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At least 433 records · Page 24

Computer code for intraply hybrid composite design

A computer program has been developed and is described herein for intraply hybrid composite design (INHYD). The program includes several composite micromechanics theories, intraply hybrid composite theories and a hygrothermomechanical theory. These theories provide INHYD with considerable flexibility and capability which the user can exercise through several available options. Key features and capabilities of INHYD are illustrated through selected samples.

Chamis, C. C.↗

Design Exploration of a Transonic Cruise Slotted Airfoil

A knowledge-based aerodynamic design method, CDISC, has been leveraged for the computational design exploration of the cruise slotted airfoil as a drag-saving technology for single aisle, transonic transport aircraft. Aerodynamic predictions were generated using the NASA USM3D Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes flow solver, and laminar flow assessments were conducted using the NASA BLSTA3D boundary layer profile solver paired with the LASTRAC stability analysis and transition prediction software. The CDISC design method was used to parametrically vary several slotted-airfoil design variables to understand their impact on aerodynamic performance. In addition to establishing best practices for slotted airfoil design, it was observed that the historically noted skin-friction penalty for cruise slotted airfoils was attributed to the low-Reynolds-number boundary layer of the flap. At cruise, this skin-friction penalty negated any potential decrease in pressure drag enabled by the cruise slotted airfoil architecture. This observation led to the development of an Aft-Laminar Multi-element Airfoil concept that uses airfoil shaping to promote natural laminar flow on the flap. At cruise conditions, the concept is predicted to offer a 2.7% reduction in sectional drag relative to a fully turbulent supercritical airfoil. Off-design analyses showed that laminar flow could be maintained with near-cruise variations in angle of attack and Mach number, resulting in sustained aerodynamic efficiency improvements and a delay in the drag rise Mach number. A low-speed, high-lift analysis at takeoff conditions predicted a maximum lift coefficient of 2.4 could be achieved by use of a variable-camber leading edge on the main element and simple deflection of the flap. These computationally-predicted benefits have motivated future research toward an aft-laminar cruise slotted wing design as an incremental step toward the application of natural laminar flow technology on transonic commercial transports.

Brett R Hiller↗

Design sensitivity analysis and optimization tool (DSO) for sizing design applications

The DSO tool, a structural design software system that provides the designer with a graphics-based menu-driven design environment to perform easy design optimization for general applications, is presented. Three design stages, preprocessing, design sensitivity analysis, and postprocessing, are implemented in the DSO to allow the designer to carry out the design process systematically. A framework, including data base, user interface, foundation class, and remote module, has been designed and implemented to facilitate software development for the DSO. A number of dedicated commercial software/packages have been integrated in the DSO to support the design procedures. Instead of parameterizing an FEM, design parameters are defined on a geometric model associated with physical quantities, and the continuum design sensitivity analysis theory is implemented to compute design sensitivity coefficients using postprocessing data from the analysis codes. A tracked vehicle road wheel is given as a sizing design application to demonstrate the DSO's easy and convenient design optimization process.

Chang, Kuang-Hua↗

Space shuttle atmospheric revitalization subsystem/active thermal control subsystem computer program (users manual)

A shuttle (ARS) atmosphere revitalization subsystem active thermal control subsystem (ATCS) performance routine was developed. This computer program is adapted from the Shuttle EC/LSS Design Computer Program. The program was upgraded in three noteworthy areas: (1) The functional ARS/ATCS schematic has been revised to accurately synthesize the shuttle baseline system definition. (2) The program logic has been improved to provide a more accurate prediction of the integrated ARS/ATCS system performance. Additionally, the logic has been expanded to model all components and thermal loads in the ARS/ATCS system. (3) The program is designed to be used on the NASA JSC crew system division's programmable calculator system. As written the new computer routine has an average running time of five minutes. The use of desk top type calculation equipment, and the rapid response of the program provides the NASA with an analytical tool for trade studies to refine the system definition, and for test support of the RSECS or integrated Shuttle ARS/ATCS test programs.

Source record↗

New High-Entropy Perovskite Oxides with Increased Reducibility and Stability for Thermochemical Hydrogen Generation

This project aims to design, synthesize, and test a transformative class of High-Entropy Perovskite Oxides (HEPOs) as redox oxides to enable thermochemical hydrogen generation with improved stability, kinetics, and efficiency. These developed HEPOs are expected to demonstrate improved kinetics with oxygen surface exchange coefficient ( k > 7.5×10 -4 cm/s) in Budget Period (BP) 1, retain its structural stability in a broad range of oxygen non-stoichiometry (Δδ > 0.15) at a low operating reduction temperature of T red < 1400°C in BP 2, and deliver a H 2 yield of over 400 µmol per gram of oxide and high stability with less than 20% degradation after at least 50 cycles in BP 3. This project is feasible due to the unique thermodynamic properties (simultaneously increased reducibility and phase stability) and kinetic characters (stability against particle coarsening and potentially enhanced oxygen transport and surface reaction kinetics) of such HEPOs, and it is enabled by a unique active learning computational design approach. Computational studies have been conducted to investigate the oxygen vacancy formation in complex perovskite systems. * Accurate prediction of V O .. concentration with disordered A-site cations in Fe-based high-entropy perovskite oxides * Combined MC/DFT computation elucidates the mechanism of Co preference on the redox due to the strain introduced by local distortion. In this project, we explored a large number (~150) of perovskite compositions, which are listed in Tables 2 – 4). * All perovskite specimens have been synthesized through a high-throughput high-energy ball milling process, followed by the conventional sintering process. * XRD, SEM/EDS and TGA were performed to confirm the crystal structure, phase homogeneity and oxygen non-stoichiometry for compositionally complex perovskite oxides (CCPOs). * 110 compositions show single-phase from XRD * Unusual aliovalent doping effects in medium-entropy perovskite compositions. * V-shape relation between Δδ vs. x (La 1-x Sr x )(Mn 1/3 Fe 1/3 Ti 1/3 )O 3 * The highest reported hydrogen production for the CCPOs made in this project ( T re = 1350 ºC 30 min, T Ox = 1100 ºC 30 min) * B-site mixing (La 0.8 Sr 0.2 )(Mn 0.2 Fe 0.2 Co 0.4 Al 0.2 )O 3 : 89.97 ± 2.73 mmol H2 /mol oxide (395 ± 10 μmol/g oxide ) (i) No phase transformation during reactions when Co molar ratio is less than 61% (ii) Balance between intrinsic kinetics (oxygen surface exchange) and thermodynamics (oxygen non-stoichiometry) (iii) Preference of Co identified by in-situ XPS * A-site mixing (La 1/6 Pr 1/6 Nd 1/6 Gd 1/6 Ba 1/6 Sr1/6)MnO 3 : 98.48 mmol H2 /mol oxid e (~415 μmol/g oxide )

08 HYDROGEN↗

Desktop computer graphics for RMS/payload handling flight design

A computer program, the Multi-Adaptive Drawings, Renderings and Similitudes (MADRAS) program, is discussed. The modeling program, written for a desktop computer system (the Hewlett-Packard 9845/C), is written in BASIC and uses modular construction of objects while generating both wire-frame and hidden-line drawings from any viewpoint. The dimensions and placement of objects are user definable. Once the hidden-line calculations are made for a particular viewpoint, the viewpoint may be rotated in pan, tilt, and roll without further hidden-line calculations. The use and results of this program are discussed.

Homan, D. J.↗

Opportunities for Breakthroughs in Large-Scale Computational Simulation and Design

Opportunities for breakthroughs in the large-scale computational simulation and design of aerospace vehicles are presented. Computational fluid dynamics tools to be used within multidisciplinary analysis and design methods are emphasized. The opportunities stem from speedups and robustness improvements in the underlying unit operations associated with simulation (geometry modeling, grid generation, physical modeling, analysis, etc.). Further, an improved programming environment can synergistically integrate these unit operations to leverage the gains. The speedups result from reducing the problem setup time through geometry modeling and grid generation operations, and reducing the solution time through the operation counts associated with solving the discretized equations to a sufficient accuracy. The opportunities are addressed only at a general level here, but an extensive list of references containing further details is included. The opportunities discussed are being addressed through the Fast Adaptive Aerospace Tools (FAAST) element of the Advanced Systems Concept to Test (ASCoT) and the third Generation Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLV) projects at NASA Langley Research Center. The overall goal is to enable greater inroads into the design process with large-scale simulations.

Alexandrov, Natalia↗

Simulation and Modeling of Time-Resolved X-Ray Detector for the Saturn Accelerator

In this work, we present the technology-aided computer design (TCAD) device simulation and modeling of a silicon p-i-n diode for detecting time-dependent X-ray radiation. We show that the simulated forward and reverse breakdown current–voltage characteristics agree well with the measured data under nonradiation environment by only calibrating carrier lifetimes for the forward bias case and avalanche model critical fields for the reverse bias condition. Using the calibrated parameters and other nominal material properties, we simulated the radiation responses of the p-i-n diode and compared with experimental data when the diode was exposed to X-ray radiation at Sandia’s Saturn facility and the Idaho State University (ISU) TriMeV facility. For Saturn’s Gaussian dose-rate pulses, we show three findings from TCAD simulations. First, the simulated photocurrents are in excellent agreement with the measured data for two dose-rate pulses with peak values of 1.16×10 10 and 1.88×10 10 rad(Si)/s. Second, the simulation results of high dose-rate pulses predict increased delayed photocurrents with longer time tails in the diode electrical responses due to excess carrier generation. Third, simulated peak values of diode radiation responses versus peak dose rates at different bias conditions provide useful guidance to determine the dose-rate range that the p-i-n diode can reliably detect in experiment. For TriMeV’s non-Gaussian dose-rate pulse, our simulated diode response is in decent agreement with the measured data without further calibration. We also studied the effects of device geometry, recombination process, and dose-rate enhancement via TCAD simulations to understand the higher measured response in the time after the peak dose-rate radiation for the p-i-n diode exposed to TriMeV irradiation.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Spent-beam refocusing analysis and multistage depressed collector design for a 75-W, 59- to 64-GHz coupled-cavity traveling-wave tube

A computational design technique for coupled-cavity tubes (TWTs) equipped with spent-beam refocusers (SBRs) and multistage depressed collectors (MDCs) is described. A large-signal multidimensional computer program was used to analyze the TWT-SBR performance and to generate the spent-beam models used for MDC design. The results of a design involving a 75-W, 59 to 64 GHz TWT are presented. The SBR and MDC designs are shown, and the computed TWT, SBR, and MDC performances are described. Collector efficiencies in excess of 94 percent led to projected overall TWT efficiencies in the 40-percent range.

Wilson, Jeffrey D.↗

A hydrogen-oxygen rocket engine coolant passage design program (RECOP) for fluid-cooled thrust chambers and nozzles

The design of coolant passages in regeneratively cooled thrust chambers is critical to the operation and safety of a rocket engine system. Designing a coolant passage is a complex thermal and hydraulic problem requiring an accurate understanding of the heat transfer between the combustion gas and the coolant. Every major rocket engine company has invested in the development of thrust chamber computer design and analysis tools; two examples are Rocketdyne's REGEN code and Aerojet's ELES program. In an effort to augment current design capabilities for government and industry, the NASA Lewis Research Center is developing a computer model to design coolant passages for advanced regeneratively cooled thrust chambers. The RECOP code incorporates state-of-the-art correlations, numerical techniques and design methods, certainly minimum requirements for generating optimum designs of future space chemical engines. A preliminary version of the RECOP model was recently completed and code validation work is in progress. This paper introduces major features of RECOP and compares the analysis to design points for the first test case engine; the Pratt & Whitney RL10A-3-3A thrust chamber.

Tomsik, Thomas M.↗

Sequence Design of Random Heteropolymers as Protein Mimics

Random heteropolymers (RHPs) have been computationally designed and experimentally shown to recapitulate protein-like phase behavior and function. However, unlike proteins, RHP sequences are only statistically defined and cannot be sequenced. Recent developments in reversible-deactivation radical polymerization allowed simulated polymer sequences based on the well-established Mayo–Lewis equation to more accurately reflect ground-truth sequences that are experimentally synthesized. This led to opportunities to perform bioinformatics-inspired analysis on simulated sequences to guide the design, synthesis, and interpretation of RHPs. We compared batches on the order of 10000 simulated RHP sequences that vary by synthetically controllable and measurable RHP characteristics such as chemical heterogeneity and average degree of polymerization. Our analysis spans across 3 levels: segments along a single chain, sequences within a batch, and batch-averaged statistics. We discuss simulator fidelity and highlight the importance of robust segment definition. Examples are presented that demonstrate the use of simulated sequence analysis for in-silico iterative design to mimic protein hydrophobic/hydrophilic segment distributions in RHPs and compare RHP and protein sequence segments to explain experimental results of RHPs that mimic protein function. To facilitate the community use of this workflow, the simulator and analysis modules have been made available through an open source toolkit, the RHPapp.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Computer program optimizes design of nuclear radiation shields

Computer program, OPEX 2, determines minimum weight, volume, or cost for shields. Program incorporates improved coding, simplified data input, spherical geometry, and an expanded output. Method is capable of altering dose-thickness relationship when a shield layer has been removed.

Lahti, G. P.↗

An improved design method and experimental performance of two dimensional curved wall diffusers

A computer design program was developed to incorporate the suction slots in solving the potential flow equations with prescribed boundary conditions. Using the contour generated from this program two Griffith diffusers were tested having area ratios AR = 3 and 4. The inlet Reynolds number ranged from 600,000 to 7 million. It was found that the slot suction required for metastable operation depends on the sidewall suction applied. Values of slot suction of 8% of the inlet flow rate was required for AR = 4 with metastable condition, provided that enough sidewall suction was applied. For AR = 3, the values of slot suction was about 25% lower than those required for AR = 4. For nearly all unseparated test runs, the effectiveness was 100% and the exit flow was uniform. In addition to the Griffith diffusers, dump and cusp diffusers of comparable area ratios were built and tested. The results obtained from these diffusers were compared with those of the Griffith diffusers. Flow separation occurred in all test runs with the dump and cusp diffusers.

Yang, T.↗

Preliminary design of a tip-jet-driven heavy lift helicopter incorporating circulation control

This report describes a preliminary design study for a Very Heavy Lift Helicopter (VHLH) that is powered by jets at the blade tips and is controlled by circulation control applied to the main rotor blades. The main thrust of the program was to integrate a tip-jet-powered helicopter design computer program developed by Hughes Helicopters, Inc. (HHI) with circulation control data generated by the David Taylor Naval Ship Research and Development Center (DTNSRDC). This work combined the computer program integration work with an air vehicle preliminary design study to size the helicopter and describe its features. The result of this study is the sizing of a four-engined helicopter with a 185 foot diameter, two-bladed main rotor that is designed to carry the XM-1 Main Battle Tank 100 nautical miles in a ship-to-shore Marine Corps assault mission.

Head, R. E.↗

Optimal Network-Topology Design

Candidate network designs tested for acceptability and cost. Optimal Network Topology Design computer program developed as part of study on topology design and analysis of performance of Space Station Information System (SSIS) network. Uses efficient algorithm to generate candidate network designs consisting of subsets of set of all network components, in increasing order of total costs and checks each design to see whether it forms acceptable network. Technique gives true cost-optimal network and particularly useful when network has many constraints and not too many components. Program written in PASCAL.

Li, Victor O. K.↗

Design of catalytic monoliths for closed-cycle carbon dioxide lasers

Pulsed carbon dioxide (CO2) lasers have many applications in aeronautics, space research, weather monitoring and other areas. Full exploitation of the potential of these lasers in hampered by the dissociation of CO2 that occurs during laser operation. The development of closed-cycle CO2 lasers requires active CO-O2 recombination (CO oxidation) catalyst and design methods for implementation of catalysts in CO2 laser systems. A monolith catalyst section model and associated design computer program, LASCAT, are presented to assist in the design of a monolith catalyst section of a closed cycle CO2 laser system. Using LASCAT,the designer is able to specify a number of system parameters and determine the monolith section performance. Trade-offs between the catalyst activity, catalyst dimensions, monolith dimensions, pressure drop, O2 conversion, and other variables can be explored and adjusted to meet system design specifications. An introduction describes a typical closed-cycle CO2 system, and indicates some advantages of a closed cycle laser system over an open cycle system and some advantages of monolith support over other types of supports. The development and use of a monolith catalyst model is presented. The results of a design study and a discussion of general design rules are given.

Herz, R. K.↗