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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 361 records · Page 20

On the relationship between matched filter theory as applied to gust loads and phased design loads analysis

A theoretical basis and example calculations are given that demonstrate the relationship between the Matched Filter Theory approach to the calculation of time-correlated gust loads and Phased Design Load Analysis in common use in the aerospace industry. The relationship depends upon the duality between Matched Filter Theory and Random Process Theory and upon the fact that Random Process Theory is used in Phased Design Loads Analysis in determining an equiprobable loads design ellipse. Extensive background information describing the relevant points of Phased Design Loads Analysis, calculating time-correlated gust loads with Matched Filter Theory, and the duality between Matched Filter Theory and Random Process Theory is given. It is then shown that the time histories of two time-correlated gust load responses, determined using the Matched Filter Theory approach, can be plotted as parametric functions of time and that the resulting plot, when superposed upon the design ellipse corresponding to the two loads, is tangent to the ellipse. The question is raised of whether or not it is possible for a parametric load plot to extend outside the associated design ellipse. If it is possible, then the use of the equiprobable loads design ellipse will not be a conservative design practice in some circumstances.

Zeiler, Thomas A.↗

Obtaining consistent models of helicopter flight-data measurement errors using kinematic-compatibility and state-reconstruction methods

A new method was developed for application of Kalman Filter/Smoothers to post-flight processing of helicopter flight test dynamic measurements. This processing includes checking for kinematic compatibility among the measurements, identification of a measurement error model, and reconstruction of both measured and unmeasured time histories. Emphasis is placed on identification of a parametric measurement error model which is valid for a set of flight test data. This is facilitated through a new method of concatenating several maneuver time histories. The method also includes a model structure determination step which ensures that a physically realistic parameterization has been achieved. Application of the method to a set of BO-105 flight test data is illustrated. The resulting minimally parameterized error model is shown to characterize the measurement errors of the entire data set with very little variation in the parameter values. Reconstructed time histories are shown to have increased bandwidths and signal to noise ratios.

Fletcher, Jay W.↗

Designing for cost

Parametric cost analysis is presently defined as the generation and application of equations to cost analysis; equations defining cost as a function of system-design parameters, performance parameters, or engineering process parameters, constitute a valuable tool for design-to-cost efforts. Cost sensitivity is expressed through the partial derivatives of these functions, furnishing insight into the magnitude and direction of cost change for given parameter changes. The robust design method thus obtained is a systematic and efficient approach for determining the near-optimum set of design parameters for cost, which highlights important factors affecting operation and performance as well as cost.

Dean, Edwin B.↗

Gesture-controlled interfaces for self-service machines and other applications

A gesture recognition interface for use in controlling self-service machines and other devices is disclosed. A gesture is defined as motions and kinematic poses generated by humans, animals, or machines. Specific body features are tracked, and static and motion gestures are interpreted. Motion gestures are defined as a family of parametrically delimited oscillatory motions, modeled as a linear-in-parameters dynamic system with added geometric constraints to allow for real-time recognition using a small amount of memory and processing time. A linear least squares method is preferably used to determine the parameters which represent each gesture. Feature position measure is used in conjunction with a bank of predictor bins seeded with the gesture parameters, and the system determines which bin best fits the observed motion. Recognizing static pose gestures is preferably performed by localizing the body/object from the rest of the image, describing that object, and identifying that description. The disclosure details methods for gesture recognition, as well as the overall architecture for using gesture recognition to control of devices, including self-service machines.

Cohen, Charles J.↗

Elastodynamic response of hollow balls

Review of the underlying fundamentals, the performance procedure, and the results of an elastodynamic stress and deformation analysis of hollow balls aimed at providing a clear definition of parametric influences for the development of hollow ball bearing technology. A simplified model is used as a first approximation, and contact stress distributions are obtained with the aid of computer programming and processing.

Ling, F. F.↗

Simplified Analysis of Pulse Detonation Rocket Engine Blowdown Gasdynamics and Performance

Pulse detonation rocket engines (PDREs) offer potential performance improvements over conventional designs, but represent a challenging modellng task. A simplified model for an idealized, straight-tube, single-shot PDRE blowdown process and thrust determination is described and implemented. In order to form an assessment of the accuracy of the model, the flowfield time history is compared to experimental data from Stanford University. Parametric Studies of the effect of mixture stoichiometry, initial fill temperature, and blowdown pressure ratio on the performance of a PDRE are performed using the model. PDRE performance is also compared with a conventional steady-state rocket engine over a range of pressure ratios using similar gasdynamic assumptions.

Morris, C. I.↗

Continued Exploration of the Electrified Aircraft Propulsion Design Space

A previous electrified aircraft propulsion (EAP) design space exploration study was continued to investigate the impact of mission constraints, further explore the design space of different sized aircraft, and improve the modeling process. Three aircraft were investigated, 18- and 48-passenger turboprops, and a 78-passenger turbofan. Baseline aircraft models were inherited from the earlier study and were hybridized by applying EAP technologies. A parametric study varying motor power and battery specific energy was conducted. For the 78-passenger turbofan, design range was also introduced as a parametric parameter. Key metrics for the study included equivalent lifecycle CO2 emissions and direct operating cost plus interest. Both turboprop aircraft demonstrated significant potential savings in block fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, but at increased operating costs compared to their baseline models. As the 78-passenger turbofan had shown no improvements in any metrics under reasonable technology assumptions, design range was shortened in an attempt to obtain performance benefits. When designed for a shorter range, the 78-passenger EAP vehicle showed potential improvements in block fuel when compared to a baseline with a similarly shortened design range, but not in any other metrics. Operating cost reductions were not achieved for any aircraft, but several designs came close to breaking even with their baselines. Smaller, shorter range aircraft and turboprops demonstrated larger performance benefits and smaller operating cost penalties, but a simple trade of electric energy storage in batteries for fuel is generally insufficient to produce a viable aircraft concept.

Electrified Aircraft Propulsion↗

Laboratory for Engineering Man/Machine Systems (LEMS): System identification, model reduction and deconvolution filtering using Fourier based modulating signals and high order statistics

Several important problems in the fields of signal processing and model identification, such as system structure identification, frequency response determination, high order model reduction, high resolution frequency analysis, deconvolution filtering, and etc. Each of these topics involves a wide range of applications and has received considerable attention. Using the Fourier based sinusoidal modulating signals, it is shown that a discrete autoregressive model can be constructed for the least squares identification of continuous systems. Some identification algorithms are presented for both SISO and MIMO systems frequency response determination using only transient data. Also, several new schemes for model reduction were developed. Based upon the complex sinusoidal modulating signals, a parametric least squares algorithm for high resolution frequency estimation is proposed. Numerical examples show that the proposed algorithm gives better performance than the usual. Also, the problem was studied of deconvolution and parameter identification of a general noncausal nonminimum phase ARMA system driven by non-Gaussian stationary random processes. Algorithms are introduced for inverse cumulant estimation, both in the frequency domain via the FFT algorithms and in the domain via the least squares algorithm.

Pan, Jianqiang↗

Mesoscale generation of available potential energy in the warm sector of an extratropical cyclone

The generation of available potential energy (APE) was evaluated in the warm sector of an extratropical cyclone containing intense convective activity. Mesoscale rawinsonde data from AVE-SESAME '79 was employed. Parametrization techniques were used for latent and sensible heating components, and variations for the Kuo scheme provided convective latent heat release. Radiative transfer models were used to obtain estimates of infrared and solar processes. The results indicated that solar heating was greater than IR cooling near midday. An extensive low-level cloud deck was the most radiatively active area. Negative generation of APE occurred during most of the period for the SESAME domain as a whole. The leading contributor was convective latent heating located primarily in regions of negative efficiency. Infrared cooling was the only component to consistently produce positive generation. Sensible heating provided an important sink of APE in the low levels during the afternoon.

Fuelberg, H. E.↗

Transition from Pool to Flow Boiling: The Effect of Reduced Gravity

Applications of boiling heat transfer in space can be found in the areas of thermal management, fluid handling and control, power systems, on-orbit storage and supply systems for cryogenic propellants and life support fluids, and for cooling of electronic packages for power systems associated with various instrumentation and control systems. Recent interest in exploration of Mars and other planets, and the concepts of in-situ resource utiliLation on Mars highlights the need to understand the effect of gravity on boiling heat transfer at gravity levels varying from 1>= g/g(sub e) >=10(exp -6). The objective of the proposed work was to develop a mechanistic understanding of nucleate boiling and critical heat flux under low and micro-gravity conditions when the velocity of the imposed flow is small. For pool boiling, the effect of reduced gravity is to stretch both the length scale as well as the time scale for the boiling process. At high flow velocities, the inertia of the liquid determines the time and the length scales and as such the gravitational acceleration plays little role. However, at low velocities and at low gravity levels both liquid inertia and buoyancy are of equal importance. At present, we have little understanding of the interacting roles of gravity and liquid inertia on the nucleate boiling process. Little data that has been reported in the literature does not have much practical value in that it can not serve as a basis for design of heat exchange components to be used in space. Both experimental and complete numerical simulations of the low velocity, low-gravity nucleate boiling process were carried out. A building block type of approach was used in that first the growth and detachment process of a single bubble and flow and heat transfer associated with the sliding motion of the bubble over the heater surface after detachment was studied. Liquid subcooling and flow velocity were varied parametrically. The experiments were conducted at 1 g(sub e), while varying the orientation of surface with respect to the gravity vector. In the laboratory experiments, holographic interferometry was used to obtain data on velocity and temperature fields associated with a bubble prior to, and after detachment and during sliding motion. A test rig for conducting experiments in the KC-135 was developed, but experiments could not be conducted due to the unavailability of the aircraft prior to completion of the project. Numerical simulations modeling the micro and macro regions of the bubble were carried out in three dimensions. The results of the experiments were used to validate analytical/numerical models.

Dhir, Vijay K.↗

Physics Mining of Multi-Source Data Sets

Powerful new parallel data mining algorithms can produce diagnostic and prognostic numerical models and analyses from observational data. These techniques yield higher-resolution measures than ever before of environmental parameters by fusing synoptic imagery and time-series measurements. These techniques are general and relevant to observational data, including raster, vector, and scalar, and can be applied in all Earth- and environmental science domains. Because they can be highly automated and are parallel, they scale to large spatial domains and are well suited to change and gap detection. This makes it possible to analyze spatial and temporal gaps in information, and facilitates within-mission replanning to optimize the allocation of observational resources. The basis of the innovation is the extension of a recently developed set of algorithms packaged into MineTool to multi-variate time-series data. MineTool is unique in that it automates the various steps of the data mining process, thus making it amenable to autonomous analysis of large data sets. Unlike techniques such as Artificial Neural Nets, which yield a blackbox solution, MineTool's outcome is always an analytical model in parametric form that expresses the output in terms of the input variables. This has the advantage that the derived equation can then be used to gain insight into the physical relevance and relative importance of the parameters and coefficients in the model. This is referred to as physics-mining of data. The capabilities of MineTool are extended to include both supervised and unsupervised algorithms, handle multi-type data sets, and parallelize it.

Helly, John↗

Anomalous Transients in Chip Polymer Tantalum Capacitors

Contrary to MnO2 tantalum capacitors, transient processes in polymer tantalum capacitors after voltage application might result in anomalously high, ampere-level currents when a capacitor might appear as a short circuit for a time that is much greater than a transient time in MnO2 capacitors. In this work, conditions that cause anomalous transients in different types of polymer tantalum capacitors have been analyzed. Related phenomena that included increasing of capacitance and dissipation factors with voltage, parametric surge current test failures without damage to capacitors, and increasing leakage currents at low temperatures are described. It has been shown that anomalous transients increased substantially with applied voltage and with reduction of moisture content in capacitors caused by storage or operation at high temperatures and/or in vacuum. Different types of capacitors exhibited different level of transients and modification of conductive polymers or process of their application might decrease transient leakage currents substantially. For space applications, the risk of failures related to anomalous transients can be mitigated by special testing procedures to select parts with an acceptable level of transients and by voltage derating.

Tantalum Capacitors↗

Application of the principle of corresponding states to two phase choked flow

It is pointed out that several fluids including methane, oxygen, and nitrogen appear to form an average parametric plot which indicates that the isenthalpic Joule-Thomson coefficient must nearly obey the principle of corresponding states. With this as a basis, it was assumed that there could be several thermodynamic flow processes which nearly obey the principle. An examination was made to determine whether two-phase choked flow could be one of them. The analysis is described and the results are given.

Hendricks, R. C.↗

Analysis of Open Hole Compression Specimens Using the CompDam Continuum Damage Mechanics Model

This report documents a validation study on the standard Open Hole Compression (OHC) laminate test specimen conducted as part of the NASA Advanced Composites Project (ACP). Tests were conducted on OHC specimens with hard, quasi-isotropic, and soft layups using digital image correlation and X-Ray computed tomography to capture the structural response and damage evolution. Progressive damage models were constructed for use with the CompDam continuum damage mechanics code following the best practices established during the ACP. Detailed interrogation of the analysis results and comparison with experimental measurements provide a basis for assessing the capability of the modeling approach for OHC. The structural response is found to be captured well, with strengths predicted within 3\% of the experimental values for hard and quasi-isotropic laminates. In the soft laminate, the model predicts failure to be more brittle than the nonlinear, ductile response that was measured. Damage states extracted from the models at the same load level as test measurements are overlaid to show directly the similarities and differences between test and analysis results. Studying the damage evolution predicted by the analysis reveals that the failure process is a competition between fiber damage and delamination/sub-laminate buckling, with fiber damage dominating the collapse in the hard laminate and sub-laminate buckling governing in the soft laminate. Finally, a series of parametric studies varying numerical solution parameters (mesh size, mass scaling) and physical properties (fiber direction compressive strength and toughness) reveal sensitivities and deficiencies of the model. To the authors' knowledge, this study is the first for OHC specimens to include detailed evaluation of damage mode interactions, direct overlay of predicted and measured damage states, and sensitivity of the predicted results to difficult-to-measure fiber direction material properties.

Continuum damage mechanics↗

ERTS direct readout ground station study

A system configuration which provides for a wide variety of user requirements is described. Two distinct user types are considered and optimized configurations are provided. Independent satellite transmission systems allow simultaneous signal transmission to Regional Collection Centers via a high data rate channel and to local users who require near real time consumption of lower rate data. In order to maximize the ultimate utility of this study effort, a parametric system description is given such that in essence a shopping list is provided. To achieve these results, it was necessary to consider all technical disciplines associated with high resolution satellite imaging systems including signal processing, modulation and coding, recording, and display techniques. A total systems study was performed.

Source record↗

Reflection of a shock wave from a thermally accommodating wall - Molecular simulation.

Reflection of a plane shock wave from a wall has been simulated on a microscopic scale using a direct simulation Monte Carlo technique of the type developed by Bird. A monatomic gas model representing argon was used to describe the fluid medium and a simple one-parameter accommodation coefficient model was used to describe the gas-surface interaction. The influence of surface accommodation was studied parametrically by varying the accommodation coefficient from zero to one. Results are presented showing the temporal variations of flow field density, and mass, momentum, and energy fluxes to the wall during the shock wave reflection process. The energy flux was used to determine the wall temperature history. Comparisons with experiment are found to be satisfactory where data are available.

Deiwert, G. S.↗

A simulation of air pollution model parameter estimation using data from a ground-based LIDAR remote sensor

One way to obtain estimates of the unknown parameters in a pollution dispersion model is to compare the model predictions with remotely sensed air quality data. A ground-based LIDAR sensor provides relative pollution concentration measurements as a function of space and time. The measured sensor data are compared with the dispersion model output through a numerical estimation procedure to yield parameter estimates which best fit the data. This overall process is tested in a computer simulation to study the effects of various measurement strategies. Such a simulation is useful prior to a field measurement exercise to maximize the information content in the collected data. Parametric studies of simulated data matched to a Gaussian plume dispersion model indicate the trade offs available between estimation accuracy and data acquisition strategy.

Kibler, J. F.↗

Rapid Geometry Creation for Computer-Aided Engineering Parametric Analyses: A Case Study Using ComGeom2 for Launch Abort System Design

ComGeom2, a tool developed to generate Common Geometry representation for multidisciplinary analysis, has been used to create a large set of geometries for use in a design study requiring analysis by two computational codes. This paper describes the process used to generate the large number of configurations and suggests ways to further automate the process and make it more efficient for future studies. The design geometry for this study is the launch abort system of the NASA Crew Launch Vehicle.

Hawke, Veronica↗