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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 NTRS1980

Technologies Involved in Configuring an Advanced Earth-to-Orbit Transport for Low Structural Mass

The current space shuttle is expected to adequately meet Government and industry needs for the transport of cargo to and from orbit well into the 1990's. However, continual study of potential follow-on shuttle systems is necessary and desirable in order to complement ongoing research in materials, structures, propulsion, aerodynamics, and other related areas. By studying alternate systems well in advance, it will be possible to explore the various technologies and develop those for which there is the greatest apparent payoff. In this paper a single-stage Earth-to-orbit transport designed for delivery of approximately 29,500 kg (65,000 lb) payload will be described. The vehicle, which takes off vertically and lands horizontally, is 60 m (197 feet) long and weighs approximately 1.8 Gg (4 M lb) at liftoff. In the interest of weight reduction, a simple body of revolution is utilized for the main body shell. In this design the main propulsion tanks serve as a primary load-carrying structure. Further, in order to minimize structural mass, the cargo bay is located between two of the main propellant tanks. The cargo volume, at 396 cu m (14,000 cu feet), exceeds that provided by the shuttle; but the bay itself is nonconforming in shape - being approximately 10 m (32 feet) in diameter by 5 m (17 feet) long. Dual-fuel propulsion is employed, since a number of studies have shown that (though lowering performance) the operation of hydrocarbon (RP) engines in parallel with LOX/LH2 engines results in a net reduction in the vehicle's physical size and structural mass. Other weight-saving features entail the extensive use of honeycomb sandwiches, advanced materials, and advanced fabrication techniques. The vehicle presented is utilized only as a means to study and identify various technologies needed in order to develop a low mass Earth-to-orbit transportation system for the future. The conclusion of this study is that vehicle geometry and structural/materials technology are critical to the development of efficient single-stage Earth-to-orbit transports.

MacConochie, Ian O.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Control of elastic robotic systems by nonlinear inversion and modal damping

Energy efficient, lightweight robot arms for space applications have considerable structural flexibility. For large and fast motions, both the nonlinear coupled dynamics and the elastic behavior of the robots must be considered in control system designs. This paper presents an approach to the control of a class of flexible robotic systems. A control law is derived which decouples the joint-angle motion from the flexible motion and asymptotically decomposes the elastic dynamics into two subsystems, representing the transverse vibrations of the elastic link in two orthogonal planes. This decomposition allows the design of an elastic mode stabilizer independently based on lower order models representing structural flexibility. The closed-loop system is shown to be globally asymptotically stable and robust to uncertainty in system parameters. Simulation results are presented to show that large, fast control of joint angles can be performed in spite of space vehicle motion and uncertainty in the payload.

Singh, S. N.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Effect of damping on excitability of high-order normal modes

The effect of localized structural damping on the excitability of higher-order large space telescope spacecraft modes is investigated. A preprocessor computer program is developed to incorporate Voigt structural joint damping models in a finite-element dynamic model. A postprocessor computer program is developed to select critical modes for low-frequency attitude control problems and for higher-frequency fine-stabilization problems. The selection is accomplished by ranking the flexible modes based on coefficients for rate gyro, position gyro, and optical sensor, and on image-plane motions due to sinusoidal or random PSD force and torque inputs.

Merchant, D. H.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Construction of a Piezoresistive Neural Sensor Array

The construction of a piezoresistive - piezoelectric sensor (or actuator) array is proposed using 'neural' connectivity for signal recognition and possible actuation functions. A closer integration of the sensor and decision functions is necessary in order to achieve intrinsic identification within the sensor. A neural sensor is the next logical step in development of truly 'intelligent' arrays. This proposal will integrate 1-3 polymer piezoresistors and MLC electroceramic devices for applications involving acoustic identification. The 'intelligent' piezoresistor -piezoelectric system incorporates printed resistors, composite resistors, and a feedback for the resetting of resistances. A model of a design is proposed in order to simulate electromechanical resistor interactions. The goal of optimizing a sensor geometry for improving device reliability, training, & signal identification capabilities is the goal of this work. At present, studies predict performance of a 'smart' device with a significant control of 'effective' compliance over a narrow pressure range due to a piezoresistor percolation threshold. An interesting possibility may be to use an array of control elements to shift the threshold function in order to change the level of resistance in a neural sensor array for identification, or, actuation applications. The proposed design employs elements of: (1) conductor loaded polymers for a 'fast' RC time constant response; and (2) multilayer ceramics for actuation or sensing and shifting of resistance in the polymer. Other material possibilities also exist using magnetoresistive layered systems for shifting the resistance. It is proposed to use a neural net configuration to test and to help study the possible changes required in the materials design of these devices. Numerical design models utilize electromechanical elements, in conjunction with structural elements in order to simulate piezoresistively controlled actuators and changes in resistance of sensors. The construction of these devices may show significant improvement in ability to interrogate signals and in the control of effective compliance. This work focuses on the development a variety of series/parallel interconnected piezoresistive control elements for the neural sensing function.

Carlson, W. B.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Effective refractive index and first-order-mode cutoff conditions in InGaAsP/InP DH laser structures /lambda = 1.2-1.6 microns/

A highly accurate analytical expression for the effective refractive index in In GaAsP/InP DH lasers emitting in the 1.2-1.6 micron range is presented. This closed-form expression is used to derive simple wavelength-independent expressions for the first-order mode cutoff conditions of various lateral waveguides. The effective refractive index is a function of emission wavelength and active layer thickness, and the mode cutoff conditions are compared to experimental data from mode-stabilized 1.3 and 1.55 micron DH lasers.

Botez, D.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Blading System and Method For Controlling Structural Vibrations

A new blading system for controlling the structural vibrations in axial-flow compressors, turbines, or fans, as in aircraft engines and like turbomachines including a stator disc and a rotor disc is presented. The rotor disc defines several radial hubs that retain the rotor blading systems. Each blading system includes a blade formed of an airfoil, and a root attachment which is dimensioned to fit within, and to engage a corresponding hub. Viscoelastic dampers are selectively applied to the outer surfaces of the root attachment on which compressive or shear forces are likely to develop, intermediate the root attachment and the hub, for compression therebetween upon rotation of the rotor disc, in order to dampen structural vibrations. One advantage presented by the viscoelastic dampers lies in its simplicity, efficiency, cost effectiveness, and its ability to be retrofitted into existing turbomachines with minor surface treatment of the root attachments. Furthermore, since the dampers are not exposed to the inflowing airstream, they do not affect the aerodynamic performance of the turbomachine. Another feature of the damping system is that it provides a significant source of damping to minimize destructive structural vibrations, thereby increasing the durability of the turbomachine, and reducing acoustic noise accompanying high amplitude vibrations.

Nguyen, Nhan↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Acoustic Mode Decomposition in Rectangular Ducts with Sheared Flow

The performance of new acoustic liner concepts are, in general, characterized and assessed in grazing flow rigs early in the development cycle. These test rigs expose an acoustic liner sample, installed on the side wall of the duct, to a grazing flow and incident acoustic field. The process to characterize these liners involves educing the impedance on the wall where the sample is installed and examining the acoustic power attenuation. Standard approaches to computing impedance or power attenuation generally consider only the effects of a 2D shear flow or uniform flow, on the acoustic field. In this study, the objective is to incorporate 3D shear flow effects in the analysis of acoustic mode attenuation in a rectangular duct flow rig. A modal analysis of microphone measurements obtained on the side walls of the duct upstream and downstream of the test section of the rig is developed. A Galerkin projection of the Pridmore-Brown equation is performed with Chebyshev basis functions in order to incorporate the effects of the Mach number profile on the computation of the axial wavenumber of each mode. Measurements of the Mach number profile are obtained in the test rig and used as input to compute the modes. Comparisons made between the sound field computed with traditional convective Helmholtz modes and the new procedure using Pridmore-Brown modes indicate that the computed acoustic field using Pridmore-Brown modes more accurately reconstructs the acoustic signal at each microphone in the array. The mode structure of the lowest-order mode is shown to be significantly impacted by shear flow refraction effects, and higher-order mode structures are also affected at higher frequencies and centerline Mach number. An assessment of the acoustic mode attenuation for two acoustic liner samples demonstrates that the computed mode amplitudes for both the traditional and new approach are in agreement for the lowest-order mode, but discrepancies arise when higher-order modes are the dominant component of the acoustic field.

Duct acoustics↗
NASA NTRS1992

Practical theories for service life prediction of critical aerospace structural components

A new second-order theory was developed for predicting the service lives of aerospace structural components. The predictions based on this new theory were compared with those based on the Ko first-order theory and the classical theory of service life predictions. The new theory gives very accurate service life predictions. An equivalent constant-amplitude stress cycle method was proposed for representing the random load spectrum for crack growth calculations. This method predicts the most conservative service life. The proposed use of minimum detectable crack size, instead of proof load established crack size as an initial crack size for crack growth calculations, could give a more realistic service life.

Ko, William L.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Elasticity solutions for a class of composite laminate problems with stress singularities

A study on the fundamental mechanics of fiber-reinforced composite laminates with stress singularities is presented. Based on the theory of anisotropic elasticity and Lekhnitskii's complex-variable stress potentials, a system of coupled governing partial differential equations are established. An eigenfunction expansion method is introduced to determine the orders of stress singularities in composite laminates with various geometric configurations and material systems. Complete elasticity solutions are obtained for this class of singular composite laminate mechanics problems. Homogeneous solutions in eigenfunction series and particular solutions in polynomials are presented for several cases of interest. Three examples are given to illustrate the method of approach and the basic nature of the singular laminate elasticity solutions. The first problem is the well-known laminate free-edge stress problem, which has a rather weak stress singularity. The second problem is the important composite delamination problem, which has a strong crack-tip stress singularity. The third problem is the commonly encountered bonded composite joints, which has a complex solution structure with moderate orders of stress singularities.

Wang, S. S.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Study of the brightness and polarization structure of extragalactic radio sources

The brightness and linear-polarization structure of 19 extended extragalactic radio sources are determined at a frequency of 10.7 GHz. Compact components with self-absorption spectra coincident with the nucleus of an associated galaxy are fairly common, while many sources display regions of high-percentage polarization, sometimes greater than 40%. Comparison of our results with other studies, all at lower frequencies (generally not exceeding 5 GHz), has yielded information on spectra, depolarization rates, and Faraday rotation of the polarization plane in various source regions. At least four distinct classes of extragalactic radio sources are identified. These classes form a sequence along which the prominence of the compact central component declines relative to that of the extended outer regions, while those outer regions become more ordered in their structure and assume specific polarization characteristics. It is suggested that this sequence is in fact an evolutionary sequence.

Stull, M. A.↗
NASA NTRS1994

First Order Reliability Application and Verification Methods for Semistatic Structures

Escalating risks of aerostructures stimulated by increasing size, complexity, and cost should no longer be ignored by conventional deterministic safety design methods. The deterministic pass-fail concept is incompatible with probability and risk assessments, its stress audits are shown to be arbitrary and incomplete, and it compromises high strength materials performance. A reliability method is proposed which combines first order reliability principles with deterministic design variables and conventional test technique to surmount current deterministic stress design and audit deficiencies. Accumulative and propagation design uncertainty errors are defined and appropriately implemented into the classical safety index expression. The application is reduced to solving for a factor that satisfies the specified reliability and compensates for uncertainty errors, and then using this factor as, and instead of, the conventional safety factor in stress analyses. The resulting method is consistent with current analytical skills and verification practices, the culture of most designers, and with the pace of semistatic structural designs.

Verderaime, Vincent↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Computational Study of Oxidative Etch Pitting in FiberForm and the Effect on Its Material Properties

Erosion of carbon due to oxidation does not occur uniformly but through the formation of localized etch pits because of active surface sites. These active sites are formed due to the presence of atomic defects on the carbon surface, and have much higher reactivity compared to average non-defective sites. Thus, these active sites are first to react during ablation, resulting in their removal. This causes all the neighboring atoms to be defective and increase their reactivity, thus leading to the localized carbon removal around these “active” sites. In this manner, these highly reactive defective sites serve as nucleation sites for the formation and growth of etch pits with potentially detrimental effects on the structural integrity. In order to understand the influence of these etch pits on the material properties of carbon fiber microstructures, we have developed a new capability within direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) to capture the etch pit formation process. This capability is developed within the DSMC code SPARTA (Stochastic PArallel Rarefied-gas Time-accurate Analyzer) and can model the material removal in presence of active sites leading to the formation of etch pits. The focus of the current work will be to study the effect of etch pits on the material properties of FiberForm, a commonly used base material within many thermal protection system materials (TPS). The microstructure of virgin FiberForm obtained directly from X-ray microtomography experiments is used within SPARTA to obtain the ablated geometries with etch pits. These pitted microstructures are then imported within the Porous Microstructure Analysis (PuMA) software and various material properties such as elasticity, thermal conductivity, and permeability are computed. The variation of these properties as a result of the complex evolution of the surface topology due to etch pit formation is studied and analyzed. Furthermore, the effect of pitting is compared to the case of shrinking fibers, which has been the standard for modelling ablation of carbon structures; and significant differences are observed. Thus, such a physically realistic modeling of material removal through the formation of etch pits will be helpful in predicting the degradation of carbon-based TPS more accurately during oxidation; as well as other mechanisms such as spallation, which involves the removal of chunks of material into the flow due to etch pit growth. This will ultimately improve our understanding of the failure modes in these materials due to ablation.

Carbon Ablators↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Computational Study of Oxidative Etch Pitting in FiberForm and the Effect on Its Material Properties

Erosion of carbon due to oxidation does not occur uniformly but through the formation of localized etch pits because of active surface sites. These active sites are formed due to the presence of atomic defects on the carbon surface, and have much higher reactivity compared to average non-defective sites. Thus, these active sites are first to react during ablation, resulting in their removal. This causes all the neighboring atoms to be defective and increase their reactivity, thus leading to the localized carbon removal around these “active” sites. In this manner, these highly reactive defective sites serve as nucleation sites for the formation and growth of etch pits with potentially detrimental effects on the structural integrity. In order to understand the influence of these etch pits on the material properties of carbon fiber microstructures, we have developed a new capability within direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) to capture the etch pit formation process. This capability is developed within the DSMC code SPARTA (Stochastic PArallel Rarefied-gas Time-accurate Analyzer) and can model the material removal in presence of active sites leading to the formation of etch pits. The focus of the current work will be to study the effect of etch pits on the material properties of FiberForm, a commonly used base material within many thermal protection system materials (TPS). The microstructure of virgin FiberForm obtained directly from X-ray microtomography experiments is used within SPARTA to obtain the ablated geometries with etch pits. These pitted microstructures are then imported within the Porous Microstructure Analysis (PuMA) software and various material properties such as elasticity, thermal conductivity, and permeability are computed. The variation of these properties as a result of the complex evolution of the surface topology due to etch pit formation is studied and analyzed. Furthermore, the effect of pitting is compared to the case of shrinking fibers, which has been the standard for modelling ablation of carbon structures; and significant differences are observed. Thus, such a physically realistic modeling of material removal through the formation of etch pits will be helpful in predicting the degradation of carbon-based TPS more accurately during oxidation; as well as other mechanisms such as spallation, which involves the removal of chunks of material into the flow due to etch pit growth. This will ultimately improve our understanding of the failure modes in these materials due to ablation.

Carbon Ablators↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Simulation of Oxidative Etch Pit Formation and Growth on FiberForm

Erosion of carbon surfaces due to oxidation does not occur uniformly but through the formation of localized etch pits because of active surface sites. These active sites are formed due to the presence of atomic defects on the carbon surface and have much higher reactivity compared to average non-defective sites. Thus, these active sites are the first to react during ablation, resulting in their removal. This causes all the neighboring atoms to be defective, and increasing their reactivity, thus leading to localized carbon removal around these “active” sites. In this manner, these highly reactive defects serve as nucleation sites for the formation and growth of etch pits, with detrimental effects on the structural integrity. In order to understand the influence of these etch pits on the material properties of carbon fiber microstructures, we have developed a new capability within direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) to capture the etch pit formation process. This capability is developed within the DSMC code SPARTA (Stochastic PArallel Rarefied-gas Time-accurate Analyzer) and can model the material removal in the presence of active sites leading to the formation of etch pits. The focus of the current work will be to study the effect of etch pits on the material properties of FiberForm, the precursor substrate of the PICA Thermal Protection System (TPS) material. The microstructure of virgin FiberForm obtained directly from X-ray microtomography scans is used within SPARTA to obtain the ablated geometries with etch pits. These pitted microstructures are then imported into the Porous Microstructure Analysis (PuMA) software and various material properties such as thermal conductivity, elasticity, and permeability are computed. The variation of these properties because of the complex evolution of the surface topology due to the formation of etch pits is studied and analyzed. Furthermore, the effect of pitting is compared to the case of uniform radial shrinking of fibers, which has been the standard for modelling ablation of carbon structures, and significant differences are observed. Thus, a physically realistic model of material removal through the formation of etch pits will be helpful in predicting the degradation of carbon-based TPS more accurately during oxidation; as well as other mechanisms such as spallation, which involves the removal of chunks of material into the flow due to the growth of etch pits. This will ultimately improve our understanding of the failure modes in these materials due to ablation.

DSMC↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Simulation of Oxidative Etch Pit Formation and Growth on FiberForm

Erosion of carbon surfaces due to oxidation does not occur uniformly but through the formation of localized etch pits because of active surface sites. These active sites are formed due to the presence of atomic defects on the carbon surface and have much higher reactivity compared to average non-defective sites. Thus, these active sites are the first to react during ablation, resulting in their removal. This causes all the neighboring atoms to be defective, and increasing their reactivity, thus leading to localized carbon removal around these “active” sites. In this manner, these highly reactive defects serve as nucleation sites for the formation and growth of etch pits, with detrimental effects on the structural integrity. In order to understand the influence of these etch pits on the material properties of carbon fiber microstructures, we have developed a new capability within direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) to capture the etch pit formation process. This capability is developed within the DSMC code SPARTA (Stochastic PArallel Rarefied-gas Time-accurate Analyzer) and can model the material removal in the presence of active sites leading to the formation of etch pits. The focus of the current work will be to study the effect of etch pits on the material properties of FiberForm, the precursor substrate of the PICA Thermal Protection System (TPS) material. The microstructure of virgin FiberForm obtained directly from X-ray microtomography scans is used within SPARTA to obtain the ablated geometries with etch pits. These pitted microstructures are then imported into the Porous Microstructure Analysis (PuMA) software and various material properties such as thermal conductivity, elasticity, and permeability are computed. The variation of these properties because of the complex evolution of the surface topology due to the formation of etch pits is studied and analyzed. Furthermore, the effect of pitting is compared to the case of uniform radial shrinking of fibers, which has been the standard for modelling ablation of carbon structures, and significant differences are observed. Thus, a physically realistic model of material removal through the formation of etch pits will be helpful in predicting the degradation of carbon-based TPS more accurately during oxidation; as well as other mechanisms such as spallation, which involves the removal of chunks of material into the flow due to the growth of etch pits. This will ultimately improve our understanding of the failure modes in these materials due to ablation.

DSMC↗
NASA NTRS1993

Identification of a second-order mechanical system model from a state space realization

Many system identification algorithms produce models in modern state variable form. When a mechanical system is identified one knows that there must be a model in second order form. In structural dynamics one is interested in either a modal model of the system, or in a model including a mass matrix, stiffness matrix and a damping matrix. In this paper, algorithms are developed that convert a modern state space realization into the above two representations of interest in mechanical systems. The algorithm can be used with any identification methods that produce a modern state variable representation such as the Eigensystem Realization Algorithm (ERA), its modified version by data correlation (ERA/DC), and combinations of these with Observer/Kalman Filter Identification (OKID). An algorithm is developed that allows one to identify the damping matrix in a model representation, so that one determines how near to modal the damping is in the system, and can therefore understand the degree to which the modes are coupled by the damping in the system. A second algorithm produced the mass, damping, and stiffness matrices, given the input and output matrices. It is assumed that the number of sensors (or the number of actuators) is greater than or equal to the number of modes in the system, and it is proved that this is a necessary condition to be able to uniquely identify these matrices. Experience with examples suggests that a singular value truncation involved in these algorithms can help one determine the true system order. This truncation has the benefit of knowledge of the correct form for a mechanical system model, which is not present in the modern control identification algorithm.

Tseng, Dong-Huei↗
NASA NTRS1987

Broad, variable absorption lines in the Seyfert Galaxy NGC 3516 - Probing the structure of the emission-line regions

Nineteen short-wavelength IUE archive images were analyzed in order to probe the structure of the active nucleus in NGC 3516, an SB0 Seyfert I galaxy. The measurements of these features are presented, and the strength, variability, and morphology of the emission and absorption lines and their relation to the continuum are analyzed. It is shown that the absorption must arise within 10 pc of the nonthermal continuum source and that its variability must stem from changes in the velocity space coverage of clouds optically thin to the Lyman continuum. Two possible sites of absorption are discussed: dense clouds in the narrow-line region and optically thin clouds in the broad-line region. A theoretical model that explains the anticorrelation of C IV absorption with continuum flux is described.

Voit, G. Mark↗