Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Code development”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 343 records · Page 19

Validation of NASA Thermal Ice Protection Computer Codes: Program Overview - Part 1

The Icing Technology Branch at NASA Lewis has been involved in an effort to validate two thermal ice protection codes developed at the NASA Lewis Research Center. LEWICE/Thermal (electrothermal deicing & anti-icing), and ANTICE (hot-gas & electrothermal anti-icing). The Thermal Code Validation effort was designated as a priority during a 1994 'peer review' of the NASA Lewis Icing program, and was implemented as a cooperative effort with industry. During April 1996, the first of a series of experimental validation tests was conducted in the NASA Lewis Icing Research Tunnel(IRT). The purpose of the April 96 test was to validate the electrothermal predictive capabilities of both LEWICE/Thermal, and ANTICE. A heavily instrumented test article was designed and fabricated for this test, with the capability of simulating electrothermal de-icing and anti-icing modes of operation. Thermal measurements were then obtained over a range of test conditions, for comparison with analytical predictions. This paper will present an overview of the test, including a detailed description of: (1) the validation process; (2) test article design; (3) test matrix development; and (4) test procedures. Selected experimental results will be presented for de-icing and anti-icing modes of operation. Finally, the status of the validation effort at this point will be summarized. Detailed comparisons between analytical predictions and experimental results are contained in the following two papers: 'Validation of NASA Thermal Ice Protection Computer Codes: Part 2- The Validation of LEWICE/Thermal' and 'Validation of NASA Thermal Ice Protection Computer Codes: Part 3-The Validation of ANTICE'

Miller, Dean↗

Theoretical research program to study chemical reactions in AOTV bow shock tubes

Progress in the development of computational methods for the characterization of chemical reactions in aerobraking orbit transfer vehicle (AOTV) propulsive flows is reported. Two main areas of code development were undertaken: (1) the implementation of CASSCF (complete active space self-consistent field) and SCF (self-consistent field) analytical first derivatives on the CRAY X-MP; and (2) the installation of the complete set of electronic structure codes on the CRAY 2. In the area of application calculations the main effort was devoted to performing full configuration-interaction calculations and using these results to benchmark other methods. Preprints describing some of the systems studied are included.

Taylor, P.↗

Unified approach for incompressible flows

An unified approach for solving both compressible and incompressible flows was investigated in this study. The difference in CFD code development between incompressible and compressible flows is due to the mathematical characteristics. However, if one can modify the continuity equation for incompressible flows by introducing pseudocompressibility, the governing equations for incompressible flows would have the same mathematical characters as compressible flows. The application of a compressible flow code to solve incompressible flows becomes feasible. Among numerical algorithms developed for compressible flows, the Centered Total Variation Diminishing (CTVD) schemes possess better mathematical properties to damp out the spurious oscillations while providing high-order accuracy for high speed flows. It leads us to believe that CTVD schemes can equally well solve incompressible flows. In this study, the governing equations for incompressible flows include the continuity equation and momentum equations. The continuity equation is modified by adding a time-derivative of the pressure term containing the artificial compressibility. The modified continuity equation together with the unsteady momentum equations forms a hyperbolic-parabolic type of time-dependent system of equations. The continuity equation is modified by adding a time-derivative of the pressure term containing the artificial compressibility. The modified continuity equation together with the unsteady momentum equations forms a hyperbolic-parabolic type of time-dependent system of equations. Thus, the CTVD schemes can be implemented. In addition, the boundary conditions including physical and numerical boundary conditions must be properly specified to obtain accurate solution. The CFD code for this research is currently in progress. Flow past a circular cylinder will be used for numerical experiments to determine the accuracy and efficiency of the code before applying this code to more specific applications.

Chang, Tyne-Hsien↗

Analysis and specification tools in relation to the APSE

Ada and the Ada Programming Support Environment (APSE) specifically address the phases of the system/software life cycle which follow after the user's problem was translated into system and software development specifications. The waterfall model of the life cycle identifies the analysis and requirements definition phases as preceeding program design and coding. Since Ada is a programming language and the APSE is a programming support environment, they are primarily targeted to support program (code) development, tecting, and maintenance. The use of Ada based or Ada related specification languages (SLs) and program design languages (PDLs) can extend the use of Ada back into the software design phases of the life cycle. Recall that the standardization of the APSE as a programming support environment is only now happening after many years of evolutionary experience with diverse sets of programming support tools. Restricting consideration to one, or even a few chosen specification and design tools, could be a real mistake for an organization or a major project such as the Space Station, which will need to deal with an increasingly complex level of system problems. To require that everything be Ada-like, be implemented in Ada, run directly under the APSE, and fit into a rigid waterfall model of the life cycle would turn a promising support environment into a straight jacket for progress.

Hendricks, John W.↗

NASA GRC Stirling Technology Development Overview

The Department of Energy, Lockheed Martin (LM), Stirling Technology Company, and NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) are developing a high-efficiency Stirling Radioisotope Generator (SRG) for potential NASA Space Science missions. The SRG is being developed for multimission use, including providing spacecraft onboard electric power for NASA deep space missions and power for unmanned Mars rovers. NASA GRC is conducting an in- house supporting technology project to assist in developing the Stirling convertor for space qualification and mission implementation. Preparations are underway for a thermalhacuum system demonstration and unattended operation during endurance testing of the 55-We Technology Demonstration Convertors. Heater head life assessment efforts continue, including verification of the heater head brazing and heat treatment schedules and evaluation of any potential regenerator oxidation. Long-term magnet aging tests are continuing to characterize any possible aging in the strength or demagnetization resistance of the permanent magnets used in the linear alternator. Testing of the magnet/lamination epoxy bond for performance and lifetime characteristics is now underway. These efforts are expected to provide key inputs as the system integrator, LM, begins system development of the SRG. GRC is also developing advanced technology for Stirling convertors. Cleveland State University (CSU) is progressing toward a multi-dimensional Stirling computational fluid dynamics code, capable of modeling complete convertors. Validation efforts at both CSU and the University of Minnesota are complementing the code development. New efforts have been started this year on a lightweight convertor, advanced controllers, high-temperature materials, and an end-to-end system dynamics model. Performance and mass improvement goals have been established for second- and third-generation Stirling radioisotope power systems.

Thieme, Lanny G.↗

Reference Solutions for Benchmark Turbulent Flows in Three Dimensions

A grid convergence study is performed to establish benchmark solutions for turbulent flows in three dimensions (3D) in support of turbulence-model verification campaign at the Turbulence Modeling Resource (TMR) website. The three benchmark cases are subsonic flows around a 3D bump and a hemisphere-cylinder configuration and a supersonic internal flow through a square duct. Reference solutions are computed for Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes equations with the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model using a linear eddy-viscosity model for the external flows and a nonlinear eddy-viscosity model based on a quadratic constitutive relation for the internal flow. The study involves three widely-used practical computational fluid dynamics codes developed and supported at NASA Langley Research Center: FUN3D, USM3D, and CFL3D. Reference steady-state solutions computed with these three codes on families of consistently refined grids are presented. Grid-to-grid and code-to-code variations are described in detail.

Diskin, Boris↗

Thermal Analysis Evaluations Using the Dry Cask Simulator

Different thermal analysis models were developed to simulate the dry cask simulator (DCS). The DCS is an experiment designed to simulate dry storage of a single boiling water reactor fuel assembly under a variety of heat loads and internal pressures. The DCS was set up and tested in both a vertical and horizontal configuration to determine cladding temperatures in vertical and horizontal dry cask storage systems. The models included a detailed STAR-CCM+ model with the fuel assembly geometry explicitly modeled, a porous STAR-CCM+ model with the fuel assembly geometry modeled as porous media region with calculated effective properties, and a COBRA-SFS model. COBRA-SFS is a thermal-hydraulic code developed for steady-state and transient analysis of multi assembly spent-fuel storage and transportation systems. STAR-CCM+ is a commercial computation fluid dynamics (CFD) code. Both a detailed and porous STARCCM+ model were developed to look at the effective thermal conductivity (keff) approach to modeling a fuel assembly. A keff fuel model is typically model in CFD thermal analyses due to its significantly lower computational costs. The models were run for a combination of low and high canister pressures (100 kPa and 800 kPa) and low and high internal heat loads (0.5 kW and 5 kW). Results from all three models were compared against experimental data taken from the DCS for the peak cladding temperature (PCT) and inlet air mass flow.

Suffield, Sarah R.↗

NAS Experiences of Porting CM Fortran Codes to HPF on IBM SP2 and SGI Power Challenge

Current Connection Machine (CM) Fortran codes developed for the CM-2 and the CM-5 represent an important class of parallel applications. Several users have employed CM Fortran codes in production mode on the CM-2 and the CM-5 for the last five to six years, constituting a heavy investment in terms of cost and time. With Thinking Machines Corporation's decision to withdraw from the hardware business and with the decommissioning of many CM-2 and CM-5 machines, the best way to protect the substantial investment in CM Fortran codes is to port the codes to High Performance Fortran (HPF) on highly parallel systems. HPF is very similar to CM Fortran and thus represents a natural transition. Conversion issues involved in porting CM Fortran codes on the CM-5 to HPF are presented. In particular, the differences between data distribution directives and the CM Fortran Utility Routines Library, as well as the equivalent functionality in the HPF Library are discussed. Several CM Fortran codes (Cannon algorithm for matrix-matrix multiplication, Linear solver Ax=b, 1-D convolution for 2-D datasets, Laplace's Equation solver, and Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) codes have been ported to Subset HPF on the IBM SP2 and the SGI Power Challenge. Speedup ratios versus number of processors for the Linear solver and DSMC code are presented.

Saini, Subhash↗

Application of Finite Element Method to Analyze Inflatable Waveguide Structures

A Finite Element Method (FEM) is presented to determine propagation characteristics of deformed inflatable rectangular waveguide. Various deformations that might be present in an inflatable waveguide are analyzed using the FEM. The FEM procedure and the code developed here are so general that they can be used for any other deformations that are not considered in this report. The code is validated by applying the present code to rectangular waveguide without any deformations and comparing the numerical results with earlier published results.

Deshpande, M. D.↗

Modeling of Cryogenic Heated-Tube Flow Boiling Experiments of Hydrogen and Helium With GFSSP

Accurate modeling of cryogenic boiling heat transfer is vital for the development of extended-duration space missions. Such missions may require the transfer of cryogenic propellants from in-space storage depots or the cooling of nuclear reactors. Purdue University in collaboration with NASA has assembled a database of cryogenic flow boiling data points from heated-tube experiments dating back to 1959, which has been used to develop new flow boiling correlations specifically for cryogens. Computational models of several of these experiments have been constructed in the Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program (GFSSP), a network flow code developed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The new Purdue-developed correlations cover the full boiling curve: onset of nucleate boiling, nucleate boiling, critical heat flux, and film boiling. These correlations have been coded into GFSSP user subroutines. The fluids modeled are hydrogen and helium. Predictions of wall temperature, heat transfer coefficient, and pressure drop are presented and compared to the test data.

multi-phase flow↗

Modeling of Cryogenic Heated-Tube Flow Boiling Experiments of Nitrogen and Methane with the Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program

Accurate modeling of cryogenic boiling heat transfer is vital for the development of extended-duration space missions. Such missions may require the transfer of cryogenic propellants from in-space storage depots or the cooling of nuclear reactors. Purdue University in collaboration with NASA has assembled a database of cryogenic flow boiling data points from heated-tube experiments dating back to 1959, which has been used to develop new flow boiling correlations specifically for cryogens. Computational models of several of these experiments have been constructed in the Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program (GFSSP), a network flow code developed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The new Purdue-developed correlations cover the full boiling curve: onset of nucleate boiling, nucleate boiling, critical heat flux, and film boiling. These correlations have been coded into GFSSP user subroutines. The fluids modeled are methane and nitrogen. Predictions of wall temperature and heat transfer coefficient are presented and compared to the test data.

Multi-Phase Flow↗

Development and Validation of a Fast, Accurate and Cost-Effective Aeroservoelastic Method on Advanced Parallel Computing Systems

Progress to date towards the development and validation of a fast, accurate and cost-effective aeroelastic method for advanced parallel computing platforms such as the IBM SP2 and the SGI Origin 2000 is presented in this paper. The ENSAERO code, developed at the NASA-Ames Research Center has been selected for this effort. The code allows for the computation of aeroelastic responses by simultaneously integrating the Euler or Navier-Stokes equations and the modal structural equations of motion. To assess the computational performance and accuracy of the ENSAERO code, this paper reports the results of the Navier-Stokes simulations of the transonic flow over a flexible aeroelastic wing body configuration. In addition, a forced harmonic oscillation analysis in the frequency domain and an analysis in the time domain are done on a wing undergoing a rigid pitch and plunge motion. Finally, to demonstrate the ENSAERO flutter-analysis capability, aeroelastic Euler and Navier-Stokes computations on an L-1011 wind tunnel model including pylon, nacelle and empennage are underway. All computational solutions are compared with experimental data to assess the level of accuracy of ENSAERO. As the computations described above are performed, a meticulous log of computational performance in terms of wall clock time, execution speed, memory and disk storage is kept. Code scalability is also demonstrated by studying the impact of varying the number of processors on computational performance on the IBM SP2 and the Origin 2000 systems.

Goodwin, Sabine A.↗

Modeling of Cryogenic Heated-Tube Flow Boiling Experiments of Hydrogen and Helium With the Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program

Accurate modeling of cryogenic boiling heat transfer is vital for the development of extended-duration space missions. Such missions may require the transfer of cryogenic propellants from in-space storage depots or the cooling of nuclear reactors. Purdue University in collaboration with NASA has assembled a database of cryogenic flow boiling data points from heated-tube experiments dating back to 1959, which has been used to develop new flow boiling correlations specifically for cryogens. Computational models of several of these experiments have been constructed in the Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program (GFSSP), a network flow code developed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The new Purdue-developed universal correlations cover the full boiling curve: onset of nucleate boiling, nucleate boiling, critical heat flux, and film boiling. These correlations have been coded into GFSSP user subroutines. The fluids modeled in this study are liquid hydrogen and liquid helium. Predictions of local wall temperature and pressure drop are presented and compared to the test data.

multi-phase flow↗

Software Development Processes Applied to Computational Icing Simulation

The development of computational icing simulation methods is making the transition form the research to common place use in design and certification efforts. As such, standards of code management, design validation, and documentation must be adjusted to accommodate the increased expectations of the user community with respect to accuracy, reliability, capability, and usability. This paper discusses these concepts with regard to current and future icing simulation code development efforts as implemented by the Icing Branch of the NASA Lewis Research Center in collaboration with the NASA Lewis Engineering Design and Analysis Division. With the application of the techniques outlined in this paper, the LEWICE ice accretion code has become a more stable and reliable software product.

Levinson, Laurie H.↗

Hydro-Code Implementation and Testing of a Kinetic Phase Transition Framework

In this report we describe the Kinetic Phase Transition (KPT) framework that has been worked out over the last 10 years (from around 2014) and the implementation of it into three different codes, the one-dimensional hydro- LASLO and the three-dimensional magneto-hydro- ALEGRA, Sandia codes, via subroutines in the LAMBDA Equations of State and constitutive models package, and Flag, an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian multiphysics code developed within the Lagrangian Applications project (LAP) at LANL. We discuss the introduction of phase mass (and/or volume) fractions that are needed in a code for it to be ‘phase aware’, that is, not only the thermodynamic state is known in each point but also the mixture of the materials’ phases in that point. Further we point to the need of a full Equations of State for each phase in a material to achieve phase awareness and we review the equilibrium phase model, where a phase mixture is at its lowest Gibbs free energy state, to make this point clear. Contrasting the kinetic phase transition to this equilibrium model seamlessly introduce us to the KPT framework that is subsequently thoroughly discussed. While the determination of the total state and the states and mass fractions of phases in each point is a problem that can borrow many of its numerical details from Eulerian codes and mixture of materials (not phases), the update of mass fractions with time in a KPT framework needs a new set of considerations. General for any update model is that we need to prevent mass fractions from becoming unphysical (negative or their sum to be larger than one). We have solved this problem by implementing a subdivision of the hydro time step that prevents the phase from being fully present to not present at all in one subdivided time step by limiting the size of the subdivided time step. This scheme also corrects numerical problems from abrupt changes in parameter values, the so called Gibbs phenomena, that gives rise to slushing between phases in the KPT framework. Interspersed throughout the report are discussions on different thermodynamics considerations. EOS validity windows, limitations on the EOS phase space, are needed for the KPT framework and are discussed separately and exemplified. The KPT framework described in this report has been verified by code comparison, but validation is still an active area of research. There is room for improvement in the update model, both in the model for determination of rates and in how to prevent the mass fractions from becoming unphysical. In addition, the parameters in the KPT update model and the placement of the phase boundary in the EOS phase space, and interactions with other constitutive models, are closely related and interfering with each other. One possible way forward is to simultaneously develop KPT parameters, EOS, and constitutive models for each material.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Investigation of aerothermodynamics and optical radiation in the AFE hypersonic flow field

Research for the radiation experiments on the Aeroassist Flight Experiment (AFE) was performed to obtain a data base for development of engineering requirements for aerobrakes. Due to funding restrictions, the necessary Aerobrake design data were obtained from ground based experiments, specifically arc-jet wind tunnels. Except for the instrument windows, final development of the AFE radiometers was completed. Window definition included several designs to be flight validated in arc-jets. This work was completed, and successful designs have evolved which will yield full scientific return from the flight experiment. The theoretical work includes final code development to describe the spacecraft environment to support instrument definition, optical radiation codes that operate at significantly improved speeds, and calculation of radiation forebody loads and effects on experiment objectives for varying AFE weights and trajectories. Furthermore, radiant flux vectors at the AFE base were predicted to be used for afterbody instrument definition. The Vacuum Ultraviolet Experiment for the Arc-Jet was completed, and arc-jet experiment conditions and experiment objectives were refined to incorporate the most current thinking. Ballistic range experiments were completed. Several shadowgraphs indicating corner turning angles and waviness structures were obtained, and the results were used to estimate the compression region location for the AFE flight. The waviness measured has helped to model the temporal variations of wake radiation for purposes of defining radiometers to measure the energy content of wake dynamics.

Palumbo, Giusseppe↗

A Novel Partitioned Approach for Reduced Order Model—Finite Element Model (ROM-FEM) and ROM-ROM Coupling

Partitioned methods allow one to build a simulation capability for coupled problems by reusing existing single-component codes. In so doing, partitioned methods can shorten code development and validation times for multiphysics and multiscale applications. In this work, we consider a scenario in which one or more of the “codes” being coupled are projection-based reduced order models (ROMs), introduced to lower the computational cost associated with a particular component. We simulate this scenario by considering a model interface problem that is discretized independently on two non-overlapping subdomains. Here we then formulate a partitioned scheme for this problem that allows the coupling between a ROM “code” for one of the subdomains with a finite element model (FEM) or ROM “code” for the other subdomain. The ROM “codes” are constructed by performing proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) on a snapshot ensemble to obtain a low-dimensional reduced order basis, followed by a Galerkin projection onto this basis. The ROM and/or FEM “codes” on each subdomain are then coupled using a Lagrange multiplier representing the interface flux. To partition the resulting monolithic problem, we first eliminate the flux through a dual Schur complement. Application of an explicit time integration scheme to the transformed monolithic problem decouples the subdomain equations, allowing their independent solution for the next time step. We show numerical results that demonstrate the proposed method’s efficacy in achieving both ROM-FEM and ROM-ROM coupling.

de Castro, Amy↗

Topanga: A kinetic ion plasma code for large-scale ionospheric simulations on magnetohydrodynamic timescales

Topanga is a kinetic ion code developed for simulating large-scale plasma phenomena in the Earth's ionosphere on magnetohydrodynamic timescales. It is a domain-decomposed parallel code that runs on high-performance computing platforms. Features of Topanga include spherical geometry for simplified boundary conditions and computational efficiency; a hybrid plasma model with inertia-less fluid electrons, kinetic ions, and an electric field specified via an Ohm's law; a Maxwell-FDTD (finite difference time domain) plasma model which retains the displacement current in Maxwell's equations and models electron currents in the ionosphere with a tensor conductivity; sponge-layer boundary conditions for absorption of electromagnetic and plasma waves incident on the domain boundaries; and a novel mixed-implicit algorithm for evolving the EM fields inside the Maxwell-FDTD region that is stable over many orders of magnitude in the electron–ion collision frequency. We verify the numerical methods used in Topanga on a pair of test problems. The first test involves modeling a three-dimensional collisionless shock using the hybrid set of equations. The second test involves modeling a spherical TEM mode in vacuum using the Maxwell-FDTD set of equations. Finally, we demonstrate how using the combined set of hybrid and Maxwell-FDTD equations to model the Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test recovers a “missing” EM signal on the ground that is not present when using only the hybrid set of equations. The magnitude of this signal in the simulation containing the Maxwell-FDTD region agrees well with the E3a portion of the magnetohydrodynamic electromagnetic pulse from Starfish Prime.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗