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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 307 records · Page 17
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2002

Advanced Engine Cycles Analyzed for Turbofans With Variable-Area Fan Nozzles Actuated by a Shape Memory Alloy

Advanced, large commercial turbofan engines using low-fan-pressure-ratio, very high bypass ratio thermodynamic cycles can offer significant fuel savings over engines currently in operation. Several technological challenges must be addressed, however, before these engines can be designed. To name a few, the high-diameter fans associated with these engines pose a significant packaging and aircraft installation challenge, and a large, heavy gearbox is often necessary to address the differences in ideal operating speeds between the fan and the low-pressure turbine. Also, the large nacelles contribute aerodynamic drag penalties and require long, heavy landing gear when mounted on conventional, low wing aircraft. Nevertheless, the reduced fuel consumption rates of these engines are a compelling economic incentive, and fans designed with low pressure ratios and low tip speeds offer attractive noise-reduction benefits. Another complication associated with low-pressure-ratio fans is their need for variable flow-path geometry. As the design fan pressure ratio is reduced below about 1.4, an operational disparity is set up in the fan between high and low flight speeds. In other words, between takeoff and cruise there is too large a swing in several key fan parameters-- such as speed, flow, and pressure--for a fan to accommodate. One solution to this problem is to make use of a variable-area fan nozzle (VAFN). However, conventional, hydraulically actuated variable nozzles have weight, cost, maintenance, and reliability issues that discourage their use with low-fan-pressure-ratio engine cycles. United Technologies Research, in cooperation with NASA, is developing a revolutionary, lightweight, and reliable shape memory alloy actuator system that can change the on-demand nozzle exit area by up to 20 percent. This "smart material" actuation technology, being studied under NASA's Ultra-Efficient Engine Technology (UEET) Program and Revolutionary Concepts in Aeronautics (RevCon) Program, has the potential to enable the next generation of efficient, quiet, very high bypass ratio turbofans. NASA Glenn Research Center's Propulsion Systems Analysis Office, along with NASA Langley Research Center's Systems Analysis Branch, conducted an independent analytical assessment of this new technology to provide strategic guidance to UEET and RevCon. A 2010-technology-level high-spool engine core was designed for this evaluation. Two families of low-spool components, one with and one without VAFN's, were designed to operate with the core. This "constant core" approach was used to hold most design parameters constant so that any performance differences between the VAFN and fixed nozzle cycles could be attributed to the VAFN technology alone. In this manner, the cycle design regimes that offer a performance payoff when VAFN's are used could be identified. The NASA analytical model of a performance-optimized VAFN turbofan with a fan pressure ratio of 1.28 is shown. Mission analyses of the engines were conducted using the notional, long-haul, advanced commercial twinjet shown. A high wing design was used to accommodate the large high-bypassratio engines. The mission fuel reduction benefit of very high bypass shape-memory-alloy VAFN aircraft was calculated to be 8.3 percent lower than a moderate bypass cycle using a conventional fixed nozzle. Shape-memory-alloy VAFN technology is currently under development in NASA's UEET and RevCon Programs.

Berton, Jeffrey J.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Combined Numerical/Analytical Perturbation Solutions of the Navier-Stokes Equations for Aerodynamic Ejector/Mixer Nozzle Flows

In spite of rapid advances in both scalar and parallel computational tools, the large number of variables involved in both design and inverse problems make the use of sophisticated fluid flow models impractical, With this restriction, it is concluded that an important family of methods for mathematical/computational development are reduced or approximate fluid flow models. In this study a combined perturbation/numerical modeling methodology is developed which provides a rigorously derived family of solutions. The mathematical model is computationally more efficient than classical boundary layer but provides important two-dimensional information not available using quasi-1-d approaches. An additional strength of the current methodology is its ability to locally predict static pressure fields in a manner analogous to more sophisticated parabolized Navier Stokes (PNS) formulations. To resolve singular behavior, the model utilizes classical analytical solution techniques. Hence, analytical methods have been combined with efficient numerical methods to yield an efficient hybrid fluid flow model. In particular, the main objective of this research has been to develop a system of analytical and numerical ejector/mixer nozzle models, which require minimal empirical input. A computer code, DREA Differential Reduced Ejector/mixer Analysis has been developed with the ability to run sufficiently fast so that it may be used either as a subroutine or called by an design optimization routine. Models are of direct use to the High Speed Civil Transport Program (a joint government/industry project seeking to develop an economically.viable U.S. commercial supersonic transport vehicle) and are currently being adopted by both NASA and industry. Experimental validation of these models is provided by comparison to results obtained from open literature and Limited Exclusive Right Distribution (LERD) sources, as well as dedicated experiments performed at Texas A&M. These experiments have been performed using a hydraulic/gas flow analog. Results of comparisons of DREA computations with experimental data, which include entrainment, thrust, and local profile information, are overall good. Computational time studies indicate that DREA provides considerably more information at a lower computational cost than contemporary ejector nozzle design models. Finally. physical limitations of the method, deviations from experimental data, potential improvements and alternative formulations are described. This report represents closure to the NASA Graduate Researchers Program. Versions of the DREA code and a user's guide may be obtained from the NASA Lewis Research Center.

DeChant, Lawrence Justin↗
NASA NTRS1982

Aerodynamic levitation of laser-heated solids in gas jets

The aerodynamic levitation technique is developed for studies of high-temperature material properties and gas/condensed-phase reaction kinetics. Stable levitation is demonstrated in a supersonic jet from a 0.081 cm nozzle with 0.03-0.20 g 0.24-0.47 cm diameter solid spheres at a height between 0.7-2.0 cm above the nozzle and ambient pressures between 1.1-18 Torr. A model of supersonic jet levitation is developed which accurately predicts the values of height vs pressure over the full range of conditions investigated. It is found that the efficiency with which jet momentum is converted into levitation force decreases with the jet/specimen diameter ratio and the jet Reynolds number, and the rate of jet spreading with distance from the nozzle is found to agree with that measured by pitot tube traverses of the jet. In addition, laser heating is shown to reduce the jet momentum required for levitation at a given height and to increase levitation stability. Measurements of sphere levitation in subsonic gas jets show that the required jet momentum flow rate exceeds the specimen weight by about 2/the specimen drag coefficient at its terminal free-fall speed under ambient conditions.

Nordine, P. C.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Large liquid rocket engine transient performance simulation system

Phase 1 of the Rocket Engine Transient Simulation (ROCETS) program consists of seven technical tasks: architecture; system requirements; component and submodel requirements; submodel implementation; component implementation; submodel testing and verification; and subsystem testing and verification. These tasks were completed. Phase 2 of ROCETS consists of two technical tasks: Technology Test Bed Engine (TTBE) model data generation; and system testing verification. During this period specific coding of the system processors was begun and the engineering representations of Phase 1 were expanded to produce a simple model of the TTBE. As the code was completed, some minor modifications to the system architecture centering on the global variable common, GLOBVAR, were necessary to increase processor efficiency. The engineering modules completed during Phase 2 are listed: INJTOO - main injector; MCHBOO - main chamber; NOZLOO - nozzle thrust calculations; PBRNOO - preburner; PIPE02 - compressible flow without inertia; PUMPOO - polytropic pump; ROTROO - rotor torque balance/speed derivative; and TURBOO - turbine. Detailed documentation of these modules is in the Appendix. In addition to the engineering modules, several submodules were also completed. These submodules include combustion properties, component performance characteristics (maps), and specific utilities. Specific coding was begun on the system configuration processor. All functions necessary for multiple module operation were completed but the SOLVER implementation is still under development. This system, the Verification Checkout Facility (VCF) allows interactive comparison of module results to store data as well as provides an intermediate checkout of the processor code. After validation using the VCF, the engineering modules and submodules were used to build a simple TTBE.

Mason, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

CFD Applications in Propulsion

An overview of various applications of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) algorithms to propulsion problems is given. Topics of interest include incompressible, low speed compressible, transonic, and supersonic problems. A common family of algorithms is used for all applications and emphasis is placed on maintaining accuracy and convergence efficiency for all problems. Specific problems include pump hydrodynamics, simultaneous combustion and mixing in rocket engines, viscous nozzle flow, and CFD applications to combustion stability.

Merkle, Charles L.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Preliminary investigation of high power microwave plasmas for electrothermal thruster use

Results are reported from preliminary tests to evaluate the high power microwave electrothermal thruster (MET) concept, which employs a free-floating plasma discharge maintained by applied CW microwave power to heat a propellant gas flow. Stable plasmas have been created and maintained in helium (He), nitrogen (N2), and hydrogen (H2) as propellants in both the TM(sub 011) and TM(sub 012) modes at discharge pressures from 10 Pa to 69 kPa. Reproducible starting conditions of pressure and power have been documented for all the plasmas. Vortical inflow of the propellant gas was observed to cause the formation of on-axis 'spike' plasmas. The formation and unformation conditions of these plasmas were studied. Operation in the spike plasma condition enables maximum power absorption with minimum wall heating and offers maximum efficiency in heating the propellant gas. In the spike condition, plasmas of the three propellant gases were investigated in an open channel configuration to a maximum applied power level of 11.2 kW (in N2). Microwave power coupling efficiencies of over 90 percent were routinely obtained at absorbed power levels up to 2 kW. Magnetic nozzle effects were investigated with a superconducting solenoid Al magnet applying a high magnetic field to the plasmas in and exiting from the discharge tube.

Power, John L.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Preliminary investigation of high power microwave plasmas for electrothermal thruster use

Results are reported from preliminary tests to evaluate the high power microwave electrothermal thruster concept, which employs a free-floating plasma discharge maintained by applied CW microwave power to heat a propellant gas flow. Stable plasmas have been created and maintained in He, N2, and H2 as propellants in both the TM(sub 011) and TM(sub 012) modes at discharge pressures from 10 Pa to 69 kPa. Vortical inflow of the propellant gas was observed to cause the formation of on-axis 'spike' plasmas. Operation in the spike plasma condition yields maximum power absorption with minimum wall heating and maximum propellant-heating efficiency; plasmas of the three propellant gases were investigated in the spike condition in an open channel to a maximum applied power level of 11.2 kW (in N2). Microwave power coupling efficiencies of over 90 percent were routinely obtained at absorbed power levels up to 2 kW. Magnetic nozzle effects were investigated with a superconducting solenoid Al magnet applying a high magnetic field to the plasmas in, and exiting from, the discharge tube.

Power, John L.↗
NASA NTRS1953

Investigation of Turbines for Driving Supersonic Compressors III : First Configuration with Four Nozzle Settings and One Nozzle Modification

A turbine designed to power a supersonic compressor was investigated with four nozzle settings and one nozzle modification to determine the effect on turbine performance. With the correct ratio of nozzle throat area to rotor effective throat area, the design specific work was obtained near the peak efficiency. From the results of the investigation it was concluded that the convex in sweep of the rotor inner wall and high degree of blade taper caused the turbine configuration to have two aerodynamic disadvantages in comparison with a turbine configuration with an axial inner wall at the rotor outlet and little axial taper.

TURBINES - MIXED-FLOW↗
NASA NTRS2015

Microelectrospray Thrusters

Propulsion technology is often a critical enabling technology for space missions. NASA is investing in technologies to enable high value missions with very small spacecraft, even CubeSats. However, these nanosatellites currently lack any appreciable propulsion capability. CubeSats are typically deployed and tumble or drift without any ability to transfer to higher value orbits, perform orbit maintenance, or perform de-orbit. Larger spacecraft can also benefit from high precision attitude control systems. Existing practices include reaction wheels with lifetime concerns and system level complexity. Microelectrospray thrusters will provide new propulsion capabilities to address these mission needs. Electric propulsion is an approach to accelerate propellant to very high exhaust velocities through the use of electrical power. Typical propulsion systems are limited to the combustion energy available in the chemical bonds of the fuel and then acceleration through a converging diverging nozzle. However, electric propulsion can accelerate propellant to ten times higher velocities and therefore increase momentum transfer efficiency, or essentially, increase the fuel economy. Fuel efficiency of thrusters is proportional to the exhaust velocity and referred to as specific impulse (Isp). The state-of-the-art (SOA) for CubeSats is cold gas propulsion with an Isp of 50-80 s. The Space Shuttle main engine demonstrated a specific impulse of 450 s. The target Isp for the Mars Exploration Program (MEP) systems is >1,500 s. This propellant efficiency can enable a 1-kg, 10-cm cube to transfer from low-Earth orbit to interplanetary space with only 200 g of propellant. In September 2013, NASA's Game Changing Development program competitively awarded three teams with contracts to develop MEP systems from Technology Readiness Level-3 (TRL-3), experimental concept, to TRL-5, system validation in a relevant environment. The project is planned for 18 months of system development. Due to the ambitious project goals, NASA has awarded contracts to mature three unique methods to achieve the desired goals. Some of the MEP concepts have been developed for more than a decade at the component level, but are now ready for system maturation. The three concepts include the high aspect ratio porous surface (HARPS) microthruster system, the scalable ion electrospray propulsion system (S-iEPS), and an indium microfluidic electrospray propulsion system. The HARPS system is under development by Busek Co. The HARPS thruster is an electrospray thruster that relies on surface emission of a porous metal with a passive capillary wicking system for propellant management. The HARPS thruster is expected to provide a simple, high ΔV and low-cost solution. The HARPS thruster concept is shown in figure 1. Figure 1 includes the thruster, integrated power processing unit, and propellant reservoir.

Dankanich, John↗
NASA NTRS2020

Hall2De Simulations of a Magnetic Nozzle

The two-dimensional, fluid-based Hall thruster code Hall2De is adapted to simulate a low temperature propulsive magnetic nozzle. Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) thrusters developed at the Office National d’Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (ONERA) in France and the University of Michigan are investigated. For each device, the simulated domain is defined from the nozzle throat to a location 10 thruster radii downstream. A numerical mesh is defined based on the measured magnetic field, and the governing fluid equations for singlycharge ions, electrons, and neutrals are solved. The boundary conditions for the throat of the magnetic nozzle are based on measured values of electron temperature and ion velocity. Multiple boundary conditions for the electron temperature in the downstream regions of the domain are considered. The simulated ion velocity and potential agrees well with experiment, while the simulated divergence efficiencies and thrusts are 25% lower and 45-55% higher than experiment. When a Neumann boundary condition for electron temperature is applied to the far-plume boundaries, the nozzle was seen to be purely isothermal. This suggests that the thermal conductivity along field lines in real devices is much lower than classical simulations predict, and anomalous resistivity may be needed to reproduce the temperature distribution observed in experiment. The larger beam divergence observed in our simulation may also be related to the lack of anomalous resistivity.

Jorns, Benjamin A.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Efficient copper-vapor pulsed laser

High velocity flow is attained within system by expanding heated mixture of copper vapor, argon, and helium through supersonic nozzle. Arc heater, operated on argon/helium mixture, supplies energy to vaporize copper and to produce high temperature supersonic flow of gas/vapor mixture.

Russell, G. R.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Wind Tunnel Testing of Active Flow Control on High-Lift Common Research Model

A 10%-scale high-lift version of the Common Research Model (CRM-HL) and an Active Flow Control (AFC) version of the model equipped with a simple-hinged flap (CRM-SHLAFC) were successfully tested. The tests were performed in the 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel (14x22) at the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC). The CRM-HL has a set of 37° inboard and outboard single-element Fowler flaps. The CRM-SHL-AFC has a set of 50° inboard and 55° outboard simple-hinged flaps equipped with integrated modular AFC cartridges on the flap shoulder. Both high-lift configurations share the same 30° slats and engine nacelle. Three new types of AFC devices were examined: the Double-Row Sweeping Jets (DRSWJ), the Alternating Pulsed Jets (APJ), and the High Efficiency Low Power (HELP) actuators. The DRSWJ and the APJ actuators used two rows of unsteady jets, whereas the HELP actuators used a combination of unsteady and steady jets, to overcome strong adverse pressure gradients while minimizing the mass flow usage. Nozzle pressure ratio, mass flow consumption and the power coefficient, which takes account of both supply air pressure and mass flow usage for the actuators, were used for judging the performance efficiency of the AFC devices. A prestall lift performance degradation for the CRM-HL configuration was resolved with a properly placed nacelle chine. The configuration with nacelle chine was chosen as the representative reference conventional high-lift case for comparison with the CRMSHL- AFC. The AFC-induced lift coefficient increment (DCL) was maintained for the entire lift curve over the CRM-SHL-AFC case with no AFC for almost all flow-control cases examined. The lift curve of the reference CRM-HL have a slightly steeper slope compared to those of the CRM-SHL-AFC configurations. The HELP actuation concept was extremely effective in controlling flow separation in the “linear region” of the curves comparing lift coefficient to mass flow rate. The HELP actuation achieved a targeted DCL of 0.50 using a moderate amount of mass flow and supply air pressure. The CRM-SHL-AFC configuration equipped with HELP actuation was able to match or exceed the lift performance of the reference conventional high-lift configuration (i.e., CRM-HL equipped with a nacelle chine), thus meeting the NASA Advanced Air Transport Technology (AATT) project goal.

Lin, John C.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Effect on supersonic jet noise of nozzle plenum pressure fluctuations.

Demonstration that pressure fluctuations in the plenum chamber to a supersonic nozzle can strongly increase the noise radiated from the jet plume. The correlation shows that jet noise acoustic efficiency increases from 0.3% to 0.8% (or 4 dB) when the chamber roughness intensity increases from essentially no plenum chamber roughness to 2%. A roughness level of 2% has been observed in some turbojet engines. It is concluded that the reduction or elimination of plenum chamber pressure fluctuations may be an important method of reducing the total noise from jet engines.

Kushida, R.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Application of two-point difference schemes to the conservative Euler equations for one-dimensional flows

An implicit finite difference method is presented for obtaining steady state solutions to the time dependent, conservative Euler equations for flows containing shocks. The method used the two-point differencing approach of Keller with dissipation added at supersonic points via the retarded density concept. Application of the method to the one-dimensional nozzle flow equations for various combinations of subsonic and supersonic boundary conditions shows the method to be very efficient. Residuals are typically reduced to machine zero in approximately 35 time steps for 50 mesh points. It is shown that the scheme offers certain advantages over the more widely used three-point schemes, especially in regard to application of boundary conditions.

Wornom, S. F.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Application of two-point difference schemes to the conservative Euler equations for one-dimensional flows

An implicit finite-difference method is presented for obtaining steady-state solutions to the time-dependent, conservative Euler equations for flows containing shocks. The method uses a two-point central difference scheme with dissipation added at supersonic points via the retarded density concept. Application of the method to the one-dimensional nozzle flow equations for various combinations of subsonic and supersonic boundary conditions show the method to be very efficient. Residuals are typically reduced to machine zero in approximately 35 time steps for 50 mesh points. It is shown that the scheme offers certain advantages over the more widely-used three-point schemes, especially in regard to application of boundary conditions.

Wornom, S. F.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Solid particle dynamic behavior through twisted blade rows

The particle trajectory calculations provide the essential information which is required for predicting the pattern and intensity of turbomachinery erosion. Consequently, the evaluation of the machine performance deterioration due to erosion is extremely sensitive to the accuracy of the flow field and blade geometry representation in the trajectory computational model. A model is presented that is simple and efficient yet versatile and general to be applicable to axial, radial and mixed flow machines, and to inlets, nozzles, return passages and separators. The results of the computations are presented for the particle trajectories through a row of twisted vanes in the inlet flow field. The effect of the particle size on their trajectories, blade impacts, and on their redistribution and separation are discussed.

Hamed, A.↗
NASA NTRS1984

A two-point difference scheme for computing steady-state solutions to the conservative one-dimensional Euler equations

An implicit finite-difference method is presented for obtaining steady-state solutions to the time-dependent, conservative Euler equations for flows containing shocks. The method uses a two-point central-difference scheme for the flux derivatives with dissipation added at supersonic points via the retarded density concept. Application of the method to 1-dimensional nozzle flow equations for various combinations of subsonic and supersonic boundary conditions show the method to be very efficient. Residuals are typically reduced to machine zero in approximately 35 time steps for 50 mesh points. For 1-dimensional Euler calculations, it is shown that the scheme offers two advantages over the more widely-used three-point schemes. The first is in regard to application of boundary conditions, and the second relates to the fact that the two-point algorithm is well-conditioned for large time steps.

Wornom, S. F.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Naturally occurring and forced azimuthal modes in a turbulent jet

Naturally occurring instability modes in an axisymmetric jet were studied using the modal frequency technique. The evolution of the modal spectrum was obtained for a jet with a Reynolds number based on a diameter of 400,000 for both laminar and turbulent nozzle boundary layers. In the early evolution of the jet the axisymmetric mode was predominant, with the azimuthal modes growing rapidly but dominating only the end of the potential core. The growth of the azimuthal was observed closer to the nozzle exit for the jet in the laminar boundary layer case than for the turbulent. Target modes for efficient excitation of the jet were determined and two cases of excitation were studied. First, a jet was excited simultaneously by two helical modes, m equals plus 1 and m equals minus 1 at a Strouhal number based on jet diameter of 0.15 and the axisymmetric mode, m equals 0 at a jet diameter of 0.6. Second, m equals plus one and m equals minus 1 at jet diameter equals 0.3 and m equals 0 at jet diameter equals 0.6 were excited simultaneously. The downstream evolution of the hydrodynamic modes and the spreading rate of the jet were documented for each case. Higher jet spreading rates, accompanied by distorted jet cross sections were observed for the cases where combinations of axisymmetric and helical forcings were applied.

Raman, Ganesh↗