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A computer simulator for development of engineering system design methodologies
A computer program designed to simulate and improve engineering system design methodology is described. The simulator mimics the qualitative behavior and data couplings occurring among the subsystems of a complex engineering system. It eliminates the engineering analyses in the subsystems by replacing them with judiciously chosen analytical functions. With the cost of analysis eliminated, the simulator is used for experimentation with a large variety of candidate algorithms for multilevel design optimization to choose the best ones for the actual application. Thus, the simulator serves as a development tool for multilevel design optimization strategy. The simulator concept, implementation, and status are described and illustrated with examples.
Analysis of turbine stator adjustment required for compressor design-point operation in high Mach number supersonic turbojet engines
For turbojet engines designed for flight Mach numbers of 2.5 and 3.0, use of turbine stator adjustment to maintain compressor design-point operation was evaluated analytically to determine the effect on the aerodynamics of the turbine. Since the effect of turbine stator adjustment is to make the turbine design sensitive to the particular engine design conditions selected, in some cases the turbine must be conservatively designed for the high-speed flight condition to assure satisfactory turbine performance at take-off. A new concept, the break-even point, is introduced to provide quick evaluation of the proximity of turbines to the blade-loading limit at any off-design operation.
Rapid Design and Engineering of Smart and Secure Microbiological Systems (Final Report)
The design and application of successfully engineered biosystems requires an understanding of how engineered microbes will interact with other organisms – either as one-on-one competitors or in the context of microbial consortia. Engineering microorganisms from first principles for non-laboratory, environmental applications is inherently challenging because: (1) engineered systems tend to quickly revert back to their wild-type behaviors; and (2) these systems typically pay a price in reduced fitness, making them uncompetitive against invasive contaminating species (i.e., metabolic burden). For this project, we used a synthetic biology-based strategy to investigate the organization, control, stabilization, and destabilization of natural and engineered microbes. This approach enabled development of (1) single-strain systems capable of detecting and responding to target organisms in the environment; (2) a pipeline for refining and engineering biological constructs in new, non-model host organisms; and (3) improved systems for rapidly designing, engineering, and assaying new biological modules. This coupled approach to safeguard system design is predictable and portable across bacterial species and is focused on microbes that are part of the beneficial plant microbiome. A long-term goal beyond the proposed research is to enable the rational engineering of microbial communities based on first principles of biological design that mimic the smart performance of microorganisms observed in natural systems.
Advanced space engine preliminary design
A preliminary design was completed for an O2/H2, 89 kN (20,000 lb) thrust staged combustion rocket engine that has a single-bell nozzle with an overall expansion ratio of 400:1. The engine has a best estimate vacuum specific impulse of 4623.8 N-s/kg (471.5 sec) at full thrust and mixture ratio = 6.0. The engine employs gear-driven, low pressure pumps to provide low NPSH capability while individual turbine-driven, high-speed main pumps provide the system pressures required for high-chamber pressure operation. The engine design dry weight for the fixed-nozzle configuration is 206.9 kg (456.3 lb). Engine overall length is 234 cm (92.1 in.). The extendible nozzle version has a stowed length of 141.5 cm (55.7 in.). Critical technology items in the development of the engine were defined. Development program plans and their costs for development, production, operation, and flight support of the ASE were established for minimum cost and minimum time programs.
Virtual mission systems for multi-disciplinary engineering system design
To ensure the science return while minimizing the cost and risk of a mission, a lifecycle-wide concurrent engineering design process must be established.
Heat Transfer and Fluid Dynamics Measurements in the Expansion Space of a Stirling Cycle Engine
The heater (or acceptor) of a Stirling engine, where most of the thermal energy is accepted into the engine by heat transfer, is the hottest part of the engine. Almost as hot is the adjacent expansion space of the engine. In the expansion space, the flow is oscillatory, impinging on a two-dimensional concavely-curved surface. Knowing the heat transfer on the inside surface of the engine head is critical to the engine design for efficiency and reliability. However, the flow in this region is not well understood and support is required to develop the CFD codes needed to design modern Stirling engines of high efficiency and power output. The present project is to experimentally investigate the flow and heat transfer in the heater head region. Flow fields and heat transfer coefficients are measured to characterize the oscillatory flow as well as to supply experimental validation for the CFD Stirling engine design codes. Presented also is a discussion of how these results might be used for heater head and acceptor region design calculations.
Revised Point of Departure Design Options for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion
In an effort to further refine potential point of departure nuclear thermal rocket engine designs, four proposed engine designs representing two thrust classes and utilizing two different fuel matrix types are designed and analyzed from both a neutronics and thermodynamic cycle perspective. Two of these nuclear rocket engine designs employ a tungsten and uranium dioxide cermet (ceramic-metal) fuel with a prismatic geometry based on the ANL-200 and the GE-710, while the other two designs utilize uranium-zirconium-carbide in a graphite composite fuel and a prismatic fuel element geometry developed during the Rover/NERVA Programs. Two engines are analyzed for each fuel type, a small criticality limited design and a 111 kN (25 klbf) thrust class engine design, which has been the focus of numerous manned mission studies, including NASA's Design Reference Architecture 5.0. slightly higher T/W ratios, but they required substantially more 235U.
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT STUDY OF A MAGNETIC INDUCTION PLASMA ENGINE.
Design of traveling magnetic field electrodeless plasma engine
Cabin fuselage structural design with engine installation and control system
Design requirements for the cabin, cabin system, flight controls, engine installation, and wing-fuselage interface that provide adequate interior volume for occupant seating, cabin ingress and egress, and safety are presented. The fuselage structure must be sufficient to meet the loadings specified in the appropriate sections of Federal Aviation Regulation Part 23. The critical structure must provide a safe life of 10(exp 6) load cycles and 10,000 operational mission cycles. The cabin seating and controls must provide adjustment to account for various pilot physiques and to aid in maintenance and operation of the aircraft. Seats and doors shall not bind or lockup under normal operation. Cabin systems such as heating and ventilation, electrical, lighting, intercom, and avionics must be included in the design. The control system will consist of ailerons, elevator, and rudders. The system must provide required deflections with a combination of push rods, bell cranks, pulleys, and linkages. The system will be free from slack and provide smooth operation without binding. Environmental considerations include variations in temperature and atmospheric pressure, protection against sand, dust, rain, humidity, ice, snow, salt/fog atmosphere, wind and gusts, and shock and vibration. The following design goals were set to meet the requirements of the statement of work: safety, performance, manufacturing and cost. To prevent the engine from penetrating the passenger area in the event of a crash was the primary safety concern. Weight and the fuselage aerodynamics were the primary performance concerns. Commonality and ease of manufacturing were major considerations to reduce cost.
Digital risk analysis in nuclear engineering projects: Designing for safety, performance, reliability, and security
Cyber-informed engineering and security-by-design frameworks are important in promoting the need to identify cybersecurity concerns early in the systems engineering lifecycle so risks from adversarial cyber-attacks can be eliminated or reduced through engineering design practices. In addition to adversarial risk, risk in operational technology systems also includes non-adversarial and unintentional risk from other factors such as human performance errors, environmental conditions, design flaws, and device degradation or failure. This paper introduces a new concept for characterizing digital risk, both adversarial and non-adversarial, and provides the basis for initial research into a novel digital risk analysis approach focused on incorporating attack difficulty into a multi-attribute analysis technique using robust decision-making. This digital risk characterization is also used to frame a discussion on the challenges of competing objectives and competing stakeholder requirements in an integrated energy system project that incorporates a small modular reactor and industrial facility.
Orbit Transfer Vehicle (OTV) advanced expander cycle engine point design study, volume 2
The engine requirements are emphasized and include: high specific impulse within a restricted installed length constraint, long life, multiple starts, different thrust levels, and man-rated reliability. The engine operating characteristics and the major component analytical design are summarized.
High-End Computing Challenges in Aerospace Design and Engineering
High-End Computing (HEC) has had significant impact on aerospace design and engineering and is poised to make even more in the future. In this paper we describe four aerospace design and engineering challenges: Digital Flight, Launch Simulation, Rocket Fuel System and Digital Astronaut. The paper discusses modeling capabilities needed for each challenge and presents projections of future near and far-term HEC computing requirements. NASA's HEC Project Columbia is described and programming strategies presented that are necessary to achieve high real performance.
Cold-air performance of free-power turbine designed for 112-kilowatt automotive gas-turbine engine. 1: Design Stator-vane-chord setting angle of 35 deg
A cold air experimental investigation of a free power turbine designed for a 112-kW automotive gas-turbine was made over a range of speeds from 0 to 130 percent of design equivalent speeds and over a range of pressure ratio from 1.11 to 2.45. Results are presented in terms of equivalent power, torque, mass flow, and efficiency for the design power point setting of the variable stator.
Free-piston Stirling engine conceptual design and technologies for space power, phase 1
As part of the SP-100 program, a phase 1 effort to design a free-piston Stirling engine (FPSE) for a space dynamic power conversion system was completed. SP-100 is a combined DOD/DOE/NASA program to develop nuclear power for space. This work was completed in the initial phases of the SP-100 program prior to the power conversion concept selection for the Ground Engineering System (GES). Stirling engine technology development as a growth option for SP-100 is continuing after this phase 1 effort. Following a review of various engine concepts, a single-cylinder engine with a linear alternator was selected for the remainder of the study. The relationships of specific mass and efficiency versus temperature ratio were determined for a power output of 25 kWe. This parametric study was done for a temperature ratio range of 1.5 to 2.0 and for hot-end temperatures of 875 K and 1075 K. A conceptual design of a 1080 K FPSE with a linear alternator producing 25 kWe output was completed. This was a single-cylinder engine designed for a 62,000 hour life and a temperature ratio of 2.0. The heat transport systems were pumped liquid-metal loops on both the hot and cold ends. These specifications were selected to match the SP-100 power system designs that were being evaluated at that time. The hot end of the engine used both refractory and superalloy materials; the hot-end pressure vessel featured an insulated design that allowed use of the superalloy material. The design was supported by the hardware demonstration of two of the component concepts - the hydrodynamic gas bearing for the displacer and the dynamic balance system. The hydrodynamic gas bearing was demonstrated on a test rig. The dynamic balance system was tested on the 1 kW RE-1000 engine at NASA Lewis.
Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) advanced expander cycle engine point design study
Progress in the development of a performance optimized engine system design for an advanced LOX/hydrogen expander cycle engine is reported. Analysis of the components and engine and the resulting drawings is discussed. The status of the orbit transfer vehicle liquid engine transient simulation computer model is given.
Preliminary study of optimum ductburning turbofan engine cycle design parameters for supersonic cruising
The effect of turbofan engine overall pressure ratio, fan pressure ratio, and ductburner temperature rise on the engine weight and cruise fuel consumption for a mach 2.4 supersonic transport was investigated. Design point engines, optimized purely for the supersonic cruising portion of the flight where the bulk of the fuel is consumed, are considered. Based on constant thrust requirements at cruise, fuel consumption considerations would favor medium by pass ratio engines (1.5 to 1.8) of overall pressure ratio of about 16. Engine weight considerations favor low bypass ratio (0.6 or less) and low wverall pressure ratio (8). Combination of both effects results in bypass ratios of 0.6 to 0.8 and overall pressure ratio of 12 being the overall optimum.
Design concept for LOX/hydrocarbon tripropellant booster engine
The design concept for a LOX/hydrocarbon tripropellant booster engines is discussed. The engine design is for the gas generator cycle with liquid methane, liquid oxygen, and liquid hydrogen as propellants, the latter greatly reducing risks associated with the high-pressure reusable hydrocarbon booster engines. The design features high combustion stability and high efficiency. The excellent cooling capability of liquid hydrogen was established in several operational engine designs. Multiple design diagrams are included.