excess of 1370 C (2500 F). Results show the leading edge insert remained structurally intact after 200 simulated flight cycles with only a slightly oxidized surface. The instrumentation clearly suggested a significant reduction (approximately 600 F) in internal metal temperatures as a result of the ceramic leading edge. The object of this testing was to validate the design and analysis done by Materials Research and Design of Rosemont, PA and to determine the feasibility of this design for the intended application.

Robinson, R. Craig↗

The SPoRT-WRF: Evaluating the Impact of NASA Datasets on Convective Forecasts

Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) seeks to improve short-term, regional weather forecasts using unique NASA products and capabilities SPoRT has developed a unique, real-time configuration of the NASA Unified Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF)WRF (ARW) that integrates all SPoRT modeling research data: (1) 2-km SPoRT Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Composite, (2) 3-km LIS with 1-km Greenness Vegetation Fraction (GVFs) (3) 45-km AIRS retrieved profiles. Transitioned this real-time forecast to NOAA's Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT) as deterministic model at Experimental Forecast Program (EFP). Feedback from forecasters/participants and internal evaluation of SPoRT-WRF shows a cool, dry bias that appears to suppress convection likely related to methodology for assimilation of AIRS profiles Version 2 of the SPoRT-WRF will premier at the 2012 EFP and include NASA physics, cycling data assimilation methodology, better coverage of precipitation forcing, and new GVFs

Zavodsky, Bradley↗

A Mercury Lander Mission Concept Study for the Next Decadal Survey

Mariner 10 provided our first closeup reconnaissance of Mercury during its three flybys in 1974 and 1975. MESSENGER’s 2011–2015 orbital investigation enabled numerous discoveries, several of which led to substantial or complete changes in our fundamental understanding of the planet. Among these were the unanticipated, widespread presence of volatile elements (e.g., Na, K, S); a surface with extremely low Fe abundance whose darkening agent is likely C; a previously unknown landform—hollows— that may form by volatile sublimation from within rocks exposed to the harsh conditions on the surface; a history of expansive effusive and explosive volcanism; substantial radial contraction of the planet from interior cooling; offset of the dipole moment of the internal magnetic field northward from the geographic equator by ~20% of the planet’s radius; crustal magnetization, attributed at least in part to an ancient field; unexpected seasonal variability and relationships among exospheric species and processes; and the presence in permanently shadowed polar terrain of water ice and other volatile materials, likely to include complex organic compounds. Mercury’s highly chemically reduced and unexpectedly volatile-rich composition is unique among the terrestrial planets and was not predicted by earlier hypotheses for the planet’s origin. As an end-member of terrestrial planet formation, Mercury holds unique clues about the original distribution of elements in the earliest stages of the Solar System and how planets (and exoplanets) form and evolve in close proximity to their host stars. The BepiColombo mission promises to expand our knowledge of this planet and to shed light on some of the mysteries revealed by the MESSENGER mission. However, several fundamental science questions raised by MESSENGER’s pioneering exploration of Mercury can only be answered with in situ measurements from the planet’s surface.

Ernst, C. M.↗

Coolant Leak from ISS External Active Thermal Control System (EATCS) – An Examination of Most Probable

The Port (P1) and Starboard (S1) External Active Thermal Control Systems (EATCS) are single phase, mechanically pumped ammonia loops that operate independently to cool the majority of the hardware and payloads onboard the International Space Station (ISS). A slow ammonia leak was detected using pressure and quantity telemetry five years after the P1 EATCS was activated. The leak gradually accelerated to a rate that locating and isolating the leak became imperative to maintain cooling capability. Partial pressure measurements from the Robotic External Leak Locator (RELL) scan surveys narrowed the search to the supply and return jumpers connecting one of three radiators to the system. Subsequently, the ISS crew performed high definition video surveys during an Extravehicular Activity (EVA), or spacewalk, and ammonia flakes were observed projecting from the jumpers. Thus, the ground teams were confident that the culprit for the ammonia leak was the jumpers. The ammonia leak stopped after ground teams remotely isolated and vented those jumpers and associated radiator. Both jumpers were removed and returned to the ground, and a root cause investigation was conducted. A calibrated leak test determined the bulk of the ammonia leaked through a pair of seals in a Quick Disconnect (QD), or connector, on one end of the return jumper. The return jumper QD was dissected, visually inspected, chemically tested and evaluated. The results indicated the most probable cause of the accelerating ammonia leak was due to defective seals, plating delamination underneath the seals, and on-orbit thermal cycles exacerbating the delamination. Both jumpers were refurbished, relaunched to the ISS, and scheduled to be reinstalled during an EVA in 2022. It appeared the issue was unique, but recently the S1 EATCS is showing signs of an accelerating ammonia leak, and RELL scans narrowed the source to a similar pair of radiator jumpers.

Thermal Control↗

Fluid flow and heat convection studies for actively cooled airframes

This report details progress made on the jet impingement - liquid crystal - digital imaging experiment. With the design phase complete, the experiment is currently in the construction phase. In order to reach this phase two design related issues were resolved. The first issue was to determine NASP leading edge active cooling design parameters. Meetings were arranged with personnel at SAIC International, Torrance, CA in order to obtain recent publications that characterized expected leading edge heat fluxes as well as other details of NASP operating conditions. The information in these publications was used to estimate minimum and maximum jet Reynolds numbers needed to accomplish the required leading edge cooling, and to determine the parameters of the experiment. The details of this analysis are shown in Appendix A. One of the concerns for the NASP design is that of thermal stress due to large surface temperature gradients. Using a series of circular jets to cool the leading edge will cause a non-uniform temperature distribution and potentially large thermal stresses. Therefore it was decided to explore the feasibility of using a slot jet to cool the leading edge. The literature contains many investigations into circular jet heat transfer but few investigations of slot jet heat transfer. The first experiments will be done on circular jets impinging on a fiat plate and results compared to previously published data to establish the accuracy of the method. Subsequent experiments will be slot jets impinging on full scale models of the NASP leading edge. Table 1 shows the range of parameters to be explored. Next a preliminary design of the experiment was done. Previous papers which used a similar experimental technique were studied and elements of those experiments adapted to the jet impingement study. Trade-off studies were conducted to determine which design was the least expensive, easy to construct, and easy to use. Once the final design was settled, vendors were contacted to verify that equipment could be obtained to meet our specifications. Much of the equipment required to complete the construction of the experiment has been ordered or received. The material status list is shown in Appendix B.

Mills, A. F.↗

Outer atmospheres of cool stars. II - Mg II flux profiles and chromospheric radiative loss rates

International Ultraviolet Explorer high-resolution spectra of the Mg II lines at 2796, 2803 A in 15 stars of spectral type G2-M2 including a wide range of luminosities are presented. These spectra are calibrated in absolute flux units at earth and at the stellar surface, and the chromospheric radiative loss rates in the Mg II lines are compared with corresponding rates in the Ca II H, K, and 8542 lines. The ratio of Mg II surface flux to total surface flux is found to be independent of stellar luminosity and thus gravity; may decrease slowly with decreasing effective temperature, and increases with decreasing period among RS Canum Venaticorum binaries. The factor of 10 range in this ratio at each effective temperature may be due to differences in the fractional surface area covered by plages and may indicate that stars of all luminosity classes have chromospheric plages. In this small data sample no evidence is found that the Mg II line surface fluxes indicate whether a star possesses a transition region and hot corona.

Basri, G. S.↗

Heat transfer from an internal combustion (Otto-cycle) engine on the surface of Mars

The cooling requirements for an average car sized engine (spark-ignition, V-6, four-stroke, naturally aspirated, about 200 kg, about 100 kW) were looked at for Mars. Several modes of cooling were considered, including forced convection, exhaust, radiation and closed loop systems. The primary goal was to determine the effect of the thinner Martian atmosphere on the cooling system. The results show that there was only a 6-percent difference in the cooling requirements. This difference was due mostly to the thinner atmosphere during forced convection and the heat capacity of the exhaust. A method using a single pass counter-flow heat exchanger is suggested to offset this difference in cooling requirements.

Gwynne, Owen↗

Effects of Ambient Inert Gas Properties on Cool-Flame Combustion of Normal-Alkane Droplets in Microgravity

Cool-flame-supported quasi-steady droplet combustion was first observed during droplet combustion experiments conducted onboard the International Space Station (ISS) in the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) with n-alkane fuels. These cool flames, not visible to the naked eye, result from the existence of the negative-temperature-coefficient (NTC) region during the combustion n-alkane fuels when the chemical-kinetic pathways experience a transition from the low-temperature chemistry to the normal, high-temperature-controlled chemistry. In this study, we present results for the cool-flame-supported droplet burning rates and extinction diameters for n-alkane fuels (n-heptane, n-octane, n-decane, and n-dodecane) in inert-diluent-substituted ambient environments. In these ISS experiments, some of the nitrogen in the ambient gas mixture is replaced by an inert gas, namely, carbon dioxide, helium, or xenon. Different diluents were observed to exert remarkably different influences on the cool-flame combustion of fuel droplets. The results show that the cool-flame extinction diameter is drastically increased with helium dilution compared to N2, CO2 or Xe, and Xe dilution leads to longer burning with a smaller extinction diameter. Unlike hot flames, the cool-flame burning rates are controlled by the cool-flame temperature established in the NTC region by the chemical kinetics, rather than by equilibrium thermodynamics, and the thermo-physical properties of the ambient gases, which control the heat feed back to the liquid droplet. The cool-flame extinction is triggered by the instability that occurs at the low-temperature end of the NTC region, below which cool diffusion flames become statically unstable. A quasi-steady theoretical model, presented earlier, which involves a six-step reduced-chemistry mechanism, valid around the lower end of the NTC region, is shown to explain the observed experimental trends qualitatively.

microgravity↗

Three Canted Radiator Panels to Provide Adequate Cooling for Instruments on Slewing Spacecraft in LEO

Certain free-flying spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO) or payloads on the International Space Station (ISS) are required to slew to point the telescopes at targets. Instrument detectors and electronics require cooling. Traditionally a planar thermal radiator is used. The temperature of such a radiator varies significantly when the spacecraft slews because its view factors to space vary significantly. Also for payloads on the ISS, solar impingement on the radiator is possible. These thermal adversities could lead to inadequate cooling for the instrument. This paper presents a novel thermal design concept that utilizes three canted radiator panels to mitigate this problem. It increases the overall radiator view factor to cold space and reduces the overall solar or albedo flux absorbed per unit area of the radiator.

Choi, Michael K.↗

Multiphysics Simulation of Active Hypersonic Lip Cooling

This article describes the application of the Multidisciplinary Analysis (MDA) solver, Spectrum, in analyzing a hydrogen-cooled hypersonic cowl leading-edge structure. Spectrum, a multiphysics simulation code based on the finite element method, addresses compressible and incompressible fluid flow, structural, and thermal modeling, as well as the interactions between these disciplines. Fluid-solid-thermal interactions in a hydrogen impingement-cooled leading edge are predicted using Spectrum. Two- and semi-three-dimensional models are considered for a leading edge impingement coolant, concept under either specified external heat flux or aerothermodynamic heating from a Mach 5 external flow interaction. The solution accuracy is demonstrated from mesh refinement analysis. With active cooling, the leading edge surface temperature is drastically reduced from 1807 K of the adiabatic condition to 418 K. The internal coolant temperature profile exhibits a sharp gradient near channel/solid interface. Results from two different cooling channel configurations are also presented to illustrate the different behavior of alternative active cooling schemes.

Melis, Matthew E.↗

Shield materials recommended for space power nuclear reactors

Lithium hydride is recommended for neutron attenuation and depleted uranium is recommended for gamma ray attenuation. For minimum shield weights these materials must be arranged in alternate layers to attenuate the secondary gamma rays efficiently. In the regions of the shield near the reactor, where excessive fissioning occurs in the uranium, a tungsten alloy is used instead. Alloys of uranium such as either the U-0.5Ti or U-8Mo are available to accommodate structural requirements. The zone-cooled casting process is recommended for lithium hydride fabrication. Internal honeycomb reinforcement to control cracks in the lithium hydride is recommended.

Kaszubinski, L. J.↗

Future of Ultraviolet Astronomy Based on Six Years of IUE Research

Physical insights into the various astronomical objects which were studied using the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) satellite. Topics covered included galaxies, cool stars, hot stars, close binaries, variable stars, the interstellar medium, the solar system, and IUE follow-on missions.

Mead, J. M.↗