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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

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NASA NTRS1985

Space Station attitude control - An overview of requirements and solutions

Attitude control and various structural aspects of NASA's permanent manned Space Station are discussed in the framework of design flexibility, obsolescence as a deterent to a long operational life, modularity, and autonomy. Among the variable factors of specific importance, consideration is given to internal factors, such as inertial variations (up to 400 percent), center of mass movements (up to 28 m), and shifts in modal characteristics, as well as to external torque shifts associated with aerodynamic moments and gravity gradients. The compatibility among multiple-user requirements is also considered. As the Station is a low-orbit spacecraft, its attitude will be greatly affected by the inhomogeneity of the atmosphere, placing a priority on the attitude control techniques. A combination of passive (spring-mass-damper suspension systems) and active (sensor/disturbance-canceling device) systems are expected to be used.

Buchanan, H. J.↗

NASA NTRS1988

An efficient algorithm for computing the crossovers in satellite altimetry

An efficient algorithm has been devised to compute the crossovers in satellite altimetry. The significance of the crossovers is twofold. First, they are needed to perform the crossover adjustment to remove the orbit error. Secondly, they yield important insight into oceanic variability. Nevertheless, there is no published algorithm to make this very time consuming task easier, which is the goal of this report. The success of the algorithm is predicated on the ability to predict (by analytical means) the crossover coordinates to within 6 km and 1 sec of the true values. Hence, only one interpolation/extrapolation step on the data is needed to derive the crossover coordinates in contrast to the many interpolation/extrapolation operations usually needed to arrive at the same accuracy level if deprived of this information.

Tai, Chang-Kou↗

NASA NTRS1989

Tailoring of composite links for optimal damped elasto-dynamic performance

A method is developed for the optimal design of composite links based on dynamic performance criteria directly related to structural modal damping and dynamic stiffness. An integrated mechanics theory correlates structural composite damping to the parameters of basic composite material systems, laminate parameters, link shape, and modal deformations. The inclusion of modal properties allows the selective minimization of vibrations associated with specific modes. Ply angles and fiber volumes are tailored to obtain optimal combinations of damping and stiffness. Applications to simple composite links indicate wide margins for trade-offs and illustrate the importance of various design variables to the optimal design.

Saravanos, D. A.↗

NASA NTRS1989

An efficient algorithm for computing the crossovers in satellite altimetry

An efficient algorithm has been devised to compute the crossovers in satellite altimetry. The significance of the crossovers is twofold. First, they are needed to perform the crossover adjustment to remove the orbit error. Secondly, they yield important insight into oceanic variability. Nevertheless, there is no published algorithm to make this very time-consuming task easier, which is the goal of this report. The success of the algorithm is predicated on the ability to predict (by analytical means) the crossover coordinates to within 6 km and 1 sec of the true values. Hence, only one interpolation/extrapolation step on the data is needed to derive the crossover coordinates in contrast to the many interpolation/extrapolation operations usually needed to arrive at the same accuracy level if deprived of this information.

Tai, Chang-Kou↗

NASA NTRS1989

Leader personality and crew effectiveness: Factors influencing performance in full-mission air transport simulation

A full mission simulation research study was completed to assess the potential for selection along dimensions of personality. Using a selection algorithm described by Chidester (1987), captains were classified as fitting one of three profiles using a battery of personality assessment scales, and the performances of 23 crews led by captains fitting each profile were contrasted over a one and one-half day simulated trip. Crews led by captains fitting a Positive Instrumental Expressive profile (high achievement motivation and interpersonal skill) were consistently effective and made fewer errors. Crews led by captains fitting a Negative Communion profile (below average achievement motivation, negative expressive style, such as complaining) were consistently less effective and made more errors. Crews led by captains fitting a Negative Instrumental profile (high levels of Competitiveness, Verbal Aggressiveness, and Impatience and Irritability) were less effective on the first day but equal to the best on the second day. These results underscore the importance of stable personality variables as predictors of team coordination and performance.

Chidester, Thomas R.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Personality factors in flight operations. Volume 1: Leader characteristics and crew performance in a full-mission air transport simulation

Crew effectiveness is a joint product of the piloting skills, attitudes, and personality characteristics of team members. As obvious as this point might seem, both traditional approaches to optimizing crew performance and more recent training development highlighting crew coordination have emphasized only the skill and attitudinal dimensions. This volume is the first in a series of papers on this simulation. A subsequent volume will focus on patterns of communication within crews. The results of a full-mission simulation research study assessing the impact of individual personality on crew performance is reported. Using a selection algorithm described in previous research, captains were classified as fitting one of three profiles along a battery of personality assessment scales. The performances of 23 crews led by captains fitting each profile were contrasted over a one-and-one-half-day simulated trip. Crews led by captains fitting a positive Instrumental-Expressive profile (high achievement motivation and interpersonal skill) were consistently effective and made fewer errors. Crews led by captains fitting a Negative Expressive profile (below average achievement motivation, negative expressive style, such as complaining) were consistently less effective and made more errors. Crews led by captains fitting a Negative Instrumental profile (high levels of competitiveness, verbal aggressiveness, and impatience and irritability) were less effective on the first day but equal to the best on the second day. These results underscore the importance of stable personality variables as predictors of team coordination and performance.

Chidester, Thomas R.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Leader personality and crew effectiveness - A full-mission simulation experiment

A full-mission simulation research study was completed to assess the impact of individual personality on crew performance. Using a selection algorithm described by Chidester (1987), captains were classified as fitting one of three profiles along a battery of personality assessment scales. The performances of 23 crews led by captains fitting each profile were contrasted over a one and one-half day simulated trip. Crews led by captains fitting a positive Instrumental-Expressive profile (high achievement motivation and interpersonal skill) were consistently effective and made fewer errors. Crews led by captains fitting a Negative Expressive profile (below average achievement motivation, negative expressive style, such as complaining) were consistently less effective and made more errors. Crews led by captains fitting a Negative Instrumental profile (high levels of competitiveness, Verbal Aggressiveness, and Impatience and Irritability) were less effective on the first day but equal to the best on the second day. These results underscore the importance of stable personality variables as predictors of team coordination and performance.

Chidester, Thomas R.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Tailoring of composite links for optimal damped elasto-dynamic performance

Saravanos, D. A.↗

NASA NTRS1990

On the Decadal Modes of Oscillation of an Idealized Ocean-atmosphere System

Axially-symmetric, linear, free modes of global, primitive equation, ocean-atmosphere models are examined to see if they contain decadal (10 to 30 years) oscillation time scale modes. A two-layer ocean model and a two-level atmospheric model are linearized around axially-symmetric basic states containing mean meridional circulations in the ocean and the atmosphere. Uncoupled and coupled, axially-symmetric modes of oscillation of the ocean-atmosphere system are calculated. The main conclusion is that linearized, uncoupled and coupled, ocean-atmosphere systems can contain axially-symmetric, free modes of variability on decadal time scales. These results have important implications for externally-forced decadal climate variability.

Mehta, Vikram M.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Quasi-biennial modulation of planetary-wave fluxes in the Northern Hemisphere winter

Using 25 years of National Meteorological Center (NMC) data for 1964-88 the relation between tropical and extratropical quasi-biennial oscillations (QBOs) was examined for zonally averaged quantities and planetary-wave Eliassen-Palm fluxes in the Northern Hemisphere winter. The extratropical QBO discussed by Holton and Tan (1980) existed in both temporal halves of the dataset. Autocorrelation analysis demonstrated that it was an important mode of interannual variability in the extratropical winter stratosphere. Correlation with the tropics was strongest when 40-mb equatorial winds were used to define the tropical QBO. Easterly phase at 40 mb implied a weaker than normal polar night jet and warmer than normal polar temperature and vice versa. An opposite relationship was obtained using 10-mb equatorial winds. The association between tropical and extratropical QBOs was observed in about 90 percent of the winters and was statistically significant. It is shown that planetary-wave Eliassen-Palm fluxes were generally consistent with the extratropical QBO. These fluxes were more (less) convergent in the midlatitude (subtropical) upper stratosphere in the 40-mb east (= easterly) phase category relative to the west category.

Dunkerton, Timothy J.↗

NASA NTRS1938

Heat-transfer processes in air-cooled engine cylinders

From a consideration of heat-transfer theory, semi-empirical expressions are set up for the transfer of heat from the combustion gases to the cylinder of an air-cooled engine and from the cylinder to the cooling air. Simple equations for the average head and barrel temperatures as functions of the important engine and cooling variables are obtained from these expressions. The expressions involve a few empirical constants, which may be readily determined from engine tests. Numerical values for these constants were obtained from single-cylinder engine tests for cylinders of the Pratt & Whitney 1535 and 1340-h engines. The equations provide a means of calculating the effect of the various engine and cooling variables on the cylinder temperatures and also of correlating the results of engine cooling tests. An example is given of the application of the equations to the correlation of cooling-test data obtained in flight.

Pinkel, Benjamin↗

NASA NTRS1993

On the Accuracy of CFD-Based Pressure Drop Predictions for Right-Angle Ducts

The predictive capability of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes for turbulent flow through curved ducts is of significant importance to the design and performance analysis of modern rocket engine flowpaths. Code calibration and validation studies for this class of flow are desireable to estimate the performance margin and operating range of components designed using Navier-Stokes methods. Parametric experimental studies such as that of Weske (NACA ARR W-39) provided a wealth of performance data for the design of single- and compound elbow configurations with various cross-sections, curvature and aspect ratios at varying Reynolds numbers. In that work, the majority of data is presented in the form of loss coefficients, characterizing pressure losses due to duct curvature, and including losses due to wall friction. Using measured friction coefficients, losses of equivalent straight lengths of duct are subtracted, resulting in performance curves useful for design computations. These data are currently used in a CFD-based parametric study covering a broad range of operating conditions. Of particular interest for the accuracy of CFD predictions are the effects on pressure loss due to inlet boundary layer thickness (dependent on upstream development length), and the wall treatment for the turbulence equations (conventional wall functions vs. wall integration using a two-layer model). The experimental data are reassessed in the form of an error analysis, and are compared with CFD predictions for 18 computational cases. Grid-independence, grid spacing, and convergence requirements of the cases are discussed. Conclusions regarding the relative importance of the parametric variables will be presented.

Brankovic, Andreja↗

NASA NTRS1995

Development of a model of atmospheric oxygen variations to estimate terrestrial carbon storage and release

Two years of work has been completed towards the development of a model of atmospheric oxygen variations on seasonal to decadal timescales. During the first year we (1) constructed a preliminary monthly-mean climatology of surface ocean oxygen anomalies, (2) began modeling studies to assess the importance of short term variability on the monthly-mean oxygen flux, and (3) conducted preliminary simulations of the annual mean cycle of oxygen in the atmosphere. Most of the second year was devoted to improving the monthly mean climatology of oxygen in the surface ocean.

Najjar, Raymond G.↗

NASA NTRS1995

The method of space-time conservation element and solution element-applications to one-dimensional and two-dimensional time-marching flow problems

A nontraditional numerical method for solving conservation laws is being developed. The new method is designed from a physicist's perspective, i.e., its development is based more on physics than numerics. Even though it uses only the simplest approximation techniques, a 2D time-marching Euler solver developed recently using the new method is capable of generating nearly perfect solutions for a 2D shock reflection problem used by Helen Yee and others. Moreover, a recent application of this solver to computational aeroacoustics (CAA) problems reveals that: (1) accuracy of its results is comparable to that of a 6th order compact difference scheme even though nominally the current solver is only of 2nd-order accuracy; (2) generally, the non-reflecting boundary condition can be implemented in a simple way without involving characteristic variables; and (3) most importantly, the current solver is capable of handling both continuous and discontinuous flows very well and thus provides a unique numerical tool for solving those flow problems where the interactions between sound waves and shocks are important, such as the noise field around a supersonic over- or under-expansion jet.

Chang, Sin-Chung↗

NASA NTRS1994

Rotational modulation and flares on RS Canum Venaticorum and BY Draconis stars. 18: Coordinated VLA, ROSAT, and IUE observations of RS CVn binaries

As part of a coordinated program of multi-wavelength observations of RS CVn close binary systems, we observed 15 systems with the Very Large Array (VLA) and 10 systems with IUE, simultaneously or nearly simultaneously with the ROSAT All Sky Survey observations of these stars. Of the 22 systems observed with ROSAT, three were observed both by IUE and the VLA. Radio observations were made at 3.6, 6 and 20 cm. Of the 15 observed RS CVn systems, we detected 11 with greater than 4 sigma confidence at one or more wavelengths. The IUE observations were made within the RIASS (ROSAT-IUE All Sky Survey) program. We present the results of the VLA observations, along with the corresponding subsets of the ROSAT Position Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC) X-ray and Wide Field Camera (WFC) XUV survey, and RIASS IUE observations. We obtained an extended VLA/IUE/ROSAT simultaneous coverage of one system, TY Pyx, covering more than one orbital period. These observations reveal that the quiescent radio flux of TY Pyx is relatively constant over time scales of up to 7 hours, but that it did change by a factor of 3 over 24 hours, probably due to a flare on 1990 Nov. 12. The UV, XUV and X-ray fluxes do not show large day-to-day or phase-related variability. The observation of the decay phase of a radio flare on EI Eri, with no accompanying X-ray or XUV flare, suggests that the lack of a strong correlation between X-ray and radio flares previously noted for dMe flare stars holds for RS CVn systems as well. We suggest that the radio flare may have been due to a coherent emission process such as electron cyclotron emission. The simultaneous measurements presented here provide a unique test of the general correlation between radio and soft X-ray luminosities, L(sub radio) approximately L(sub x exp m) (Drake et al. 1989) with a power-law slope close to unity, which was previously derived using data obtained years apart. Our derived slopes are consistent with and thus support the general correlations between coronal and chromospheric/transition region emissions previously derived from nonsimultaneous measurements of a much larger sample of these variable sources. However, the importance of simultaneous measurements for accurate energy balance calculations is stressed.

Fox, David C.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Developing Conceptual Hypersonic Airbreathing Engines Using Design of Experiments Methods

Designing a hypersonic vehicle is a complicated process due to the multi-disciplinary synergy that is required. The greatest challenge involves propulsion-airframe integration. In the past, a two-dimensional flowpath was generated based on the engine performance required for a proposed mission. A three-dimensional CAD geometry was produced from the two-dimensional flowpath for aerodynamic analysis, structural design, and packaging. The aerodynamics, engine performance, and mass properties arc inputs to the vehicle performance tool to determine if the mission goals were met. If the mission goals were not met, then a flowpath and vehicle redesign would begin. This design process might have to be performed several times to produce a "closed" vehicle. This paper will describe an attempt to design a hypersonic cruise vehicle propulsion flowpath using a Design of' Experiments method to reduce the resources necessary to produce a conceptual design with fewer iterations of the design cycle. These methods also allow for more flexible mission analysis and incorporation of additional design constraints at any point. A design system was developed using an object-based software package that would quickly generate each flowpath in the study given the values of the geometric independent variables. These flowpath geometries were put into a hypersonic propulsion code and the engine performance was generated. The propulsion results were loaded into statistical software to produce regression equations that were combined with an aerodynamic database to optimize the flowpath at the vehicle performance level. For this example, the design process was executed twice. The first pass was a cursory look at the independent variables selected to determine which variables are the most important and to test all of the inputs to the optimization process. The second cycle is a more in-depth study with more cases and higher order equations representing the design space.

Ferlemann, Shelly M.↗

NASA NTRS2003

The Madden-Julian Oscillation and its Impact on Northern Hemisphere Weather Predictability during Wintertime

The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) is known as the dominant mode of tropical intraseasonal variability and has an important role in the coupled-atmosphere system. This study used twin numerical model experiments to investigate the influence of the MJO activity on weather predictability in the midlatitudes of the Northern Hemisphere during boreal winter. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard laboratory for the Atmospheres (GLA) general circulation model was first used in a 10-yr simulation with fixed climatological SSTs to generate a validation data set as well as to select initial conditions for active MJO periods and Null cases. Two perturbation numerical experiments were performed for the 75 cases selected [(4 MJO phases + Null phase) _ 15 initial conditions in each]. For each alternative initial condition, the model was integrated for 90 days. Mean anomaly correlations in the midlatitudes of the Northern Hemisphere (2O deg N_60 deg.N) and standardized root-mean-square errors were computed to validate forecasts and control run. The analyses of 500-hPa geopotential height, 200-hPa Streamfunction and 850-hPa zonal wind component systematically show larger predictability during periods of active MJO as opposed to quiescent episodes of the oscillation.

Jones, Charles↗

NASA NTRS2004

Structural Integrity of a Wind Tunnel Balance

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC) has been designing strain-gage balances for utilization in wind tunnels since its inception. The utilization of balances span over a wide variety of aerodynamic tests. A force balance is an inherently critically stressed component due to the requirements of measurement sensitivity. Research and analyses are done in order to investigate the structural integrity of the balances as well as developing an understanding of their performance in order to enhance their capability. Maximum loading occurs when all 6 components of the loads are applied simultaneously with their maximum value allowed (limit load). This circumstance normally does not occur in the wind tunnel. However, if it occurs, is the balance capable of handling the loads with an acceptable factor of safety? LaRC Balance 1621 was modeled and meshed in PATRAN for analysis in NASTRAN. For a complete analysis, it is necessary to consider all the load cases as well as use dense mesh near all the edges. Because of computer limitations, it is not possible to have one model with the dense mesh near all edges. In the present study, a dense mesh is limited to the surface corners where the cage and axial sections meet. Four different load combinations are used for the current analysis. Linear analysis is performed for each load case. In the case where the stress value is above linear elastic region, it is necessary to perform nonlinear analysis. It is also important to investigate the variables limiting the structural integrity of the balances. In order to investigate the possibility of modifying the existing balances to enhance the structural integrity, some modifications are done on this balance. The structural integrity of the balance after modification is investigated.

Karkehabadi, R.↗