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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 397 records · Page 22
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1987

A Lanczos eigenvalue method on a parallel computer

Eigenvalue analyses of complex structures is a computationally intensive task which can benefit significantly from new and impending parallel computers. This study reports on a parallel computer implementation of the Lanczos method for free vibration analysis. The approach used here subdivides the major Lanczos calculation tasks into subtasks and introduces parallelism down to the subtask levels such as matrix decomposition and forward/backward substitution. The method was implemented on a commercial parallel computer and results were obtained for a long flexible space structure. While parallel computing efficiency is problem and computer dependent, the efficiency for the Lanczos method was good for a moderate number of processors for the test problem. The greatest reduction in time was realized for the decomposition of the stiffness matrix, a calculation which took 70 percent of the time in the sequential program and which took 25 percent of the time on eight processors. For a sample calculation of the twenty lowest frequencies of a 486 degree of freedom problem, the total sequential computing time was reduced by almost a factor of ten using 16 processors.

Bostic, Susan W.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Dynamic response of a viscoelastic Timoshenko beam

The analysis presented in this study deals with the vibratory response of viscoelastic Timoshenko (1955) beams under the assumption of small material loss tangents. The appropriate method of analysis employed here may be applied to more complex structures. This study compares the damping ratios obtained from the Timoshenko and Euler-Bernoulli theories for a given viscoelastic material system. From this study the effect of shear deformation and rotary inertia on damping ratios can be identified.

Kalyanasundaram, S.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Singular trajectories in airplane cruise-dash optimization

Optimal cruise-dash trajectories are obtained for the case of time-fuel optimization using a linear combination of time and fuel as the performance index. For the case of the steady-state arc being flown at full throttle, the skeletal transient trajectories are also flown at full throttle and the transients approach the cruise-dash points monotonically in an asymptotic fashion. When the steady-state arc is flown at an intermediate throttle, the transient trajectories follow a singular control law and exhibit a complex structure that differs from that of the full-throttle transients. With respect to optimality of the steady-state arc, it is found that although steady-state cruise fails a Jacobi-type condition, steady-state cruise-dash can satisfy this condition if the emphasis on time is sufficiently large.

Bilimoria, Karl D.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Advanced solar receiver conceptual design study

High temperature solar dynamic Brayton and Stirling receivers are investigated as candidate electrical power generating systems for future LEO missions. These receivers are smaller and more efficient than conventional receivers, and they offer less structural complexity and fewer thermal stress problems. Use of the advanced Direct Absorption Storage Receiver allows many of the problems associated with working with high-volumetric-change phase-change materials to be avoided. A specific mass reduction of about 1/3 with respect to the baseline receiver has been realized.

Kesseli, J. B.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Radio emission from pre-main-sequence stars in Corona Australis

The central region of the Corona Australis molecular cloud surrounding the stars R and TY CrA has been studied using the VLA at 6 cm. Eleven radio sources are detected including five associated with pre-main-sequence objects. The most striking is associated with the near-IR source IRS 7 and shows a complex structure comprising two strong pointlike sources positioned either side of the deeply embedded IR source and two extended lobes of radio emission. The IRS 7 radio source appears to be similar to that associated with Lynds 1551 IRS 5 but has a considerably larger angular size. The other detected sources include the massive pre-main-sequence star TY CrA, the near-IR sources IRS 1 and IRS 5, and the Herbig-Haro object HH 101. The stars R and T CrA were not detected.

Brown, Alexander↗
NASA NTRS1988

An experimental study of air-assist atomizer spray flames

It is noted that air-assisted atomizer spray flames encountered in furnaces, boilers, and gas turbine combustors possess a more complex structure than homogeneous turbulent diffusion flames, due to the swirling motion introduced into the fuel and air flows for the control of flame stability, length, combustion intensity, and efficiency. Detailed comparisons are presented between burning and nonburning condition measurements of these flames obtained by nonintrusive light scattering phase/Doppler detection. Spray structure is found to be drastically changed within the flame reaction zone, with changes in the magnitude and shape of drop number density, liquid flux, mean drop size diameter, and drop mean axial velocity radial distributions.

Mao, Chien-Pei↗
NASA NTRS1988

Advanced heat receiver conceptual design study

Solar Dynamic space power systems are candidate electrical power generating systems for future NASA missions. One of the key components of the solar dynamic power system is the solar receiver/thermal energy storage (TES) subsystem. Receiver development was conducted by NASA in the late 1960's and since then a very limited amount of work has been done in this area. Consequently the state of the art (SOA) receivers designed for the IOC space station are large and massive. The objective of the Advanced Heat Receiver Conceptual Design Study is to conceive and analyze advanced high temperature solar dynamic Brayton and Stirling receivers. The goal is to generate innovative receiver concepts that are half of the mass, smaller, and more efficient than the SOA. It is also necessary that these innovative receivers offer ease of manufacturing, less structural complexity and fewer thermal stress problems. Advanced Brayton and Stirling receiver storage units are proposed and analyzed in this study which can potentially meet these goals.

Kesseli, James↗
NASA NTRS1989

Transient analysis techniques in performing impact and crash dynamic studies

Because of the emphasis being placed on crashworthiness as a design requirement, increasing demands are being made by various organizations to analyze a wide range of complex structures that must perform safely when subjected to severe impact loads, such as those generated in a crash event. The ultimate goal of crashworthiness design and analysis is to produce vehicles with the ability to reduce the dynamic forces experienced by the occupants to specified levels, while maintaining a survivable envelope around them during a specified crash event. DYCAST is a nonlinear structural dynamic finite element computer code that started from the plans systems of a finite element program for static nonlinear structural analysis. The essential features of DYCAST are outlined.

Pifko, A. B.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Tectonic history of the Syria Planum province of Mars

Several new, as well as existing, techniques are employed here to unravel the complex structural history of the Syria Planum province of Mars. Individual faults are first recognized as members of local or extensive fault sets related to distinct tectonic episodes. The relative ages of these fault sets are determined using superposition and intersection relations and crater counts. Correlations are also made with local geology and topography. Morphological characteristics of the fault scarps are measured photoclinometrically from Viking orbiter images and the way that variations in fault morphology are related to tectonic style, thickness of the faulted layer, and amount of extension is interpreted. The overall results present a more complete and coherent, as well as a different, tectonic history for this province than previously attained. The results show that geophysical interpretations of the Tharsis tectonic region require reevaluation.

Tanaka, Kenneth L.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Fractals in physiology and medicine

The paper demonstrates how the nonlinear concepts of fractals, as applied in physiology and medicine, can provide an insight into the organization of such complex structures as the tracheobronchial tree and heart, as well as into the dynamics of healthy physiological variability. Particular attention is given to the characteristics of computer-generated fractal lungs and heart and to fractal pathologies in these organs. It is shown that alterations in fractal scaling may underlie a number of pathophysiological disturbances, including sudden cardiac death syndromes.

Goldberger, Ary L.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Hypersonic blunt body computations including real gas effects

Various second-order explicit and implicit TVD shock-capturing methods, a generalization of Roe's approximate Riemann solver, and a generalized flux-vector splitting scheme are used to study two-dimensional hypersonic real-gas flows. Special attention is given to the identification of some of the elements and parameters which can affect the convergence rate for high Mach numbers or real gases, but have negligible effect for low Mach numbers, for cases involving steady-state inviscid blunt flows. Blunt body calculations at Mach numbers of greater than 15 are performed to treat real-gas effects, and impinging shock results are obtained to test the treatment of slip surfaces and complex structures. Even with the addition of improvements, the convergence rate of algorithms in the hypersonic flow regime is found to be generally slower for a real gas than for a perfect gas.

Montagne, J.-L.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Welding And Cutting A Nickel Alloy By Laser

Technique effective and energy-efficient. Report describes evaluation of laser welding and cutting of Inconel(R) 718. Notes that electron-beam welding processes developed for In-718, but difficult to use on large or complex structures. Cutting of In-718 by laser fast and produces only narrow kerf. Cut edge requires dressing, to endure fatigue.

Banas, C. M.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Efficient numerical method for computation of thermohydrodynamics of laminar lubricating films

The purpose of this paper is to describe an accurate, yet economical, method for computing temperature effects in laminar lubricating films in two dimensions. The procedure presented here is a sequel to one presented in Leeds in 1986 that was carried out for the one-dimensional case. Because of the marked dependence of lubricant viscosity on temperature, the effect of viscosity variation both across and along a lubricating film can dwarf other deviations from ideal constant-property lubrication. In practice, a thermohydrodynamics program will involve simultaneous solution of the film lubrication problem, together with heat conduction in a solid, complex structure. The extent of computation required makes economy in numerical processing of utmost importance. In pursuit of such economy, we here use techniques similar to those for Gaussian quadrature. We show that, for many purposes, the use of just two properly positioned temperatures (Lobatto points) characterizes well the transverse temperature distribution.

Elrod, Harold G.↗
NASA NTRS1989

ASCIE: An integrated experiment to study CSI in large segmented optical systems

A description of the advanced structures/control integrated experiment (ASCIE) experimental setup, a generic test bed for several essential technologies was presented. In particular its multi-input, multi-output, non-collocated control system and its complex structural dynamics, characteristic of large segmented systems make it an ideal test bed for Control-Structure Interaction (CSI) experiments. The high accuracy of its measurement system will make it possible to investigate the dynamics of microvibrations and its implication for the CSI phenomenon.

Aubrun, Jean-Noel↗
NASA NTRS1990

PCI: A PATRAN-NASTRAN model translator

The amount of programming required to develop a PATRAN-NASTRAN translator was surprisingly small. The approach taken produced a highly flexible translator comparable with the PATNAS translator and superior to the PATCOS translator. The coding required varied from around ten lines for a shell element to around thirty for a bar element, and the time required to add a feature to the program is typically less than an hour. The use of a lookup table for element names makes the translator also applicable to other versions of NASTRAN. The saving in time as a result of using PDA's Gateway utilities was considerable. During the writing of the program it became apparent that, with a somewhat more complex structure, it would be possible to extend the element data file to contain all data required to define the translation from PATRAN to NASTRAN by mapping of data between formats. Similar data files on property, material and grid formats would produce a completely universal translator from PATRAN to any FEA program, or indeed any CAE system.

Sheerer, T. J.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Obtaining an equivalent beam

In modeling a complex structure the researcher was faced with a component that would have logical appeal if it were modeled as a beam. The structure was a mast of a robot controlled gantry crane. The structure up to this point already had a large number of degrees of freedom, so the idea of conserving grid points by modeling the mast as a beam was attractive. The researcher decided to make a separate problem of of the mast and model it in three dimensions with plates, then extract the equivalent beam properties by setting up the loading to simulate beam-like deformation and constraints. The results could then be used to represent the mast as a beam in the full model. A comparison was made of properties derived from models of different constraints versus manual calculations. The researcher shows that the three-dimensional model is ineffective in trying to conform to the requirements of an equivalent beam representation. If a full 3-D plate model were used in the complete representation of the crane structure, good results would be obtained. Since the attempt is to economize on the size of the model, a better way to achieve the same results is to use substructuring and condense the mast to equivalent end boundary and intermediate mass points.

Butler, Thomas G.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Analysis of Thematic Mapper data for studying the suspended matter distribution in the coastal area of the German Bight (North Sea)

Thematic Mapper data were analyzed with respect to its capability for mapping the complex structure and dynamics of suspended matter distribution in the coastal area of the German Bight (North Sea). Three independent pieces of information were found by factor analysis of all seven TM channels: suspended matter concentration, atmospheric scattering, and sea surface temperature. For the required atmospheric correction, the signal-to-noise ratios of Channels 5 and 7 have to be improved by averaging over 25 x 25 pixels, which also makes it possible to monitor the aerosol optical depth and aerosol type over cloud-free water surfaces. Near-surface suspended matter concentrations may be detected with an accuracy of factor less than 2 by using an algorithm derived from radiative transfer model calculation. The patchiness of suspended matter and its relation to underwater topography was analyzed with autocorrelation and cross-correlation.

Doerffer, R.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Failure processes within ceramic coatings at high temperatures

Plasma sprayed coatings have a complex structure which is produced by the overlaying of many molten or semi-molten particles in the diameter range of 20 to 120 microns. The failure behavior of coatings has been characterized by using acoustic emission (AE) methodology. Coatings of NiCrAlY bond coat with a zirconia-12 wt pct yttria overlay were applied to disk-shaped specimens of U-700 alloy. A waveguide of 1-mm diameter platinum was TlG welded to the specimen and allowed it to be suspended in a tubular furnace. The specimen was thermally cycled to 1150 C and the AE monitored. Analyses have been carried out with the aim of establishing parameters which are related to the crack size population. These studies have been used to postulate types of cracking mechanisms which may occur in plasma sprayed coatings during thermal cycling. It is shown that microcracking gave rise to a large amount of AE. However, this coating still survived more thermal cycles than a coating which exhibited macrocracking events.

Berndt, Christopher↗