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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 37 records · Page 2

CSM solutions of rotating blade dynamics using integrating matrices

The dynamic behavior of flexible rotating beams continues to receive considerable research attention as it constitutes a fundamental problem in applied mechanics. Further, beams comprise parts of many rotating structures of engineering significance. A topic of particular interest at the present time involves the development of techniques for obtaining the behavior in both space and time of a rotor acted upon by a simple airload loading. Most current work on problems of this type use solution techniques based on normal modes. It is certainly true that normal modes cannot be disregarded, as knowledge of natural blade frequencies is always important. However, the present work has considered a computational structural mechanics (CSM) approach to rotor blade dynamics problems in which the physical properties of the rotor blade provide input for a direct numerical solution of the relevant boundary-and-initial-value problem. Analysis of the dynamics of a given rotor system may require solution of the governing equations over a long time interval corresponding to many revolutions of the loaded flexible blade. For this reason, most of the common techniques in computational mechanics, which treat the space-time behavior concurrently, cannot be applied to the rotor dynamics problem without a large expenditure of computational resources. By contrast, the integrating matrix technique of computational mechanics has the ability to consistently incorporate boundary conditions and 'remove' dependence on a space variable. For problems involving both space and time, this feature of the integrating matrix approach thus can generate a 'splitting' which forms the basis of an efficient CSM method for numerical solution of rotor dynamics problems.

Lakin, William D.↗

NASA LeRC/Akron University Graduate Cooperative Fellowship Program and Graduate Student Researchers Program

The requisite methodology to solve linear and nonlinear problems associated with the static and dynamic analysis of rotating machinery, their static and dynamic behavior, and the interaction between the rotating and nonrotating parts of an engine is developed. Linear and nonlinear structural engine problems are investigated by developing solution strategies and interactive computational methods whereby the man and computer can communicate directly in making analysis decisions. Representative examples include modifying structural models, changing material, parameters, selecting analysis options and coupling with interactive graphical display for pre- and postprocessing capability.

Fertis, D. G.↗

Scenario-Based Task Design for Airline Pilot Anticipatory Behaviors: Asynchronous Assessment of Complex Cognitive Skills

Airline pilots must anticipate potential threats to passenger safety and efficient flight. Such anticipation needs to occur at both the system and individual levels, yet no formal training for these anticipatory behaviors currently exists. The emerging field of resilience engineering provides a framework to explore this problem. Given the complex nature of this problem, the assessment portion of the project constituted a challenge. Simulator time is expensive as simulators are costly to run, and they are extremely limited in number. Also, by the nature of their work, pilots as a group are hard to connect with in person; thus, asynchronous methods were adopted. Further, to ensure that authentic pilot behaviors were observed, task-based scenarios were used rather than focus group or interview protocols. This session explores the design of asynchronous learning and a measure for assessing pilot anticipatory behaviors outside of a simulator to help design learning opportunities for pilots. The scenario-based and active assessment items will be discussed in detail, and demonstrations of these items will be shared. These items constitute the bulk of the challenge for this work. At the time of this writing, data is being collected to assess the effectiveness of the interactive training module and validate the measures. This data will be analyzed and presented as part of the session. This will include any linkages between the scenario-based and traditional assessment items.

task design↗

Turbine Engine Hot Section Technology 1986

On October 21 and 22, 1986, the Turbine Engine Hot Section Technology (HOST) Project of the NASA Lewis Research Center sponsored a workshop to discuss current research pertinent to turbine engine durability problems. Presentations were made concerning the hot-section environment and the behavior of combustion liners, turbine blades, and turbine vanes. The presentations were divided Into six sessions: Instrumentation, Combustion, Turbine Heat Transfer, Structural Analysis, Fatigue and Fracture, and Surface Protection. The principal objective of each session was to disseminate research results to date. Topics discussed included modeling of thermal and fluid-flow phenomena, structural analysis, fatigue and fracture, surface protective coatings, constitutive behavior of materials, stress-strain response, and life-prediction methods. Researchers from industry, academia, and government presented results of their work sponsored by the HOST Project. This publication contains extended abstracts and visual material presented during the workshop.

Turbine Engine Hot Section Technology (HOST)↗

Aeropropulsion 1987. Session 2: Aeropropulsion Structures Research

Aeropropulsion systems present unique problems to the structural engineer. The extremes in operating temperatures, rotational effects, and behaviors of advanced material systems combine into complexities that require advances in many scientific disciplines involved in structural analysis and design procedures. This session provides an overview of the complexities of aeropropulsion structures and the theoretical, computational, and experimental research conducted to achieve the needed advances.

Source record↗

Experiments investigating advanced materials under thermomechanical loading

Many high temperature aircraft and rocket engine components experience large mechanical loads as well as severe thermal gradients and transients. These nonisothermal conditions are often large enough to cause inelastic deformations, which are the ultimate cause for failure in those parts. A way to alleviate this problem is through improved engine designs based on better predictions of thermomechanical material behavior. To address this concern, an experimental effort was recently initiated within the Hot Section Technology (HOST) program at Lewis. As part of this effort, two new test systems were added to the Fatigue and Structures Lab., which allowed thermomechanical tests to be conducted under closely controlled conditions. These systems are now being used for thermomechanical testing for the Space Station Receiver program, and will be used to support development of metal matrix composites.

Bartolotta, Paul A.↗

Aeropropulsion structures

Aeropropulsion systems present unique problems to the structural engineer. The extremes in operating temperatures, rotational effects, and behaviors of advance material systems combine into complexities that require advances in many scientific disciplines involved in structural analysis and design procedures. This paper provides an overview of the complexities of aeropropulsion structures and the theoretical, computational, and experimental research conducted to achieve the needed advances.

Nichols, Lester D.↗

Capacitive Micro-Gravity Fluid Mass Gauge

Measuring fluid mass in micro gravity, where fluid behavior is dominated by fluid properties, is a challenging problem. To address this problem engineers at NASA are developing a capacitance-based, mass-fraction gauge for vessels containing two-phase fluids. The vessel volume is enclosed with an array of electrodes, and a unique set of capacitance measurements of the enclosed volume are made between the electrodes. The capacitance measurements are scaled with appropriate weighting factors derived from Laplace's Equation to compensate for the highly non-uniform electric fields inside the measurement volume and achieve a greater level of mass fraction accuracy.

Mark A Nurge↗

Learning and diagnosing faults using neural networks

Neural networks have been employed for learning fault behavior from rocket engine simulator parameters and for diagnosing faults on the basis of the learned behavior. Two problems in applying neural networks to learning and diagnosing faults are (1) the complexity of the sensor data to fault mapping to be modeled by the neural network, which implies difficult and lengthy training procedures; and (2) the lack of sufficient training data to adequately represent the very large number of different types of faults which might occur. Methods are derived and tested in an architecture which addresses these two problems. First, the sensor data to fault mapping is decomposed into three simpler mappings which perform sensor data compression, hypothesis generation, and sensor fusion. Efficient training is performed for each mapping separately. Secondly, the neural network which performs sensor fusion is structured to detect new unknown faults for which training examples were not presented during training. These methods were tested on a task of fault diagnosis by employing rocket engine simulator data. Results indicate that the decomposed neural network architecture can be trained efficiently, can identify faults for which it has been trained, and can detect the occurrence of faults for which it has not been trained.

Whitehead, Bruce A.↗

Turbine Engine Hot Section Technology, 1985

The Turbine Engine Section Technology (HOST) Project Office of the Lewis Research Center sponsored a workshop to discuss current research pertinent to turbine engine hot section durability problems. Presentations were made concerning hot section environment and the behavior of combustion liners, turbine blades, and turbine vanes.

Source record↗

NASTRAN processing at Johnson Space Center

The processing behavior of NASTRAN, a general purpose system of computer software used for solving engineering analysis problems by means of the finite element displacement method, is discussed. The host system for the NASTRAN is the Univac 1110, and the primary function is performing static and dynamic structural analyses of the Space Shuttle. The processing implications of the NASTRAN structural analysis are addressed and the current NASTRAN situation on the Univac 1110 is examined. The current NASTRAN workload is described and the effect of workload growth due to increased structure size is estimated. A cost and performance analysis is presented.

Richards, F. M., Jr.↗

Constitutive and Stability Behavior of Soils in Microgravity Environment

All aspects of soil stability, bearing capacity, slope stability, the supporting capacity of deep foundations, and penetration resistance depend on soil strength. The stress-deformation and stress-deformation-time behavior of soils are of importance in any problem where ground movements are of interest. In most engineering materials, the strength is derived from internal chemical and physico-chemical forces of interaction, which bond the atoms, molecules, and particles together. In soils, the constitutive relations are mainly derived from interparticle friction between particles and particle groups and dilatancy, and to a lesser extent from particle bonding by weak electrostatic, physico-chemical, and coulomb forces. For engineering purposes, soils are classified as cohesive (clays and silts; typical particle sizes range from 10 nm to 10 micrometers) and cohesionless (sand and gravel; typical particle sizes range from 10 micrometers to 75 mm). The mechanical or constitutive properties of cohesionless soils or granular materials are highly fabric-dependent, highly non-linear, and non-conservative with engineering properties primarily depending on the effects of gravity through self-weight and on the tractions or forces applied to the soil mass. Under moderate-to-high stress levels, the influence of gravity on the behavior of laboratory test specimens may not be pronounced and, therefore, the test results in terrestrial (1-g) environment may be sufficiently conclusive. However at low interparticle stresses, which can result either from low applied (confining) stresses or from excess pore fluid pressures developed within the soil mass without corresponding changes in the applied stresses, the presence of gravitational body forces acting on solid particles and interstitial fluids exerts a pronounced influence on movement of individual particles or particle groups. Such motions, in turn, cause changes in soil fabric which results in significant changes in the interparticle friction forces contributing to the soil's strength and deformation characteristics.

Alshibli, Khalid A.↗

Urban development applications project. Urban technology transfer study

Technology transfer is defined along with reasons for attempting to transfer technology. Topics discussed include theoretical models, stages of the innovation model, communication process model, behavior of industrial organizations, problem identification, technology search and match, establishment of a market mechanism, applications engineering, commercialization, and management of technology transfer.

Source record↗

Review - Axial compressor stall phenomena

Stall in compressors can be associated with the initiation of several types of fluid dynamic instabilities. These instabilities and the different phenomena, surge and rotating stall, which result from them, are discussed in this paper. Assessment is made of the various methods of predicting the onset of compressor and/or compression system instability, such as empirical correlations, linearized stability analyses, and numerical unsteady flow calculation procedures. Factors which affect the compressor stall point, in particular inlet flow distortion, are reviewed, and the techniques which are used to predict the loss in stall margin due to these factors are described. The influence of rotor casing treatment (grooves) on increasing compressor flow range is examined. Compressor and compression system behavior subsequent to the onset of stall is surveyed, with particular reference to the problem of engine recovery from a stalled condition. The distinction between surge and rotating stall is emphasized because of the very different consequences on recoverability. The structure of the compressor flow field during rotating stall is examined, and the prediction of compressor performance in rotating stall, including stall/unstall hysteresis, is described.

Greitzer, E. M.↗

Blackbird: Object-Oriented Planning, Simulation, and Sequencing Framework Used by Multiple Missions

Every JPL flight mission relies on activity planning and sequence generation software to perform operations. Most such tools in use at JPL and elsewhere use attribute-based schemas or domain-specific languages (DSLs) to define activities. This reliance poses user training, software maintenance, performance, and other challenges. To solve this problem for future missions, a new software called Blackbird was developed which allows engineers to specify behavior in standard Java. The new code base has over an order of magnitude fewer lines of code than other JPL planning software, since no DSL or schema interpreter is needed. The use of Java for defining activities also allows mission adapters to debug their code in an integrated development environment, seamlessly call external libraries, and set up truly multimission models. These efficiency gains have significantly reduced the amount of development effort required to support the software. This paper discusses Blackbird’s design, principles, and use cases.

Lawler, Christopher↗

Specialty three-dimensional finite element analysis codes

General purpose finite element computer codes that can model inelastic material behavior have been available for more than a decade. However, these codes have not been accurate enough for use in analyzing hot section engine components. To correct this problem, General Electric developed a series of nine new stand-alone computer codes for NASA. Because of the large temperature excursions associated with hot section engine components, these codes have been designed to accommodate broad variations in material behavior, including plasticity and creep. The capabilities of these computer codes are summarized.

Lackney, Joseph J.↗

Constraint-Based Off-Nominal Behavior Modeling for Europa Clipper

The risk analysis for the Europa Clipper mission evaluates the probability of mission failure based on the failure rates of individual components and dependencies among them. The probabilities are calculated by integrating over the intervals of time within which a fault occurs, accounting for an infinite number of cases. The response of the spacecraft to different faults can result in different schedules of activities, changing the intervals of integration. Europa currently uses models of spacecraft systems and components to simulate individual flight scenarios. The goal is to develop a framework for integrating, automating, and improving this modeling process. We describe an approach to generating the schedules for the different fault cases and determining the intervals for faults. It is not enough to just simulate individual cases because we are working with continuous variables that generate an infinite number of possible futures. Instead, we determine time windows within which certain faults can occur and use these time windows as bounds for integration. We found that determining these time windows is a constraint optimization problem. In order to represent these problems, we employ a language based on ontologies of behavior and scenarios. The language enables us to specify constraints in a simple, declarative syntax. A constraint-based analysis engine uses the declarative specification to identify bounds on system parameters and fill in details of behavior. For example, we created a detailed model of power generation, power use, and the corresponding effects on the battery in order to determine when an undervoltage fault can occur. An undervoltage during a trajectory correction maneuver requires that thrusting be interrupted for just enough time to recharge the battery such that the maneuver can be completed within battery limits. This behavior is generated based on the model to minimize the interruption time. For certain scenarios the constraint optimization problems were simple enough to be solved by hand, but the framework made the process substantially faster. It also produced solutions to other problems that we could not solve by hand or with existing tools and allowed us to generate and run many scenarios at once. The scenario language and engine greatly simplified the process of identifying time bounds and separating cases.

Everline, Chester J.↗