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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

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NASA NTRS1975

Nonthermal rotational distribution of CO/A 1Pi/ fragments produced by dissociative excitation of CO2 by electron impact

Measurements were made of the rotational profiles of specific bands of the CO fourth-positive group (4PG). The CO 4PG bands were excited by electron impact dissociative excitation of CO2. The results are applicable to analysis of the Mariner observations of the CO 4PG in the dayglow of Mars. The results indicate that dissociative excitation of CO2 by electron impact leads to CO(A 1Pi) fragments with a rotational distribution that is highly nonthermal. The parent CO2 temperature was about 300 K in the experiment, while the fragment CO(A 1Pi) showed emission band profiles consistent with a rotational temperature greater than about 1500 K. Laboratory measurement of the reduced transmission of the hot bands by thermal CO appears to be the most direct way of determining the column density responsible for the CO(v',0) absorption of Mars.

Mumma, M. J.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Introductory Remarks

Advanced transonic configurations, such as the supercritical wing, are inherently more sensitive to Reynolds number than earlier configurations because the pressure recovery gradients imposed on the boundary layer are generally steeper. The results of two-dimensional supercritical airfoil investigations and theoretical calculations show this effect. A technique for approximately simulating full-scale Reynolds number characteristics at present wind-tunnel Reynolds numbers for near-cruise conditions is described. The transition strip, which in the past has been located near the leading edge of the wing, is rearward so that the relative displacement thickness of the boundary layer at the trailing edge of the wing is the same as might be expected on a full-scale configuration with the transition near the leading edge. Two-dimensional wind-tunnel results indicate that the technique provides a very good simulation of airfoil characteristics at full-scale Reynolds number. The need for sorting the effects of Reynolds number and aeroelasticity, which can be done in the NTF, is also addressed.

Whitcomb, R.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Asteroid taxonomy and the distribution of the compositional types

Physical observations of minor planets documented in the TRIAD computer file are used to classify 752 objects into the broad compositional types C, S, M, E, R, and U (unclassifiable) according to the prescriptions adopted by Bowell et al. (1978). Diameters are computed from the photometric magnitude using radiometric and/or polarimetric data where available, or else from albedos characteristic of the indicated type. An analysis of the observational selection effects leads to tabulation of the actual number of asteroids, as a function of type and diameter, in each of 15 orbital element zones. For the whole main belt the population is 75% of type C, 15% of type S, and 10% of other types, with no belt-wide dependence of the mixing ratios on diameter. In some zones the logarithmic diameter-frequency relations are decidedly nonlinear. The relative frequency of S-type objects decreases smoothly outward through the main belt, with exponential scale length 0.5 AU. The rarer types show a more chaotic, but generally flatter, distribution over distance. Characteristic type distributions, contrasting with the background population, are found for the Eos, Koronis, Nysa and Themis families.

Zellner, B.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Flap survey test of a combined surface blowing model: Flow measurements at static flow conditions

The Combined Surface Blowing (CSB) V/STOL lift/propulsion system consists of a blown flap system which deflects the exhaust from a turbojet engine over a system of flaps deployed at the trailing edge of the wing. Flow measurements consisting of velocity measurements using split film probes and total measure surveys using a miniature Kiel probe were made at control stations along the flap systems at two spanwise stations, the centerline of the nozzle and 60 percent of the nozzle span outboard of the centerline. Surface pressure measurements were made in the wing cove and the upper surface of the first flap element. The test showed a significant flow separation in the wing cove. The extent of the separation is so large that the flow into the first flap takes place only at the leading edge of the flap. The velocity profile measurements indicate that large spanwise (3 dimensional) flow may exist.

Fukushima, T.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Spin-tunnel investigation of a 1/15-scale model of an Australian trainer airplane

An investigation was conducted in the Langley Spin Tunnel of the spin and spin-recovery characteristics of a 1/15-scale model of an Australian trainer airplane. The invesigation included erect and inverted spins; configuration variables such as a long tail, fuselage strakes, 20 deg. elevator cutouts, and rudder modifications; and determination of the parachute size for emergency spin recovery. Also included in the investigation were wing leading-edge modifications to evaluate Reynolds number effects. Results indicate that the basic configuration will spin erect at an angle of attack of about 63 deg. at about 2 to 2.3 seconds per turn. Recovery from this spin was unsatisfactory by rudder reversal or by rudder reversal and ailerons deflected to full with the spin. The elevators had a pronounced effect on the recovery characteristics. The elevators-down position was very adverse to recoveries, whereas the elevators-up position provided favorable recovery effects. Moving the vertical tail aft (producing a long tail configuration) improved the spin characteristics, but the recoveries were still considered marginal. An extension to the basic rudder chord and length made a significant improvement in the spin and recovery characteristics. Satisfactory recoveries were obtained by deflecting the rudder to full against the spin and the elevators and ailerons to neutral.

Bowman, James S., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1988

The Space Station neutral gas environment and the concomitant requirements for monitoring

At 340 km, for typical conditions, the neutral atmospheric density is several times 10E8/cc and is thus more abundant than the ionized component by several factors of 10. At that altitude, the principal series is atomic oxygen with 10 percent N2, and 1 percent He, and trace amounts of O2, H, N, NO, and Ar. The constituent densities are highly variable with local time, latitude, and geophysical indices. The physical interaction with surfaces at orbital velocity leads to large buildup of density on forward faces and great depletions in the wakes of objects. Chemical reactions lead to major modifications in constituent densities as in the case of the conversion of most colliding oxygen atoms to oxygen bearing molecules. The neutral environment about an orbiting body is thus a complex product of many variables even without a source of neutral contaminants. The addition of fluxes of gases emanating from the orbiting vehicle, as will be the case for the Space Station, with the associated physical and chemical interactions adds another level of complexity to the character of the environment and mandates a sophisticated measurement capability if the neutral environment is to be quantitatively characterized.

Carignan, George↗

NASA NTRS1991

Viscoplastic analysis of an experimental cylindrical thrust chamber liner

A viscoplastic stress-strain analysis of an experimental cylindrical thrust chamber is presented. A viscoelastic constitutive model incorporating a single internal state variable that represents kinematic hardening was employed to investigate whether such a viscoplastic model could predict the experimentally observed behavior of the thrust chamber. Two types of loading cycles were considered: a short cycle of 3.5 sec. duration that corresponded to the experiments, and an extended loading cycle of 485.1 sec. duration that is typical of the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) operating cycle. The analysis qualitatively replicated the deformation behavior of the component as observed in experiments designed to simulate SSME operating conditions. The analysis also showed that the mode and location in the component may depend on the loading cycle. The results indicate that using viscoplastic models for structural analysis can lead to a more realistic life assessment of thrust chambers.

Arya, Vinod K.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Viscoplastic analysis of an experimental cylindrical thrust chamber liner

A viscoplastic stress-strain analysis of an experimental cylindrical thrust chamber is presented. A viscoelastic constitutive model incorporating a single internal state variable that represents kinematic hardening was employed to investigate whether such a viscoplastic model could predict the experimentally observed behavior of the thrust chamber. Two types of loading cycles were considered: a short cycle of 3.5-s duration that corresponded to the experiments, and an extended loading cycle of 485.1 s duration that is typical of the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) operating cycle. The analysis qualitatively replicated the deformation behavior of the component as observed in experiments designed to simulate SSME operating conditions. The analysis also showed that the mode and location of failure in the component may depend on the loading cycle. The results indicate that using viscoplastic models for structural analysis can lead to a more realistic life assessment of thrust chambers.

Arya, Vinod K.↗

NASA NTRS1955

An Experimental Investigation of the Hinge-moment Characteristics of a Constant-chord Control Surface Oscillating at High Frequency

The results of an experimental investigation of the hinge-moment characteristics of a constant-chord control surface oscillating at high frequency is presented. The control surface was mounted on an aspect-ratio-2 triangular wing. The aerodynamic restoring-moment coefficient and damping-moment coefficient were determined at a frequency of 260 cycles per second for a Mach number range of 0.6 to 0.8 and 1.3 to 1.9 at angles of attack of 5 degrees and 10 degrees. The test results showed linear theory to be a reliable guide to the prediction of the trend of the restoring-moment coefficient with Mach number for the supersonic speed range of the investigation but overestimated the magnitude of the coefficient. The experimental values of the damping-moment coefficient were, for the most part, more positive than those indicated by the theory and, for some conditions, could lead to instability of the control surface. Comparison of the results of this investigation with those of previous investigations at 0 and 50 cycles per second showed that frequency had little effect on the restoring-moment coefficient. The damping-moment coefficient was similarly insensitive to frequency at an oscillation amplitude of plus-or-minus 1.0 degrees but at an amplitude ofplus-or-minus 2.5 degrees the results showed a destabilizing shift with increasing frequency.

Reese, David E JR↗

NASA NTRS1994

Analysis and an image recovery algorithm for ultrasonic tomography system

The problem of an ultrasonic reflectivity tomography is similar to that of a spotlight-mode aircraft Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system. The analysis for a circular path spotlight mode SAR in this paper leads to the insight of the system characteristics. It indicates that such a system when operated in a wide bandwidth is capable of achieving the ultimate resolution; one quarter of the wavelength of the carrier frequency. An efficient processing algorithm based on the exact two dimensional spectrum is presented. The results of simulation indicate that the impulse responses meet the predicted resolution performance. Compared to an algorithm previously developed for the ultrasonic reflectivity tomography, the throughput rate of this algorithm is about ten times higher.

Jin, Michael Y.↗

NASA NTRS1994

A photometric study of Enceladus

We have supplemented Voyager imaging data from Enceladus (limited to phase angles of 13 deg-43 deg) with recent Earth-based CCD observations to obtain an improved determination of the Bond albedo, to construct an albedo map of the satellite, and to constrain parameters in Hapke's (1986) photometric equation. A major result is evidence of regional variations in the physical properties of Enceladus' surface. The average global photometric properties are described by single scattering albedo omega(sub 0) average = 0.998 +/- 0.001, macroscopic roughness parameter theta average = 6 +/- 1 deg, and Henyey-Greenstein asymmetry parameter g = -0.399 +/- 0.005. The value of theta average is smaller than the 14 deg found by fitting whole-disk data, which include all terrains on Enceladus. The opposition surge amplitude B(sub 0) = 0.21 +/- 0.07 and regolith compaction parameter h = 0.014 +/- 0.02 are loosely constrained by the scarcity of and uncertainty in near-opposition observations. From the solar phase curve we determine the geometric albedo of Enceladus p(sub v) = 0.99 +/- 0.06 and phase integral q = 0.92 +/- 0.05, which corresponds to a spherical albedo A = p(sub v)q = 0.91 +/- 0.1. Since the spectrum of Enceladus is fairly flat, we can approximate the Bond albedo A(sub B) with the spherical albedo. Our photometric analysis is summarized in terms of an albedo map which generally reproduces the satellite's observed lightcurve and indicates that normal reflectances range from 0.9 on the leading hemisphere to 1.4 on the trailing one. The albedo map also revels an albedo variation of 15% from longitudes 170 deg to 200 deg, corresponding to the boundary between the leading and trailing hemispheres.

Verbiscer, Anne J.↗

NASA NTRS1960

An Examination of Handling Qualities Criteria for V/STOL Aircraft

A study has been undertaken to define hand-ling qualities criteria for V/STOL aircraft. With the current military requirements for helicopters and airplanes as a framework, modifications and additions were made for conversion to a preliminary set of V/STOL requirements using a broad background of flight experience and pilots' comments from VTOL and STOL aircraft, BLC (boundary-layer-control) equipped aircraft, variable stability aircraft, flight simulators and landing approach studies. The report contains a discussion of the reasoning behind and the sources of information leading to suggested requirements. The results of the study indicate that the majority of V/STOL requirements can be defined by modifications to the helicopter and/or airplane requirements by appropriate definition of reference speeds. Areas where a requirement is included but where the information is felt to be inadequate to establish a firm quantitative requirement include the following: Control power and damping relationships about all axes for various sizes and types of aircraft; control power, sensitivity, d-amping and response for height control; dynamic longitudinal and dynamic lateral- directional stability in the transition region, including emergency operation; hovering steadiness; acceleration and deceleration in transition; descent rates and flight-path angles in steep approaches, and thrust margin for approach.

Anderson, Seth B.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Effects of Heat Treatment on the Ballistic Impact Properties of Inconel 718 for Jet Engine Fan Containment Applications

The effects of heat treating Inconel 718 on the ballistic impact response and failure mechanisms were studied. Two different annealing conditions and an aged condition were considered. Large differences in the static properties were found between the annealed and the aged material, with the annealed condition having lower strength and hardness and greater elongation than the aged. High strain rate tests show similar results. Correspondingly large differences were found in the velocity required to penetrate material in the two conditions in impact tests involving 12.5 mm diameter, 25.4 mm long cylindrical Ti-6-4 projectiles impacting flat plates at velocities in the range of 150 to 300 m/sec. The annealed material was able to absorb over 25 percent more energy than the aged. This is contrary to results observed for ballistic impact response for higher velocity impacts typically encountered in military applications where it has been shown that there exists a correlation between target hardness and ballistic impact strength. Metallographic examination of impacted plates showed strong indication of failure due to adiabatic shear. In both materials localized bands of large shear deformation were apparent, and microhardness measurements indicated an increase in hardness in these bands compared to the surrounding material. These bands were more localized in the aged material than in the annealed material. In addition the annealed material underwent significantly greater overall deformation before failure. The results indicate that lower elongation and reduced strain hardening behavior lead to a transition from shear to adiabatic shear failure, while high elongation and better strain hardening capabilities reduce the tendency for shear to localize and result in an unstable adiabatic shear failure. This supports empirical containment design methods that relate containment thickness to the static toughness.

Pereira, J. Michael↗

NASA NTRS2001

Effects of Heat Treatment on the Ballistic Impact Properties of Inconel 718 for Jet Engine Fan Containment Applications

Pereira, J. Michael↗

NASA NTRS2002

Backtracking and Re-execution in the Automatic Debugging of Parallelized Programs

In this work we describe a new approach using relative debugging to find differences in computation between a serial program and a parallel version of th it program. We use a combination of re-execution and backtracking in order to find the first difference in computation that may ultimately lead to an incorrect value that the user has indicated. In our prototype implementation we use static analysis information from a parallelization tool in order to perform the backtracking as well as the mapping required between serial and parallel computations.

Matthews, Gregory↗

NASA NTRS2002

Transonic Wing Shape Optimization Using a Genetic Algorithm

A method for aerodynamic shape optimization based on a genetic algorithm approach is demonstrated. The algorithm is coupled with a transonic full potential flow solver and is used to optimize the flow about transonic wings including multi-objective solutions that lead to the generation of pareto fronts. The results indicate that the genetic algorithm is easy to implement, flexible in application and extremely reliable.

Holst, Terry L.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Aerodynamic Shape Optimization Using Evolutionary Algorithms

A method for aerodynamic shape optimization based on an evolutionary algorithm approach is presented and demonstrated. Results are presented for a number of model problems to access the effect of algorithm parameters on convergence efficiency and reliability. A transonic viscous airfoil optimization problem, both single and two-objective variations, is used as the basis for a preliminary comparison with an adjoint-gradient optimizer. The evolutionary algorithm is coupled with a transonic full potential flow solver and is used to optimize the inviscid flow about transonic wings including multi-objective and multi-discipline solutions that lead to the generation of pareto fronts. The results indicate that the evolutionary algorithm approach is easy to implement, flexible in application and extremely reliable.

Holst, Terry L.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Aerodynamic Shape Optimization using an Evolutionary Algorithm

A method for aerodynamic shape optimization based on an evolutionary algorithm approach is presented and demonstrated. Results are presented for a number of model problems to access the effect of algorithm parameters on convergence efficiency and reliability. A transonic viscous airfoil optimization problem-both single and two-objective variations is used as the basis for a preliminary comparison with an adjoint-gradient optimizer. The evolutionary algorithm is coupled with a transonic full potential flow solver and is used to optimize the inviscid flow about transonic wings including multi-objective and multi-discipline solutions that lead to the generation of pareto fronts. The results indicate that the evolutionary algorithm approach is easy to implement, flexible in application and extremely reliable.

Hoist, Terry L.↗