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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 433 records · Page 24

Thermal and Structural Analysis Conducted on Hollow-Core Turbine Blade of the Space Shuttle Main Engine

Hot-section components of spacecraft engines are exposed to severe thermal-structural loading conditions, especially during the startup and shutdown portions of the engine cycle. For instance, the thermal transient during startup within the space shuttle main engine (SSME) can lead to a gas temperatures in excess of 3000 C, affecting the operating life of key components, such as the turbine blades. To improve the durability of these components and in particular the turbine blade, single crystal superalloys have been considered. PWA-1480, a nickel-base superalloy, has been used as the turbine blade material for the Alternate Turbopump Development (ATD) program for the SSME.

Source record↗

Advanced Gas Turbine (AGT) powertrain system initial development report

The powertrain consists of a single shaft regenerated gas turbine engine utilizing ceramic hot section components, coupled to a slit differential gearbox with an available variable stator torque converter and an available Ford intergral overdrive four-speed automatic transmission. Predicted fuel economy using gasoline fuel over the combined federal driving cycle (CFDC) is 15.3 km/1, which represents a 59% improvement over the spark-ignition-powered baseline vehicle. Using DF2 fuel, CFDC mileage estimates are 17.43 km/1. Zero to 96.6 km/hr acceleration time is 11.9 seconds with a four-second accleration distance of 21.0 m. The ceramic radial turbine rotor is discussed along with the control system for the powertrain.

Source record↗

An atmospheric pressure high-temperature laminar flow reactor for investigation of combustion and related gas phase reaction systems

A new high-temperature flow reactor experiment utilizing the powerful molecular beam mass spectrometry (MBMS) technique for detailed observation of gas phase kinetics in reacting flows is presented. The reactor design provides a consequent extension of the experimental portfolio of validation experiments for combustion reaction kinetics. Temperatures up to 1800 K are applicable by three individually controlled temperature zones with this atmospheric pressure flow reactor. Detailed speciation data are obtained using the sensitive MBMS technique, providing in situ access to almost all chemical species involved in the combustion process, including highly reactive species such as radicals. Strategies for quantifying the experimental data are presented alongside a careful analysis of the characterization of the experimental boundary conditions to enable precise numeric reproduction of the experimental results. The general capabilities of this new analytical tool for the investigation of reacting flows are demonstrated for a selected range of conditions, fuels, and applications. A detailed dataset for the well-known gaseous fuels, methane and ethylene, is provided and used to verify the experimental approach. Furthermore, application for liquid fuels and fuel components important for technical combustors like gas turbines and engines is demonstrated. Besides the detailed investigation of novel fuels and fuel components, the wide range of operation conditions gives access to extended combustion topics, such as super rich conditions at high temperature important for gasification processes, or the peroxy chemistry governing the low temperature oxidation regime. These demonstrations are accompanied by a first kinetic modeling approach, examining the opportunities for model validation purposes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Visual Computing Environment Workshop

The Visual Computing Environment (VCE) is a framework for intercomponent and multidisciplinary computational simulations. Many current engineering analysis codes simulate various aspects of aircraft engine operation. For example, existing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes can model the airflow through individual engine components such as the inlet, compressor, combustor, turbine, or nozzle. Currently, these codes are run in isolation, making intercomponent and complete system simulations very difficult to perform. In addition, management and utilization of these engineering codes for coupled component simulations is a complex, laborious task, requiring substantial experience and effort. To facilitate multicomponent aircraft engine analysis, the CFD Research Corporation (CFDRC) is developing the VCE system. This system, which is part of NASA's Numerical Propulsion Simulation System (NPSS) program, can couple various engineering disciplines, such as CFD, structural analysis, and thermal analysis.

Lawrence, Charles↗

Visual Computing Environment

The Visual Computing Environment (VCE) is a NASA Lewis Research Center project to develop a framework for intercomponent and multidisciplinary computational simulations. Many current engineering analysis codes simulate various aspects of aircraft engine operation. For example, existing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes can model the airflow through individual engine components such as the inlet, compressor, combustor, turbine, or nozzle. Currently, these codes are run in isolation, making intercomponent and complete system simulations very difficult to perform. In addition, management and utilization of these engineering codes for coupled component simulations is a complex, laborious task, requiring substantial experience and effort. To facilitate multicomponent aircraft engine analysis, the CFD Research Corporation (CFDRC) is developing the VCE system. This system, which is part of NASA's Numerical Propulsion Simulation System (NPSS) program, can couple various engineering disciplines, such as CFD, structural analysis, and thermal analysis. The objectives of VCE are to (1) develop a visual computing environment for controlling the execution of individual simulation codes that are running in parallel and are distributed on heterogeneous host machines in a networked environment, (2) develop numerical coupling algorithms for interchanging boundary conditions between codes with arbitrary grid matching and different levels of dimensionality, (3) provide a graphical interface for simulation setup and control, and (4) provide tools for online visualization and plotting. VCE was designed to provide a distributed, object-oriented environment. Mechanisms are provided for creating and manipulating objects, such as grids, boundary conditions, and solution data. This environment includes parallel virtual machine (PVM) for distributed processing. Users can interactively select and couple any set of codes that have been modified to run in a parallel distributed fashion on a cluster of heterogeneous workstations. A scripting facility allows users to dictate the sequence of events that make up the particular simulation.

Lawrence, Charles↗

Ceramic-coated metals can survive contact with hot working fluid

Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) have been developed as a means of protecting turbine blades and other engine hot section components whose surfaces are exposed to the most extreme operating conditions. By adding a thin, insulating ceramic oxide layer to an air-cooled turbine blade, the difference between the gas temperature and the metal temperature is further increased as a function of ceramic coating thickness, heat flux, and oxide thermal conductivity. An 0.04-cm thick ceramic layer can typically yield a 100-300 C temperature drop. Of the various techniques available for the deposition of thermal barrier coatings, the most common is that of plasma spraying. Significant improvements have been made in TBC durability through the use of bond coat compositions with increased oxidation resistance.

Levine, S. R.↗

High-Heat-Flux Cyclic Durability of Thermal and Environmental Barrier Coatings

Advanced ceramic thermal and environmental barrier coatings will play an increasingly important role in future gas turbine engines because of their ability to protect the engine components and further raise engine temperatures. For the supersonic vehicles currently envisioned in the NASA fundamental aeronautics program, advanced gas turbine engines will be used to provide high power density thrust during the extended supersonic flight of the aircraft, while meeting stringent low emission requirements. Advanced ceramic coating systems are critical to the performance, life and durability of the hot-section components of the engine systems. In this work, the laser and burner rig based high-heat-flux testing approaches were developed to investigate the coating cyclic response and failure mechanisms under simulated supersonic long-duration cruise mission. The accelerated coating cracking and delamination mechanism under the engine high-heat-flux, and extended supersonic cruise time conditions will be addressed. A coating life prediction framework may be realized by examining the crack initiation and propagation in conjunction with environmental degradation under high-heat-flux test conditions.

Zhu, Dongming↗

The aerodynamic design and performance of the NASA/GE E3 low pressure turbine

The aerodynamic design and scaled rig test results of the low pressure turbine (LPT) component for the NASA/General Electric Energy Efficient Engine (E3) are presented. The low pressure turbine is a highly loaded five-stage design featuring high outer wall slope, controlled vortex aerodynamics, low stage flow coefficient, and reduced clearances. An assessment of its performance has been made based on a series of scaled air turbine tests which were divided into two phases: Block I (March through August, 1979) and Block II (June through September, 1981). Results from the Block II five-stage test, summarized in the paper, indicate that the E3 LPT will attain an efficiency level of 91.5 percent at the Mach 0.8/35,000 ft. max. climb altitude design point. This is relative to program goals of 91.1 percent for the E3 demonstrator engine and 91.7 percent for a fully developed flight propulsion system LPT.

Cherry, D. G.↗

In-Situ Calibrated Modeling of Residual Stresses Induced in Machining under Various Cooling and Lubricating Environments

Although many functional characteristics, such as fatigue life and damage resistance depend on residual stresses, there are currently no industrially viable ‘Digital Process Twin’ models (DPTs) capable of efficiently and quickly predicting machining-induced stresses. By leveraging advances in ultra-high-speed in-situ experimental characterization of machining and finishing processes under plane strain (orthogonal/2D) conditions, we have developed a set of physics-based semi-analytical models to predict residual stress evolution in light of the extreme gradients of stress, strain and temperature, which are unique to these thermo-mechanical processes. Initial validation trials of this novel paradigm were carried out in Ti-6Al4V and AISI 4340 alloy steel. A variety dry, cryogenically cooled and oil lubricated conditions were evaluated to determine the model’s ability to capture the tribological changes induced due to lubrication and cooling. The preliminarily calibrated and validated model exhibited an average correlation of better than 20% between the predicted stresses and experimental data, with calculation times of less than a second. Based on such fast-acting DPTs, the authors envision future capabilities in pro-active surface engineering of advanced structural components (e.g., turbine blades).

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

An experimental comparison of nonswirling and swirling flow in a circular-to-rectangular transition duct

Circular-to-rectangular transition ducts are used as exhaust system components of aircraft with rectangular exhaust nozzles. Often, the incoming flow of these transition ducts includes a swirling velocity component remaining from the gas turbine engine. Previous transition duct studies have either not included inlet swirl or when inlet swirl was considered, only overall performance parameters were evaluated. Circular-to-rectangular transition duct flows with and without inlet swirl were explored in order to understand the effect of inlet swirl on the transition duct flow field and to provide detailed duct flow data for comparison with numerical code predictions. A method was devised to create a swirling, solid body rotational flow with minimal associated disturbances. Coefficients based on velocities and total and static pressures measured incross stream planes at four axial locations within the transition duct, along with surface static pressure measurements and surface oil film visualization, are presented for both nonswirling and swirling incoming flow. In both cases the inlet centerline Mach number was 0.35. The Reynolds number based on the inlet centerline velocity and duct inlet diameter was 1,547,000 for nonswirling and 1,366,000 for swirling flow. The maximum swirl angle was 15.6 deg. Two pair of counter-rotating side wall vortices appeared in the duct flow without inlet swirl. These vortices were absent in the swirling incoming flow cases.

Reichert, B. A.↗

Hot Deformation Of Si(3)N(4) Doped With Sc(2)O(3)

Report describes preparation, microstructural properties, and high-temperature deformation behavior of Si(3)N(4) doped with Sc(2)O(3). Powders of Si(3)N(4) with small additions of Sc(2)O(3) sintered under nitrogen overpressures to full density; expensive hot pressing or hot isostatic pressing not necessary to attain full density. Test of bars indicate high strengths at high temperatures and excellent time-dependent strength properties. Useful for fabrication of hot-section components of automotive gas-turbine engines.

Cheong, Deock-Soo↗

High-Frequency, High-Temperature Fretting Experiments

Fretting is a structural damage mechanism observed when two nominally clamped surfaces are subjected to an oscillatory loading. A critical location for fretting induced damage has been identified at the blade/disk and blade/damper interfaces of gas turbine engine turbomachinery and space propulsion components. The high-temperature, high-frequency loading environment seen by these components lead to severe stress gradients at the edge-of-contact. These contact stresses drive crack nucleation and propagation in fretting and are very sensitive to the geometry of the contacting bodies, the contact loads, materials, temperature, and contact surface tribology (friction). To diagnose the threat that small and relatively undetectable fretting cracks pose to damage tolerance and structural integrity of in-service components, the objective of this work is to develop a well-characterized experimental fretting rig capable of investigating fretting behavior of advanced aerospace alloys subjected to load and temperature conditions representative of such turbomachinery components.

Matlik, J. F.↗

Prediction of Fretting Crack Location and Orientation in a Single Crystal Nickel Alloy

Fretting is a structural damage mechanism arising between two nominally clamped surfaces subjected to an oscillatory loading. A critical location for fretting induced damage has been identified at the blade/disk and blade/damper interfaces of gas turbine engine turbomachinery and space propulsion components. The high- temperature, high-frequency loading environment seen by these components lead to severe stress gradients at the edge-of-contact that could potentially foster crack growth leading to component failure. These contact stresses drive crack nucleation in fretting and are very sensitive to the geometry of the contacting bodies, the contact loads, materials, temperature, and contact surface tribology (friction). Recently, a high-frequency, high-temperature load frame has been designed for experimentally investigating fretting damage of single crystal nickel materials employed in aircraft and spacecraft turbomachinery. A modeling method for characterizing the fretting stresses of the spherical fretting contact stress behavior in this experiment is developed and described. The calculated fretting stresses for a series of experiments are then correlated to the observed fretting damage. Results show that knowledge of the normal stresses and resolved shear stresses on each crystal plane can aid in predicting crack locations and orientations.

Matlik, J. F.↗

Tensile Creep and Fatigue of Sylramic-iBN Melt-Infiltrated SiC Matrix Composites: Retained Properties, Damage Development, and Failure Mechanisms

An understanding of the elevated temperature tensile creep, fatigue, rupture, and retained properties of ceramic matrix composites (CMC) envisioned for use in gas turbine engine applications are essential for component design and life-prediction. In order to quantify the effect of stress, time, temperature, and oxidation for a state-of-the-art composite system, a wide variety of tensile creep, dwell fatigue, and cyclic fatigue experiments were performed in air at 1204 C for the SiC/SiC CMC system consisting of Sylramic-iBN SiC fibers, BN fiber interphase coating, and slurry-cast melt-infiltrated (MI) SiC-based matrix. Tests were either taken to failure or interrupted. Interrupted tests were then mechanically tested at room temperature to determine the residual properties. The retained properties of most of the composites subjected to tensile creep or fatigue were usually within 20% of the as-produced strength and 10% of the as-produced elastic modulus. It was observed that during creep, residual stresses in the composite are altered to some extent which results in an increased compressive stress in the matrix upon cooling and a subsequent increased stress required to form matrix cracks. Microscopy of polished sections and the fracture surfaces of specimens which failed during stressed-oxidation or after the room-temperature retained property test was performed on some of the specimens in order to quantify the nature and extent of damage accumulation that occurred during the test. It was discovered that the distribution of stress-dependent matrix cracking at 1204 C was similar to the as-produced composites at room temperature; however, matrix crack growth occurred over time and typically did not appear to propagate through thickness except at final failure crack. Failure of the composites was due to either oxidation-induced unbridged crack growth, which dominated the higher stress regime (> 179 MPa) or controlled by degradation of the fibers, probably caused by intrinsic creep-induced flaw growth of the fibers or internal attack of the fibers via Si diffusion through the CVI SiC and/or microcracks at the lower stress regime (< 165 MPa).

Morscher, Greg↗

Microstructure Evolution and Durability of Advanced Environmental Barrier Coating Systems for SiC/SiC Ceramic Matrix Composites

Environmental barrier coated SiC-SiC ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) systems will play a crucial role in next generation turbine engines for hot-section component applications because of their ability to significantly increase engine operating temperatures with improved efficiency, reduce engine weight and cooling requirements. Advanced HfO2 and rare earth silicate environmental barrier coatings (EBCs), along with multicomponent hafnium and rare earth silicide EBC bond coats have been developed. The coating degradation mechanisms in the laboratory simulated engine thermal cycling, and fatigue-creep operating environments are also being investigated. This paper will focus on the microstructural and compositional evolutions of an advanced environmental barrier coating system on a SiC-SiC CMC substrate during the high temperature simulated durability tests, by using a Field Emission Gun Scanning Electron Microscopy, Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and Wavelength Dispersive Spectroscopy (WDS). The effects of Calcium-Magnesium-Alumino-Silicate (CMAS) from road sand or volcano-ash deposits on the degradation mechanisms of the environmental barrier coating systems will also be discussed. The detailed analysis results help understand the EBC-CMC system performance, aiming at the durability improvements to achieve more robust, prime-reliant environmental barrier coatings.

ceramic matrix composites↗

Calcium-Magnesium-Alumino-Silicates (CMAS) Reaction Mechanisms and Resistance of Advanced Turbine Environmental Barrier Coatings for SiC/SiC Ceramic Matrix Composites

Environmental barrier coatings (EBCs) and SiC/SiC ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) systems will play a crucial role in future turbine engines for hot-section component applications because of their ability to significantly increase engine operating temperatures, reduce engine weight and cooling requirements. The development of prime-reliant environmental barrier coatings is an essential requirement to enable the applications of the 2700-3000 F EBC - CMC systems. This presentation primarily focuses on the reaction mechanisms of advanced NASA environmental barrier coating systems, when in contact with Calcium-Magnesium Alumino-Silicates (CMAS) at high temperatures. Advanced oxide-silicate defect cluster environmental barrier coatings are being designed for ultimate balanced controls of the EBC temperature capability and CMAS reactivity, thus improving the CMAS resistance. Further CMAS mitigation strategies are also discussed.

Environmental barrier coatings (EBCs)↗

Thermochemical and microstructural contributions of high temperature particle erosion durability in CMAS exposed EBCs

Particulate/debris damage caused by ingestion of calcium magnesium aluminosilicates (CMAS) hinders the use of environmental barrier coatings (EBCs) to protect SiC-based ceramic matrix composite components in next generation gas turbine engines. Similarly, ingestion of any debris in the engine can lead to mechanical damage and recession of coatings due to particulate erosion. Investigating particulate interactions at relevant engine conditions is crucial in determining limiting mechanisms in the operating lifetime of EBCs. This study assesses the effects of extrinsic phase formation and microstructural changes due to CMAS interactions on the erosion durability of Yb 2 Si 2 O 7 -based EBCs in NASA Glenn’s Erosion Burner Rig Facility. CMAS exposures and erosion testing were carried out at 1316°C. Using 60 µm Al 2 O 3 particles as the erodent material, the effects of CMAS loading on erosion durability at various impingement angles were evaluated.

Jamesa L. Stokes↗

Software For Three-Dimensional Stress And Thermal Analyses

BEST3D is advanced engineering software system for three-dimensional thermal and stress analyses, particularly of components of hot sections of gas-turbine engines. Utilizes boundary element method, offering, in many situations, more accuracy, efficiency, and ease of use than finite element method. Performs engineering analyses of following types: elastic, heat transfer, plastic, forced vibration, free vibration, and transient elastodynamic. Written in FORTRAN 77.

Banerjee, P. K.↗