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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 NTRS1997

Temperature Induced Alpha Factor

Temperature effects can be important in short pulse propagation or in CW operation of VCSELs. In those cases, the optical susceptibility function is, in general, a function of carrier density and plasma and/or lattice temperature(s). Just as there is an alpha factor induced by the density change (density alpha), there are alpha factors induced by lattice or plasma temperature change (temperature alphas). The density alpha factor has been studied quite extensively, while the temperature alpha factors have not been computed for any structure. I will report on my first calculations of alpha factors induced by the plasma and lattice temperature change for GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells using microscopic theory. Besides, the temperature dependence of the density alpha factor is also considered.

Ning, C. Z.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The effect of processing conditions on solidified structures in immiscible systems

The incentive for low-gravity processing of immiscible alloys is usually tied to an attempt to eliminate sedimentation of the more dense immiscible liquid phase during processing. However, many other factors can influence the solidified structure of these alloys. For example, crucible wetting by one of the immiscible liquid phases during normal (non-directional) low-gravity solidification in a container has been shown to often lead to a completely separated structure. For containerless, low-gravity processing, alloy composition has a tremendous affect on the structure formed. During directional solidification, alloy composition, thermal gradient, solidification rate, convective instability and the miscibility gap height of the system all have a major effect on the structures obtained. This paper discusses the conditions necessary for the production of desired microstructures in each of these processing techniques. Examples are shown of samples processed under both desirable and undesirable conditions.

Andrews, J. B.↗
NASA NTRS1987

On the glitches in the force transmitted by an electrodynamic exciter to a structure

Around resonance, the force transmitted by an exciter into a structure will be smaller or greater than a reference force generated by its coils due to electromechanical interaction. A simple analysis is presented which reveals how this phenomenon of force drop-off is controlled by three factors. The first factor, called Armature Mass Factor, describes a purely mechanical interaction between the structure and the exciter. The electromechanical energy conversion and its interaction with the structure yields two additional factors, called Electrical Resistance and Electrical Inductance Factors. They describe the effects of coil resistance, inductance and magnetic field strength relative to structural damping and stiffness. Present analysis indicates that, under proper circumstances, more than 90 percent of the force drop-off can be eliminated if armature-to-structure mass ratio is smaller or equal to half of modal loss factor.

Rao, Dantam K.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Elemental and Molecular Relative Abundances in the Ejecta of Eta Carinae

We are measuring relative elemental abundances for the ejecta in the line of sight from Eta Carinae using high dispersion spectroscopy with the HST/STIS and the VLT/UVES. While multiple velocity components have been identified, we focus on the -513 and -146 km/s components originating from the Homunculus and the Little Homunculus. Complicating factors are the complex nebular structures in the immediate vicinity of the bright, massive star: the very bright emission structures, Weigelt blobs B, C and D, the broad, clumpy structures of the extended wind apparently not photoionized by Eta Car B, and general scattered starlight from the extended wind and the dusty core of the circumstellar material. We have used the 3050 to 3160A region of overlap between STIS and UVES to intercompare equivalent widths of absorption lines to estimate the 'contributing factor', namely the amount of light originating from the star compared to nebular structures. While the extracted STIS spectra are from 0.1" wide aperture, the UVES spectra are limited by the 1" seeing conditions. Curiously we find that the scattering contribution in the UVES spectra changes with time, apparently with orbital phase of the 5.54-year period. This indicates that the dust may be modified by changes in the central source with phase. The noticeable drop in scattered light appears to occur about 1.7 years (phase 0.35) after the spectroscopic minimum. Relative abundances of iron peak elements and some molecules will be estimated. Observations in this study were accomplished with HST through STSci and with VLT through ESO and funded under STIS GTO resources.

Kober, G. V.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Optimization of structures on the basis of fracture mechanics and reliability criteria

Systematic summary of factors which are involved in optimization of given structural configuration is part of report resulting from study of analysis of objective function. Predicted reliability of performance of finished structure is sharply dependent upon results of coupon tests. Optimization analysis developed by study also involves expected cost of proof testing.

Heer, E.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Evolution of hematopoiesis: Three members of the PU.1 transcription factor family in a cartilaginous fish, Raja eglanteria

T lymphocytes and B lymphocytes are present in jawed vertebrates, including cartilaginous fishes, but not in jawless vertebrates or invertebrates. The origins of these lineages may be understood in terms of evolutionary changes in the structure and regulation of transcription factors that control lymphocyte development, such as PU.1. The identification and characterization of three members of the PU.1 family of transcription factors in a cartilaginous fish, Raja eglanteria, are described here. Two of these genes are orthologs of mammalian PU.1 and Spi-C, respectively, whereas the third gene, Spi-D, is a different family member. In addition, a PU.1-like gene has been identified in a jawless vertebrate, Petromyzon marinus (sea lamprey). Both DNA-binding and transactivation domains are highly conserved between mammalian and skate PU.1, in marked contrast to lamprey Spi, in which similarity is evident only in the DNA-binding domain. Phylogenetic analysis of sequence data suggests that the appearance of Spi-C may predate the divergence of the jawed and jawless vertebrates and that Spi-D arose before the divergence of the cartilaginous fish from the lineage leading to the mammals. The tissue-specific expression patterns of skate PU.1 and Spi-C suggest that these genes share regulatory as well as structural properties with their mammalian orthologs.

NASA Discipline Evolutionary Biology↗
NASA NTRS1984

The effects of the space environment on damping materials and damping designs on flexible structures

The effects of space environments on damping materials and damping designs on flexible structures were investigated. The following items were examined: damping of flexible spacecraft appendages; composite loss factor (n sub s) vs. time in high vacuum for damped test beams and damping of flexible structures. The STEP experiments show inherent damping of flexible structures in space effective possible damping design configurations for space structures, effects of passively damped components on the system loss factor of flexible structures and the effect of space environment on properties of damping materials.

Kluesener, M. F.↗
NASA NTRS1998

A New Approach to Overcoming Spatial Aliasing in Structural Damage Detection

Aircraft, reusable launch vehicles,unmanned aircraft, and other advanced structures are being built using lightweight composite materials/metals with design safety factors as low as 1.25. These advanced structures operate in uncertain and severe environments and are susceptible to damage such as delamination, fiber/matrix damage, hydrothermal strain in composite materials, and fatigue and cracking in metals. To ensure human safety and load-bearing integrity these structures must be inspected to detect and locate often invisible damage and faults before they become catastrophic. Conventional methods of non-destructive evaluation sometimes miss significant damage and are time consuming and expensive to perform. In contrast, vibrometry or vibration signature techniques are a global method of structural integrity monitoring that potentially can efficiently detect damage on large structures, including damage that is away from sensor locations, and in the interior of structures. However, a barrier problem in damage detection using vibration measurements is the need to measure the vibration response at a large number of points on the structure. Typically, model reduction or expansion procedures such as Guyan reduction or dynamic expansion are attempted to overcome the problem of insufficient measurements or spatial aliasing. These approaches depend on using information from the healthy model, and thus put error into the reduction used to represent the damaged structure. In this paper, a Frequency Response Function technique is used to detect damage to a fixed-free beam. The technique uses measured frequency response functions from the healthy structure as reference data, and then monitors vibration measurements during the life of the structure to detect damage. In an analytical simulation using a finite-element model of a beam, damage was located using only sparse measurements because the technique uses both rotation and translation measurements from the damaged structure.

Schulz, Mark J.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Unbound molecular complexes in M33

The HI content of the nearby spiral galaxy M33 (d approx. 0.8 Mpc) has been the subject of many detailed studies (most recently Deul and van der Hulst 1987), but similar data on the molecular gas component has been lacking. This galaxy is currently undergoing vigorous high-mass star formation, as evidenced by the many OB associations and HII regions, and so is expected to possess at least some molecular gas. Interferometric studies have detected molecular clouds similar to Galactic Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) (Boulanger et al. 1988; Wilson et al. 1988). Researchers have recently mapped the nuclear region of M33 in the CO J=1-0 line with a 12 m telescope (half power beam width 55 inches approx. 210 pc) out to a radius of 3.5 minutes in order to trace the detailed distribution of the molecular gas. The resulting map reveals six large complexes with diameters of 200 to 400 pc. Interferometer observations of these regions have resolved them into individual molecular clouds similar to Galactic GMCs (Wilson et al. 1988). The complexes shown are much larger than individual Galactic GMCs (Sanders, Scoville, and Solomon 1985), but are somewhat smaller on average than the large associations seen in the grand-design spiral galaxy M51 (Rand and Kulkarni 1989). If we extend the velocity-diameter relation observed for Galactic GMCs to these larger structures, the predicted velocity widths are a factor of 1.5 to 3 times greater than the observed full-width half-maximum velocities (13 to 29 km (s-1). The peak brightness temperatures are approx. 0.2 K, at least a factor of 10 lower than what is observed for Galactic GMCs. If these large structures are made up of objects similar to Galactic GMCs, the area filling factor of the small clouds is roughly 10 percent. These results suggest that these complexes are not very large GMCs, but rather are associations of many individual GMCs or GMCs embedded in a diffuse gas component.

Wilson, Christine D.↗
NASA NTRS1988

A computer-based Safety Assessment for Flight Evacuation - SAFE

The Safety Assessment for Flight Evacuation (SAFE) system has been developed for the computerized evaluation of safety in civil Emergency Medical Service (EMS) operations. The speed of the microprocessor used to analyze data allows many individual factors to be considered, as well as the interactions among those factors. SAFE's data base is structured as if-then conditional statements. SAFE also allows the most important of the factors to be given greater weight in the final score. The questionnaire filled by EMS crews encompassed mission-, crew-, organization-, environment-, and aircraft-related factors; each of these was subdivided into as many as eight variables affecting the EMS-mission risk of that factor.

Shively, Robert J.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Sensitivity-based scaling for correlating structural response from different analytical models

A sensitivity-based linearly varying scale factor is described used to reconcile results from refined models for analysis of the same structure. The improved accuracy of the linear scale factor compared to a constant scale factor as well as the commonly used tangent approximation is demonstrated. A wing box structure is used as an example, with displacements, stresses, and frequencies correlated. The linear scale factor could permit the use of a simplified model in an optimization procedure during preliminary design to approximate the response given by a refined model over a considerable range of design changes.

Chang, Kwan J.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Extinction by a Homogeneous Spherical Particle in an Absorbing Medium

We use a recent computer implementation of the first principles theory of electromagnetic scattering to compute far-field extinction by a spherical particle embedded in an absorbing unbounded host. Our results show that the suppressing effect of increasing absorption inside the host medium on the ripple structure of the extinction efficiency factor as a function of the size parameter is similar to the well-known effect of increasing absorption inside a particle embedded in a nonabsorbing host. However, the accompanying effects on the interference structure of the extinction efficiency curves are diametrically opposite. As a result, sufficiently large absorption inside the host medium can cause negative particulate extinction. We offer a simple physical explanation of the phenomenon of negative extinction consistent with the interpretation of the interference structure as being the result of interference of the field transmitted by the particle and the diffracted field due to an incomplete wave front resulting from the blockage of the incident plane wave by the particle's geometrical projection.

Scattering↗
NASA NTRS1996

Active Control of Noise Using Actuator/Sensor Arrays

Current research in smart structures is directed toward the integration of many actuators and sensors into a material. In this paper we investigate the possibility of using this instrumentation for active noise control from a vibrating structures. Current technology for reducing radiated sound is limited by the instrumentation for the control system. These control systems employ relatively small numbers of sensors and actuators. Hence, these control systems must rely on a model of the structure to estimate and control the global vibrations that contribute to the far field pressure. For complex, realistic structures the development of such a model is a formidable task. The model is a limiting factor in the continuing development of structural acoustics. In this paper we propose to increase the number of actuators and sensors of a smart material to offset the complexity of the model used for control design. The sensor arrays will be used to directly sense the shape of the structure rather than using a model of the structures to indirectly sense the shape of the structure. The actuator array is used to apply distributed forces to the structure, rather than using the structure itself as a load path. A control system for the active cancellation of sound is derived from standard control system methodologies.

Lindner, Douglas K.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Nonlinear Response and Residual Strength of Damaged Stiffened Shells Subjected to Combined Loads

The results of an analytical study of the nonlinear response of stiffened fuselage shells with long cracks are presented. The shells are modeled with a hierarchical modeling strategy and analyzed with a nonlinear shell analysis code that maintains the shell in a nonlinear equilibrium state while the crack is grown. The analysis accurately accounts for global and local structural response phenomena. Fuselage skins, frames stringers and failsafe straps are included in the models. Results are presented for various combinations of internal pressure and mechanical bending, vertical shear and torsion loads, and the effects of crack orientation and location on the shell response are described. These results indicate that the nonlinear interaction between the in-plane stress resultants and the out-of-plane displacements near a crack can significantly affect the structural response of the shell, and the stress-intensity factors associated with a crack that are used to predict residual strength. The effects of representative combined loading conditions on the stress-intensity factors associated with a crack are presented. The effects of varying structural parameters on the stress-intensity factors associated with a crack, and on self-similar and non-self-similar crack-growth are also presented.

Starnes, James H., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Probabilistic analysis of a materially nonlinear structure

A probabilistic finite element program is used to perform probabilistic analysis of a materially nonlinear structure. The program used in this study is NESSUS (Numerical Evaluation of Stochastic Structure Under Stress), under development at Southwest Research Institute. The cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the radial stress of a thick-walled cylinder under internal pressure is computed and compared with the analytical solution. In addition, sensitivity factors showing the relative importance of the input random variables are calculated. Significant plasticity is present in this problem and has a pronounced effect on the probabilistic results. The random input variables are the material yield stress and internal pressure with Weibull and normal distributions, respectively. The results verify the ability of NESSUS to compute the CDF and sensitivity factors of a materially nonlinear structure. In addition, the ability of the Advanced Mean Value (AMV) procedure to assess the probabilistic behavior of structures which exhibit a highly nonlinear response is shown. Thus, the AMV procedure can be applied with confidence to other structures which exhibit nonlinear behavior.

Millwater, H. R.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Test and Analysis of Full-Scale 27.5-Foot-Diameter Stiffened Metallic Launch Vehicle Cylinders

The Shell Buckling Knockdown Factor Project (SBKF) was established with the goal of developing improved (i.e., less-conservative, more robust) shell buckling knockdown factors (KDFs) for modern launch-vehicle structures. To this end, SBKF has engaged in several activities to support the development, validation, and implementation of the new design factors, including subscale and full-scale structural testing. Tests on eight different subscale, 8-foot-diameter, integrally stiffened aluminum-lithium 2195 (Al-Li 2195) cylinders were conducted in order to obtain the majority of the required validation data. In addition, two full-scale, 27.5-foot-diameter, Al-Li 2195, integrally stiffened cylinders were tested to provide additional validation data and to determine structural scaling trends. Presented herein are the details of a recent analysis model development and test and analysis correlation effort on the full-scale test articles. The effects of selected modeling assumptions and approaches are discussed, and results from a modeling sensitivity study are presented. It was found that simplified finite element models, that assume nominal test article geometry and material properties, can predict the overall response characteristics well. However, several discrepancies in the test and analysis results were observed. A sensitivity study was performed to determine the effects of several modeling assumptions and address the observed discrepancies. The results from the study indicated that the evolution of local skin pocket buckling and the presence of residual stresses due to the manufacturing process can have a significant influence on the predicted buckling response of the cylinders considered.

Lovejoy, Andrew E.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Space biology initiative program definition review. Trade study 2: Prototype utilization in the development of space biology hardware

The objective was to define the factors which space flight hardware developers and planners should consider when determining: (1) the number of hardware units required to support program; (2) design level of the units; and (3) most efficient means of utilization of the units. The analysis considered technology risk, maintainability, reliability, and safety design requirements for achieving the delivery of highest quality flight hardware. Relative cost impacts of the utilization of prototyping were identified. The development of Space Biology Initiative research hardware will involve intertwined hardware/software activities. Experience has shown that software development can be an expensive portion of a system design program. While software prototyping could imply the development of a significantly different end item, an operational system prototype must be considered to be a combination of software and hardware. Hundreds of factors were identified that could be considered in determining the quantity and types of prototypes that should be constructed. In developing the decision models, these factors were combined and reduced by approximately ten-to-one in order to develop a manageable structure based on the major determining factors. The Baseline SBI hardware list of Appendix D was examined and reviewed in detail; however, from the facts available it was impossible to identify the exact types and quantities of prototypes required for each of these items. Although the factors that must be considered could be enumerated for each of these pieces of equipment, the exact status and state of development of the equipment is variable and uncertain at this time.

Jackson, L. Neal↗
NASA NTRS2002

An Efficient Scheme for Updating Sparse Cholesky Factors

Raghavan had earlier developed the software package DCSPACK which can be used for solving sparse linear systems where the coefficient matrix is symmetric and positive definite (this project was not funded by NASA but by agencies such as NSF). DSCPACK-S is the serial code and DSCPACK-P is a parallel implementation suitable for multiprocessors or networks-of-workstations with message passing using MCI. The main algorithm used is the Cholesky factorization of a sparse symmetric positive positive definite matrix A = LL(T). The code can also compute the factorization A = LDL(T). The complexity of the software arises from several factors relating to the sparsity of the matrix A. A sparse N x N matrix A has typically less that cN nonzeroes where c is a small constant. If the matrix were dense, it would have O(N2) nonzeroes. The most complicated part of such sparse Cholesky factorization relates to fill-in, i.e., zeroes in the original matrix that become nonzeroes in the factor L. An efficient implementation depends to a large extent on complex data structures and on techniques from graph theory to reduce, identify, and manage fill. DSCPACK is based on an efficient multifrontal implementation with fill-managing algorithms and implementation arising from earlier research by Raghavan and others. Sparse Cholesky factorization is typically a four step process: (1) ordering to compute a fill-reducing numbering, (2) symbolic factorization to determine the nonzero structure of L, (3) numeric factorization to compute L, and, (4) triangular solution to solve L(T)x = y and Ly = b. The first two steps are symbolic and are performed using the graph of the matrix. The numeric factorization step is of dominant cost and there are several schemes for improving performance by exploiting the nested and dense structure of groups of columns in the factor. The latter are aimed at better utilization of the cache-memory hierarchy on modem processors to prevent cache-misses and provide execution rates (operations/second) that are close to the peak rates for dense matrix computations. Currently, EPISCOPACY is being used in an application at NASA directed by J. Newman and M. James. We propose the implementation of efficient schemes for updating the LL(T) or LDL(T) factors computed in DSCPACK-S to meet the computational requirements of their project. A brief description is provided in the next section.

Raghavan, Padma↗