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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1996

Interfacing LabVIEW With Instrumentation for Electronic Failure Analysis and Beyond

The Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workstation (LabVIEW) software is designed such that equipment and processes related to control systems can be operationally lined and controlled by the use of a computer. Various processes within the failure analysis laboratories of NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) demonstrate the need for modernization and, in some cases, automation, using LabVIEW. An examination of procedures and practices with the Failure Analaysis Laboratory resulted in the conclusion that some device was necessary to elevate the potential users of LabVIEW to an operational level in minimum time. This paper outlines the process involved in creating a tutorial application to enable personnel to apply LabVIEW to their specific projects. Suggestions for furthering the extent to which LabVIEW is used are provided in the areas of data acquisition and process control.

Buchanan, Randy K.↗
NASA NTRS1974

System safety as applied to Skylab

Procedural and organizational guidelines used in accordance with NASA safety policy for the Skylab missions are outlined. The basic areas examined in the safety program for Skylab were the crew interface, extra-vehicular activity (EVA), energy sources, spacecraft interface, and hardware complexity. Fire prevention was a primary goal, with firefighting as backup. Studies of the vectorcardiogram and sleep monitoring experiments exemplify special efforts to prevent fire and shock. The final fire control study included material review, fire detection capability, and fire extinguishing capability. Contractors had major responsibility for system safety. Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) and equipment criticality categories are outlined. Redundancy was provided on systems that were critical to crew survival (category I). The five key checkpoints in Skylab hardware development are explained. Skylab rescue capability was demonstrated by preparations to rescue the Skylab 3 crew after their spacecraft developed attitude control problems.

Kleinknecht, K. S.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Spaceflight Ground Support Equipment Reliability & System Safety Data

Presented were Reliability Analysis, consisting primarily of Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), and System Safety Analysis, consisting of Preliminary Hazards Analysis (PHA), performed to ensure that the CoNNeCT (Communications, Navigation, and Networking re- Configurable Testbed) Flight System was safely and reliably operated during its Assembly, Integration and Test (AI&T) phase. A tailored approach to the NASA Ground Support Equipment (GSE) standard, NASA-STD-5005C, involving the application of the appropriate Requirements, S&MA discipline expertise, and a Configuration Management system (to retain a record of the analysis and documentation) were presented. Presented were System Block Diagrams of selected GSE and the corresponding FMEA, as well as the PHAs. Also discussed are the specific examples of the FMEAs and PHAs being used during the AI&T phase to drive modifications to the GSE (via "redlining" of test procedures, and the placement of warning stickers to protect the flight hardware) before being interfaced to the Flight System. These modifications were necessary because failure modes and hazards were identified during the analysis that had not been properly mitigated. Strict Configuration Management was applied to changes (whether due to upgrades or expired calibrations) in the GSE by revisiting the FMEAs and PHAs to reflect the latest System Block Diagrams and Bill Of Material. The CoNNeCT flight system has been successfully assembled, integrated, tested, and shipped to the launch site without incident. This demonstrates that the steps taken to safeguard the flight system when it was interfaced to the various GSE were successful.

Fernandez, Rene↗
NASA NTRS1980

Carbon/graphite fiber risk analysis and assessment study: Assessment of risk to the Lockheed Model L-1011 commercial transport aircraft

The risk associated with the accidental release of carbon/graphite fibers (CF) from fires on commercial transport aircraft incorporating composite materials was assessed. Data are developed to evaluate the potential for CF damage to electrical and electronic equipment, assess the cost risk, and evaluate the hazard to continued operation. The subjects covered include identification of susceptible equipments, determination of infiltration transfer functions, analysis of airport operations, calculation of probabilities of equipment failures, assessment of the cost risk, and evaluation of the hazard to continued operation. The results show the risks associated with CF contamination are negligible through 1993.

Daniledes, J.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Failure Analysis at the Kennedy Space Center

History has shown that failures occur in every engineering endeavor, and what we learn from those failures contributes to the knowledge base to safely complete future missions. The necessity of failure analysis is at its apex at the end of one aged program (i.e. Shuttle) and at the beginning of a new and untested program (i.e. Constellation). The information that we gain through failure analysis corrects the deficiencies in the current vehicle to make the next generation of vehicles more efficient and safe. The Failure Analysis and Materials Evaluation section in the Materials Science Division at the Kennedy Space Center performs metallurgical, mechanical, electrical, and non-metallic failure analysis and accident investigations on both flight hardware and ground support equipment (GSE) for the Shuttle, International Space Station, Constellation, and Launch Services Programs. This presentation will explore a variety of failure case studies at KSC and the lessons learned that can be applied in future programs.

Salazar, Victoria L.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Surveys for sensitivity to fibers and potential impacts from fiber induced failures

The surveys for sensitivities to fibers and potential impacts from fiber induced failures begins with a review of the survey work completed to date and then describes an impact study involving four industrial installations located in Virginia. The observations and results from both the surveys and the study provide guidelines for future efforts. The survey work was done with three broad objectives: (1) identify the pieces of potentially vulnerable equipment as candidates for test; (2) support the transfer function work by gaining an understanding of how fibers could get into a building; and (3) support the economic analysis by understanding what would happen if fibers precipitated a failure in an item of equipment.

Butterfield, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Program For Analyzing Failures In A Complex System

Configurable Real-Time Analysis System (CRANS) computer program provides means for representing logically interconnected items (e.g., modules of equipment in complicated system) in matrix format. Capabilities provided helpful in real-time environment (e.g., operational environment of such system), in which need for quick evaluation of results of changes or failures. Program facilitates rapid logic-tree analysis. Written in C language.

Mccluney, R. Kevin↗
NASA NTRS2000

Human versus automation in responding to failures: an expected-value analysis

A simple analytical criterion is provided for deciding whether a human or automation is best for a failure detection task. The method is based on expected-value decision theory in much the same way as is signal detection. It requires specification of the probabilities of misses (false negatives) and false alarms (false positives) for both human and automation being considered, as well as factors independent of the choice--namely, costs and benefits of incorrect and correct decisions as well as the prior probability of failure. The method can also serve as a basis for comparing different modes of automation. Some limiting cases of application are discussed, as are some decision criteria other than expected value. Actual or potential applications include the design and evaluation of any system in which either humans or automation are being considered.

NASA Discipline Space Human Factors↗
NASA NTRS2019

An Overview of the NASA Advanced Composites Consortium High Energy Dynamic Impact Phase II Technical Path

Advanced composite structures are increasingly becoming the norm for use in military and commercial aircraft. Many of these structures are in places that are prone to high energy dynamic impact (HEDI) such as a wing or fuselage structures subjected to bird strike or a fan blade out event. Certification testing is expensive and industry currently lacks to the tools to perform reliable certification by analysis or smarter testing. As such, the NASA Advanced Composites Consortium HEDI team was formed with representatives from aerospace original equipment manufacturers, government research laboratories, and academia to advance the state-of-the-art in emerging progressive damage and failure analysis (PDFA) methods in a two phase program. These PDFA approaches have the ability to predict ply-by-ply level damage in composite structures, but to date, have not been thoroughly vetted for HEDI events. In this paper, the technical path that is used in Phase II of the program is presented.

Justusson, Brian↗
NASA NTRS2001

UNIPASS for AvSP? A Broader View

UNIPASS is a general-purpose probabilistic computer program consisting of three major modules, including preprocessor, solver and postprocessor. UNIPASS contains a user-friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI), numerous state-of-the-art probabilistic analysis techniques, a large library of statistical distributions and a function module with a large library of support functions that can easily define any complex limit-state function in a scripting FORTRAN-like syntax format. Its inverse probability analysis and sensitivities analysis capabilities make it a powerful design aid in any product cycle. Its precise numerical analysis engine is accurate enough to push the failure probabilities of a design to well below 10 (exp -50). UNIPASS is equipped with advanced artificial intelligence that is designed to handle systems with an essentially unlimited number of random variables with ease and efficiency. Its modular arrangement allows you to tailor an analysis to the desired level of accuracy and efficiency. The depth and comprehensiveness of UNIPASS are built upon the decades of experience and expertise of industry leaders including Boeing Aircraft, NASA and the DoD. Its rich content also makes UNIPASS a valuable instructional tool for random processes and probabilistic mechanics. The topics include: 1) Reliability in AvSP; 2) Role of UNIPASS in AvSP; and 3) Examples. This paper is in viewgraph form.

Wu, N. Eva↗
NASA NTRS1982

Equipment Analysis

Magnavox Government & Electronics Company originally used the NASTRAN program in the design stage of heavy aluminum fixtures for vibration testing. Program also used to compare the resonant frequencies of the circuitry to predict whether failures may occur because of high vibration levels. The company engineers can then make design alterations to improve the equipment's vibration resistance. Method allows Magnavox to insure reliability and reduce any possibility of vibration-caused failure in critical defense products they manufacture. Magnavox uses another COSMIC software package called GENOPTICS in the development of a Digital Optical Recorder, and also in research and development of other optical systems. This enables use of an optically recorded disc to store and retrieve digital data. It is reported that this program provides accurate results and that its use saved six man-months of time that would have been needed to develop a comparable software package.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2005

A Review of Diagnostic Techniques for ISHM Applications

System diagnosis is an integral part of any Integrated System Health Management application. Diagnostic applications make use of system information from the design phase, such as safety and mission assurance analysis, failure modes and effects analysis, hazards analysis, functional models, fault propagation models, and testability analysis. In modern process control and equipment monitoring systems, topological and analytic , models of the nominal system, derived from design documents, are also employed for fault isolation and identification. Depending on the complexity of the monitored signals from the physical system, diagnostic applications may involve straightforward trending and feature extraction techniques to retrieve the parameters of importance from the sensor streams. They also may involve very complex analysis routines, such as signal processing, learning or classification methods to derive the parameters of importance to diagnosis. The process that is used to diagnose anomalous conditions from monitored system signals varies widely across the different approaches to system diagnosis. Rule-based expert systems, case-based reasoning systems, model-based reasoning systems, learning systems, and probabilistic reasoning systems are examples of the many diverse approaches ta diagnostic reasoning. Many engineering disciplines have specific approaches to modeling, monitoring and diagnosing anomalous conditions. Therefore, there is no "one-size-fits-all" approach to building diagnostic and health monitoring capabilities for a system. For instance, the conventional approaches to diagnosing failures in rotorcraft applications are very different from those used in communications systems. Further, online and offline automated diagnostic applications are integrated into an operations framework with flight crews, flight controllers and maintenance teams. While the emphasis of this paper is automation of health management functions, striking the correct balance between automated and human-performed tasks is a vital concern.

Patterson-Hine, Ann↗
NASA NTRS1984

Recertification analysis and inspection planning for environmental test facilities

Program development and implementation for recertification of pressure vessels used at NASA facilities are outlined, together with inspection procedures. The recertification is carried out in three phases: analysis, inspection planning, and long term inspection plans and management. A data base was developed for each piece of equipment and the associated performance parameters. Either documentation was obtained or NDT was performed on the vessels to confirm design and Code compliance. A Failure Modes and Effects Analysis technique was used to target recurring inspection items and guidelines were drawn up for inspections of parts and systems and intervals between inspections. The steps taken in establishing the program are considered applicable in both research and industrial situations.

Rebeck, K. J.↗